Overall: 7/10
I know that I gave the book an overall rating, but I will also be rating the other stories individually, with my focus on Squirming Disease (and one of the other short stories that I really enjoyed. I will also be including my review of another short story that is not within this collection, but is too short to kind of warrant it's own full review. Squirming Disease will be reissued in paperback format in September! There are many other short stories and novelettes available on the author's website (aidenmerchant.com). A few are free to download! The subheadings that follow will be the stories in question with my thoughts below them! I may not be explaining it well, but I'm sure that you'll catch on quickly. I'm going to go from favorite to least favorite.
"The Scar Opens"
Rating: 10/10
I don't think I talk about one of my favorite horror tropes very often. I love haunted house stories/movies. This isn't a haunted house story per se, but it takes place in a house and whenever you have someone that is possessed, let's be real, it's a haunted house. This was the last story that I read in the collection, and it was my favorite by far. It was creepy, it was interesting, and I wish that I got more. I read most of the author's notes at the end of the stories and Merchant said that he had went through different iterations of this short story over time. I would personally like to see the version with the never-ending hallway with scary rooms of stuff. Petition for this story to also be reissued and added to. I liked the tropes that the high schoolers portrayed. Just good all around to me. Very short, only probably around 20-25 pages (I read the ebook and it doesn't give me a page count but that's my guess). Just a great possession/creepy house story.
Squirming Disease
Rating: 9/10
This is the title novelette with which the other stories are published. As the other works within this book are short stories and this is a novelette, it is the longest. Let me just say, bravo. This was definitely a favorite. It is just raw, body-horror, done so right. It really did its' job so effectively. I'm not sure if you've seen the movie Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (weird reference probably, but the part with the dick was equally as nasty), but this kind of had that vibe. Like, Merchant was not afraid to really go there and attack some very sensitive areas. Mostly, the teeth! I'm so squeamish about my teeth, the thought of them being colonized and rotting and just falling out is grossing me out just to talk about. Literally, one word to describe this novelette: disgusting (but in the best way). The kind of horror that makes your body almost hurt in sympathy. Merchant did a fantastic job with the descriptions, they were so captivating.
There is some dog death, so if that's triggering to you, be weary. There is also some graphic sexual content, so be warned (it didn't bother me, but It feels like something of note). I don't have many complaints, the dialogue felt a bit stiff at times but overall it's not that much of hinderance. If you want to read some short, high-quality body horror, then you need to read this one high-key. I believe that it may already be available from snow-capped press and aidenmerchant.com as ebooks; regardless, it is being rereleased in a bound paperback in September!
"Complete Sacrific"
Rating: 7/10
There isn't much I can say about this one, it was a work of "flash fiction" so it was only around like 3 pages. That isn't to say that I didn't like it. I thought it was really intense and creepy for such a short story. I believe that the demon in this appears in another short story/novelette and I'm eager to read more about it.
"Change"
Rating: 6/10
Have you seen the movie The Crazies? That. Also that crazy guy could have sued that police officer. Improper escalation of force (Sorry, intro to Law Enforcement is coming back to me big time). I like that the story ended up tying into Squirming Disease, even though I found this short story to be kind of stiff and meh. The characters felt stiff and weird, and the story was kind of boring me. I didn't really like the movie the Crazies that much either. It was just meh to me. I think with a little retooling it would be fine. This one may just be more of a "me" problem. It isn't the type of premise that I would ever really be into.
"Following the Dead Tracks"
Rating: 3/10
I liked the premise of this story, I found the delivery to be lacking, it wasn't scary or really even creepy for that matter. The characters were really stiff and the dialogue felt mechanical so I wasn't into the characters at all. I had a lot of questions about the brother's death and maybe even why the Dead Tracks is such a haunted place. None of my questions were ever really answered and nothing happens in the story. I really wanted something to happen but nothing really did. The real problem with the story was that it felt incomplete. As far as I'm concerned, my rating for this short story is adjustable. If I get a rerelease with some changes and some real action, I may be inclined to change my rating. But as of right now, it felt like I was only given the first chapter in a longer story. Please write more for this and rerelease it.