Enjoyable collection of stories. Even better, most of these were rather unique- I can't recall reading anything quite like them before. I definitely would like to see more from this author.

These stories made me feel unclean in the best way. I always appreciate an author who can write queer characters without making their sexuality the main plot point or the entirety of their identity, and Bailey did this in each of the stories. Each story was disturbing in a different way, so it was a fun journey overall. Also, ASEXUAL CHARACTER thank you!!!!!

‘Defilement and Other Stories’ is a collection of six queer horror short stories. Each of which entirely different tone and pace drom the previous. And a large cast of diverse characters with a wide age range.

I appreciate the preface and the list of trigger warnings the author gave for each story, but as they said it wasn’t an exhaustive list and boy did I add a tonne more.

Without spoiling anything, because each story was so different from each other and not particularly connected, I decided to rate them all separately. The first story, Digging, I gave only two stars as I felt this one took too long to get into it and ended very abruptly.

The second story, Deathshed, I gave 4 stars and I must say I really enjoyed this one. I love the whole conspiracy theory plot and I do love sapphics so this was a top read for me, but I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of a satisfying conclusion to the story.

The third story, Garage Doctor, I gave five stars and this one was my favourite. This one was a truly horrific depiction of conversion therapy with a very satisfying revenge plot and was very well fleshed out. Loved it, although it was definitely the most terrifying due to how realistic this kind of thing is.

The fourth story, Petting Zoo, I also have a five stars. I loved the fat ace rep, although there is heavy talk about weight and dieting which is always uncomfortable. This one was very well fleshed out, it had a great plot and had me very on edge.

The fifth story, Torture Device, was my least favourite and I gave this only one star. This one was so boring and I really did not see the point of it at all.

And finally the last story, Defilement, was a four star read. This one was kind of confusing because it does take a while to get into but is pretty cool! I quite enjoyed this one, definitely not a favourite but still enjoyable. Very very creeping and gorey.

Overall, I quite liked this. I don’t know if I’d ever re-read it as horror isn’t one of my top genres but still enjoyed the time I spent on it! I would heavily suggest you check my list of trigger warnings before you pick up this book though because a lot of horrific and disgusting things happen throughout it.

Representation - Amputee (leg) (MC); Asexual (MC); Asthma (MC); Black (MC); Depression (MC); Fat (MC); Gay (MC); Lesbian (SC); Middle Eastern (MC&SC) Muslim (MC&SC); POC (MC&SC); Sapphic (MC); Sapphic Relationship (MC)

TWs/CWs - Ableism; Alcohol Consumption; Amputation (leg); Arachnid Monsters; Beheading; Bestiality (inferred); Blood; Body Horror; Bug Consumption (forced); Child Death; Child Endangerment; Child Neglect (inferred); Corpse; Corrective Rape (inferred, not depicted); Cussing; Dark Web; Death; Death by Cancer (off page/mentioned); Death of a Parent; Decapitation; Disturbing Imagery; Drowning; Drug Reference; Excrement; Exorcism; Extreme Conversion Therapy Methods; Extreme Nationalism; Fatphobia; Fire/Fire Injury; Force feeding; Gaslighting; Gore; Gross Topics; Harm of a Child; Homophobia; Hypnotism; Inferred Islamophobia; Infidelity; Kidnapping; Military deployment (discussed); Mind Control; Murder; Necropholia; Nudity; Paranoia; Physical Torture; Porn; Psychological Torture; Racism; Religious Extremism; R-slur; Self-Inflicted Torture; Sexist Comments; Skeletal/fossil bones; Snuff Films; Stressful Situations; Tar Monsters; Transphobia (graphic); Urine; Violence; Vomit (mentioned)

Disturbing and exactly what I wanted from an anthology of horror stories. It was unsettling and chilling and gave me what I was needing for a spooky read.

A boy and his father find impossible fossilized bones in their backyard…
The disturbing contents and origin of a mysterious magazine conjure paranoia…
Neighbors welcome a new couple by bragging about a miracle doctor who works from his garage…
Memories from childhood fail to reconcile an old photo featuring an unidentified cryptid…
Archaic gym equipment proves treacherous…
A teen boy is plunged into a nightmarish realm known as Eden…
In these six stories, evil abounds, ready to defile.

This was a quaint and strange collection of short stories with some being more successful than others. Overall I enjoyed Nolan Bailey’s writing style but for me even though ‘defilement’ was apparently the overarching theme throughout the stories I didn’t feel enough of a link/similar vibe between them all which made reading them a little disjointed and stand alone-ish which for me took away from the book as a whole.

DNF at 37%

All the stories are about queer people getting killed, maimed, or worse. I was expecting more and I could not carry on reading the other tales. It did not work for me, but it might please readers who are into graphic violence.

While I really enjoyed a couple of these stories, for the most part they missed the mark for me. The writing style was a bit overdone, sadly. I love horror, but this just didn’t do it for me!

A short story collection some entries are stronger than others. For me the book seemed to lose steam somewhat a few stories in. I felt it had the potential for more. It isn't personally to my tastes but may be to someone else.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think this book was unfairly read during a reading slump, which means I took forever and don't remember all of the stories. However, the queer rep in these stories was 10/10! There was a good creep factor in most, and I definitely enjoyed this. I do think that maybe short stories are not my favorite format for any genre. 3/5!

I love horror, but somehow this one wasn't for me. The stories (the ones I read, at least) were all about horrible things happening to queer people, and I wasn't down for that. I mean, I knew of course that this was a queer anthology, but somehow didn't think the "horrors" would include couples being torn apart, and lives being upended horribly. I get enough of that in mainstream media.

Really did not enjoy the short stories. None of the stories feel fleshed out and could work on improvement. Each story waited until the end to really hit that 'horror' mark which honestly made me wish for more.

Entertainingly chilling collection of shorts! It delivers what you want with great execution and buildup. The queer rep was much appreciated as well.

Upon reading the trigger warning list I decided against reading this book as its themes and subject matter weren't for me unfortunately.

Defilement and Other Stories is a collection of six horror short stories, set primarily in our world, wich gives the book a contemporary and modern feeling, while still feeling like classic horror. The stories takes on daily horrors, things we face as human beings every day, like jealousy, religious bigotry, trans and homophobia etc. Overall, I really enjoyed this collection. I the writing is nice, the ideas and characters are well done, the book is atmospheric and immersive and I appreciated the subtle connections the stories sometimes had to each other, but I just didn't connect with the characters or the stories themselves as much as I wanted to. Sometimes the stories took a while to get into and some of them could have been fleshed out a bit more.

Most of the stories has LGBTQ+ rep which always is a huge plus from me, and I really appreciated the trigger warnings for each story in the beginning of the book.

Thank you to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

a great book with some interesting stories. I enjoyed some more then other but none were terrible and worth a read

Defilement and Other Stories

This was a really cool compilation of new horror stories based on some classic, tried and true, horror themes. All in all, a quick read with some fairly gruesome, highly imaginative tales! In this collection there are detailed depictions of gore, profanity, and definitely death.

Please read the trigger/content warnings for each story directly following the preface.

From the author, “If such things are not to your liking, I suggest you close this book and go about your life. No one will judge you for it.” Challenge Accepted.

Loved it. Compulsively readable! This could easily be read in one-sitting.

The writing is fascinating and so descriptive! I loved this quote from the first story, Digging:

“Bones… so near the surface. Not deep, but shallow, like they’d clawed their way up in defiance to the caked layers of time, unwilling to stay sealed in the depths where others of its kind lay in death.”

If you enjoy horror, I recommend checking this one out!

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for access to this title for my honest opinions.

Defilement and Other Stories by Jesse Nolan Bailey is a collection of six horror short stories. Overall, I really enjoyed this collection. The only thing that annoyed me a little bit (and this is purely down to personal preference) was that some of the stories took a while to really get into the interesting parts, and then ended quite abruptly. Apart from that, the collection was great. The writing, the ideas, the characters, were all very well done and I couldn’t put the book down.

My favourite story definitely was ‘Petting Zoo’. I just love stories centred around abandoned places, especially something as weird as this petting zoo. ‘deathshed’ and ‘Digging’ would be a close second and third place.

I’d recommend this book to everyone who likes horror stories, especially if you’re looking for some with LGBTQ rep in them.

I just finished defilement and other short stories by Jesse Nolan Bailey

6 stories of pure evil…a collection of short horror stories all of which feature a little more disturbing content with each bite.

OK, I am not one for short stories but these, holy heck! Worth the read. Cleverly done and has a little LGBTQ rep in them which was nice. Had me on the edge of my seat a lot and well worth the few hours I sat and read them all in one go. I usually like more meat to my bones hence why I don’t usually do the short stories thing but I had to. The synopsis had me curious and I am so glad I made the decision to take a read!
If you love short horror stories, this is it. The one you have been waiting for.

4 stars, I just needed a little more.
Thank you netgalley and booksgosocial for my review copy!

Definitely a fun collection of stories. Nothing really stood out to me but I really had a good time going through it. Excited to see what the author puts out next.

I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley. I expected a lot from this collection of short stories but I don't feel fulfilled. Like many others, I felt as if many of these short stories felt unfinished. The writing style of the author is great, don't get me wrong, in the way he can convey how some of the characters are feeling and their dialogue feels natural but its just that some of the stories felt unfinished, like there wasn't an idea how to end some of them. Overall not bad because I know it can be hard to get an organic feel in dialogue and Bailey does this well but the stories themselves could have more "oomph" to them.