This was a quick and easy horror short story collection that I really enjoyed. All were well written and all had an unexpected element to them.

Short stories with a difference, an underlying plot that carries through each story. Normally I find short stories less interesting since there’s not enough substance to enjoy, through each story the connection to the rest become clearer and clearer and ultimately make a full story in divided sections. The lgbtq+ representation was a excellent addition and fell naturally into the rhythm of the plot. Overall I gave this book three out of five stars - the writing was sometimes overly descriptive and focused more on metaphors than the characters, the stories although connecting could’ve been explored further and developed into a much more explanatory ending.

[Blurb goes here]

This is a collection of stories from Jesse Nolan Bailey. As it often happens, some of the stories are great, and some feel unfinished. Let me tell you about a few of them, the ones that lingered on.

The first one deals with a father and son, the kid unearths the bones of what he thinks is a dinosaur. When his dad looks at the find, he feels anxious, he wants the bones buried again.

One of the following, deals with a doctor that will torture his victims to 'cure' them, but not everyone can be 'cured', so it ends in disaster. This one was great!

And one I enjoyed thoroughly, follows a woman, who, after finding an old photograph of herself, when she was just a kid, drives to Florida to find out the truth behind the disturbing picture. This one slowly captures you, unfortunately, I didn't enjoyed the ending. No gore, no deaths, just an unsatisfactory conclusion.

Most of the stories deal with couples, while one of the members is riddled with anxiety, the other is sure of him or herself. Something that got too old, too soon.

While I enjoyed the read, I didn't like some of the endings, specially when things where getting scary. Mind you, a few where obvious from the start. You don't have to be a mind reader to know where things are going.

I do recommend this book for horror fans, it has the atmosphere, the gore and the creepiness level to satisfy.

a haunting collection of short shories that was well written and fulfills the tick marks when it comes to mixing it up with occult and other gruesome themes. it had the exact effect of what i was after, it instills a sort of paranoia after you've read them, uncomfortable, but hyperaware of the littlest details around you.
my favourites would definitely be digging, deathshed and petting zoo. i enjoyed this book alot !
thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has ben ready for spooky season! I really enjoyed Bailey's descriptive writing and extraordinary story telling skills. It's refreshing to see LGBTQ representation in the horror genre. 4/5.
Thank you so much to BooksGoSocial & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A truly defiling, disturbing, bone-chilling (and fossilizing) collection of stories that will grip you and keep you burning that midnight oil.

After reading the preface and the trigger warnings I ultimately decided not to read the stories. I applaud you for including them, especially the detailed trigger warning, I especially liked the preface’s balance of humour and seriousness.

To label Defilement as horror is entirely accurate, no lies were detected. That said, I appreciated that there was a list of trigger warnings available at the beginning of the collection - while I love horror, there are certain things I appreciate knowing in advance, and being able to reference the triggers for each story was very helpful.

I also appreciated that most of the characters were LGBT+ in some way, shape or form - there aren't enough LGBT characters in horror, in my opinion, and while "Garage Doctor" wasn't one of my favorite stories in the collection, its depiction of the <spoiler>horrors of homophobia and Islamophobia, and the fact that the ultimate, most basic horror of the story <em>was</em> said prejudice, weird creepy tentacle things be damned</spoiler>, was surprising to see, but was not unwelcome at all. I didn't really <em>like</em> that specific tale per se - it just wasn't what I tend to vibe with - but it wasn't because of those particular story elements. It was brutal to read, and I wish it didn't have any real-world influences, but I know it does.

That said, the standouts for me were "deathshed" and "Petting Zoo." I appreciate a good mind-screw and - usually - love lack of explanation, because for some reason I love it when a story leaves me wanting and gives me few or little answers, or hints at something just enough that I wonder about it obsessively before I get distracted by the next thing. I was mildly concerned that the triggers listed in "Petting Zoo" would be too much for me, but it was nowhere as gory or... nasty... as I was expecting.

The rest of the stories were okay - none of them were bad, none of them were softly-whispered "whoa" amazing. Several of them have very Lovecraftian elements - incomprehensible evil in absurd and inhuman forms - which, if that's your thing, and you also really liked <em>Saw</em> and maybe <em>Tusk</em> (me personally - I liked <em>Saw</em>, but cannot watch <em>Tusk</em> because I read the Wikipedia article and know for a fact it would sit in my brain in a Bad Way) you might like this collection. It's solid, especially for horror fans who like more physical horror and gore than strictly psychological or supernatural. Give it a shot!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

This quick read would be perfect for fans of Sam J. Miller or Clive Barker as it features grizzly and shocking short, horror, fiction with a decidedly queer bent. This brief collection is perfect as an appetizer as we head into Autumn and soon, October, the height of literary spooky season.

As in any short story collection some entries are stronger than others. For me the book seemed to lose steam somewhat as it went on, (the beginning three stories Digging, deathshed, and Garage Door were my favorites), and recover a bit at the end (of the later entries, Petting Zoo was my favorite premise, Torture Device was a bit of a miss for me, and Defilement was compelling if disorientating and a bit of a slog at times). But taken altogether this new book is certainly worth being given a chance and I’d look forward to reading anything else the author puts out.

Dark, disturbing, tense and a little bit disgusting. A great set of short stories, each left me wanting a little more in a good way. Enjoyed this!

I was given an ARC of this book and I really enjoyed reading it, I made it though it in a single sitting, The stories do exactly what you want a horror story to do. They keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next. I love the subtle tie ins from one story to the next. I will definitely be buying a copy for my collection when it comes out.

3 stars, some of the stories were good, but most were just meh. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of stories so I'll do my best to break it down and do each justice.

Our first story, DIGGING, was an interesting choice to open with. It didn't really feel complete to me and I felt robbed.

Story number two: deathshed. While I wished for more of why in fact the main character recieved the magazine in the first place(it's glazed over, but not all that satisfying) it had a good plot. The ending again left me wanting more as it still felt incomplete. Incomplete to me means it leaves me with more questions than I even started with.

Our third and most harrowing tale: GARAGE DOCTOR. It made me uncomfortable rather than scared or fearful, but it was one of the stronger stories of this collection. A well thought out villain and "closure" was achieved.

PETTING ZOO comes next and was by far my favorite of the collection. It had suspense, that feeling of gaslighting I love in horror, and a well perceived villain. By far my favorite and would so recommend a read of this one.

TORTURE DEVICE: uh....wtf did I just read?(not in a good way)

Defilement: a strong second favorite after petting zoo. Perhaps because of it's length which allowed me to connect more with the characters and care about the outcome. While it had a very Cabin in the Woods-esk ending, I can only imagine what happened next. Hopefully the author will write a follow up so we can see where it goes.

Overall this collection was more of a miss than a hit for me, but I didn't hate it. An even three stars and recommendation for readers who like short horror stories.

Defilement and Other Stories is a collection of short horror stories all of which feature queer, gore characters (other than the last one) and poignant themes that relate to current events. I enjoyed this collection of stories, although it was not my favorite. Many of the stories spoke about queer community, love, and rage. Garage Doctor was my personal favorite, and I truly enjoyed the Deathshed theme running throughout the stories. I would personally be happy to read an entire book revolving around it. Most of the stories, however, I felt came up close to the point and didn't quite hit it. I'm not sure entirely how to articulate it, but I wish they could have gone just a little further. I did enjoy the stories and would recommend though to anyone who can handle the trigger warnings.

i would give this book of short stories 3/5 stars. I liked the deathshed theme through a couple of the stories and thought that was clever. My favorite story was Petting Zoo and my least favorite was Garage Doctor. I didn't think the majority of the stories were particularly scary but they were entertaining and I appreciate the opportunity to read them. Thank you.

I received a copy of this book through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Although this book only has six stories the author was definitely going for a quality over quantity and succeeded. When reviewing an anthology I always like to say which story was my favorite but between digger and Petting Zoo or Garage Doctor in any of the other three it would be a hard task to pick one. Every story represents someone from the LGBTQ community and I thought represented them nicely. I can’t say enough about this book if you love horror then you definitely need to read “defilement and other stories,“ by the author Jesse Nolan Bailey it truly is a terrifying and awesome breed. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

3 stars

This was a pretty good collection of short stories. Pretty gory for my personal taste but it will definitely appeal to those that enjoy it.
Some hit the mark others did not, but I suppose that’s how it goes with short stories.
Overall a quick and easy read that will appeal to many horror fans.

3.5 stars

Defilement and Other Stories left me with an overall sense of “almost, but not quite”. Bailey’s writing is compelling and there were some exciting ideas in this book- I especially loved some of the implications in the anthology closer, Defilement. Some of those ideas just never seemed to develop as far as I hoped they would, or they got a bit dulled by other story elements that I didn't find as interesting (incidentally, Defilement is the story that comes most to mind when I say that).

The stories tend to rely too much on gore for my taste, but not so much as to have a huge effect on my final rating, and also not so much as to lose any mass appeal. I would highly recommend potential readers read the content warnings Bailey was kind enough to include at the beginning of the book. I used them to decide what order to read the stories in, starting with the stories I figured I’d not enjoy quite as much. Even the goriest offering, Torture Device, still had something for me to enjoy. I couldn’t help but get a bit of a dark chuckle out of that one.

Digging, the collection opener, had the most visceral effect on me, undoubtedly due to my own experiences being part of a military family. Even without that extra dose of empathetic response, I felt that was an especially strong start. While the book may not have kept up that same momentum, in my own opinion, there wasn’t a single story that I felt was especially weak or that I can say I outright disliked. Garage Doctor was a definite stand-out. I wish I could’ve gotten a bit more from deathshed, but I got a real kick out of how Bailey referred back to that story in Petting Zoo.

Overall, this was a quick, enjoyable read that I feel would appeal to a large audience, with the best fit being readers that appreciate the gorier aspects of horror most.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC! I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley
This collection of short stories was exactly what I wanted from horror as a genre. Some of the aspects are predictable, but what's fascinating is not the ending of the stories, but the unexpected ways to get to the finale of them. Along with that, there was something almost comforting about the normalization of queerness in horror, and the knowledge that it is exactly the same for queer people to undergo terrifying atrocities as it is for cishet people.

Not my typical genre but I decided to give it try. 6 different creepy stories. The writing is very vivid and gory. Being a fan of watching horror, I wasn't sure I'd enjoy reading it, but my interest was held thru the darkness of each tale.