This was a fun, punchy cosmic horror novella that I was able to devour in a day. It reminded me a bit of a dark version Third Rock from the Sun with a hint of American Rapture by C.J Leede. Not for the faint stomach, the body horror was front and center in the story telling. I liked that the creatures were a bit ambiguous and their back story wasn’t entirely explained. I think that added to the horror of it all. I have not read a ton of cosmic horror, but this story makes me want to explore the sub-genre further. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

My Name isn’t Paul is a quick, entertaining novella. Paul is a Mirror Person, born as a bug nestled inside a dead person’s body along with a hundred other bugs. After his emergence, he takes on the identity and “skin suit” of a married man named Paul and tries to occupy his life and embody a human.

Except he’s not a human, and he hates that about himself. He fights against his natural urges and fights against community with his litter mates, until he can’t any longer. Things get gory, hormonal and messy.

I enjoyed my time spent with this ARC and thank the publisher & NetGalley for providing it to me.

It started out good, but around the halfway mark the writing got a bit too confusing for me. Somewhere around Axa's chapter it became a bit more interesting for me, but not enough for a higher rating unfortunately. Might have been better as an actual novel rather than a novella, because things were happening far too quickly, and all at once.

I was curious about what this book was about, from the description I thought it could be a literary take on horror, exploring what being human means and all that. However, it wasn't that at all, the story is exactly what it says it is. And although the mistake was on my part, this means I didn't enjoy the story at all, had it been any longer I would probably not have finished it.

This book is like a train wreck, I couldn’t look away. What the fuck??? A gruesome fever dream. I hate bugs and raw meat, so why did I like this???

My Name Isn’t Paul by Drew Huff follows Paul, whose name isn’t Paul.

Paul died years ago and the entity that’s been living Paul’s life is having a nervous breakdown. He’s questioning his life, his choices, and his natural instincts.

What follows is a wild ride of stomach-turning horror.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 3.5 out of five!
I really loved how empathetic these Eldritch beings are. I actually felt sorry for them. Usually, stories like this are from the humans point of view and I really appreciated that we read it from the monster’s point of view.

A deeply (in)human tale about reproductive anxiety.

Paul is a human. A human man. A human man with a wife. The only problem is Paul isn’t human. Or a man. Or even Paul. He does have a wife though. Paul’s biggest problem, its the idea of kids. See unlike other bugs, Paul is pretty happy with his human life. And having kids, the biological impetus for bugs like Paul, it's basically a death sentence. It's definitely the end of his human life as he knows it.

The writing here won’t be for everyone. The more humorous beats wore a little thin for me, but the underlying themes really resonated with me.

My biggest issue with this book was the pacing. I saw some other readers say that they thought the book started off strong and sort of fizzled out. I had the exact opposite experience. I found the first section to drag, but once I hit the second and third sections, I found it much more enjoyable. There was a particular section that was only about two pages toward the end of the book that I thought could’ve been a much bigger plot point without feeling bloated or too on the nose.

All in all, a bit of a mixed bag, but there’s promise here. There’s also genuine human emotion, in a somewhat genuine human skinsuit.

I think where My Name Isn’t Paul succeeded was more in concept and less in execution. The premise was so intriguing, and if there’s anything I love most, it’s a horror novella with a unique plot. This had all the makings of something I would enjoy, but unfortunately I lost interest relatively quickly. I didn’t love the back and forth between characters - it felt disjointed, off-putting, and repetitive, and I just found that I wasn’t caring about what happened to them. That’s not to say that I need characters to behave a particular way - I don’t necessarily need to root for anyone to enjoy a story, but I at least need to be entertained, and unfortunately this wasn’t it for me.

“My Name Isn’t Paul” is a funny, original novella, and I credit Drew Huff for such a creative plot. However, even though this book is short, I found it hard to get through- the writing isn’t bad but at times feels stilted or repetitive. This isn’t the author’s fault, but this could have easily been 4 stars with another round of editing. Will absolutely be reading more by this author, it’s just a shame this one didn’t quite meet my expectations.

Another banger from Drew Huff! I first noticed the cover and absolutely loved it. Then I saw it was by Drew Huff, and I knew I had to read it! I really liked this novella. I thought the bugs/alien/mirror people were a very original idea. I was so engrossed in the story, it was hard for me to do anything else because I had to know what was going on with Paul/Uxon. I’ll definitely be recommending this novella!

This was really weird, but I think I liked it. It was a really interesting story, I think if you like weird horror, you'd like this. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending though. It felt like the main character's decision didn't make any sense.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC!

My Name Isn’t Paul is a short and sweet novella of a bug-like being living on earth in a stolen skin suit having an existential crisis. As he approaches his heat, the period of time which his species is able to mate and reproduce, he finds himself trying to reject this biological imperative and cling to his humanity. Of course, it all goes wrong.

I enjoyed this story! It was funnier than I expected, and I enjoyed the anthropomorphizing of eldritch bug beings as a chain smoker from New Jersey or a middle aged salesman from the Mid-Atlantic. Some aspects could have been developed more, such as the concept and existence of The Old One, and how exactly Paul went into heat. However, it was enjoyable for what it was, and provides an interesting perspective on parenthood as a biological need and the violence of child rearing.

Absolutely no one writes like Drew Huff.

Not-Paul is Mirror Person disguising himself as a human. He has a complicated relationship with his identity and the idea of reproducing- what’s the point if his babies have to hide who they are? He has a friend close to him end his own life over this idea and it sends Paul into a breakdown.

This was otherworldly and felt like an alien fever dream and I was enthralled!

I loved this little novella, it was so much fun and I haven’t read anything like it before. The writing style was unique and the details suitably gruesome. I couldn’t put this book down.

Paul is a creature who inhabits the skin and life of a middle-aged vacuum salesman. He has a not-so-small case of self-loathing, which is particularly problematic when he goes into heat and is fighting the urge to breed, whilst becoming exactly who he never wanted to be.

This is an emotional book that covers themes of identity and loss, and you really feel the conflict inside Paul throughout. He’s just a creature muddling his way through a strange world, trying to avoid bug spray and killing people.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in return for an honest review.

A quick, weird read! I was really intrigued by the premise of this novella, I love the cover and had recently heard about it, so was very excited when I was able to read it early!

This definitely lives up to it's blurb of being an Eldrich cosmic horror and the descriptions were fantastic. I could picture the creatures and yet couldn't 100% grasp everything about them at the same time. The characters were interesting - Paul / Uxon's self-denial, self-loathing and fear of his own actions were at once funny, sad and disturbing. So much body horror and many gross descriptions, this read isn't for those with a weak stomach!

I was left wanting more - the blurb details almost every event in the story, so there wasn't much else left to discover. Despite it being so short it sometimes felt repetitive. It lingered far more on reproduction than I expected it to, which I didn't love. I would have preferred to have met more of Uxon's species, spent more time with them growing through their larvae state and his becoming Paul - for me that's where the intrigue lay. The amount of swearing, while not a problem for me usually in what I read, felt repetitive and a bit out of place in the vocabulary of an alien species.

Overall I'm glad I read this book, it was interesting! I'm not sure this author is for me (their other stories seem to follow the same themes of creatures inhabiting humans / assuming human identities and reproduction. But it was fun to explore more cosmic horror!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of "My Name Isn't Paul" by Drew Huff.

"My Name Isn't Paul" is.... a fascinating book about a parasitic alien bug that lives inside human bodies. "Skinsuits" if you will. It's about their lives, living, dying, and being in heat to make babies.

Truthfully, I just don't think this type of story is it for me. I didn't love it and struggled to keep up or imagine what these creatures would look like, and I think I struggled trying to connect or relate to the characters.

It's interesting, it's imaginative and creative, and it's well done. I think if you're into the idea and are better at reading horror/fantasy type books, you will love it. It just wasn't for me.

Paul is a mirror person and has been living as a human for years now quite successfully. However, he is reminded that his body will soon betray him and force him into heat were he will lose his humanity. This is quite distressing for him as he hates being a mirror person and does not want to produce more of his kind.

I really enjoyed reading this, I'm glad the author revisited the world from The Divine Flesh. While it's less disturbing than TDF, it still has the same weirdness and compelling characters. The concept of losing yourself to something you cannot control is always unsettling and the author executed is quite well. I definitely recommend this one.

My Name Isn't Paul is a strange novella that makes for a quick read. I loved the premise and I loved the quirky eldritch creature that is Paul. Saying that, I wasn't blown away by this book and I don't think it was the best thing I've ever read but I did enjoy reading this and would recommend to anyone who likes something a little bit weird and different to read.

An exquisitely weird sci-fi novella.
The story starts off pretty straightforward: Paul is not Paul, he's a bug-like being that stole Paul's body and life in the attempt to live as a human. But he's not human. He's trying to suppress his instincts, his nature, his true self. He's scared of those things. "Is it worth it? Is it moral?", he asks. The story spirals into chaos when not-Paul goes out of control, suppression turned mating-killing frenzy, and his true self finally breaks free. He embraces his nature. It's a story about love, really.

I LOVED this story!
What is this about? Fantastic question, you have to read it to find out though 😂

Highly highly recommend, I will be reading this author's other books 👀


Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.