We All Have Teeth by C A Yates
Publisher – Fox Spirit
Published – Out Now
Price - £8.99 paperback £3.99 Kindle eBook
Welcome to the worlds of C.A. Yates, where fish sing, bikinis kill, and we all have teeth.
Open the door and step inside; you'll need a cup of tea to survive.
We all have teeth collects together many of the works of short fiction of C.A. Yates from previous anthologies and includes some new works first published here.
I do love a good short story collection. I am looking for good stories; the ability to mix themes and styles yet also can I tell this is the same author? I am very happy to tell you Gentle Reader that I definitely enjoyed the new collection We All Have Teeth by C A Yates which is charged, funny, strange and on occasion unsettling reading. What more can anyone want?
In this collection I particularly the following stories
Go Forth In the Dance of the Merrymakers – the world is ending but our narrator has to ensure someone pays for their many crimes. This dark revenge story pulses with strange imagery of people going crazy in the final hours of the earth and some who use that situation to their own gains. Bloody, eerie, and creepy. It was a great and powerful visceral opening tale!
Tuna Surprise! – A really unique world with an underwater cast of talking fish but this is not a Disney story instead there is a backstage mystery to be solved by a young tuna from the chorus line but dark magics and evil can be found anywhere. Inventive, bizarre, tragic and just a little bit funny!
Tonight, You Belong to Me – a angel and a demon battle in out in our world to prevent/start a new rite and change the world. A tale told from a demon’s perspective is angry, frenetic and surprising. I really liked the energy this short tale managed in a few pages
A Treacherous Thing – a tale of shapeshifters, spies and revenge. This tale leaves a lot for the reader to out together as the story is told in a non-linear fashion. I loved the lead charcetr voice and the tale is quite stand-out unusual. Very compelling!
How To Be The Perfect Housewife – One of my favourites and it is a gut-punchinf piece of horror as a wrong character seeks revenge. Chilling in so many ways and great at subervetig expectations. Worth the price of the collection alone
The City Is Of Night, But Not of Sleep – Two aliens crash in a deserted city on a remote planet. A tale of nasty surprises and people finally giving in to their darkest urges or perhaps not?
A Kick In The Head – this story starts as a noir tale where a woman is sent on a mission to send a kid to the train station but is filled with surprises and gets bloodier and nastier as it progresses. A lot of fun and another of my favourites!
Maggie and the Cat – Another disturbing tale of revenge filled with strange imagery and violence. Powerful and bewitching
The Most Tragic And Implausible Fate of Mary I – A Demonic Soliloquy – A very funny strange tale of a demon who has knowledge of our own time trying to avoid being exorcised while in the body of Queen Mary I. It is delightfully offbeat, funny and works so much better than you would expect!
The Devil’s Haemorrhoids – As well as a fantastic title this tale of a expedition at sea that goes horribly wrong has a lovely bit of eerier body horror. The punchline of the title will make sense soon enough. Very well-crafted horror indeed
This is a very well written constantly surprising collection of strange tales to unnerve you or make you laugh, sometimes at the same time! Yates has an amazing ability to find character voice to people you don’t usually see in fiction and their stories all happen in worlds that are places that feel true even when they are not at all likely to be real. Highly recommended and a name to watch for in the future!
