Its time once again for 3 Picks! This week, 3 Picks features author Kenzie Jennings. Kenzie is the author of the stomach-churning novel, RECEPTION and the Splatterpunk Award nominated, RED STATION, both available from Death's Head Press.
Kenzie enjoys playing in the gore. Maybe enjoying it a little too much. Where there's blood dripping, Kenzie is sure to be found. Who better to get 3 Picks for the goriest reads she can come up with? If there's one person who can point you in the splatteriest of directions, its Kenzie Jennings. So let's check out her 3 Picks for Goriest Reads:
Pick 1. Full Brutal by Kristopher Triana.
I like to think of Full Brutal as the "better" version of American Psycho in that Triana doesn't overwrite a damned thing. In a nutshell, the protagonist, Kim White, is a suicidal, wholly apathetic cheerleader who entertains herself by psychologically manipulating and tormenting various people in her life. She later discovers that it's a real turn on when she hurts her victims. Really hurts her victims. I don't know what's more disturbing, Kim and everything she gets away with, or the fact I kept turning the page, wanting to see what was next on her list of nasty deeds and...well, just how big she'd go. I wasn't disappointed.
Pick 2. DOA III ed. Marc Ciccarone
I’ll readily admit to not having caught up in this particular series of anthologies from Blood Bound Books, but then again, I’ve only recently joined the extreme horror community, so obviously, I’ve some catching up to do. Anyway, DOA III has a bit of everything for those readers who aren’t satisfied with the little dab of blood here and there in Stephen King’s work. From painfully nasty fetishes to demented acts of vengeance, this anthology won’t let the gore hounds down whatsoever. It not only contains work from masters of horror such as Edward Lee, Jack Ketchum, John Skipp, and Bentley Little, DOA III will also introduce you to potential new favorites like Betty Rocksteady (her story, “These Beautiful Bones,” is probably my favorite out of them all), Shaun McKenzie, Kristopher Rufty, and Ryan Harding. Enjoy…but don’t eat anything while you’re reading. Trust me.
Pick 3. Books of Blood (omnibus) by Clive Barker.
Barker’s grotesque imagery alone is the stuff of surreal nightmares, and while I certainly could’ve gone with nearly any of his horror books, I think the entire collection of his short stories in Books of Blood would satisfy the most depraved of us quite well. My particular favorites include “Jacqueline Ess: Her Wiill and Testament,” “How Spoilers Bleed,” and “In the Hills, the Cities,” all of which contain some truly horrific body horror. A must for gorehounds and horrorphiles and everyone in-between.
Honorable mentions for the total sicko in you:
Suffer the Flesh by Monica J. O'Rourke.
O'Rourke's novel cleverly takes a topical issue - in this case, weight loss mania and diet culture - and turns it into a batshit ordeal for her protagonist, Zoey Masterson, who finds herself roped into a weight loss "experience" the likes of which would have the Marquis de Sade running for the hills. Suffer the Flesh is unadulterated torture porn. There's no doubt about it. There are things in it you will never be able to "unsee." O'Rourke amps up the dramatic (and gory) tension halfway through the ride when she tosses in a twisty turn, and the novel instantly shifts into full-on survival horror.
Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison.
I just finished reading Morrison’s novella last night, and I think you’ll need to be in a certain, awful state of mind to get through it. It’s an… anti-love…love story about two hospital employees, a sociopathic security guard and an opiate-dependent obstetrician, who bond over their respective, twisted fetishes. Think of the sickest, most depraved things one can do in a hospital…dial it to eleven…and you’ll have Morrison’s premise in a nutshell. There’s absolutely nothing to redeem either of them, but you’re not there to witness these two monsters find redemption in their soulless lives. You’re there because you can’t believe what’s happening IS happening. It’s perfectly morbid in every way.
See, Kenzie Jennings is so about the gore that she couldn't limit herself to 3 Picks. We'll let it slide. I don't wanna suffer the consequences of suggesting she broke the rules. After all, she also wrote gory stories worthy of being part of anyone's 3 Picks for Gory Reads.
Follow Kenzie Jennings at kenziejennings.com or Twitter: @kenzieblyjay and Instagram: kenziejennings2
