Still Water
A downloadable book
I knew going into the forest against mama’s wishes was a bad idea. Something terrible is festering inside of me now, and the older I get, the stronger he gets. Him and I are going to make it out of this town one way or another.
Still Water is a 2.5 short story about the holy body of a trans person, and the small town that should fear them.
Still Water builds its horror slowly and methodically, and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading. It is an excellent portrayal of body horror, with gorgeous and disturbing imagery and the kind of body-otherness that I think a lot of gender non-conforming people will understand and resonate with deeply.
— mars adler, author of EYETOOTH
H.S. Wolfe has crafted a story that sticks to your skin like wet summer humidity and freshly spilled vital fluids, leaving you with no other option but to embrace the 'otherness' inside you and shed that which craves an often cruel comfortability. Still Water is an atmospheric short that I will not forget for a long time, and is a perfect read for the luridly hot seasons.
- Ezra Arndt, author of Awakened Darkness
Content Warnings
Body horror, gore, implied transphobia, implied religious trauma, enforcement of gender roles, vomiting
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A sad and haunting story, with a delicious end celebrating change, about being stuck in an unaccepting environment and how becoming yourself (blooming into yourself, one might say…) sometimes requires a big change of self and situation. I love fungal horror and this story explores that very well, especially the intimacy that comes with symbiosis. The body horror was also done really well and delicious. While this is only a short morsel, I really enjoyed the atmospheric writing and the exploration of stifling rural life. Very, very fun to read!
A truly amazing short story that I found myself relating to so so SO much. Both as someone who's trans and as someone who comes from a small village in the countryside of East Europe. While my family wasn't religious, everyone else around me was and it definitely infected my perception of who I can be. And when I managed to escape aka to move for university, I also felt like the main character, shedding my skin and blooming into a new person that's been begging to be let free for so long.
As someone who had the immense pleasure of being able to read this early (and blurb it), I am so excited to read it again!
Thank you angel <3