I was playing around with Apple Intelligence (I remain unconvinced), trying out the “Writing Skills” function (it didn’t work: “Writing Tools Not Available”!) and I accidentally deleted my review of this collection. 

In one sense it’s a shame because I wrote some pithy, well thought through shit, all of those 1s and 0s now gone forever. In another sense it’s not an issue because I wrote an 800 word review of She’s Always Hungry for Locus and all I need to do, if Apple Intelligence doesn’t fuck me over, is post a couple of excerpts from that review. Obviously not the whole thing because my Masters at Locus would lose their shit and because I’d rather you subscribe to the magazine, a magazine that I feel honoured writing for.

So, here are some excerpts:

Eliza Clark has been on my radar for several years since her debut novel, Boy Parts, was released by Influx Press in 2020, followed by her best-selling second novel, Penance… Her eclectic first collection, She’s Always Hungry, which gathers eleven stories that run the genre gamut, felt like the perfect introduction to her work.

Clark doesn’t hold back with the collection’s opening piece, “Build a Body Like Mine.” Presented as an advertorial promoting a new weight-loss supplement, the story tackles body dysmorphia in a way that is both confronting and nauseating, particularly when the true nature of the product is revealed.   

“The Problem Solver” isn’t as visceral as “Build a Body Like Mine” or “Shake Well,” but it’s no less challenging. The story deals with sexual violence, though we are spared the details of the abuse. The piece is instead about the aftermath as Juliet’s friend Oscar drags her to the local pub so he can confront and beat the shit out of Juliet’s abuser. It’s a canny, if not cynical, piece about “white knighting”, with Oscar making things worse, deepening Juliet’s trauma.   

Clark also has a wicked sense of humour. “The Shadow Over Little Chitaly” is easily one of the funniest stories I’ve read in years—to the degree that my wife thought something was wrong with me as I struggled to catch my breath from all the laughing.

Equally funny, but with lashings of cannibalism and gore, is “The King”… which tells the story of an apex predator, the last of her species, whose father once ruled Earth before their kind wiped themselves out. Now, working as a marketing executive for a mobile phone company, she spends her day watching porn at work and eating human flesh at home while awaiting the end of the world.   

The joy of reading She’s Always Hungry lies in never knowing what kind of story you’ll encounter next. Whether dark and cruel, absurd and hilarious, thoughtful and bittersweet, or operatic and apocalyptic, Clark’s variety keeps you on your toes. I’m now eyeing off those novels; I just have to find the time to read them   

[She’s Always Hungry is already out in the world. My full review will be out come January time].