| Title | : | Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , Audiobook & More |
| Number of Pages | : | 196 |
| Publication | : | Published June 21, 2022 |
It’s time to reclaim the “f” word.
Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology Reviews
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I feel like I should preface this review by saying that Diet Riot was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, not only because I love the editors who compiled this anthology, but also because positive fat rep in horror is so rare! I adore the horror genre, always have and always will, but it'd be lying if I said that it isn't historically unkind to anyone who isn't thin and able-bodied. An entire anthology subverting that by giving us fat protagonists, some of whose stories are directly impacted by their sizes while others are simply mentioned in passing, just to remind us that these people exist and deserve stories, too — I loved everything about this idea.
Unfortunately, though... Diet Riot didn't always deliver what I hoped it would. While a few stories in the collection stood out as absolute delights, I was dismayed by how many of the stories I didn't enjoy much, for one reason or another (anticlimactic endings, mediocre writing, etc.) — perhaps the most common reason being that I wanted so much more horror from these stories, but several of them felt more like fantasy or "horror lite". I'm not a fan of the gatekeeping "it didn't scare me, so it isn't horror" rhetoric we see in the community so often, but this isn't about that. A few of these stories simply just didn't feel like they fit in a horror anthology to me, and I was let down by that.
Negatives aside, there were a few stories I absolutely adored in this collection (and I promise it wasn't intentional that 2 of the 3 favorites I'm going to list were the editors' own contributions, but they really were that good!):• 'The Lake House' by Nico Bell: Gorgeous, sad, and downright terrifying. We do love a good revenge story.
• 'The Floor is Lava' by Nikki R. Leigh: A group of roller derby girls getting trapped in a cemetery as a meteor shower turns deadly — this was somehow equal parts endearing and disgusting, and I loved the characters.
• 'Easy Bake' by Sonora Taylor: I'm a sucker for fucked up contest/game plots, and I love a good baking competition, so it's no surprise that the final story in this collection was my favorite of them all.
While Diet Riot wasn't a total win for me, I'm happy to have discovered some new authors I want to read more work from, and most of all, I'm elated to have seen so much diverse body representation within these pages. I still highly recommend grabbing a copy of this anthology, and I hope Nico and Sonora will co-edit more collections together in the future, because I'll be happily there to read those, too!
✨ Representation: all protagonists are fat; multiple queer protagonists and side characters; multiple BIPOC protagonists and side characters
✨ Content warnings for:
Thank you to the editors for the review copy! All thoughts are honest and my own.
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Such a refreshing anthology! My favorite genre has traditionally had one main issue & it’s the portrayal of fat characters. I’m happy to say there is none of that here. The stories and writing varies widely, but there’s bound to be something for pretty much anyone here. I used to get picked on for being fat when I was younger (looking back I realize that wasn’t true, although ironically, I most definitely am now-and still more comfortable in my own skin than I’ve ever been). I wish I had a collection with stories like these to lean on back then, and I’m very happy that today’s youth will have the option to pick up a book like this. The trollish reactions I saw on Twitter only highlights how important work like this still is. The stories themselves vary in how much emphasis is placed on the fat-aspect; some use it actively in their stories, other times it’s just mentioned in passing. Both are valid- and all avoid the horrible fat tropes of yore. Furthermore, there’s also an impressive amount of inclusivity in general; characters beyond the usual Caucasian one, queer characters++
The issues I had aren’t really issues at all; the stories are vastly different and not all resonated with me.
I enjoyed collection as a whole and I’ve marked my favorites with an “*” below:
-Cinderella and her Demon Godmother (Stephanie Rabig):
A demon center waiting for your calls. Claire was taped against her will while minding her own business and shopping. She’s reached the point where she wants revenge and summons a demon named Lucinda. Or so she thought. Claire has a change of heart and Lucinda takes her out to a restaurant to try to get her to pick vengeance.
-A sweet story about self acceptance and a bit of payback to end things on a happy note. Carries a lovely sense of humour.
-Curious Garden (E.E.E. Christman):*
A weight loss camp where people are going missing and the counselors aren’t quite right. A body snatchery tale which is responsible for the first time I’ve found Spice Up Your Life creepy.
-Blue Hair (Marsheila Rockwell):*
What begins as a sweet story of how Grace and Izzy met soon develops into something sinister. Izzy has 8 cats who hate her, a workspace Grace isn’t welcome in & Grace is coming to suspect that what she’s taken as benign new-agey candle-witchcraft might be something more.
-The Lake House (Nico Bell):*
A lake house & a marriage both falling apart, and the creatures living in the lake who are coming up to play.
-Neon Afterglow (Roxie Voorhees):
An almost lyrical medical horror story set during the AIDS crisis. The real horror here is the ones who took the Hippocratic oath.
-Waterfall (Christi Nogle):
New in town, a girl finds herself inexplicably pulled towards the most popular couple in school. It soon becomes apparent that there’s something they want to share with her. About being mindful about what you wish for.
-The Red Dots in the Window (Judith Baron):
Chloe lands her nemesis’s former job and is happy she won’t need to flip any burgers. Unfortunately for her, the place is haunted and ultimately not worth the $50.
-Fluffers (Die Booth):
Mike is a fluffer; the other kind. The kind that cleans the tracks of the London Underground. He finds a battered camera on one assignment and what he sees on the SD card changed everything. I usually find mice cute, in this story though, not so much.
-Like a Thief in the Night (Kay Hanifen):
A museum heist heist, the ring of King Solomon & a billionaire with less than noble intent. This was a job better left alone for our thief.
-Corpulence (KC Loesener):
Bebe & her friend Tamera are getting dresses for the Winter Formal when they stumble upon a trinket shop of sorts. Bebe ends up with an ivory pendant that comes with a story and an inscription stating that it will grant whatever is in the holder’s eye. Unfortunately Bebe doesn’t really listen to the shop owner.
-The Floor is Lava (Nikki R. Leigh):
The apocalyptic tale of the bunch: A roller derby after-party during a meteor shower turns a real-life game of the Floor is Lava.
-Easy Bake (Sonora Taylor):*
Contestants in a hellish version of the Great Bake Off where you put your life -and flesh- on the line. -
Maybe my expectations were off the mark for this one (I was really hyped) but I was sort of disappointed by how YA and sort of toothless the stories were. I probably would have loved it more if I had been a younger reader.
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This is like nothing I have ever read before! With the first story it makes you sit up a little straighter in your comfy chair as you realize this book of stories is serious business!
When reading any anthology each reader will have their favorites. I enjoyed Fluffers-Die Booth-Train track cleaners find a camera on the tracks along with some torn up clothing. Memory card is inserted into a computer, they realize those pesky mice are much more hungry then they seem… Another that tweaked my antenna was The Lake House-Nico Bell, Curious Garden-EEW Christman and Easy Bake-Sonora Taylor!
This book is represented as fat positive horror tales and it comes with content warnings! Enjoy! -
Featuring my queer medical horror story "Neon Afterglow"
Follows Kirby, a chunky lesbian, as she navigates the AIDS crisis, and finds the real monsters are human. -
This is just so dang good - a fantastic and varied anthology of different voices and tones, all melded together perfectly by the editors. I watched this call go out with interest, and have been anticipating it ever since, not just because of the fantastic folks involved, but because I had no idea how to picture a fat positive story. I didn't know where a person would start, and I'm so happy to learn at the feet of these wonderful story tellers. Every story was excellent, though a few faves included CINDERALLA AND HER DEMON GODMOTHER by Stephanie Rabig, THE LAKE HOUSE by Nico Bell, NEON AFTERGLOW by Roxie Vorhees, THE RED DOTS IN THE WINDOW by Judith Baron, and FLUFFERS by Due Booth (which I would love to see expanded bc I want to know what was going on!)
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DIET RIOT-A Fatterpunk Anthology
Edited by Nico Bell and Sonora Taylor
June 21, 2022
Reviewed by Brian “Skull” Lewis
Hello horror fiends! Welcome back to the Skullcave, where I’ve been reading a very cool collection of stories edited by Nico Bell and Sonora Taylor. Why are they cool? Well, because these stories show plus-sized people in a positive light. Instead of being made fun of or having their bodies be what makes them bad, Diet Riot celebrates bounteous bodies and makes them something to be proud of. Diversity is what makes the world a great place. Forcing others to fit one person’s concept of beauty is way too prevalent in our society and it’s wrong, damn it! That’s why the editors dedicated Diet Riot to: “Everyone who ever felt like they don’t belong.”
This cool, fatterpunk anthology starts off with Stephanie Rabig’s story Cinderella And Her Demon Godmother. When an angry girl calls forth a demon from Hell to kill some body shamers, she gets more than she bargained for. Enter Lucinda, a plus sized and sexy demon ready to get the job done. But, it’s complicated and no smart demon who’s allowed to go topside for a few hours is going to waste a brief reprieve from Hell. So, Lucinda takes her young friend out on the town in style and has some fun along the way. She also makes one last stop before returning home, to burn down a major asshole who thinks it’s funny to shame fat people. GREAT STORY!
Editor Nico Bell contributes her narrative tale Lake House to the collection. It’s the perfect mix of frightening and “fuck you haters!” Erin and her wife Lauren are trying to clean up the big mess of a lake house they’ve just moved into when things go very wrong. There might be a monster in the basement or maybe not, and Erin has an epiphany. Lauren just wanted to mold her like a piece of clay with wacky diet potions and pills. She never really loved Erin for just being her fine, fluffy self. That’s bad enough, but when Lauren drops the bomb of divorce on her, Erin decides to help her lose lots of weight super fast.
Curious Garden by E.E.W. Christman brings us to a horrifying fat camp for kids. Most people, let alone children, don’t think of going to fat camp as a fun vacation. Especially Camp GnuYu where the counselors are freakishly cheerful and bad morale is not tolerated. Failure is also not an option and anyone who passes out from exhaustion disappears in a mysterious way. Jeanie, the camper who narrates this chilling tale, wants to know why. But everything is hush-hush with the counselors acting even stranger as time goes by. They insist that to be loved, a person must be thin, but Jeanie doesn’t agree. Things reach a head when fellow sufferer, Kylie asks Jeanie for help. What they discover is a bizarre hidden garden that’s always hungry.
The past few years have brought many competitive cooking shows to our living rooms. Who’s the best baker, barbecue pit-master, or candy maker? With insane prizes of big money and the chance to launch one’s career, there are always plenty of contestants. So when Crystal gets the chance to become part of the show Easy Bake, she eagerly signs up. But to her horror, the contestants who lose don’t get a big hug from Paul Hollywood and some fond words. Nope, they are eliminated on the spot, striking the fear of God into the survivors. Each round Crystal continues to survive until the semi-finals, but that just brings her closer to dying on the kitchen floor. Then, just as she’s giving up, an escape opportunity presents itself. Will the finalists escape or be cut down by the creepy security team of Scott and Zelda? To find out the ending of this great story by Sonora Taylor, make sure to get yourself a copy of Diet Riot-A Fatterpunk Anthology!
So what does your old pal Skull think of this unique and timely anthology? I give it a Hearty FIVE STAR RATING! In fact, I’m planning on purchasing a few copies when Diet Riot is released on June 21, 2022. One will be going up on the “Wall of Fame” and another will be going to a friend who is really going to enjoy this gift. While I never judge a book by its cover, I must say the cover of Diet Riot is a real beauty! Well done Tori Celeste at Vicki Be Wicked, LLC. For more information about Diet Riot-A Fatterpunk Anthology, visit
Nico Bell at:
www.nicobellefiction.com
Stephanie Rabig at:
www.stephanierabig.weebly.com
E.E.W. Christman :
www.eewchristman.com
Sonora Taylor can be found at:
www.sonorawrites.com or Twitter @sonorawrites
And please follow your old pal Skull at:
www.damagedskullwriterandreviewer.com
Damaged Skull Writer and Reviewer recommends giving copies of this book to those you love who suffer poor self-esteem because of fat shaming and body discrimination. Diet Riot is a very empowering anthology that is artfully edited to give people of size a much needed round of applause. Your old pal Skull is a blues fan and agrees with all the musicians who revered a “Big Leg Woman” My mortal host Brian James Lewis is currently working on an essay that celebrates his love of plus sized goddesses. More on that soon! -
Write the book you want to read, yeah? And in this case, edit the anthology the world lacks in terms of wide and varied representation. Society at large, and horror fiction in particular, has a problem with the way it presents fat people. Often times when a fat character is presented, they are combined with traits to steer the audience toward the conclusion that they are either the antagonist or hopelessly inept. In terms of broad generalizations, it’s decidedly not great.
So Nico Bell and Sonora Taylor have put together the anthology they wanted to read. One that depicts people of a plus-size nature as, not simply protagonists, but *gasp* normal human beings. Therein lies the strength of this group of stories. You will not find anything inside about people overcoming their body type to thrive or deriding other body types, simply a collection of characters who don’t fit society’s definition of perfection existing and having their stories told.
Steph Rabig’s “Cinderella and Her Demon Godmother” is an excellent choice for the opener. There is a line included about how over the course of thousands of years, humans have not learned to treat each other better, the cruelty is just more instantaneous now that cuts deep and rings true, setting the time for what’s to come. Nico Bell’s “The Lake House” brings the basement creeps while mixing up a hefty dose of humans are the real monsters. A terrific effort I’m glad the co-editor chose to include.
Nikki R. Leigh’s “The Floor is Lava” continues this author’s run as a phenomenal new voice to watch in terms of short fiction. Leigh mixes a good time with the grotesque here, crafting something unlike anything else in the collection. The final story is contributed by Sonora Taylor, and may well be the strongest in the bunch (as well as taking home the award for most content warnings). “Easy Bake” combines a baking challenge reality show with Squid Game and it’s everything you want it to be and more.
As with any anthology, stories will hit readers differently, but because of the relatively open theme of including a character who is fat, Taylor and Bell were able to curate a collection that strives for, and ultimately succeeds in, variety. In other words, you won’t find yourself reading the same tale twice. -
Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology edited by Nico Bell and Sonora Taylor is a collection of fat-positive horror tales that serves up the freshest horrors without cutting anyone down. Well, at least not in regard to appearance. With their lives? That’s another story…
This collection includes life-threatening elements that range from zombies and curses, to a bizarre cosmic terror, and more! But this book goes much deeper than the horror. This is a huge step in the right direction on the path of how address we all talk about the bodies of ourselves and others not just on the page, but in everyday life!
This was such a refreshing collection. I hope any author that needs to do work with body positivity takes note and gives this one a read immediately.
Thank you, thank you, to Sonora and Nico for organizing this, and thank you to all of the authors that took part and got your amazing stories out into the world.
Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology is a must read for all!
More here:
https://www.ericarobynreads.com/book-...
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from one of the editors per request of an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way. -
I received this as an eARC in exchange for a review.
This anthology is edited by authors Nico Bell and Sonora Taylor.
I’m not a fan of horror anthologies whether it be in books or movies, however DIET RIOT: A FATTERPUNK ANTHOLOGY and 2007’s TRICK R TREAT seem to be exceptions to my tastes.
I read the description and the introduction for a sense of what I was in for going forward and the introduction sets the tone exceptionally well. Positivity and inclusivity. Body positivity, LGBTQIA+ inclusivity and horror in many different forms all in a collection of stories.
Tales where it doesn’t matter if the characters don’t fit into the ‘norm’ or the ‘glam of society’, they’re main characters, loved and celebrated in these stories.
There are feel good moments, moments of acceptance, tragedies, shocks, monsters and demons (which is a breath of fresh air because we’re talking literal monsters and demons from Hell here). Not fat or queer characters as sadly is the case in multiple mediums or even everyday lives. There are characters we all can relate to or even find ourselves in, I guarantee in every story if not the whole book.
DIET RIOT: A FATTERPUNK ANTHOLOGY is out June 21st 2022.
FULL REVIEW is up on my youtube channel -
https://youtu.be/J5ntsnKgeOA -
As a lifelong fat man and a life long reader, I can't tell you how excited I was to see a book dedicated to heavy protagonists rather than relegating them to the funny sidekick or the villain. It made me very happy.
Beyond that, I really enjoyed the stories, for the most part. They may not all have been homeruns, but they were all good, fun reads and that's all I ever ask for. -
This was a lot of fun!
I love anthologies though because you just get such a fun mix of stories.
Let me tell you about 3 of my favorites in the book.
1. Easy Bake. It's like Chopped meets Squid Games. It was fantastic, chef kisses all around.
2. The Floor is Lava: This story has roller derby and a deadly game of floor is lava. What more do you really need?
3.Blue Hair: there are lots of cats!
The other stories are all well written, but those three just really stood out to me. Do yourself a favor and read it to see what your 3 favorites are!! -
This was an okay anthology but I have to agree with another reviewer that I would really consider this more 'horror lite' or urban fantasy with slight horror elements than true horror and even when the stories weren't YA they had a very YA feel to them which I think contributed to my overall meh feeling towards the book as a whole. Definitely appreciate the focus on fat protagonists though and there were a few stories that were pretty good and none that I would classify as downright awful. Most of them were just pretty middle of the road but still a great idea for an anthology!
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Horror, in many ways, is about acceptance. Coming to grips with who and what we are. Horror is a way to explore identity.
In Diet Riot, Nico Bell and Sonora Taylor have given us just that: a way to reclaim fatness and body positivity. For too long, fat people are vilified in horror and in fiction in general. Fatness is used as a signifier of decayed morals, of avarice, of gluttony, or of buffoonery. In the pages of Diet Riot, this is wholly upended.
This is an anthology that wars body positivity with pride. IT is a reminder to each and every person who ever felt isolated, that they belong. Stephanie Rabig kicks off with "Cinderella and her Demon Godmother," a delightfully vengeful story of a demon wreaking vengeance on those who use the internet for cruelty. there's a reminder human beings only live so long- who would choose to be cruel?
Nico Bell's "The Lake House" is another standout. A queer horror story of Lauren and Erin, a married couple reaching tensions in their union, with Lauren's fad diets costing them a great deal. At the lake house, Erin thinks she sees a monster...and one that might provide a way to deal with a cheating, fatphobic wife short of divorce. A delightfully macabre little revenge story where Erin has a way to deal with any problems that arrive.
Roxie Voorhes' Neon Afterglow is set during the aids crisis. It's a chilling story of how easy it is to dehumanize innocent people; gay, fat. Voorhes' writing is tight, smart and one of the most emotional in the book.
Christi Nogle's "Waterfall" is another winner, followed by the equally great "Red Dot In the Window." Each story is lovingly curated from a variety of genres, but all with sympathy towards their protagonists and showing them as interesting, human characters.
Rounding out the antho are Nikki R. Leigh's "The Floor Is Lava," a beautifully constructed tale of life, love and peril. And Sonora Taylor's "Easy Bake."
Few can write with Sonora's skill. She blends horror, the grotesque, and a careful sense of irony and eroticism. On Easy Bake...there's a competition afoot, for cooking, and people are being eliminated. And the losers donate more than they expect to the game. The question is how the ladies, Crystal and Ming, fight back.
And oh, DO THEY.
There's horror to be sure, but it's never at the expense of fat people. It's a great anthology, and we need more body positivity horror. -
After I was contacted by Sonora Taylor, one of the editors of this book, who I have read a couple stories from, I was intrigued to give this a chance. This is a horror anthology, focusing around main characters being fat or overweight. All the stories are readable and are interesting in their own unique way. But for me alot of the stories where simply alright, with a few gems sprinkled throughout. Most of the characters in this collection are female and are a member of queer community, so I didn't really connect with many of the characters. Being a guy who struggles with his weight, I never felt inspired or empowered by this book. But that's just because my weight is just apart of me and something I like to keep control over. I feel that everyone who reads this will have a different perspective on it. It's definitely worth a read.
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I love this concept and I want more of this, please, not just in horror, but everywhere. Fat is not a dirty word and I am ready for society to catch up. That being said, this is a hard review to write. Diet Riot had some excellent stories and some that were not the authors' best efforts; some stories seemed like the Fat was squeezed in just to fit the theme of the sub call. I would have loved to see more stories where being fat wasn't incidental, but crucial to the character. The stories that resonated with me the most were the ones where the character learned to embrace their body, or were already celebrating their body, no matter what society had to say about it. This is not an easy thing to do in real life, and seeing it on the page was uplifting and endearing, even through the horror or the scenarios.
Editing to add: I do not blame the anthology for the above. It just proves that there are not enough stories out there to fit the theme and we need more. -
Something for everyone in this righteous, fun, and much needed collection!
I've gained and lost weight rapidly enough and enough times in my life to notice how differently people treat me at different sizes. And hoo-ee does horror ever have a problem conflating fatness with monstrosity, evil, grossness, or moral weakness. The Big Guy From Maine is especially awful at this.
Enter Diet Riot, an anthology that's varied in stories and mostly consistent in tone, which centers fat people as heroes or villains if they choose; protagonists, love interests, and active participants - all the things we've been shut out of.
The tone overall is pretty light, considering the important subject matter - more popcorn and candy watching a slasher at a drive-in than intimate, heartbreaking, profound etc. Exceptions to this are the stories by editor Nico Bell, and by Roxie Voorhees, and their emotional weight made them two of my favorites. Overall, though, a fun, fist-pumping, righteously affirming, vengeance taking, ass-kicking, second-helping-of-splatter-taking good time, that I hope makes horror people reconsider the place of fatness and fat people. Spoiler: we're right behind you. -
High quality stories. As far as I’m concerned, this is what indie horror is all about.
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A really enjoyable collection! Ranges from the humorous to the very dark (sometimes both!).
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A very easy 5 stars. Full review will be up on Kendall reviews soon.
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4.5 ⭐️
My favorites: “Easy Bake” by Sonora Taylor; “The Floor Is Lava” by Nikki R. Leigh; “Blue Hair” by Marsheila Rockwell; and by the editors, Nico Bell and Sonora Taylor, the Introduction! -
I’ve gone a bit leftfield with my reading this month. Normal service will soon resume but I’ve taken a chance on some interesting-looking books and I’m so glad I did. Horror is NOT my go to genre but this one tickled me. So here goes…
I was first drawn to this horror anthology by the cheeky cover, and the fact that one of my favourite people, K.C. Loesener, was featured (Corpulence) This collection of twelve gruesome tales was a fun read, with fat people saving the day, beating the bad monsters and generally being awesome. There is great representation of LGBTQ+ folk, people of colour, and a dark humor which weaves throughout each story. Some of them are really gory, but there are trigger warnings, so I never had an bad surprises.
As with all anthologies, there are some stories I liked more than others, and the quality varies too, but all were very readable. I read my copy whilst in hospital, and it was a welcome distraction! If I had to choose a favourite it was Cinderella and Her Demon Godmother by Stephanie Rabig. I mean, who doesn’t want a Godmother like that?
But honestly, it was hard to choose. There is a tone of gleeful joie de vivre running throughout the book, as our young heroines cut and slash and garrotte their way through myriads of monsters. Not my usual read, to be sure, but I’m so glad I took a chance on this one. Recommended.
