Happy Goat Horror

The Invisible Woman: You barely notice her, sitting alone in the corner of the smoky bar. She walks through the streets at night, undetected until the moment she reveals her true self underneath that unremarkable form. We are your shapeshifters, your werewolves, your witchy women, your wicked little creatures and demonic entities, all hiding in plain sight as harried housewives, college students, bartenders, business execs, Instagram influencers–ordinary, often forgotten ladies with dark secrets. We’re ready to show ourselves!

Dark bleatings, my beautiful tribe. Kandisha Press is releasing a new anthology, so let’s take a look!

You Got Me, Babe – by Emma Rose Darcy

Darcy is a brand new writer to me, and I’ll be tracking down more stories. This made my flesh crawl. A woman worries for her friend when he leaves a night out and then no one hears from him. When she turns up at his place to check on him, she’s surprised to find he’s been locked away writing, with the help of his new girlfriend. Only, when she meets this girlfriend, things are clearly not right, and the story escalates from there. This is the most twisted story of a muse I’ve ever read, and I ate up every word.

Afterbirth – by Charlotte Brookins

Oh God. For a second there towards the end, I didn’t quite know what I’d just read. Not because the author didn’t do a good job, but because the ending was so shocking to me that it took me off guard. I love it when that happens. The daughter of the family is university age, but her mother never stopped resenting her for what pregnancy and childbirth did to her body and, as far as she’s concerned, her marriage. Her husband probably wouldn’t notice if she disappeared altogether. A conversation about afterbirth sparks an idea…a hideous idea!

I really liked this one, too. This woman might be villainous, but the story does make a point about how society (and sadly, many husbands) seem to view women after they’ve served their “purpose” of procreating.

Her Black Velvet Bones – by Ruthann Jagge

I didn’t like this one quite as much but it was still fun. Penny is harassed by a disgusting lecturer that likes to abuse his power, and confides in a visiting academic, who…has a solution. Any more about the plot on this one is a spoiler, but I’d say this is about valiant self-sacrifice!

Mantra – by Sally Darling

Amelia struggles with her eating habits, and is ruled by her growling stomach, despite her willpower to abstain from bingeing. It even causes problems for her in her social life, especially when it comes to dating. Men just aren’t on board with her insatiable appetite.

Teeheeheee. This was a fun one.

Selkie’s Stew – by Lauren Lee Smith

Love this one. Selkie, it seems, isn’t from the land. She has a skin atop her skin, which her husband carves away every day, repulsed. He’s cruel and mean and abusive to her, but she can’t just dive into the sea because they have a baby that can’t follow. For such an otherworldly character, she was so relatable and her struggles so human, I was fascinated from beginning to end.

Quid Pro Quo – by Dawn DeBraal

Charlotte is put in a hideous position when her husband, Jerry, kills a couple on a lake because he’s driving his boat drunk. Instead of turning it around to get them out of the water, he worries about the punishment for DUI and leaves them to die. Decisions are made, and consequences follow. I also love this one.

The Scream – by Anne Wilkins

This one hit me in the feelings – it’s as beautiful as it is horrific. A young girl who feels she has no choice but to hold in all her emotions creates something out of releasing them. One of my favourites in the book.

Star Mouth – by Meg Hafdahl

Dani has struggles, which seem to be over when she discovers – directed by a bird – a strange, amazing fruit that is just for her. I can’t say more without spoiling it but this was so unusual, it reminded me a bit of Joe Hill’s short stories because of its fantastical flair.

Remote Control – by Allison Cellura

I liked this story but it wasn’t a favourite because it was a bit repetitive, though it’s a very fun idea (“fun” in a horror way, naturally!). Ethan gets an amazing holographic AI assistant, but it oversteps its duties and things go a bit…dark.

The Ballad of Fat Amy – by Mocha Pennington

Firstly, I love Mocha Pennington, and I was very excited to find a story from her in this anthology. Her talent for conveying complex human emotions and motivations in simple ways takes centre stage here. She has an ability to extract the most complicated inner conflictions in her characters and display them for us in a way that elevates either the sympathy or the disdain you feel for them.

This is about Kyle, who’s trying to enjoy a vacation with his girlfriend, and his sister and her partner, when a mysterious package turns up, and only he recognises the significance of the contents. You can interpret the ending one of two ways (my preference is the literal route, the face value option). Great story!

A Twist of Fate – by Trish Wilson

Rose Madder meets The Shining in this story of a woman who flees to a hotel to escape her abusive cop husband. This wasn’t a favourite for me just because I found the cop’s behaviour at the hotel a bit unbelievable (I’m so sorry Trish, I love you dearly!). I would have loved this to be longer though. I was very invested in the protagonist’s plight and would welcome an expansion on this idea.

Always in my Ear – by Sonora Taylor

Brooke and Victoria bond over sharing their secrets…and committing murder together. I prefer supernatural stories over serial killer stories (like this one) usually, mostly because I find them very same-y. This story was not the norm for this subgenre, however. I don’t think I’ve ever seen killers respond to killing quite like this.

XOLO – by Carmen Baca

Atla realises how powerful her words are when she inadvertently summons a god with them, and much bidding is done! This story felt fresh and I enjoyed it.

The Waitress – by Brooklyn Ann Butler

Told as a police statement, this is the story of a woman recounting why she killed a fellow waitress she worked with. There are a couple of ways to take this by the end, and I prefer to go the scarier route! Very engaging and I liked it a lot.

The Painted Man – by Jen Mierisch

Valarie is in a very large house, with a painting that not only seems to change, but elements of it also move before her eyes. This is the stuff of gothic horror nightmares with a contemporary spin. I was quite unnerved and only wish there had been more madness with the painting.

Karma and Camile – by Candy Madonna

Camile is suspected of being a witch, and maybe she is, but I couldn’t possibly feel sorry for the people who find out the truth about her. A classic female empowerment story.

Shahmaran – by Eva Roslin

A woman is trapped by family, circumstance, and the worst obligation. I shan’t spoil the details of the plot but the metaphor is strong and filled me with anxiety. So an excellent read, basically.

Carla’s Curiosities – by Nora B. Peevey

Carla runs a quaint shop but little do the customers know they’ll be leaving her with more than just their money. She needs something else from them. A little fairy tale infused with some historical fiction, set in modern day.

In the Blood We Live – by Nicole M. Wolverton

This is one of the more unconventional vampire stories I’ve read because it’s about the effects of menopause. I really enjoyed it, it added something I’ve not seen before to this subgenre.

Home to Roost – by Valerie B. Williams

A woman is screwed over for a promotion at work and has to suppress her reaction to it until she gets home to her quite odd pet bird, who has just the solution. It’s wonderfully weird.

Vegetable Love – by Lillie Franks

A woman who enjoys gardening gets very frustrated when things with her planting don’t go her way. There’s a very terrible reason for this, which I won’t spoil, but this was highly entertaining and one of my favourites.

Overall, I had such a good time with this anthology. Almost all authors were new to me, and very welcome, and I’ll be seeking out more work from them all. Pretend You Don’t See Her perfectly encapsulates the juxtaposition between progressive writers and writing, and the long-running, “Jesus Christ, haven’t we grown out of this as a society yet?” kind of shit that women en masse are sick of. A great mix of stories weaving creatively-told metaphors.

If you’d like to check out the book, I’ve popped the Goodreads link below for you. I’d normally link it for sales, but it’s not appearing on Amazon just yet (expected release is the 25th September 2025).

PRETEND YOU DON’T SEE HER: THE INVISIBLE WOMAN

Bleeeat!