Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 978-1-61923-180-1
Horror, 2016
Why is Vicki Beautiful classified as horror? Okay, so this is a story of a dead woman whose final wish is to have her corpse properly cooked and served as a dish, but I’m pretty sure that in some countries such as Japan, this one could be considered a fetish fiction. Not that I am judging if you buy this one because you think the premise is erotic, of course. Just don’t tell me, and we’ll be fine.
As I’ve mentioned, Vicki wanted to be cut up and cooked to perfection once she’s dead. You see, she was obsessed about beauty when she was alive, and she couldn’t bear the thought of her corpse being anything less than perfect. Corpses decompose, their pallor is, well, off, and she’d rather be remembered as a beautiful dish served at a perfectly decorated dinner table. Her childhood friends are tasked to carry out the cooking, and there you go, this story.
The whole thing is on shaky ground, as all it takes for one character to say no, she’s not doing that nonsense, bye, and the story will not happen. But it happens anyway, so I’m not sure why the scene at the last page has to take place. What’s so shocking about that? It makes more sense to do that, anyway, in case the cops snoop around, that kind of thing.
Still, this is a pretty entertaining and educational read. I now have a good idea how to cook a human being, so I can finally stop spending sleepless nights pondering about such matters. Maybe it’s just me rather than the story, but I’m far more fascinated by the methodology than the story – I think I’ve read and seen way too many horror stuff to be taken by surprise here. Not that I regret reading this one – if I happen to need to get rid of a dead body, and I also need to cook something for a party ASAP, I now know what to do. So, a big thank you to the author.
