Fighting Fire with Fire: Their Fragile Male Egos is a collection of horror stories where women must find the power to fight back

 

Their Fragile Male Egos

Angel Van Atta

Independently Published. 2026

ISBN-13: 979-8190092097 

Ebook, 113 ppg.

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In a time where girls and women are still fighting for their rights, including reproductive rights, as well as struggling to have a voice in the judicial system, reading stories of girls and women getting their revenge and obtaining their own sense of freedom is encouraging. Sometimes we don't get the ending we want or feel we deserve, but it's the fight that matters. In the horror short story collection Their Fragile Male Egos by Angel Van Atta, there are many such stories. Stories of girls and women breaking free of oppression or getting revenge on their abuser that spark hope and allow female readers the sense of satisfaction that another woman in their shoes got the kind of justice the legal system failed to provide, even if it only happens in fiction. 

 

This collection of stories starts off with a heartbreaking story told from the point-of-view of a rape victim buried alive. While reading this story may make some people feel sad for this character, it angered this reader. Especially since I read it soon after I learned that a group of men at Cornell University got away with gang-raping a female student. That said, read this story if you wish, but know that all of the excuses rapists use to justify their crimes are in it: “I was asking for it.” “It wasn’t his fault, he told me as I begged for him to stop. He couldn’t control himself, and I was so beautiful.” “I should have never been on this trail, in these woods. Especially wearing what I was.” It’s all bullshit, of course, but that’s the kind of thinking that the misogynistic society we live in clings to when a rapist is never punished for their crime.

 

Well, there are many who are never punished for their crimes. Some of them are. And some of them are punished in ways that only the victim can ensure happens. That’s why I loved the story “Penny” so much. The rapists going on with their lives, laughing with their friends and acting like nothing happened, while their victims are forced to live with that nightmare and suffer with the pain of what was done to them. Until, one day, they decide that they just won’t accept that anymore. I loved the ending of the story especially.

 

The story “Abigail” is another really good one. It unfolds slowly. We kind of understand what happened to Abigail’s mother, but the author grants us the ability to see it for ourselves. The worst part about it is young Abigail witnessing part of it. This adds to the trauma she grows up with and, as an adult, she has to know what is in that one room her father forbade her to go into. And as she goes into it, she sees a mattress on the floor and a blanket. The same blanket her mother used to cuddle her up in and sing to her. Abbie begins to sing that song, but as she says each line, something that is on that mattress even still comes to life:

 

“You are my sunshine,” was that her mother’s voice? Calling through the years?

“My only sunshine,” or was it hers, slipping through her own lips?

“You make me happy,” and was there something moving there, in the corner behind where the mattress lay?

“When skies are gray,” and was the room getting colder? Could she see her breath beginning to puff up in the air around her? Swirling in her phone’s half bright light? (Page 55)

 

What happens after Abbie finishes the song is even more chilling. It’s the climax before the very satisfying ending.

 

The story “Sammie” was also another great read. It was dark and chilling. Part of the story is told from the POV of a 13-month-old girl named Samantha, and I imagine it must have been quite a challenge for the author to write those parts of the story. This story has child murder in it, which was hard to read, so readers be aware of this trigger warning in the book.

 

I LOVED the micro “Suzy” and, yay! There is a cake recipe after this story! I am definitely going to try it soon.

 

The story “Betty” was also chilling. Atta is an excellent writer, skilled at capturing emotions with just the right words. For example, you can really feel the terror that Betty is experiencing as she and her children hide from “bad men” who broke into her home:

 

“Time for Betty seemed to slow as a frozen fist of anxiety slid down her throat, catching her breath inside her lungs and slipping its icy grasp around her heart. Chilly whisps ran up inside her mind and down her spine and to the tips of each and every finger and toe.” (Page 92)

 

It’s such a gripping story and it left a very strong impression at the end.

 

All of the stories in this book are amazing. They were chilling, suspenseful, and, in many cases, had me on the edge of my seat and holding my breath as I continued reading to find out what happened next. I enjoyed reading every story in this book and I know it is certainly one that I will come back to reread on occasion.

 

There are stories of women breaking free of oppression in this book, but for some women in the story, they do not get a happy ending. In some cases, the only freedom they achieve is through death, and in a way, being able to make that choice is their one act of rebellion against their oppressor. Overall, the women and girls in these stories refuse to submit to a life of oppression, abuse and scarcity. They may tolerate it for a while, but they get to a point where they finally have the strength to fight back.

 

Their Fragile Male Egos is a collection of horror stories of both girls and women thrown into a horrific nightmare that seems to have no escape. Most of the female characters in these stories are strong and refuse to be silenced, refuse to continue to suffer, and refuse to allow men to have power over them. Though the men in the stories certainly try to have that power. But, no, these females take back their power, or find it in some way, to get the kind of freedom they know is waiting for them.

 

While there’s not always a happy ending in some of the stories and while there are many horrifying things that happen along the way, the women and girls in these stories know that if they only hold on and continue fighting, they will be free. It’s the getting there they have to survive, no matter what it takes.

 

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Kingdom of Hell in Our Minds: The Kingdom of Hell is Inside You is a collection of bizarre and chaotic poetry

 

The Kingdom of Hell is Inside You

James Machell

Space Cowboy Publications, 2026

ISBN: 978-1-968958-08-4

Ebook, 21 ppg.

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They say that we often create our own hell within our minds. But what happens if Hell is already within us without having to create it ourselves?

 

That’s the message I got from the micro-chapbook of poetry The Kingdom of Hell is Inside You by James Machell. This bizarre collection of hellish poetry, where there are only 10 poems to read, was a wild ride.

 

But you won’t start reading these poems as the same person. Machell sets it all up at the very beginning, on page 1:

 

“Landlord put strangers in the shower,

shoes on the stairs, knives in the sink –

need privacy? Just dilute code with neurons

and expand within a vacuum. It’s cheaper

renting headspace. The cerebral cortex

is your living room and the service provider

installs windows. No guests allowed!

 

Eyes recalibrated, receptors drunk, polyglot as single interpreter, nobody leaves and the rain falls lovingly.”

 

Now that you have been properly acclimated to the environment, the next poem gives you a vision of the future, where today’s murky landscape becomes tomorrow’s everyday existence where we try to survive for yet another day. The next poem is about living in a bizarre world of crumbling surfaces and out-of-body experiences.

 

But that’s not all. The other poems in this short collection range from one of space travel, the struggle for acceptance when you are neurodiverse, and the ravages of poverty.

 

In essence, a Hell which a lot of us have to live through every day.

 

The poems are a short read but they are profound and thought-provoking. If you have some time to kill, pick up The Kingdom of Hell is Inside You by James Machell for a quick and trippy read.

 

 

 

Five stars.

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

What We Leave Behind: Bloom & Grow is a collection of poetry about life, loss, and memories

 

Bloom & Grow

Peter J Donnelly

Alien Buddha Press, 2025

ISBN: 9798313441412

Ebook, 43 ppg.

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Bloom & Grow by Peter J Donnelly is not just a book of poetry; it is a book of memories. Of pets lost and people long gone. Of times spent enjoying meals and the company of others.

 

The book starts with memories of someone who never had pets. Why, the author supposes, is a mystery. We are presented with assumptions:

 

Was it the thought of a flap

on her back door,

saucers of food, milk

and water on the floor

of her kitchen with no utility area,

or heaven forbid, litter trays? (page 6)

 

Then the next poem is about a cat, Willow, that was once a part of the author’s life. It’s a sweet poem. Fur babies leave paw prints on our hearts long after they are gone.

 

The next poems are reflections of people who are now gone. The memories the author has of knowing them. The poem “The Morning of Your Funeral” on page 10 is about the arduous task of clearing away the things that belonged to a loved one. I have experienced such a thing, but my experience was not for the home of someone I was related to or someone I knew. It was a friend’s father, and as I did this, I noticed the calendar on the wall that was still on the month when he had been taken to the hospital, the records he probably enjoyed listening to, and the books he kept on shelves that he must have read or cited from time to time. All of those things were a part of this person’s life. So these lines in the poem were ones I understood:

 

Clearing your house was

like taking apart the pieces

 

of a completed jigsaw, but one that hadn’t

been recently done - the image

 

had been there for fifty years,

almost unchanged.

 

This poem makes me think about the things we leave behind after we pass away. Sometimes I wonder what will become of all of my own things. I already told my husband and kids that they are free to take of my stuff before passing it all on to other people in the family, but I always wonder about how hard such a task would be for someone who is essentially disposing of the things from a person’s life that MEANT something to them. Things that were important to them. How hard it must be to part with it all.

 

I am fortunate to have some things which once belonged to people no longer in this world, and I sometimes wonder how the people that owned them enjoyed them while still alive. Did my friend’s dad write letters at his desk, which is now in my bedroom? Did a friend often use a music encyclopedia which I now have in my living room, to look things up or for trivia?  

 

Are we ever attached to our possessions in the afterlife? I wonder about this too, because several years ago, my mom told me that she wanted all of my writing when I die, but she passed away first. I like to think she is able to enjoy all of my writing in spirit – even the boxes of writing that were left behind when I moved to Oregon. These thoughts came to me as I read the poem “Where It Hangs Now” on page 11, a poem which talks about a drawing that once belonged to someone which was “sandwiched between ivory paper,/its label folded over the top/of a cardboard window mat.” Here the author wonders if the original owner of this signed drawing would notice how it is now framed and:

 

we’ll never know what you think

of the frame I bought in Northallerton,

or the picture’s new home on the wall

of my entrance hall. It looks down

on your Chinese floor vase

and your small purple one

on the half moon table,

opposite the photo of you both

at Auntie H’s wedding.

I could say it’s as if you’re admiring it

but from the angle, it’s more like

your eyes are averted.

 

The title poem on page 13 is about two plant foods that had belonged to someone the author knew, whose plants he cares for now. Here he ponders:

 

but the one labelled Bloom

had less in it than the one labelled Grow.

Did you use more of it

or had you just had it longer?  

 

The author uses these thoughts as a comparison in how he cares for the plants and how discarding one after its use was a big moment for him, because it was “the first thing of yours I’ve thrown out.”

 

The other poems in this book are about reflections from the author’s life, how times have changed, as well as poems about food (I liked the one about honey). Sometimes the poem’s title answers a question the reader may have, or it states the thing the author won’t say in the poem.

 

Bloom & Grow is a collection of poems that I sincerely enjoyed reading. The poems in this book gave me a lot to think about, pondering the changing times just as the author does, while also reflecting on those once in my life who now exist only in my memories or their possessions I have in my home. The poems are written so well, drawing me in and taking me back to the past or on the streets of the United Kingdom. The poems in this book offer quality insights about our connection with people as well as attachments to things we leave behind. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading free verse poetry.

 

 

Five stars

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book as part of my digital subscription to Alien Buddha Press.