If you survive PVG, you could end up suffering from a ‘deficiency,’ leading to you needing ‘supplements.’ You could also remain infectious, even if your symptoms of the disease have faded. If you are unfortunate enough to require ‘supplements,’ you might be required to consume human blood… or worse still, brains. To watch Lucy’s evolution as a writer is a marvel. With Sister, Maiden, Monster, we see that there’s not only beauty in the abyss, but equal doses terror and wonder.This story is like taking a peek into her mind just to see how this dark magic happens.”— MAURICE BROADDUS, author of Breath of Oblivion Inspired by her Bram Stoker Award-winning story “Magdala Amygdala,” Lucy A. Snyder delivers a cosmic tale about the planet’s disastrous transformation… and what we become after. Snyder has always been a trailblazer, and now she scorches the earth with the sheer audacity of her imagination.A hideously gory, kink-fueled, feminist cosmic horror apocalypse novel that should be on the top of everyone’s reading list.”— CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN, New York Timesbestselling author of Road of Bones Unflinchingly gory, fast-paced and full of disasters both expected and unexpected ... you have never read another cosmic horror like this. It's impossible to look away.” — Premee Mohamed, Nebula award-winning author of the Beneath the Rising series

Snyder uses these characters’ voices to make pointed commentary on women’s health, capitalism, human rights, surveillance apps and various other very current valid topics, frequently and not very subtly, but then subtle isn’t at all what she’s going for. In fact, it’s all completely in your face excessive—the sex, the gore, the violence, the absolutely absurd leaps and bounds from earth to the gods know where. It’s a B movie, it’s cosmic horror meets Cronenberg meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets your worst Biblical nightmare. Can one connect gratuitous body horror, the grotesque, explicit sex, violence and gore to modern day critiques of gender, sexuality, socioeconomic politics and race? Sure. It is all just too much? Yes, but then so is the world of this novel.

New in Series

I sat down, absently setting the rosy business card on the table by my plate. “The sushi looks great.” There had to be at least ninety dollars’ worth of artfully sliced rolls and sashimi on the platter. Mostly salmon, tuna, and barbecued eel. My favorites. We can call it cosmic horror and write off some things as a spiritual fervour or eldritch ekstasis, which may make some of the say, particularly gnarly pleasure Savannah has from committing gruesome crimes a tiny bit more palatable, but the brutal truth is (and there is a lot of brutality here), Snyder isn’t going for palatable. Sister, Maiden, Monster is meant to evoke just the most visceral, violent, physical kind of existential dread that reminds you again and again that the world really is ending, we have no control over any of it, and unless some ancient gods in a benevolent mood happen upon some of us, it’s going to be game over for humanity in the most nightmarish of ways.

Upon starting Sister Maiden Monster I knew very little about the plot and loved how everything started so normally before the brutal escalation. Erin was looking forward to getting married and instead ends up in hospital after contracting the virus and is then given a new set of rules for living which forbids her from mixing with others, having sex, or going out in crowds (just for a start). The scene when she wakes up strapped to a bed, but has no idea why, was outstanding. Finding herself now attracted to women and seeking out others who have the virus she has a transformation and has perhaps the biggest section of the book, which also cleverly drops into the narratives of the other two women. Holy cannoli, I don't know what I was expecting when I opened this book, but I was in for a WILD ride. SISTER, MAIDEN, MONSTER is a post-pandemic, apocalyptic, eldritch horror festival of a book. Think COVID but way... way... WAY... worse. The body horror and slow, creeping sense of your own physical self slowly turning against you is mesmerizing in the best and worst ways possible. Reminiscent of early Poppy Z. Brite, razor-edged and compulsively readable, Sister, Maiden, Monster is the pandemic kink-thriller I didn’t know I needed.”The body horror serves a purpose, however. The inadequate treatment of the chronically ill—especially women—is a prevalent theme throughout this book, as is feminism, the loss of body autonomy, and the erosion of human rights during times of great crisis. I particularly related to Erin’s struggle to adjust to her new life post-PVG infection. In seeking out alternative treatments with her fellow sufferers, rather than accepting the hopelessly grim fate dictated to her, she becomes empowered; transformed. Erin , once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brains. Why does forbidden fruit taste so good?

Lucy A. Snyder has always been a trailblazer, and with Sister, Maiden, Monster, she scorches the earth with the sheer audacity of her imagination. A hideously gory, kink-fueled, feminist cosmic horror apocalypse novel that should be on the top of everyone’s reading list.” Erin, once quiet and closeted, acquires an appetite for a woman and her brain. Why does forbidden fruit taste so good? Snyder’s bold and succinct descriptions create a visceral aura of terror and desperation. Readers will feel dread as they’re pulled along on this thrilling ride.” — Publishers Weekly With Sister, Maiden, Monster, we see that there’s not only beauty in the abyss, but equal doses terror and wonder.” — Maurice Broaddus, author of Breath of Oblivion This is also potentially one of the goriest books I’ve read lately, and I do tend to read a lot of cosmic/body horror, so beware of that! However, I really enjoyed these elements as they played out with the plot, and overall, just generally appreciated how striking and visceral the storytelling here was and how skillfully the author utilized uncanny genre elements to create a story I’m unlikely to forget any time soon. The author’s absolute talent in conveying desire, hunger, and lust in a horror setting, especially with queer characters in a way that isn’t often showcased with specifically lesbian or bi women, was amazing and perhaps one of my favorite elements.Unsettling and unexpectedly timely, Sister, Maiden, Monster is horror at its best. Snyder pulls out all the stops with this powerful and unflinching novel, dealing with the fallout of a pandemic and the omnipresent, creeping terror that can only come from your own body turning against you. Put this book at the top of your reading list immediately.” — Gwendolyn Kiste, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens and Reluctant Immortals A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces drive a small group of women together. Compulsive, masterfully wrought combinations of horror –body, plague, and cosmic. I was glued to Sister, Maiden, Monster way past lights-out.” — Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase and Blood Standard Lucy Snyder is a five-time Bram Stoker award winning writer, whose new novel Sister, Maiden, Monster is a no holds barred look at how women are affected by a pandemic that is bigger, worse and more eldritch than anything the world has ever imagined. You’d be forgiven for thinking this was a zombie novel at the start, when Erin is told she has to live off brains, not be in crowds, and not have any close relationships with anyone. But this is not a zombie novel. It would be simpler if it were, but Snyder veers wildly into otherworldly territories, wild even as compared to an all out limbs flying, blood spraying, everyone dying zombie apocalypse. My only other qualm with this book [ SPOILERS AHEAD] was that it fell prey to the "woman is a vessel for giving birth as a body horror element" trope, which I generally cannot stand. The context here was slightly different because it was written by a woman and is clearly a feminist work in many other ways, and the character does actually partially subvert this fate in the end, but I still hate to see it.