Thirty-one exhilarating new stories from the acclaimed author of deleted scenes for lovers. 'A splendid collection, challenging and rewarding, with stories both memorable and revealing.' --Owen Marshall, NZ Listener 'This alive, pulsating collection is a masterwork of Antipodean goth.' --Loose Reads, 95bFM 'In this book it's almost exclusively women doing the wanting. And even when it's love it's always pinned down by lust. And it is wonderfully written. . . . Slaughter does it differently - vivid and intricate, visceral but also highly intelligent, changing all the time.' --Catherine Woulfe, The Spinoff 'If Slaughter is writing from the black block in her chest, she is also speaking directly into yours.' --Charlotte Graham-McLay, New Zealand Books 'The language sparked like a cut power line. I was shocked awake every time I picked this book up.' --Grant Smithies, Sunday Star-Times