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The Remedy is the Disease - Leticia Urieta


Living with chronic illness and/or pain does something to a lot of people’s brains – it activates a dark humor (it’s just science), and we see some of that in Leticia Urieta’s new speculative dark fiction collection, The Remedy Is the Disease.


I love samples, small bites, charcuterie, beverage flights, tasting menus – anything that lets me try a lot of different (but similar) elements at the same time, I’m in! And The Remedy Is the Disease is a beautifully written smorgasbord of stories about strong women with chronic illnesses, dealing with grief, and trying to live in a society that sees them as less than.


There are eighteen stories, and though that thread runs through them all, they are all very different experiences, ranging from body horror to experimental word art to folklore to a very thoughtful and interesting essay which breaks down the classic 1982 film The Thing as an analogy to living with a chronic illness.


I was hooked with the very first story, “The Detached”, and I think I knew I was hooked when I came across this phrase the main character uses to describe her sleeping lover as “an oblivious baby or a broken angel”. He’s either ridiculous or tragic or both (just like life).


Besides that, a few more of my favorites were:

  • “Open Wound” where we know there’s something weird with what I called “the sisterhood of the traveling knife” as this blade handle formed perfectly to fit the hand of whomever was holding it – confirmed as they used it to slice open the world opening a portal to another world/dimension and chaos ensues.

  • “You Don’t Go Where You Don’t Grow” is a heartbreaking story of two generations of women who want desperately to be mothers and some unexpected magical realism

  • “This Night World” – first of all, loved the QR code that added an audio element to the experience, and the story was a mix of the Lechuza (witch owl) legend and a woman finding herself and becoming who she’s meant to be.


I’m going to stop there (okay, but what about “It Comes in Waves”, “That Red Smile”, “Let Mommy Rest”, “A Future You Never Asked For”, “Sick Women Hold On”, and “But What if Your Baby Grows Up to Be a Werewolf?”) – there are so many good stories in this book.


Thanks to Undertaker Press for the advance copy!



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