[On May 10, 2021 Strange Horizons officially expressed its political support for Palestinian solidarity. The views of Tangent Online reviewers are not necessarily those of Strange Horizons. Fiction critiqued at Tangent Online is, as much as is humanly possible, without prejudice and based solely on artistic merit.]

Strange Horizons, December 1, 2025

“I Wish You Died Laughing” by Lio Abendan

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

“I Wish You Died Laughing” by Lio Abendan takes place in a version of the modern world in which the bodies of dead people and animals continue to move, reenacting the moments of their deaths, unless they are chopped into very small pieces. The story deals with the narrator’s reactions to a dead father, the dead grandmother of a lover, and the bodies of animals used as food.

The grim premise is unique and developed in a detailed and convincing way. The problems of what to do with deceased relatives and how to deal with the life-like motions of meat and fish are treated in a realistic manner. The way in which the narrator imagines a method of dying that leaves a more pleasant body is also interesting. There is not much plot, and one wishes that more had been done with a fascinating, if gruesome, idea.

Victoria Silverwolf is currently reading the November/December 2021 issue of Analog.