Pumpkin Teeth by Tom Cardamone

Pumpkin Teeth Reviews

• 
  Melki

  Aaaaaaaa!
  
  These stories are all over the place.
  
  Many of them go nowhere, then just sort of wither away without really ending.
  
  Others seem to be nothing more than mean-spirited gay porn masquerading as horror. How mean-spirited, you ask? Well, if you really want to know, and you probably DON'T - Meet "Suitcase Sam" a man who has had his legs, arms, eyes, tongue, genitals AND dignity removed, so that he is nothing but two "receptacles" ...great fun at parties, but only if you do A LOT of drugs first...
  
  But then, there are some real gems, namely "Sundowners", a beautiful tale about a woman who goes to work at a retirement home for vampires - simply THE BEST story I have EVER READ about elderly bloodsuckers, AND a post-apocalyptic nightmare about everyone getting their mellows harshed when the calm-inducing, "Lotus Bread" becomes scarce.
  
  So, two out of thirteen stories worth reading here. Wish I'd gone for the Kindle version instead of buying the paperback...
• 
  Rick

  This is a really nice, and more than a little bit creepy (good kind of creepy), collection of stories. I've this one for a few years and finally got around to reading it. As with any anthology, some stories were better than others; but on the whole, this was quite good.
  
  But be warned: some of these are among the most disturbing stories I think I've ever read. ;)
• 
  'Nathan Burgoine

  This short story collection, which I listened to via Audible, was a wonderful example of a collection of short fiction that shows the range and breadth of a genre without coming across as limited or rote. Tom Cardamone has a way of making the most unique, horrifying, strange, or unreal seem perfectly viable, and in turns these tales will charm, disturb, horrify or amuse.
  
  The downside of an audio collection is not being able to look at the list of titles thereafter, but I will say I was captivated throughout, and more than once took the longer way home to get to the end of a tale before I'd have to turn off my iPod.
  
  River Rat, the boy who rescued lightning, Suitcase Sammies (shudder), parents who may have the last surviving children of an epidemic, and letters from the dead... There is something here for everyone. I do warn you, however, that whatever you expect?
  
  You'll be wrong.
• 
  Jerry L. Wheeler

  Cardamone’s worlds span an impressive range – from the surrealistic dreamscape of “Yolk” to the post-apocalyptic suburbia of “Lotus Bread” and everywhere in between. You’ll meet a guy who accidentally gets mail for his next door neighbor, a sphinx (“It was about the size of a box of checks,” he says), a man who genetically alters himself into a manatee (“Bottom Feeder”), a homeless girl turned superhero (“River Rat”), and a nurse who works at a retirement home for vampires (“Sundowners”). It’s not just the variety or breadth of ideas that fascinates me in Pumpkin Teeth. What I keep coming back to again and again is their execution. Entertaining ideas and plots are a dime a dozen (well, maybe a quarter a half-dozen), but Cardamone’s writing is so exquisitely right for each one that I swallowed this book whole in the space of a few hours and had to go back and read more carefully to better admire the style. Ray Bradbury (one of my heroes) came to mind, and Cardamone is as adept at blending beauty and oddity as Bradbury ever has been. If you’re interested in going places you might not ordinarily travel or meeting people you won’t run into every day, let Tom Cardamone’s Pumpkin Teeth open your eyes and mind to some beautifully described and defined worlds substantially different from your own. Full review at
  https://outinprintblog.wordpress.com/...
• 
  Gerhard

  Eclectic though uneven collection of short stories from the talented author of Green Thumb, winner of the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT SF/fantasy/horror. These stories range from eroticism to whimsy to horror – often in a single story.
  
  The standout story for me was the first one, ‘Lightning Capital’. Unfortunately its sexy joie de vivre is not replicated in the subsequent tales, which quickly descend into the disgusting (‘Bottom Feeder’) to the truly grotesque (‘Suitcase Sam’).
  
  For me the story with the most potential was ‘Yolk’, a melancholic story about a man reborn in the body of his lover, experiencing him from the inside out, as it were.
  
  The tone of this collection is difficult to pin down. Best described as Neil Gaiman fused with Clive Barker, it represents interstitial genre fiction at its most transgressive and transcendent.
  
  My only gripe with this Lethe Press edition is the sloppy copy-editing. Well worth reading for fans of the offbeat and weird. Cardamone is definitely a writer to watch.
• 
  Hilcia

  I loved Cardamone's story "River Boy" in Labonte's Country Boys: Wild Gay Erotica Anthology when I first read it and both the story and characters stayed with me. I've been looking for something by this author and finally found this collection. I was not disappointed, the writing style is creative and the stories unique. There's horror, fantasy and the exploration of gay sexuality is there at the core. "Tank," & "Suitcase Sam" are two favorite stories. Cardamone finishes some stories and leaves others with ambiguous endings that left this reader thinking and wondering more than once. I'll definitely be re-reading some of them.
  
• 
  Boxedrobot James

  Fair cop: I posted this on amazon as well.
  
  Great collection of great work
  
  I first came across Tom's work while dutifully avoiding doing some real work. "Mishima Death Cult" was the first story of his I encountered and I could not stop reading, even while in a crowded meeting. In fact, I've had to go back and re-read it numerous times. It got me hooked, and I was quick to track down the rest of his fiction that was available at the time. Since then he's published "The Werewolves of Central Park," and now this well selected collection of his short fiction. "Suitcase Sam" is another wonderfully constructed story that had me hooked till the last word was savored. Tom takes a number of fictional tropes that I have always enjoyed (i.e., twisted, ironic, bleak, freakish eroticism) and adds new layers of color, substance, and viscera that have seduced me repeatedly. I look forward to his next release, heavy as it will likely be, with the meaty froth of dark prose I've come to crave.
• 
  Jesse

  The stories in this collection are eclectic, to say the least, varying from visceral horror to surrealism to elegiac fantasy. And while the stories are well-written, I found that, overall, they were missing that real "it" factor, the "oomph" that really would have solidified them in my mind. Often Cardamone begins with an arresting premise, but he frequently stumbles by closing them with vague, anticlimactic endings that leave me scratching my head more than anything. The best stories in this collection are "Suitcase Sam," a disturbing, Barker-esque account of sadism taken to the extreme; "River Rat," an imaginative and slightly tongue-in-cheek lesbian superhero story; and "The Next Bardo," a sad but creepy exploration into the dregs of a gay past. Good, but not exceptional.
• 
  Craig Laurance

  This was finalist for the 2009 Lambda Literary Awards. These wide ranging tales are dark and tender, disturbing and beautiful. From a superhero trope, suburban horror, whimsical fantasy and out and out scary horror, Cardamone is a protean talent.
• 
  Jeffrey Powanda

  A great collection of stories by a gifted writer. Difficult to classify, the collection explores many genres (horror, science fiction, and fantasy), many which touch on LGBT themes, but what elevates the stories beyond genre is the brilliant, lyrical writing. Bravo!
• 
  Dustin

  Thrilling erotic homo-mysterious creative short stories that leave you pondering.... what’s next? The Chapter: Sick Days reminded me of what’s going on right now with Covid19. I really just have to go with the flow with these stories because they are loosely based in reality and suspension of belief is essential In these. The more I hear his stories the more I get used to his writing, I look forward to what he has in story for us! ;) I keep thinking this writing style is a blend of Junior High, Adult and Sci-Fi erotic thriller.
• 
  Mark

  These are weird, horrific, stories with a gay sensibility that remind me of Ray Bradbury in their lyrical, surreal, quality. They go to darker places that he wouldn’t go and like the collection title suggests, they grab you and don’t let go.
  They are unmemorable, though evince a disturbing quality that is projected through a haze. Their horrors are suggested, not literal. Like the very last story, they take you on ruminative dark memories of unexplored pasts and unfinished dreams. No distinctive story stands out; the mood is all that matters.
• 
  Jennifer

  
  SlashReader: Alright, so truth be told I did not like this book. However, I need to make it clear why because it was not due to the fact that Tom Cardamone was a bad writer. In fact the stories were all very well written and I really did enjoy a couple of them.
  
  Cardamone reminds me a lot of the way Kelly Link writes. Stories that are odd and do not always have a satisfying ending in any sense of the word. So, if you want endings that are endings that make sense don't read this book. Now, this was not the big reason that I disliked this book--though it did put me off a couple of the stories.
  
  The reason that I truly did not like the majority of Pumpkin Teeth, is the fact that Tom Cardamone goes just a little too far for me. Some of the stories are just too far out there and given the lack of a satisfying ending... I simply did not enjoy them. Now that being said, there were a couple of stories in this book that I really did enjoy. Mostly the first one and the last one, 'Lightening Capital', 'LowBear', and 'River Rat'. My all time favorite was 'River Rat', a story of two girls with abnormal powers. I especially enjoyed the absurdity and and the slow play and build up between the two main characters.
  
  So, I guess in the end my thoughts on Cardamone are half and half. The writing is great, I liked some and disliked some--which is on par for a short story collection. I think I would be willing to read more Cardamone though not for a while.
• 
  Jane

  In the spirit of Rod Serling's immortal words. "You are about to enter the realm of....."
  
  yes! This is what Tom Cardamone's writing is like to me! He thinks waaay out of the box! The endings???Don't even try to guess them!
  
  I thoroughly loved this anthology of his stories. A taste of Cardamone goes a long way. I finish a story and stare blankly into space. What just happened? I am compelled to read it again.
  
  It is iseasy to fall under the spell of Pumpkin Teeth.
• 
  Robert

  Unusual & imaginative stories, often erotic, mostly in the supernatural fantasy realm, with a couple of excursions into outright horror ("Suitcase Sam") and others just sort of hard to classify (in a good way). Cardemone is real talent to watch. He is the editor of Lost Gay Fiction, which also comes highly recommended.
• 
  Daniel

  This is one more scary mind to be living in... Tom Cardamone is a twisted ticket, and I loved this anthology! Lightning Capital was awesome. The Sphinx Next door was twisted and cool... I think you will like his writings, especially if you like twisted, sometimes scary, and often humorous stories.
• 
  Elizabeth Coleman

  Beautifully written stories. Some disturbing, some provoking, some lacking endings. Definitely worthwhile if you're up for some literary nightmares.