While the common belief is that "body horror" as a subgenre of horror fiction dates back to the 1970s, Joyce Carol Oates suggests that Medusa, the snake-haired gorgon in Greek mythology, is the "quintessential emblem of female body horror." In A Darker Shade of New Stories of Body Horror by Women Writers, Oates has assembled a spectacular cast to explore this subgenre focusing on distortions to the human body in the most fascinating of ways.

"Breathing exercises by Raven Leilani was originally published in earlier form in the Yale Review (January 2020)"--Title page verso.

Part I: You've created a monster.Frank Jones / Aimee Bender -- Dancing / Tananarive Due -- Scarlet Ribbons / Megan Abbott -- Malena / Joanna Margaret -- Dancing with mirrors / Lisa Lim -- Part II: Morbid anatomy. Metempsychosis, or the journy of the soul / Margaret Atwood -- Concealed carry / Lisa Tuttle -- Gross Anatomy / Aimee LaBrie -- Breathing exercise / Raven Leilani -- Muzzle / Cassandra Khaw -- Her heart may fail her / Yumi Dineen Shiroma -- Part III: Out of body, out of time. The chair of tranquility (from the Diary of Mrs. Thomas Peele, Trenton, New Jersey, 1853) / Joyce Carol Oates -- The seventh bride, or female curiosity / Elizabeth Hand -- Nemesis / Valerie Martin -- Sydney / Sheila Kohler.