Such a weirdly beautiful story! The imagery was so well done, along with the character development done within such a short amount of time. I think it’s so beautiful that from death life was born, and sustained in a way. I was saddened for the husband but elated for the wife in a way for a second chance, of life and of witnessing miracles.

"Cabbage" by C.S. Fritz could be placed somewhere between the witch's vegetable patch in "Rapunzel", Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby", the plants born from Vendredi's sperm in Michel Tournier's "Vendredi ou la vie sauvage" or the legend that children come from cabbages. "Cabbage", a dark and poetic fairy tale, will appeal to those who have read "Helpmeet" by Naben Ruthnum.

Thomas, Rosemary's husband, has only one desire: to make his wife Rosemary, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer, happy. To this end, he tends a magnificent vegetable garden where he plants his favourite flowers as well as cabbages. When he breaks a vial of blood on the vegetable, it seems to magically grant wishes.
This is a subtle tale of loss and mourning, but also of life itself and its many transformations. The writing is poetic and gripping, and makes me want to read more of the author's work.

Although I wasn't always captivated by the quotes between the chapters, I loved the cover as much as the Spotify playlist!

Thank you to NetGalley and Albatross Book Co. for this wonderful discovery!

A definitive 5/5 !

This is a short horror story following an elderly couple after the wife's terminal cancer diagnosis. The husband, wanting to make her last months more pleasurable, has planted a wonderful garden for her to enjoy. But after the husband accidentally waters a red cabbage with his wife's blood a miracle happens and after that, things will change.
This is a really interesting horror story, with a lush garden fed by blood and desire, exploring the interplay between curse and miracle, love and hatred, life and death. My absolute highlight were the vibrant and wonderful descriptions of the vegetables and flowers growing the in the garden. It all felt lush and delicious and made me feel as if I could sink my teeth into a ripe tomatoe in just a second. It definitely made my visualisations of everything going on so much more vivid and unsettling and horrifyingly beautiful!
The pacing is also very well done with just enough set up to understand what's going on before the horrors begin and things start to unravel. It also works very well as a short story and explores many unsettling themes, but if the author ever decided to extend it into a longer story I would love to check that out as well! In general some parts could have been extended a bit, increasing immersion without making this feel bogged down in any way, which is my only complaint.
Finally, I really enjoyed that the author includes quotes at the beginning of each chapter that fit the vibes of the story perfectly without giving too much away and led to me making guesses about the direction the chapter could take all the time and still finding myself surprised when it didn't go the way I thought it would. But when I then looked back at the quotes I found they still fit perfectly, just not the way I had thought they would.

The cover of this book appealed to me and I went in completely blind. I ended up giving this short story 4 stars because I loved the crescendo pace: I loved how it started in a comfortable setting showing us an old couple living their last days together as the wife is about to die of pancreatic cancer. The husband meant ro do well by making her a garden but his clumsiness turned their final days into a horror movie. The horror brought up old resentment which led to the wife making him pay for old mistakes.

A great palate cleanser full of gorgeous and deep quotes.

This was such a quick and unique read and I absolutely loved the premise! The story was unsettling and weird in the best way, and I really think it was made for this type of (short story) format.

Unfortunately, the pacing took me out of the story a little bit, and some of the characters’ choices felt incredibly abrupt. I wish certain scenes had been expanded upon to eliminate this reading whiplash.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, and the imagery was incredible. I also really liked how the author tied various quotes into the narrative — I found that they added an interesting layer of nuance that can sometimes be missing in short stories simply due to their length.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Cabbage is a short Novella delving into loss, love, resentment with some creepy happenings throughout.

A very enjoyable short read, with really touching moments of past resentment and the ways that can play out for both parties all the while dealing with the inevitable death of a loved one.

I would have loved some more context in places, there were continuously hints of something bad happening before and unfortunately the question wasn't answered but overall an enjoyable quick read.

🥬👁️Short Story Review👁️🥬

Title: Cabbage
Author: @casey_fritz

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thoughts: This was weird and I happen to love weird 😅. What I really love about it though is its originality.
This short story hits upon the grief of preparing to loose a partner to an incurable disease, the loss of a child, and creates a poetic tone for life born from death.
I love death talk being integrated into our culture and for a creepy little tale, this did so.
Now I'm rating this 4 ⭐️'s as a short story. For me, short stories have a different jive apart from books that have 200+ pages to allow character development and plot lines.

2.5 stars

this was a creepy and unsettling little novella! i like the concept of the story but i think the execution fell short mostly due to the length. i also liked the ending and the curated playlist! if it were longer and included more background details, i think this could’ve been a 4 star book.

A unique horror short story.

I never thought that I would see a garden from this point of view.

Well crafted and mesmerizing.

Goodness review DarkS

With what would have been an easy read, the choice of words used at times meant the story lost its immersiveness. I thought I’d give a different genre a go compared to normal and I’m gutted the characters were wooden.

Positives - the plot was well paced and writing style despite the vocab choices was nice to read.

Undoubtedly the writer will improve in the future but due to the lack of immersion I cannot rate this higher.

This is a story about a dying wife, her husband, and the garden that he built for her…

This short story by CS Fritz could easily have been a solid 4 star read for me, however it had just a few too many elements that I took issue with. The story was well paced, with a plot that was gripping, which should have made this an easy read, however quirks of word choice drew me out of the story frequently, and made it hard to immerse myself. Furthermore, the characters really let this story down for me. They felt wooden and unrealistic, almost entirely unphased by the supernatural happenings surrounding them. The other issue I had with the story was the lack of foreshadowing for the major plot development about two thirds through. There’s what felt to me a glaringly obvious piece of foreshadowing the page before, but no mention of anything prior to that.

However, with that said, the themes of this book were incredibly strong, and while there was odd prose at moments, Fritz was nonetheless able to create an incredibly disturbing and creepy setting in a short space of time, with a thoroughly entertaining plot and ending. This was a story that could have been fantastic but let down by just a couple of parts of the storytelling.

I absolutely loved this. It’s a super short novella, read it in under an hour

This novella covers grief and sacrifice, and what we’re willing to do for the ones we love. It’s so surreal and creepy, and the Spotify playlist makes this SO much more eerie. I will definitely be rereading this one again.

Really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to pick up other books by the author. Really creepy, but equally wonderful and fast paced.

A beautifully written grief horror with cosmic elements. Rosemary has terminal cancer, and husband Thomas creates the garden of her dreams for her before she returns home to hospice. When he accidentally spills blood in the cabbages, miracles seem to happen. When Rosemary mentions a dinner she would love, it appears. Rosemary begins to wish for more complex things, and as with a genie, be careful what you wish for.

The phrase be careful what you wish for comes to mind

This short story follows 2 characters a man and his wife. They are both retired and one terminally ill. It touches on grief and how it isn't something your recover from but something you learn to live with, to cherish the memories you have, and hopefully those happy ones are never distorted.

If you want a short horror story that won't take too long and leave you with some questions with a little magic on the side I would recommend this.

As a dyslexic short stories that grip are amazing and lead me to wanting to read more, the font was easily adaptable in apps such as kindle which makes it easier to read thank you for taking this into account when publishing.

I read the ARC via net galley.

What a wonderfully, weird short story! I loved the author includes a playlist of music to go with it. It really added the extra sense of dread, while peppering in the happy moments as well. Definitely got my heart rate up, and I don't think I'll be messing with cabbage anytime soon! Haha!

Thomas and Rosemary are an older couple. Rosemary has recently been able to come home after a stay in the hospital due to a disease that's slowly killing her. Upon their arrival home, Thomas has a surprise for her. Her garden - he's replanted it full of flowers and cabbage that bring back memories of their youth and a daughter lost. One day, Thomas accidentally spills a blood sample he had to take from Rosemary into the cabbages. What happens next is short of a small miracle. But sometimes, what we think of as miracles, can actually be a curse in disguise. And for Thomas....it is just going to get worse.

A quirky short read with a unique concept, for a short read I found the pacing to be good. The backstories of the characters was more ambiguous, it would have been great to have had this slightly more fleshed out to give more emotional connection to the characters. I also enjoyed the descriptive nature of the writing, and the illustrations that peppered the novel. An interesting and creepy horror concept overall. I would read further books by this author.

i didn’t absolutely love this but i also didn’t dislike it, i think i would’ve liked this more in a short story collection?

but it was well written, it dealt with topics on grief and death mixed with a little bit of eco horror! it felt pretty unique to me in that sense and i think if you love to grow your own vegetables you’ll love this horrifying tale 🥦

// arc courtesy of netgalley.

Cabbage is a short (56 pages!) horror story about the last melancholy days of love and the danger of wishing with fistfuls of resentment. What grows in us when we don’t let go of the past? C.S. Fritz beautifully describes both love and longing and creatures of dirt and photosynthetic sentience. The mysterious “it” and the question of whether it was a thing or an event was rendered in tantalizing mystery and sorrow. This is such an extraordinary and original idea for a story. The length and pacing are perfection. I felt intrigued and anxious to know the next thing but never dragged along to get there. Suspense without bore can be a difficult thing to achieve.

The images between chapters 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 6 and 7, 7 and 8, 8 and 9 have a white box around them, unlike the others when viewed in dark mode. I’m not sure if this is even worth mentioning, but I figured it was better safe than sorry in case of technical error. Other than that, the art is fantastic. I especially loved the first illustration! The cover is absolutely to die for: the vivid color is what initially caught my eye.

Favorite quote: “There is a world wanting to give you wonder. Receive it, Thomas.”

Thank you for the opportunity to read this! I can't wait to read the entire catalogue of C.S. Fritz!

This story has such a gorgeous, eye catching cover. It immediately intrigued me.

The tale itself felt a bit undeveloped and jarring at times. I think pacing, flow and consistency would improve the short story. If it could be lengthened I would’ve like more of the characters’ history, more developments on the miraculous garden, and a longer ending portion. The pictures within the book were great, but all the quotes could be trimmed down.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Albatross Book Co for a copy.