Fabulous Bodies
By Chuck Tingle
- Fabulous Bodies
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Author: Chuck Tingle
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Publisher: Titan Books
- ISBN: 9781250398567
- Published: July 2026
- Pages: 240
- Format reviewed: Paperback
- Review date: 07/07/2026
- Language: English
They say that you should never meet your heroes and that is doubly so if they are dead and still somehow able to talk. Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle is all about what it takes to become famous in this world. Do you go down the new route and become an online influencer? Or are you old school relying on your talent and luck to become an actor or singer? Perhaps you are antient school, reaping the lives of artists over the centuries?
Poppy Stringer is many things; single mother, online influencer, grave robber. She justifies her late-night body snatching as a way to fund her lifestyle and make the most of things for her daughter. This latest job could be enough for her to stop her illegal activities; all she needs to do is steal the corpse of renowned pop singer Eddie Michaels and deliver it to a remote location. Poppy does not know who the client is, but it may just be Eddie himself who seems to have more to say than your average corpse.
Tingle is an author who likes to play with genre and Fabulous is a darkly comic horror tale that deals with gruesome body horror but also has some laughs. It is also a book about self, about who you want to be, and it is about fame. What is famous in today’s world? You may have 250000 followers online, but they will be the only people who know, or care who you are.
The book opens with Poppy going about her night business and it is a dark art, conning funeral parlours into giving over bodies that she sells on the dark web to freaks such as rogue scientists or gun hobbyists who want a flesh target. Even with her child in mind, this version of Poppy is hard to like. She seems feckless, selfish and a little mean. The tone is dark, a horror take on Transgressive Fiction. However, it is not long until things take a turn.
The other main character is Eddie, a singer who dies at the start of the book, but something like that is not going to stop Eddie. For reasons we discover as we progress through the book, Eddie may have a way to prolong his existence, or at least parts of him. Poppy and Eddie play off one another, the oddest of couples. Their journey is a dark one – Eddie needs parts and they are taken in a classic body horror fashion, but this is also a back and forth; protagonist and antagonist. The relationship between the two is fascinating and changing, both are messed up, but driven.
The most important aspect that Tingle incorporates into Fabulous is a redemption arc for Poppy, without this we just would not care what happened to her. Page one Poppy has what is coming to her. Poppy towards the end is a far rounder and sympathetic character. Being able to achieve this growth is not easy and many authors fail to achieve it even in straight fiction. Tingle not only achieves redeeming Poppy, but does it whilst producing a funny, dark horror story. This is not an easy task, so Tingle deserves credit.
Written on 7th July 2026 by Sam Tyler .
Topics and themes
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