Mutability of the Flesh

By Matthew Tait

Bone and sinew, veins and blood, piloted around by a mysterious force called consciousness.

The human animal.

Mark Tanner is more aware of his anatomic makeup than most. And his severe germophobic OCD only makes the realization all the more potent. An employee at House of Haiti, Mark battles his disorder by giving rigorous attention to the store's mannequins. With his appearance almost mirroring that of the mannequins in his phony smile and posture, he soon discovers he may have even more in common with the plastic tribe ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dark Crib Publications
• Release date: May 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224076826

Matthew Tait

A vociferous horror columnist since 2005, Matthew Tait published his first collection of dark fiction in 2011. Since then, he has won the the prestigious Shadows Award for the novel Deception Pass. Described as writing 'the sort of horror Clive Barker must read on his days off' Matthew's fiction often treads the line between the familiar and the fantastic.  

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Mutability of the Flesh

Copyright © 2021 Matthew Tait

Second Edition

This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or photographs contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author or artist.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Cover Art: Greg Chapman

Editor/Layout: Shannon Gambino

First Published: October 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Copyright

Also by MATTHEW TAIT

Story Start

About the Author

ALSO BY MATTHEW TAIT

Novels

Dark Meridian

Olearia

Slander Hall

Davey Ribbon

Providence Place

Schizoid

Non-Fiction

Different Masks: A Decade In The Dark

Collections

Ghosts In A Desert World

It did not begin with blood.

It began with a day like any other. Mark Tanner, already late for work, shifted from his sleeping position and stared with morning stupor at his wardrobe mirror.

A sweaty mass clung to his neck and shoulders, Mark’s pajamas stank of matted body odor – a smell that wasn’t, he mused, unlike Sock’s fur after the feline returned from a night of hunting.

He asked his reflection: Am I a clean man?

Every day, Mark attended to his flesh with the same fastidious attention he applied to detailing a car: concentrated precision, scourings, and an assortment of different products.

And yet …

And yet, every day he woke up stinking.

Standing up, his sheet falling like a shroud, Mark mumbled, ‘It’s all in your head. Everyone sweats at night to an extent.’

Adjacent to the bedroom was Mark’s ensuite, a vast space of ornamentation others might deem excessive for a bathroom. While average men took their paunches into a garage to relieve middle-aged stress, Mark Tanner instead fashioned a bath and shower room to rival something found in a five-star hotel.

Attending to the flesh was an important endeavor.

Perhaps, the most important one of