The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
Surreal
Gruesome
Intense

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed Stories

A new collection of singularly unsettling stories by an Argentine author who has earned comparisons to Shirley Jackson and Jorge Luis Borges.
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Reviews

Photo of Julieta
Julieta@julibagli
4 stars
Feb 27, 2025

Los mejores son carne, cuando hablábamos con los muertos y Dónde estás, querido corazón?

Creo que todos los cuentos son muy interesantes y que está buenísimo como se desenvuelven en base a folklore/historia argentina con un toque de modernidad

+4
Photo of Liz
Liz@lizetteratura
3 stars
Jul 12, 2024

3.5 ⭐ extremely biased ranking: 1. Our Lady of the Quarry 2. Meat 3. Back When We Talked to the Dead 4. The Cart 5. The Lookout 6. No Birthdays or Baptisms 7. Rambla Triste 8. Where Are You, Dear Heart? 9. Angelita Unearthed 10. The Well 11. Kids Who Come Back 12. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed

Photo of armoni mayes
armoni mayes@armonim1
4 stars
Jun 17, 2024

This is a pretty good “creepy” short story collection, although i feel as if the author could’ve pushed some of the stories a bit further. If you have watched a lot of horror movies & true crime this short story collection will be a breeze. I suppose that people that haven’t been exposed to weird and off putting things before this collection may be a little scary. 4 stars

Photo of Eli Alvah Huckabee
Eli Alvah Huckabee@elijah
3 stars
Jun 16, 2024

Mariana Enriquez does it again! These stories were way more gory and more about folks being acted upon than acting up, but Fires had its fair amount of that too. I think I liked Fires better as an introduction to Enriquez’s work, maybe because of that narrator agency or maybe because it was older but this still HIT regardless. “Where Are You, Dear Heart?” and “Meat” were my faves, I had to look away and gasp during parts of Heart as it was just so heavy-hitting. Short stories are good, short stories are literature!

Photo of carolina
carolina@chuurhaenyra
4 stars
May 31, 2024

Un ensemble de petites histoires sombres, certaines m'ont mise réellement mal à l'aise et d'autres m'ont simplement fait frémir, j'ai aimé dans l'ensemble.

Photo of Alba Ramos
Alba Ramos@albusdumb
2 stars
May 25, 2024

teniendo flashbacks de ese verano que solo leia traducciones independientes en español latino porque eran las unicas versiones que encontraba pirata

Photo of Alexis
Alexis@alexisv
3 stars
Mar 11, 2024

3.5

Photo of azliana aziz
azliana aziz@heartinidleness
5 stars
Jan 13, 2024

haunting & enchanting.

Photo of Iman Kamil
Iman Kamil@imztdj
3 stars
Jan 10, 2024

It was alright, some stories more captivating than the others but overall pretty good.

Photo of selva
selva@selvatragica
5 stars
Jan 8, 2024

maravilhoso. o melhor que temos de terror contemporâneo. as argentinas são maravilhosas.

Photo of benja
benja@benjavk
4 stars
Jan 5, 2024

Con sus descripciones, Mariana Enríquez tiene la capacidad de generar una sensación que amalgama el asco, el miedo, la incomodidad y la impresión, pero aún así, es prácticamente imposible dejar de leer sus cuentos. Hubo alguno que otro que no me gustó tanto, pero realmente es muy buen libro.

+5
Photo of Grace M
Grace M@thecoupdegrace
4 stars
Nov 13, 2023

Worth the hype! Brooding, wicked, and even a little sexy. 'Where Are You, Dear Heart?' was the ultimate stand out in this collection of stories.

Photo of Marga Camps
Marga Camps@margacamps
3 stars
Oct 24, 2023

Nunca antes había leído un género similar al suyo pero, tras entender su lectura un par de cuentos más allá, me gustó su escritura, cómo te engancha con los personajes y la descripción del contexto. Nota real: 3,5 Me leeré Nuestra parte de noche para seguir familiarizándome.

Photo of Fernando Bolaños
Fernando Bolaños@odnan20
4 stars
May 23, 2023

Terrorífico

Photo of brianna
brianna@adansey
2 stars
Jan 22, 2023

so underwhelming

Photo of nico
nico@homerpilled
3 stars
Jan 22, 2023

3.5

Photo of Stef
Stef@faninos
3 stars
Jan 2, 2023

"Sometimes I think the crazies aren’t people, they’re not real. They’re like incarnations of the city’s madness, like escape valves. If they weren’t here, we’d all kill each other or die of stress." Pertama kali mencoba membaca kumpulan cerpennya Mariana Enriquez. Koleksi nya ini terdiri dari 12 cerita pendek, salah satunya sedikit lebih panjang hampir masuk novella. Keterhubungan cerita-cerita pendek ini menyajikan fenomena supranatural "something we can't see", anxiety, mental illness dan ngga ketinggalan juga menyelipkan history Argentina itu sendiri ( dicerita Kids who come back sama Rambla Triste *ini 22 nya bikin aku agak bergidik selama bacanya* ). Dan yang menarik hal-hal supranaturalnya di cerita Angelita Unearthed, Back When We Talked to the Dead kayak mirip ditemuin di indonesia sendiri. Tentang, arwah keluarga yg ngga tenang dan permainan jelakung akhirnya para pemainnya di membonin sama mahluk halusnya. Favorite cerita, Kid who come back, meski panjang cerita nya beneran bikin penasaran serasa nonton film makin kebelakang makin tegang. "We were scared, but fear doesn’t look the same as desperation."

Photo of eliz
eliz@thornedscenery
2 stars
Nov 5, 2022

I stumbled upon this collection that I thought was going to be a dark literary fiction novel but that was totally wrong. not even sure how can I describe this genre... magical realism? search up the trigger warnings and you’ll see. it’s not simply horror. maybe the best way to explain this thing is to leave my ratings per section. here are the stories described in few words: 1. angelita unearthed - the rotting baby’s bone ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 2. our lady of the quarry - teenage insecurities & lust ⭐️ 3. the cart - suspected curse from the poor old man ⭐️ 4. the well - nightmares & the woman & the witch & evils & sacrifice & betrayal ⭐️ 5. rambla triste - rotting smell of the ‘police city’; there was a shift. political matters mixed with horror stories based on true events? sick & twisted & I enjoyed this the most ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 6. the lookout - ? ⭐️ 7. where are you, dear heart? - lust again; jane eyre; heartbeat obsession ⭐️⭐️ 8. meat - musician and his album; cannibalism case ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 9. no birthdays or baptisms - furrowed brows while I was reading the whole thing. thought it was just a disgusting porn but the open(?) ending left me confused and wanting to know more who was the ‘he’ ⭐️⭐️ 10. kids who come back - missing kids ⭐️ 11. the dangers of smoking in bed - ? ⭐️ 12. back when we talked to the dead - scanned/mostly skipped because ouija plot wasn’t interesting at all ⭐️ at first I found no values with the stories. boring. then after fifth one, the content started to get better, but narration is still meh at times or maybe it was the translation. idk. this will give you everything you’ll least expect from the title and cover art. the last stories were weak though. overall, I think it’s better than my most recent horror-ish read (the houseguest and other stories). that one had a theme whereas this one’s more diverse, just not as gripping as I would like it to be.

Photo of Hellboy TCR
Hellboy TCR@hellboytcr009
3 stars
Oct 18, 2022

Not on par with "things we lost in fire" and the only story that stood out was "Kids who came back", which was almost as long as a novella. rest is passable.

Photo of Bella
Bella @deathvalley69
3 stars
Aug 28, 2022

Incredibly Eerie, horrifying and unnerving...

Photo of Lia Yuliana
Lia Yuliana@anodetofiction
2 stars
Aug 14, 2022

Update 13/03/2022 Find my reviews on : An Ode to Fiction Official Release Date : November 2009 Buy the book : Amazon | Book Depository 2.5/5 ⭐️ A collection of short stories that is haunting, disturbing, and mesmerizing that isn't for me. This anthology started off intriguing, haunting, and sometimes funny. When I read about 9 out of the 11 stories in this book I just wanted it to be over. Enriquez's rhythm got predictable which made the pacing of the story slow and the way the Enriquez weaved the twist, that are disturbing or dark acts seemed a bit too brutish for me. The rawness seemed to lean towards shock value in some of the stories Enriquez presented and I didn't like the repetitive trans slur used in one of the stories included closer to the end of the book. I might try reading the other collection of short stories or maybe I'll read something if Mariana decides to release a novel. Who knows what my mood dictates. I recommend future readers to proceed with caution.

Photo of Rebecca Bell
Rebecca Bell@raisedbywolves
5 stars
Aug 6, 2022

Horror, but make it feminine 🤍

+4
Photo of Mallos
Mallos @mallos
2 stars
Jun 25, 2022

out of 12 stories I liked two …

Photo of dana
dana@apotheosis
4 stars
Apr 12, 2022

«Tenía que hacer más agujeros porque, lo supo ni bien lo vio, lo único que quería era un cielo estrellado sobre su cabeza. Eso era lo único que quería.»

Highlights

Photo of Aimee :)
Aimee :)@aimees_reading

I bought him poppers, cocaine, tranquilizers, alcohol. Each substance caused a different effect and he went along with all of it, he never complained, he hardly spoke. He even paid my rent with his savings when they threatened to kick me out of the apartment; I never paid again. I no longer had a phone, I only worried about the electricity for the sound recorder, so I could go back and listen to my experiments when he was too exhausted, nearly unconscious. He didn't even protest when I told him I was bored. That I wanted to see it. Rest my hand on his heart stripped of ribs, of cages, have it in my hand beating until it stopped, feel the desperate valves open and shut in the fresh air. He only said that he was tired too. And that we were going to need a saw.

Page 97
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Photo of Aimee :)
Aimee :)@aimees_reading

No doubt they smoked pot from Silvia's plant in bed after sex. We were sixteen, and some of us hadn't had sex yet, it was terrible. We'd sucked cock, yes, we were quite good at that, but fucking, only some of us had done that. Oh, we just hated it. We wanted Diego for ourselves. Not as our boyfriend, we Just wanted him to screw us, to teach us sex the same way he taught us about rock and roll, making drinks, and the butterfly stroke.

Page 19
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Photo of Aimee :)
Aimee :)@aimees_reading

It wasn’t just an obsession of Natalia's: we wanted Diego to choose us. We wanted to be with him still wet from the cold quarry water, to fuck him one after the other as he lay on the little beach, to wait for the owner's gunshots and run to the highway half-naked under a rain of bullets.

Page 21
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Photo of Aimee :)
Aimee :)@aimees_reading

One afternoon, when we were on our way to PE class, Natalia told us she’d put menstrual blood in Diego’s coffee.

Page 20
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Photo of Maria Laura
Maria Laura@mlaura

“Sometimes I think the crazy ones aren’t people, they’re not real. They’re like incarnations of the city’s madness, like escape valves. If they weren’t here, we’d all kill each other or die of stress,” ― Mariana Enríquez, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed