Review of Sunbathers, by Lindz McLeod

Sunbathers
by Lindz McLeod








Review by Julie Price Carpenter

I am  going to review some of the books I should have reviewed in 2024 particularly some of the ones that might help you parse this very weird timeline we seem to be unable to change. At the very top of the list is Lindz McLeod's Sunbathers. The subject matter is difficult, charming and dangerous, hilarious and a gut punch, all at the same time. Classic McLeod. But believe me, this is a worthwhile addition to your reading list.

This book asks the questions: What if fascism is a desperate attempt to fit in, to dismiss anything and everything uncomfortable? And what is the cost of flattening diversity and individual experience out of existence?

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Welcome to the world of the Sunbathers, the new “superhumans” who have purged themselves of empathy and awkwardness and banished the remains of humanity to the darkness and subterranean life. It’s a binary world—divided between darkness and light, dominance and impotence—that’s been remade for power hungry straight, hot men and women and them only. 

The book opens on the lives of a few of the remaining underground humans desperately trying to carve out an existence without attracting the attention of the predatory Sunbathers. The protagonist, Soph, weary of the stark reality of like finds herself longing for life in the light. What is she willing to give up to be back in the sunlight? 

Along the way, Soph finds her answer leads to even more questions: What is a life of pure material comfort and pleasure worth? Can love and hunger for power coexist? What is the difference between existence and being alive as a human?

The book is stark, unrelenting, and unlike the Sunbathers, unafraid of the darkness. The surreal setting sticks in the brain and the ending is tough to forget. This is not an easy book to read, but it’s a pertinent and timely one, almost prophetic in the harsh light of 2025.
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This book is highly recommended by Sacred Chickens, but please take a minute to read the content warnings at the beginning of the book. Although it can be wickedly funny, it’s not a light-hearted read, but it is an important one.
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Bio:

​Lindz McLeod is a queer, working-class, Scottish writer, poet, and editor who dabbles in the surreal. 


She was the Competition Secretary of the Edinburgh Writers' Club from 2019-2023, and was elected as their Club President in 2023. Her work has been taught in schools and universities, made into avant-garde opera, and has been displayed in the Victoria & Albert Museum in Dundee. Lindz is an experienced freelance editor and writing coach for both fiction and non-fiction, as well as an experienced workshop host. 


Lindz has read for various magazines and competitions including the Edinburgh Short Story Award and Edinburgh Flash Fiction award, and has also judged multiple fiction competitions. Additionally, she is a full member of the SFWA, the Scottish Writers Association, and the Federation of Writers (Scotland). She has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart prize multiple times, as well as for Best Small Fictions, and has been longlisted for the British Fantasy Awards


In 2019, Lindz was awarded a Masters in Creative Writing from the Open University. In 2023, she began a PhD in Creative Writing with Manchester Metropolitan University—her thesis centers around vision and intimacy in literature, with a focus on broadening accessibility. She writes equally comfortably in English and Scots, and has recently started teaching herself Gaelic. She very rarely sleeps.


In 2022, her flash story 'Cake By The Ocean' was nominated for the annual Best Small Fictions anthology. In 2023, her flash story 'Upper Bout' was longlisted for the Wigleaf Top Fifty. Her co-written story 'Shark Facts My Grandma Told Me' was mentioned on the Book Riot article Halloween Short Fiction: 9 Short Stories to Get You Ready for Spooky Season, where it was called "a masterclass in thriller writing — mounting tension, unabashed horror, and a killer twist at the end." Her 2023 story "The Immortal Game", a noir thriller told in chess moves from a real game, was voted one of the Apex Community Recommended Reads 2023, with reader Ryan Cole describing it as "one I love and think about often... captivating and fun". Her 2024 story 'Junior,' about a man seeking to overcome his grief about a miscarriage by purchasing a Forever Baby, was longlisted for the British Fantasy Awards.


In addition to fiction and non-fiction, Lindz is currently at work on several screenplays. She is represented by Laura Zats at Headwater Literary Management. 


In her spare time, Lindz is a keen but mediocre archer, a devoted cinephile, and enjoys performing at live literature events. She is available for readings, submission invites, hosting duties, writing workshops, and events—contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter/bluesky @lindzmcleod

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