The Cannibal Within

By Mark Mirabello

The Cannibal Within by Mark Mirabello is a narrative story of a woman captured by a subterranean race much older than humanity.   Humans are lower animals to this race, as the woman becomes a breeder for them.  Reduced to a caged farmed animal, the woman's life is one of tortured despair.  Eventually, the woman escapes, making her way to the surface where she tells her story.

Short, it reads in a Lovecraftian style.  There is little emphasis of the character, but her suffering from her masters and her inability to escape them.  The main theme is that humanity is inferior to a higher creature and deserves to be nothing more than another resource.

Overall, this was a fine read.  However, it focused on the woman's suffering through various means of torture.  The story could have been longer, fuller.  Some more insight into the alien society would have been better.  Furthermore, it seemed that the alien society was engrossed to using humans as a resource.  There seemed to a viciousness that exceeded normal behavior of a higher species.   The Cannibal Within is a 'Coast to Coast' story that taps in with legends of underground races and cities that dwell just beneath the surface.

It's a recommended read for anyone interested in the unusual and is looking for something short to read.