Imagine two trees growing inside an abandoned house next door. They have faces. They talk. They sob and beg you to save them. You start as their hero... then fear and exhaustion turn you into the monster who grabs an axe. This is just one story from "Negotiated Barbarism", a brutal, mind-bending collection where the line between human and savage, reality and hallucination, choice and fate simply collapses. From living trees in love and despair to a near-future where everyone calmly drinks each other's blood under the name "plasma," every tale hits like a fist and asks: how much of our violence is truly chosen, and how much is just an agreement to look away? If you crave dark, philosophical, skin-crawling short stories that won't let go, this book will keep you breathless until the final page-and long after, nothing will ever feel the same again.