I ended up, not quite enjoying this book. I had high hopes for it, and I have read book by the author before, so I hoped to enjoy this one. I will check out more from this author in the future, however.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an e arc of this one!


Once in a blue moon, on Halloween night... This anthology contains 13 horror stories about queer teens on Halloween. Many, but not all, contain romance and while some are creepy to the end, others have happy endings.

I enjoyed the mix of different stories and the thread of the Blue Moon on Halloween thoughout the stories. There were sapphic, achillean, bi, and trans characters.

While some of these stories had me on the edge of my seat, others felt rushed and didn't develop characters in a way that gripped me. The good (and sometimes bad) thing about anthologies is that it is always a mixed bag, but there is usually something for everyone!

I enjoyed most of these stories but Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran was my favorite!

CW: blood, death, abandonment, kidnapping, violence

dnf 35%
I was hoping that these stories would be scary or creepy but they were pretty tame. I wish that that authors knew how to set the cold tone so that these stories felt unsettling. I also thought the endings didn’t add anything to the story. The ending to horror stories should leave you feeling disturbed. Maybe if these stories were longer these vibes would have been achievable.

This was a very solidly done anthology of representative horror. From all the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ rep all the way down to genre shifts (paranormal, slasher, you name it) this book probably has at least one story for everyone. They don't all "hit" the same way but I left every short story feeling satisfied. While I think I benefitted from adding this to my Slasher Summer TBR, this is for sure a book to curl up with when the wind chills you in October.
Some stand outs for me were:

Guested: a SciFi, trendy, Invasion of the Body Snatchers that will pull the rug out from under you in the end.

The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting: Sillier than scary, think the Fear Street movies but with more laughs, a simple coming of age story.

Nine Stops: a truly gruesome and unsettling digital horror ala Host or Unfriended that discusses grief, trauma, and identity and racism. trigger warning for animal death.

Anna: Halloween but with ghosts and make it sapphic. I would read a full novel of this.

Save Me From Myself: Freaky Friday but the most aggressive plot twist you've ever seen.

Knickknack: IT and Stranger Things had a goofy baby.

Honestly, like I said earlier, there is really something for everyone here and there were so many more I could've discussed. I can't wait to get a copy for my classroom library

This YA book wasn’t truly scary, but it did manage to perfectly capture what it’s like to be a teenager and, therefore, to be sort of afraid of almost all your feelings.

The story that stood out the most was ‘Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane.’ I’m a lesbian, yet there’s something about a young trans character — especially a young male trans character — that has always brought a smile to my face and heart. This particular story captured all the pain of being closeted, along with all the joy of glimpsing a better life.

I also loved it that ‘Knickknack’ included a nod toward my childhood favorite (I’m 46), Angela Sommer-Bodenburg’s ‘The Little Vampire.’ Although, to be fair, they may have been speaking of the film version, instead.

This is definitely a book that should be in every young queer person’s personal library.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Thank you to the publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was such a fun anthology! I loved every single story in it and I can't believe how quickly I read this. I love a good spooky story and this is the perfect fall book! I highly recommend this!

I loved the concept of thirteen short stories written for young adults that were all based on the same Halloween night. The stories were mostly good but the majority of them just didn't stand out to me. My top three stories were Save Me From Myself, Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle and Hey There, Demons.

I think my favorite story was by Kalynn Bayron. Sadly, I did not vibe with every story in this collection as much as I wanted and I am wondering if it has to deal with the prompting for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology! I felt like most of the stories were very “Are You Afraid of the Dark” and I loved it! They were spooky, fast paced, and some had those endings where the evil eyes flash and you know it’s not truly over. The other stories that didn’t fit that vibe were very much social horror and 100% spot on. Overall I found this exciting, spooky, and unsettling. I also loved the queer representation (obviously the point of this set of stories). It was a great read and I can’t wait to put it in my students’ hands!

3.5 stars

A really solid collection, while there weren't any that blew my mind; there wasn't any below three stars either. I liked that it all took place on the same night Halloween 2020. A fun read, though I wouldn't really call too many of them scary.

Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban --3 stars

The Visitor by Kalynn Bayron --3.5 stars-- This had really ominous tone where you knew something was going to happen, but not what

A Brief Intermission by Sara Farizan --4 stars--He said don't touch them!

Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells--4.5 stars--Maybe my favorite of the bunch. The very idea of this will stick with me, I 100% believe this is something the wealthy would play with

Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle by Kosoko Jackson --4 stars-- The violence was hard to read on this one.

The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by Alex Brown --3 stars-- fun pizza ghost

Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran--3 stars-- warning for animal death/torture

Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman --4 stars---I really liked the line about becoming the monster. This was also one of my favorites.

In You to Burn by Em X. Liu --3 stars

Anna by Shelly Page--3 stars

Hey There, Demons by Tara Sim --3 stars-- If you didn't call them a demon this would just be a romance

Save me From Myself by Auria Shonibar --4 stars--This one was more sad

Knick knack by Ryan Douglas --3 stars-- A little too campy/over the top for me


Thank you to the authors, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a horror anthology to read on a spooky night, this is the perfect read for you. The stories are all a bit supernatural and a bit queer, all in all a perfect combination! Each author really ratchets up the tension and scares in fun, unique ways -- many of them twisting expectations of particular tropes. Others, you're not sure of the supernatural elements until the very end. A very well-written and compelling horror anthology!

Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban - 3.5 stars
There's a Halloween party at an abandoned hotel.

The Visitor by Kaylnn Bayron - 3 stars
A girl gets ready for something special to happen on Halloween night.

A Brief Intermission by Sara Farizan - 3 stars
A movie is getting shown at a drive in for some special guests.

Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells - 2 stars
Somebody is invited to a different type of party.

Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle by Kosoko Jackson - 4 stars
Playing with a ouija board.

The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by Alex Brown - 4 stars
Ghost hunting in a food court.

Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran - 3 stars
Riding the train while watching a viral video.

Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman - 4 stars
Cousins explore a haunted house belonging to an evil wizard.

In You to Burn by Em X Liu - 1 star
An accidental fire starter goes to a party.

Anna by Shelly Page - 5 stars
Children play with a ouija board.

Hey There, Demons by Tara Sim - 2 stars
A boy deals with a poltergeist in his new house and parties with a demon.

Save Me from Myself by Ayida Shonibar - 2 stars
A girl changes bodies with a kiss.

Knickknack by Ryan Douglass - 1.5 stars
A boy's brother is kidnapped by a dead clown.

Unfortunately, most of these stories were average or worse for me. I like that all the stories are by queer authors of color, but that didn't feel relevant to a lot of the stories.

All the stories take place on the night of Halloween when there is also a blue moon. I got the feeling that a couple of the authors don't know what a blue moon is. They aren't actually blue.

This would be a fun collection to read around Halloween if you're into short stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

The highs in this collection are very high. The lows are kind of meh. I think I wanted more explicit rep instead of implicit rep (though I’m not complaining about the quality of the rep!). It would have been nice to have some variety in the rep, too—asexuality, anybody? That being said, I enjoyed what I got. I just wanted more than I was given.

Pros
Natural Diversity: One of my favorite aspects of anthologies like this comes down to the very natural diversity that presents itself when working with so many authors. There are so many perspectives and experiences wound up in this book, and they feel so natural because they are natural. They’re pulled straight from life. This book doesn’t just embrace queer identities but BIPOC identities as well, and that’s just excellent.


Horrific Highs: As I said above, the high points in this book are particularly high, spine-chilling and unforgettable. Kosoko Jackson’s story, “TITLE,” for example will stay with me for a long time. Because it doesn't just feature supernatural horror but very real horror in the form of a hate crime. This is a story that is bloody and vicious, eye-opening and full of rage--altogether, really excellent. The best of these stories really ramp up the anxiety levels. The visuals are unforgettable. The stories here that get it right really get it right.

Experimental: Something I really love about the short story medium is the room it allows for writers to experiment. Things that wouldn't--that can't--work in the long form make perfect sense in a short, bite-sized piece. I love the experimentation these writers were allowed to do, including the interesting and pointed use of second person throughout several of these stories. Second person is so hard to find! I just loved the experimental nature of these pieces--experimental in a good way.


Cons
Miss the Mark: This is my usual anthology woe. Where I would adore one story, I would find the next not exactly stellar. Which makes the overall experience rather bland. Casual readers, of course, can skip ahead to the next story without missing a beat, but as somebody who loves to take in a collection as a whole, I was underwhelmed.

Not Scary: This is an anthology really invested in subverting tropes, and as a result, a lot of these stories carried a great message--i.e. what we're afraid of might actually just be something natural, something normal that nonetheless falls outside of the "regular" or "mainstream" human experience. The demonic, the haunted might just be something or someone resisting the binary, resisting the well-trod paths of human existence. And I loved that message, but in an anthology with horror at its hearts, these little revelations weren't exactly the spooks that I wanted. They were great messages, but they were poor horror shorts.

Conflicted Connections: All of these stories are connected in one fact: they each take place on Halloween night and not just any old Halloween. It's a blue moon, too. And I get that this is supposed to tie all the stories together, to make them feel like one collection instead of a bunch of disparate tales. But I think I would have preferred a bunch of disparate tales. Because this tenuous connection made them feel more constrained than they had to be. It made these stories, in their setup and execution, feel repetitive after a point. Once again, it's Halloween. Once again, it's a blue moon. And I get it. But I could have done without.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5/10

Fans of Editor Tori Bovalino's The Gathering Dark will like these haunting new tales. Those who loved Editor Patrice Caldwell's A Phoenix First Must Burn will love these tales that embrace diverse experiences.

Night of the Living Queers is an upcoming YA horror anthology featuring 13 stories by queer writers of color, collected and edited by Alex Brown and Shelly Page. The anthology features a set of 13 stories united by a few common things: First, each features a queer teen of color; Second, each takes place on Halloween during a "Blue Moon" - the name for a phenomenon where there is a 13th Full moon during the year instead of 12. The authors are a mix of those who I've heard of before (and who are somewhat prominent, like Kalynn Bayron) and those who I hadn't, so I was very intrigued by the collection when I was given a shot at an early copy for review.

And Night of the Living Queers does largely deliver what it promised: YA Horror or Horror adjacent stories that turned the narrative of queer people being the monsters on their heads by having them be the protagonists of their own stories. The stories themselves range from truly dark and horrific, sometimes dealing with powerful and harsh subjects like the struggles and abuse queer people face, to stories that are light and comedic (or that are somewhere in between), so there's a bit of something for everyone here. As with any anthology, some of these stories are better than others, but in general, this is a pretty damn solid anthology that I'd easily recommend for the YA Horror reader.

Since this anthology only contains 13 stories, I will actually do a quick summary of them all without spoiling:

Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban: A story featuring a girl whose crush had seemingly abandoned her last year to hang with the more popular rich crowd only to find that crush having invited her to a party at an abandoned hotel....but the abandonment was not what it seemed...

The Visitor by Kalynn Bayron: A girl stays home for Halloween with her widowed dad, rather than go out with her girlfriend, as if they were waiting for someone, like the mother who once passed away.....

A Brief Intermission by Sara Farizan: A pair of queer teens help run a Drive-In theater, and are asked to help the owner by playing a specific movie on halloween while the theatre is closed and to then leave immediately....but the two can't help but stay to see who shows up....

Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells: A girl tries to infiltrate a "Ghosted" party, where the inhabitants are supposedly temporarily inhabited by ghosts/spirits they are interested in, after her sister went to one and came back....changed.

Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle by Kosoko Jackson: A year after gay boy Julian was beaten on Halloween for his queerness, his only friend insists he stop feeling sorry for himself and come out with her...but Julian cannot move past the abuse he suffered and how its perpetrated suffered no consequences, and on this Halloween, he may accidentally summon a kindred spirit out of the ether...

The Three Phases of Ghost-Hunting by Alex Brown: A teen girl, along with her best friend (who's also her crush), investigates a mall her brother works security at to discover the truth behind the legend of its resident ghost, Terrifying Bob, the pirate who seeks pizza at the food court.

Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran: Two teens on a 7 train watch a viral video of a girl enacting a ritual in the memory of a murdered sister, a video the author claims they'll die from if they stop watching...

Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman: A queer teen Leyla is persuaded unwillingly to wear girl's clothes for Halloween by her mother, but finds a surprise when she leads her cousins/siblings to the supposed haunted house filled with deadly vines that is supposed tended by an old man/deadly wizard.....

In You to Burn by Em X. Liu: A girl who is seemingly always around fires that mysteriously start up as she grows up finds herself at a party staring at Harley, the girl she almost burned a year ago, the girl she hated...the girl she can't stop paying attention to, despite her trying to fight it, due to some elemental attraction....

Anna by Shelly Page: A girl takes a last minute babysitting job on halloween for a pair of twins instead of going to her girlfriend's party....but when the kids find a Ouija board in the attic, the job turns anything but normal on this Halloween.

Hey There, Demons by Tara Sim: A teen boy, with no friends due to his family's move, is left to care for his 4 year old sister on Halloween in a house he swears is haunted by a poltergeist no one else believes in. So he finds directions for how to use a geometric symbol to banish it...but summons a demon instead....

Save Me from Myself by Ayida Shonibar: An Indian girl, who thinks of herself as having no friends and no one who cares for her or gives her a reason to live - invokes Kali on the night of hte Kali Pujo festival...but as she goes to school with the boy she thinks befriended her as a charity case and his girlfriend, that invocation turns things on its head....

Knickknack by Ryan Douglass: A geeky teen boy, near college age, is home babysitting his younger brother in a town haunted by a kidnapping and murderous clown, and is forced to obtain help from the best friend he crushes on (but who surely isn't also gay, right?) and two jocks when his brother is taken by the clown....

As you can see from the above, the 13 stories above all cover a wide range of topics and cultures and hit a wide variety of tones too. Some of these stories are light fun and romantic more than scary - like The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting, Hey There Demons, or even Knickknack to a certain extent. A few of these stories deal with the abuse and depression faced by queer teens in today's world, such as Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle and Save Me from Myself. One, Sara Farizan's "A Brief Intermission" even deals with the horror of a queer teen of today facing the imposition of straightness straight out of the 1950s.

Not all of the stories work - a few of them, which I won't name - just feel like generic Halloween YA stories that could've been told in any anthology, and while it's a good thing for such stories to feature a queer protagonist instead of a straight one, it kind of feels like a waste for this particular anthology, which is supposed to turn the defaultness of queerness = being monstrous on its head. One story I really enjoyed, Kosoko Jackson's Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle, did exactly that, as its queer protagonist keeps being told he has to suck it up and just get past his abuse and think about everyone else instead of him, leading him to go down the road of monsters and demons in search of support and happiness...because the straight people can't understand. Another story doing that is Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman, where a queer/trans teen whose filipino family can't understand that finds a miracle in the supposedly monstrous old wizard who lives in the house covered with killer vines, allowing the teen to move forward with some hope and optimism even as the teen remains connected to a home and family they'll never quite be fully apart from.

Other stories I really enjoyed didn't quite do that but were fun and romantic in ways that made me smile anyway, which made them great to enjoy. So The Three Phases of Ghost-Hunting by Alex Brown is just incredibly cute as its protagonists deal with a ghost who wants pizza as well as the protagonist's attraction to her best friend, an attraction she's afraid to act upon (guess what happens). Similar tones are there in Hey There, Demons and Knickknack, all of which take a monstrous premise to some comedic directions and add in a romantic element for our protagonists. They're very different in tone from the powerful dark stories that are elsewise in this collection (including others I don't highlight above) but they made me smile and happy they were there to balance it out.

The result is a nice balanced anthology, not too long, which will be excellent for YA readers, especially those who are queer people of color....but not just them, because straight white teens could certainly use the lessons imparted within, just as those readers could use the reminder that the straight white viewpoint is not the only valid one for horror/romantic stories.

Thanks to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this!

These were very spooky, especially the first and last couple. I’m kind of a wimp, so my favorite was actually not spooky at all but had a cute demonic love interest 😍 Overall, I really enjoyed these!

This was an interesting mix of stories set in a genre I don't generally read much of. I liked that these stories were set across a whole range of communities, backgrounds, and lived experiences, and appreciated that each had a different, unique twist on common horror tropes. While I definitely liked some stories more than others, which does happen with anthologies, the authors all did a decent job.

I rated this three stars since even the best horror is generally hit-or-miss for me. One quibble I had with this collection in particular was that it didn't seem to have a whole lot of trans and non-binary representation, and I feel like these types of teens could have used more of it here. What was there was pretty good, but there could always be more. Don't forget the "T," after all.

Overall, this was a decent collection of horror short stories that could feasibly get one geared up for Halloween, or that can just be read anytime. It can also serve as a jumping-off point for anyone who isn't a horror buff, or any horror reader who generally gravitates towards not-so-heavy stuff in the genre (although that is a bit dependent on the story).

4.5 stars rounded up

A really solid collection of short stories! 13 queer YA authors of color write stories taking place on Halloween night...

- Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban (3 stars) My least favorite in the collection, but still pretty good. A creepy party at a hotel.

- The Visitor by Kalynn Bayron (4 stars) Grief and the undead

- A Brief Intermission by Sara Farizan (5 stars) A drive in theatre with ghosts from the 50’s. Creepy!

- Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells (4.5 stars) Corporate greed and dangerous technology...

- Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle by Kosoko Jackson (5 stars) A rough one dealing with homophobic violence. A story of supernatural revenge.

- The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by Alex Brown (4.5 stars) Very fun and campy about pizza-stealing ghost.

- Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran (5 stars) ooh damn! First genuinely scary one with great use of technology and addressing hate crimes.

- Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman (4 stars) Great debut! Filipino culture, gender identity, and a spooky house down the street.

- In You to Burn by Em X. Liu (4 stars) Interesting frenemies story drawing on Chinese myth.

- Anna by Shelly Page (4.5 stars) Babysitting gone wrong when the kids use a ouji board to summon an angry ghost.

- Hey There, Demons by Tara Sim (4 stars) Very cute but more romance than horror. Boy accidentally summons a hot demon.

- Save Me From Myself by Auria Shonibar (5 stars) Hindu goddess body swapping with mental health and suicidal ideation.

- Knickknack by Ryan Douglas (4.5 stars) Cute. Evil clown kidnaps brother, MC finally admits feelings for best friend

I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Title: Night of the Living Queers
Edited by: Shelly Page and Alex Brown
Genre: YA Horror
Release Date: August 29, 2023
Rating: 4/5⭐️

Night of the Living Queers is a YA horror anthology of 13 stories by various authors. The stories contain everything from ghosts to demons to vampires, but what they all have in common is that they’re all written by queer authors of color and feature queer BIPOC characters. Some of the stories are truly creepy, while others are more suspenseful. They were all short enough that they could each be read in a single sitting and the stories don’t intertwine, so they could be enjoyed individually.

There is some mild romance and profanity, but I would feel comfortable adding this book to my high school library and recommending it to YA readers. I’d consider it a step up for fans of middle grade horror such as Mary Downing Hahn, K. R. Alexander, and Katherine Arden (Small Spaces).

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

#netgalley #nightofthelivingqueers #yahorror #horrorbookshelf #horroranthology #horrorbooks #ireadya #queerhorror #yaauthors

I am such a fan of a book of short stories. Add in the creepy and spooky and I am sold! I loved all of these stories. I have to say some of them scared me more than others, Also one made me cry! A haunted hotel, creepy little girl ghost and unalive people that come back on Halloween all make for an awesome creepy book! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for this anthology.

I will say that Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight does a great job of finding a diverse cast of writers from different cultures, so your reading is not limited to North American superstitions and spooky beliefs. The theme of blue moons on a Halloween could be restrictive at times, so I hope their next anthology sheds with this gimmick and allows for all sorts of international queer horror.

There is a different between the experience of reading and reviewing a short story collection by a single author versus reading an anthology by multiple authors: with the short story collection, you get to gauge the full breadth of the author as they try to tantalize and and spook you through their standard and experimental fare.

With an anthology - you only get one shot, and if it happens that the shot that each author took was not that best (but their best fitting the theme of queer + young adult + blue moon) then there is a great chance that you may leave the mental stage set up for you by each entrant not feeling satisfied - but they can totally be your bag if you read more of their body of work.

That said, I do not want to besmirch any single author only because their single shot did not jive with me, so I will only be reviewing my top 5 selections.

🅡🅞🅒🅚🅨 🅡🅞🅐🅓 🅦🅘🅣🅗 🅒🅐🅡🅐🅜🅔🅛 🅓🅡🅘🅩🅩🅛🅔
A Ouija session at a Halloween party allows a gay teen to change the past and stand up to assailants who had beaten him nearly to death a year ago. Fans of revenge stories will puur with excitement. Probably one of the darkest of the bunch.

𝕃𝕖𝕪𝕝𝕒 𝕄𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕠𝕫𝕒 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕤𝕥 ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕟𝕖
There are two stories in this book that use second-person narration, a writing style that I feel is often employed improperly. Between these two stories, this one does it better. The story of tomboyish character in the Phillipines who is feeling very daring on Halloween (after being forced into a very girly costume by her mother) and challenges her cousins to visit that house at the end of the street. You know the one: surrounded by vines, habitated by a strange elderly man, the site of many disappearances over the years.

𝕬𝖓𝖓𝖆
The story of a babysitter discovering that her young wards were playing with a Ouija Board - on the blue moon evening of Halloween of all nights! I was totally buckled in for this one - the pacing was excellent with the (expected) twist at the end.

🅷🅴🆈 🆃🅷🅴🆁🅴, 🅳🅴🅼🅾🅽🆂
A humourous Scalzi-esque story about a boy who attempts to draw upon the arcane to do away with what he believes to be a poltergeist, but summons a demon instead. Had fun with this story that bucked the Faustian trend.

Ⓝⓘⓝⓔ Ⓢⓣⓞⓟⓢ
A (possibly) creepypasta video grabs the attentions of a number of teenagers on Halloween Night, that of a girl pleading to her audience for assistance to remember a dearly depated sister. Our hero is following along with this video while on the NY subway, when it slowly becomes clear that a ritual is afoot, one of the supernatural and of social media technology. I can totally see this one being adapted into a short film.