This is clever, and creepy, sometimes silly, dolefully heartbreaking, and occasionally stomach churning - I never expected something so innocuous as “the inside of the car smelled like grilled hot dogs,” to be one of the most unsettling lines I’d ever read.

The audiobook was 5/5 as well! Flawless narration.

Queer Little Nightmares is an innovative and fresh collection of short stories and poetry edited by David Ly and Daniel Zomparelli. Through a queer lens, this collection reimagines monsters from folklore, horror, and pop culture as queer icons and subverts the typical horror gaze. The authors explore themes of identity, belonging, and acceptance through creatures that have been traditionally feared and reviled in popular culture.

This was a fun lesson on queer horror. I enjoyed most of the stories and it was a good time. I enjoyed the audio narration, the voice was perfect for the stories.

The preface was interesting to see how the connection between monsters and queer characters came to be important to the authors lives. I enjoyed the first story a lot but everything else kind of depended on the content material whether I was going to like it or not. The worm eating intrusive thoughts got to me. The audiobook was a good choice because I thought the reader was a good fit.

I thought this was very interesting to mix fictional monsters to express the queer communities feelings. All of these short stories were told by LGBTQ+ members of their experiences in their lives! I think people should pick up this book!

I overall found this collection of short stories to be campy, fun, and of course, haunting. While all the stories revolved around the same central theme (the relationship between queerness and horror) the anthology gave us a variety of tones and styles that keep the collection from feeling one note. However, almost all of the stories were opened ended or lacked a plot which did start to feel a little tedious by the end. While I don't think I would ever revisit this collection I did think it was a fun celebration of queerness and horror.

Fun and ferocious! I enjoyed this anthology very much! David Ly, Daniel Zomparelli, and contributing authors refuse to turn away from the hard, violent truths of being a member of the queer community in modern America. Stunning prose & imagery throughout!

This anthology took me back to being ten years old and reading “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” with a flashlight under the blankets. It’s also so, so gay.

I laughed, I cringed; my heart was warmed and my stomach turned.

The narrator was fantastic and did such realistic, respectful dialects that just pulled me in story after story.

This collection is a wild ride and some stories are absolutely not for the faint of heart.

There’s pretty explicit mentions of transphobia, sexual/interpersonal violence, killing of a cat, and like… so much body horror. Don’t be afraid to pace yourself while listening. Some of the stories that packed the biggest punch did so by utterly breaking my heart with their depictions of young romance, a mother’s love, and lovers reconnecting after years apart.

I plan to order a physical copy of this and I can already imagine it passed around at upcoming queer campfires, contemporary fairy tales reminding us that trans and queer people have always been here.

This collection isn’t afraid to make horror gay again and that’s such a breath of fresh air. I will be thinking about Wooly Bully and so many more of the tales in this collection for a long, long time.

Queer Little Nightmares is a gruesome, weird, and thoughtful book of short stories and poems that reimagine classic monsters with queer themes. 

I loved the wide variety of monsters in this book: we had sea monsters, ghosts, kaiju, werewolves, cryptids, and some wonderfully gross body horror.  They lent themselves so well to queer themes and many of the stories went in surprising directions.  The poetry was gorgeous and there are a few poems I read multiple times.

Some of the stories that focused heavily on sex and influencer culture weren’t my thing, but there was enough that I found quite a few favourites, and I appreciated the variety of themes.

My personal favourites were the stories Wooly Bully by Amber Dawn, Nature’s Mistake by David Demchuk, Moon Spun Round by Hiromi Goto, and the poems on the origin of trans femmes by Kai Cheng Thom and Dad Movie by Kayla Czaga.

I do wish I’d read this one in print, however.  I didn’t love the audiobook’s narrator; her voice didn’t feel very smooth, or adaptable enough for the variety of stories and poems.  I found some of the stories blurred together because of it.

Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for my review copy of this audiobook.

Overall this audiobook was good. I did have some difficulties with some of the stories figuring out what gender the person was that the story was about. I think it could have been a little better if there were multiple narrators. There were a couple stories that stood out more for me than the others. I would like to see more from the contributors in the book.

I wasn't that keen on this. I loved the idea of Queer horror flips, but most of these were dull, didn't explain themselves enough for me, or just trying for shock value rather than any real horror. I also found the narration a little difficult in that it wasn't immediately clear the story had ended, most of the time, the next title sounding just like the next line of the story. Bigger pause needed.

This short story collection kept me pretty hooked. I loved the effortless queerness. The writing was poetic and often haunting. I enjoyed the narration of the audiobook, too. However, I am just not a huge horror fan and this is not something I would return to for a reread. Some of the stories felt incomplete as well. Thanks to NetGalley for the audio ARC of this collection!

I have never read a collection quite like this one.

Queer Little Nightmares is an apt title, as the stories and poetry in this anthology explore supernatural creatures with a queer twist. Usually dark, sometimes gross, often uncomfortable or even disturbing, these tales star monsters from legends and myths. Give a monster a queer identity and set them free to live according to their nature, and you have the basis for most of these stories. The short snippets of poetry in particular are mostly excellent.

While the anthology is unique, it isn't particularly my style.

This was such an awesome compilation of short stories and poetry. Some of these stories I just wanted to keep going. Some of the stories were creepy some were gross and creepy. Just how you want horror stories! I think my favorite poem was Naga Mark Ruffalo Dream. Also loved Invert. It's so hard to pick a favorite story. There were several that I wanted more of. The Vetala’s Song, Gruesome My Love, The Minotaur and Theseus, The Call and Strange Case to name a few. Honestly though I enjoyed every single one of them. I definitely recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

I received an audiobook copy of this book. I normally like to read along with the book when I have the audiobook of it but because it was composed of poetry and short stories, I was able to enjoy it without any problems.

This book was something new for me to read (the genre which I’d consider to be classed with horror, thriller, suspense) and I was a bit intimidated since I didn’t want that to get in the way of my review. I gave it a chance more so because the title reeled me in. I may be paraphrasing but when the worlds “queer people are seen as monsters, we are othered too” that made my jaw drop. It all made sense why the two subjects were formed together in this book.

Again, I have never been a fan of this sort of genre until I got much older but I will admit, this makes me want to search for anthologies that hold deeper meanings than what others may assume. The writings in the book only made me want to have more as I listened to each chapter. The contributors/ writers all came up with haunting, strange, gnarly and intense stories that made me think of the kind of stories one who listen if they wanted a queer little scare. This is what I would’ve loved to have read while I was growing up because it shows us that we are allowed to take up space, as queer people, in any place we want. Especially in this genre where more and more frequently holds a place for camp + queerness.

The narrator was phenomenal to listen to. It brought an extra flare to an already incredible novel. It was very theatrical when the narrator PERFORMED the readings rather than just reading it with no emotions.

I would love to enjoy more anthologies like this because this book sold me on finding more.

Thank you netgalley and ECW Press Audio for an audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

For as long as I can remember I have loved all things morbid and horror related so this collection of fiction and poetry made me extremely happy. I love the way each story flowed into the next, the transition of one monster to the next was so magical to me. Each writer had such vivid lucid imaginations that put you into the horror stories they’re telling. It is very often I enjoy collections like these, but I found even the stories I found weaker in comparison to others were still strong enough to hold my attention and not pass up completely. I can’t wait to see what these authors have in the works this future.

Fans of the books and show: cursed bunny, bliss montage, it came from the closet, salt slow and black mirror.

My favorite stories and poems:
The vetalas song
Hashtag wwmd
Gruesome my love
Glamour us
Poem made for pennywise
And the moon spun

Honorable mentions:
Wooly bully
Ghosts of pride

THIS is the horror anthology I've NEEDED!!!

Questioning why queer people are portrayed as villains and then reclaiming that trope in a queer-friendly way was *chef's kiss*.

The diversity in this was fantastic. Hearing stories about different genders, sexualities, cultures, races, and ages made this a solid case for more inclusive storytelling. Queer Little Nightmares has been on my radar for a few months, so I'm very thankful for the opportunity to have listened to the audiobook via NetGalley. This is at the top of my list for my next book-buying trip. The narration was also *chef's kiss* At first I thought it might have been better with the typical creepy horror story voice, but nope, I was wrong. Their voice is great. Perfect. Loved it.

Though I enjoyed every story and poem (seriously there's no filler in here) the standouts for me were The Vetala's Song, Godzilla Silhouette Against City, Glamour Us, And the Moon Spun Round Like A Top, Invert, and Ghosts of Prides Past.

content/trigger warnings
blood
body horror
gore
homophobia
lesbophobia
misogyny/sexism
police brutality
sexual content
transphobia
violence
(there might be more but I didn't take notes while listening)

Unique collection of short stories and poems! Some gross, some sweet, some odd.

I originally wanted to listen to this because a booktuber I follow LOVED it.

I don’t always love anthologies/collections so I may not be the right audience.

Be sure to check the trigger warnings

Thanks to Netgalley and ECW Audio for the AudioARC of this!

This little collection kept me intrigued and wanting to read more. A few stories stood out to me as the most nightmarish - And the Moon Spun Round Like a Top (body period horror), Nature’s Mistake, and Insert Coin (Wreck It Ralph vibes for grown ups). The narrator was very good.

I received this book for free as an arc through Netgalley. All views are my own.

I listened to an audio book copy of this and just want to touch on the fact that every choice made for the audiobook was wonderful! The narrator was amazing! It really pulled the stories off the pages beautifully.

Story wise this is a great book. The poetry and shrot stories are divided wonderfully in the book. They complement each other really well. There were several short stories and loved and none that I disliked. Many were were weird, different takes that just made my day. They were both creepy and so fun!