Night of the Living Queers, an anthology of young adult short stories dedicated to “anyone who’s had to pretend to be someone {they’re} not”, is an impressive collection of tales that seeks to represent the intersection of queerness and identity. The book features thirteen different stories told through the lenses of BIPOC teens, and each story takes place on a Halloween night beneath a Blue Moon.
This book provides everything readers could want from a Halloween collection. There are costume parties in abandoned hotels, nights spent handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, pirate ghosts who haunt the mall food court, phantom animals who prowl the local drive-in theater, and haunted mansions where mysterious homicides take place. The stories feature ghosts, vampires, serial-killing clowns, Rougarou, poltergeists, and Ouija boards. References to Freddy Krueger and Camp Crystal Lake sit beside references to TikTok and cursed video links, giving the text both a contemporary and nostalgic feel. The stories provide a spooky atmosphere without frightening readers or subjecting them to gratuitous gore, and beneath the plot of each tale runs a commentary on the important pleasures of Halloween, with one character poignantly stating, “if only I could so easily slip out of my skin the other 364 days.”
I enjoyed this collection and think it is a much-needed addition to the Young Adult genre. Although the stories feature queer and non-white characters, the narrative focus is on battling supernatural entities, and this allows the teen characters to represent their identities without being narrowly defined by them. Adolescent readers will find diverse stories that scare, delight, tease, and inspire. Adults will find a window into contemporary teen life and enjoy a nostalgic look at the Halloweens of their youth.
Night of the Living Queers presents thirteen different tales brought together beneath a Blue Moon, itself a sign of change and transformation. This is a fun Halloween read that has the potential to transform the landscape of teen fiction and identity. You can find the book here.
Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Kelly Jarvis works as the Assistant Editor for The Fairy Tale Magazine where she writes stories, poems, essays, book reviews, and interviews. Her poetry has also been featured or is forthcoming in Blue Heron Review, Mermaids Monthly, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, The Magic of Us, A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, and Corvid Queen. Her short fiction has appeared in The Chamber Magazine and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/
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