ARC Review: Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight edited by Shelly Page & Alex Brown

Night of the Living Queers is a YA horror anthology that explores a night when anything is possible exclusively featuring queer authors of color putting fresh spins on classic horror tropes and tales.

No matter its name or occasion, Halloween is more than a Hallmark holiday, it’s a symbol of transformation. NIGHT OF THE LIVING QUEERS is a YA horror anthology that explores how Halloween can be more than just candies and frights, but a night where anything is possible. Each short story will be told through the lens of a different BIPOC teen and the Halloween night that changes their lives forever. Creative, creepy, and queer, this collection will bring fresh terror, heart, and humor to young adult literature.

Contributors include editors Alex Brown and Shelly Page, Kalynn Bayron, Ryan Douglass, Sara Farizan, Maya Gittelman, Kosoko Jackson, Em Liu, Vanessa Montalban, Ayida Shonibar, Tara Sim, Trang Thanh Tran, and Rebecca Kim Wells.

Title: Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight
Author: Alex Brown, Shelly Page, Kalynn Bayron, Ryan Douglass, Sara Farizan, Maya Gittelman, Kosoko Jackson, Em Liu, Vanessa Montalban, Ayida Shonibar, Tara Sim, Trang Thanh Tran, and Rebecca Kim Wells
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: August 29, 2023
Genre: Horror
Source: Digital ARC via Netgalley/Publishers
Targeted Age Range: YA
Content Warnings: mentioned parental death/mentioned death of a grandparent (welcome to the hotel paranoia, the visitor, rocky road with caramel drizzle, nine stops, hey there, demons), bullying (welcome to the hotel paranoia, rocky road with caramel drizzle), underage drinking (welcome to the hotel paranoia, knickknack), drugs (welcome to the hotel paranoia), mentioned drug overdose (not main character) (welcome to the hotel paranoia), animal death (a brief intermission, nine stops, save me from myself, knickknack), blood (a brief intermission, rocky road with caramel drizzle, the three phases of ghost hunting, nine stops, hey there, demons), gore (welcome to the hotel paranoia, a brief intermission, rocky road with caramel drizzle), mentions of a car accident (a brief intermission), body swapping (guested), mentions of past physical abuse (rocky road with caramel drizzle), homophobia (rocky road with caramel drizzle), use of the f slur (rocky road with caramel drizzle), grief (nine stops), transphobia (leyla mendoza and the last house on the lane), fire (in you to burn), parental abandonment (anna), possession (anna), suicidal ideation (save me from myself), body swapping (save me from myself), alcohol addiction mentioned (knickknack), kidnapping (knickknack)
Rating: ★★★

When I first heard about the Night of the Living Queers anthology, it jumped to the top of my TBR! As of late I’ve really enjoyed reading anthologies, and since I’ve been reading a lot of horror the last few weeks, this really came into my hands at the perfect time.

Something that I really like about anthologies is that although they’ll have a theme that the stories center on, you don’t typically get summaries for any of the short stories, so you go in completely blind, which to me, makes the experience more fun. Of course, I knew that the stories would involve some classic horror tropes as mentioned in the summary, and that element of surprise made each story really interesting. I would sit there and think to myself “okay, are they going to go in the direction that I’m expecting? Or are they going to subvert expectations?” and that made it all the more interesting.

However, I did, in general, want the collection to be scarier. Some of them gave me chills and/or creeped me out, but I found most of them pretty tame. Which does make sense considering the title says “terror delight”, but I could’ve done with some more intense horror. That’s completely subjective though, and what I personally think is tame could be just the right amount of horror for someone else!

I definitely had fun while reading this anthology, but I found that the stories were either a hit or miss for me — the ones that really hit hit and the ones that didn’t fell pretty flat. That being said, my favorite stories were Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban (4 stars), The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by Alex Brown (4 stars), and Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman (4 stars).

Welcome to Hotel Paranoia was so interesting, and it definitely started the anthology off with a bang. I think it was the perfect length, though I totally would have read a full length novel with its premise, and it was one that I could see working very well for the screen.

The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting was so much fun! It was super campy, and I love campy horror! I laughed a lot while reading it, loved the spooky moments, and I really liked the character dynamics. The premise was really fun and entertaining! I had a great time with this one.

Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane was the one that surprised me the most. Firstly, I loved that it had a Filipino MC — it was the only one with a Filipino MC in this collection — so that absolutely drew me to the story, but the biggest surprise for me was that I enjoyed it even with the story being told in second person pov. Personally, I hate second person pov, it takes me out of a story more than anything else. However, the way this one was written drew me in right away and by the end I understood why it was written in second person, and it didn’t really bother me by then. It is one of the only ones that ends on a hopeful note, and I did think that was a nice change of pace!

Other ones that I enjoyed were Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran (3.5 stars), In You to Burn by Em X. Liu (3.5 stars) and Anna by Shelly Page (3 stars).

Overall, I found Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight to be an entertaining read and I enjoyed the variety of stories. If you’re a fan of horror and short story collections, I would recommend checking this one out during the spooky season!