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A review by justinekorson
Night of the Living Queers by Alex Brown, Shelly Page
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I’d heard mixed reviews so I was worried it wouldn’t live up to the hype but… IT DID.
I initially thought that none of the stories would scare me and I thought it was odd that the overarching theme was “I’m and/or my friend is dead but I don’t remember that I’m and/or my friend dead until something shocks my brain into remembering”. It happened SEVERAL times to different characters across the stories and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. The best version I think was in “In You To Burn”. Just something about queer girls fighting each other across centuries dying/killing each other was SO FUN.
Besides that… I READ “Nine Stops” BT TRANG THANH TRAN AND ALMOST HAD A GODDAMN HEART ATTACK AT 11:30 AT NIGHT. I’d just started to think that none of the stories would be that scary and then I READ THAT??!?! The universe clearly did not want me to sleep that night.
Other unsettling ones (in my opinion) included “welcome to Hotel Paranoia”, “The Visitor”, “Anna”, and “Save Me From Myself”. I thought each of these stories would end in an innocuous way but I was wrong. I wouldn’t say I was scared by them but just the idea of wrongness at the end of each of these got me all fucked up.
For the fun lighthearted ones, “A Brief Intermission”, “The Three Phases of Ghosthunting”, “Hey There, Demons” and “Kinkknack” were sone of my favorite. “Hey There Demons” ESPECIALLY was so funny to me and so very cute! I loved it.
For the rest I can’t categorize as they’re all vastly different. “Guested” could be in the unsettling category but… I wasn’t personally unsettled. Honestly there felt like something freeing about another entity coexisting with you in your body? It didn’t sound parasitic. It sounded symbiotic. It also didn’t sound like the “guest” had much control over the host body but I could be wrong.
“Rocky Road With Caramel Drizzle” was sad. I felt so much sympathy and empathy for him and I was glad he was able to have his revenge but I think I ultimately wanted more from the story. Not sure what though.
“Leyla Mendoza and The House At The End Of The Lane” actually made me burst into tears. maybe because I’m Filipino myself or maybe because part of me resonated with Leyla. Either way it wasn’t scary. If anything it was hopeful and sweet.
Overall I throughly enjoyed this collection!! I want more anthologies like this!
I initially thought that none of the stories would scare me and I thought it was odd that the overarching theme was “I’m and/or my friend is dead but I don’t remember that I’m and/or my friend dead until something shocks my brain into remembering”. It happened SEVERAL times to different characters across the stories and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. The best version I think was in “In You To Burn”. Just something about queer girls fighting each other across centuries dying/killing each other was SO FUN.
Besides that… I READ “Nine Stops” BT TRANG THANH TRAN AND ALMOST HAD A GODDAMN HEART ATTACK AT 11:30 AT NIGHT. I’d just started to think that none of the stories would be that scary and then I READ THAT??!?! The universe clearly did not want me to sleep that night.
Other unsettling ones (in my opinion) included “welcome to Hotel Paranoia”, “The Visitor”, “Anna”, and “Save Me From Myself”. I thought each of these stories would end in an innocuous way but I was wrong. I wouldn’t say I was scared by them but just the idea of wrongness at the end of each of these got me all fucked up.
For the fun lighthearted ones, “A Brief Intermission”, “The Three Phases of Ghosthunting”, “Hey There, Demons” and “Kinkknack” were sone of my favorite. “Hey There Demons” ESPECIALLY was so funny to me and so very cute! I loved it.
For the rest I can’t categorize as they’re all vastly different. “Guested” could be in the unsettling category but… I wasn’t personally unsettled. Honestly there felt like something freeing about another entity coexisting with you in your body? It didn’t sound parasitic. It sounded symbiotic. It also didn’t sound like the “guest” had much control over the host body but I could be wrong.
“Rocky Road With Caramel Drizzle” was sad. I felt so much sympathy and empathy for him and I was glad he was able to have his revenge but I think I ultimately wanted more from the story. Not sure what though.
“Leyla Mendoza and The House At The End Of The Lane” actually made me burst into tears. maybe because I’m Filipino myself or maybe because part of me resonated with Leyla. Either way it wasn’t scary. If anything it was hopeful and sweet.
Overall I throughly enjoyed this collection!! I want more anthologies like this!