If you’ve spent any time at all here at Literally, Darling, you know we love fall, and with that comes my all time favorite activity: curling up on my couch wrapped in a blanket with a book. Our time to celebrate Halloween is slowly dwindling, so why not curl up with the scariest/coolest anthology this Halloween? Penguin has been promoting “Wicked Reads” all month, and they haven’t disappointed.
“Slasher Girls & Monster Boys” is a anthology of horror stories complied by April Genevieve Tucholke. Each story draws from a classic tale or two occasionally from a horror story, but sometimes it’s a completely new terrifying idea. It was fun trying to guess the source. What first attracted me to this anthology was the title. It’s amazing, and I knew it would be full of unique and fascinating stories. I wasn’t wrong. These stories were genuinely terrifying. Be prepared to put it down and walk away and come back with the lights are back on.You might even need to pull a Joey and make some room in the freezer. From horror and gore to creature features with a supernatural twist this collection has something for every reader.
A big draw for this anthology was that these stories came from writers I’ve enjoyed in the past. Since horror isn’t usually my go-to I thought it would be interesting to see how these writers came up with stories in a different genre than I’ve read them in, and I really enjoyed being terrified. This anthology features stories from: Stefan Bachmann, Leigh Bardugo, Kendare Blake, A. G. Howard, Jay Kristoff, Marie Lu, Jonathan Maberry, Danielle Paige, Carrie Ryan, Megan Shepherd, Nova Ren Suma, McCormick Templeman, and Cat Winter. My favorite story was definitely the first one. “The Birds of Azalea Street” by Nova Ren Suma was a great story to kick off this anthology.
This Halloween Penguin is hosting a Twitter chat with the author of “Slasher Girls & Monster Boys,” including April Genevieve Tucholke and others. This Friday, 10/30 you can follow @mashreads and the authors at 4pm and ask your questions! The authors participating are:
- Danielle Vega (twitter.com/dvegabooks) author of The Merciless and Survive the Night
- Peter Kujawinski (twitter.com/kujawinski) author of Nightfall
- Kim Liggett (twitter.com/kim_liggett) author of Blood and Salt
- April Genevieve Tucholke (https://twitter.com/apriltucholke) author of Slasher Girls & Monster Boys
- Carol Goodman (https://twitter.com/C_Goodmania) author of Blythewood series
- Sally Green (https://twitter.com/Sa11eGreen) author of the Half Bad series
Be sure to check into #TwitterGhostStory, on Twitter. Write and tweet a spooky story in 140 characters or less using #TwitterGhostStory for a chance to win a prize pack of featured titles from Penguin Random House. You have until Halloween night to enter your spooky stories.
Tweet us your favorite Wicked Read or your #TwitterGhostStory @litdarling!
Literally, Darling received a copy of “Slasher Girls & Monster Boys” from Penguin Young Readers group.
