Night of the Living Queers is a chilling and outstanding anthology! This anthology truly has something for everyone. It ranges from the terrifying, to the stories with a twist at the end that will make you shriek, to quietly ominous endings. I loved that there was plenty of queer joy amidst all the Halloween magic and blue moon horrors. 

One of my favorite stories was Sara Farizan’s A Brief Intermission. While the story initially did not seem scary, by the end the quiet menace and haunting last words rang in my mind long after the final page. I also loved Kalynn Bayron’s The Visitor, because I desperately wanted to know what happened next! I couldn’t stop reading to find out what the night was building towards and the conclusion made me shriek. 

Some of the stories show that there is a future where things will improve (Maya Gittelman’s Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane) or that there will be a chance for justice at last (Kosoko Jackson’s Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle). Other stories end with a spine-chilling revelation that leaves the characters in dire circumstances (Trang Thanh Tran’s Nine Stops). There are also stories that will leave readers wondering if the characters will ever escape the supernatural trap they’ve wandered into (Rebecca Kim Wells’ Guested) (Vanessa Montalban’s Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia). 

I loved that there were such strong sibling bonds in many of the stories and glimpses of first love/queer joy (Alex Brown’s The Three Phases of Ghost-Hunting). I really enjoyed the opposing magics of Em X. Liu’s In You to Burn and was so curious to see how their story continued off the page! Shelly Page’s story Anna was the stuff that babysitting nightmares are made of! I loved the romantic element and the petrifying final twist. 

Tara Sim writes a compelling story (Hey There, Demons) about what happens when a demon is summoned to deal with a poltergeist. Ayida Shonibar’s Save Me From Myself was heartbreakingly beautiful and will definitely stay with me for a long time. Ryan Douglass’ Knickknack was a wild and fun rollercoaster ride ! This was another of my favorite stories! I could’ve read a full novel about the town battling Knickknack and the continuation of their romance. 

I would highly recommend this anthology to anyone! Readers who love queer stories with a spooky twist, Halloween magic, and LGBTQ+ characters will devour this delightful book. 

Thank you so much to all the authors in the anthology, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.