The stories in All These Sunken Souls explore horror through a blend of genres—from the thoughtful to the terrifying—as the reader wanders farther and farther from reality.
By delivering a multitude of profound nightmares, this YA horror anthology by established and debut authors contains something for every horror fan—and for anyone who dares to open these pages. From haunted Victorian mansions, temporal monster-infested asylums, ravaging zombie apocalypses, to southern gothic hoodoo practitioners, the anthology features stories from Kalynn Bayron, Donyae Coles, Ryan Douglass, Sami Ellis, Brent Lambert, Ashia Monet, Circe Moskowitz, Joel Rochester, Liselle Sambury, and Joelle Wellington.
All These Sunken Souls tackles a genre that historically has tokenized and exploited Black characters and opens discussion on how horror translates into the current time we live in.
CONTRIBUTOR(S): Circe Moskowitz (Editor) with Joelle Wellington, Donyae Coles (Contributor), Ryan Douglass (Contributor), Kalynn Bayron (Contributor), Brent Lambert (Contributor), Joel Rochester (Contributor), Ashia Monet (Contributor), Sami Ellis (Contributor), Liselle Sambury (Contributor)
COVER ARTIST: Sarah Gavagan (illustrations), Jonathan Hahn (design)
PUBLISHER: Chicago Review Press
YEAR: 2023
LENGTH: 256 pages
AGE: Young Adult
GENRE: Horror
RECOMMENDED: Yes
Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s), Gay/Achillean Main Character(s), Bi/Pan Minor Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Main Character(s).
I liked most of the stories in this collection. My favorites are "Lights" for its take on monstrosity and genre expectations, "All My Best Friends Are Dead" for the way it plays with characterization and perspective, and "No Harm Done" for the sudden pivot into horror after an interesting but not obviously creepy opening.
"Lights" - CW for stalking, blood, violence, murder. Minor CW for ableist language, cursing, drug use
"Be Not Afraid" - CW for confinement, kidnapping, blood, injury detail, body horror, self harm, death. Minor CW for racism, racial slurs, cancer.
"All My Best Friends Are Dead" - CW for cursing, blood, murder, child death, death. Minor CW for excrement.
"The Teeth Come Out at Night" - Graphic CW for blood, gore, body horror. CW for classism, injury detail. Minor CW for cursing, excrement, animal death
"I Love Your Eyes" - Graphic CW for toxic relationship, violence. CW for fire, body horror, blood, murder, death. Minor CW for grief, excrement.
"The Consumption of Vienna Montrose" - CW for cursing, sexual content, toxic relationship, blood, death. Minor CW for racism, ableism, injury detail, animal death, death.
"The Landscape of Broken Things" - CW for cursing, ableism, kidnapping, confinement, forced institutionalization, medical content, medical trauma, death.
"Mother, Daughter, and the Devil" - CW for alcohol, alcoholism, pregnancy, blood, gore, injury detail, gun violence, self harm, body horror, murder, animal death, death.
"Papa Pearlie" - CW for grief, cursing, blood, violence, injury detail, murder, parental death, death. Minor CW for drug use, homophobia, vomit, toxic relationship, slavery.
"No Harm Done" - CW for grief, cursing, blood, gore, violence, injury detail, cannibalism, gun violence, murder, child death, death. Minor CW for alcoholism, abandonment, child abuse, physical abuse, homophobia, car accident.
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