Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Tales (ed by Poppy Nwosu, Wakefield Press)
To the library of #LoveOzYA anthologies (Begin, End, Begin; Meet Me at the Intersection; Underdog; Kindred) comes Hometown Haunts, a new collection featuring 12 short stories and two graphic novels united under the theme of horror. Hometown Haunts has something to spook everyone, from classic nail-biting, life-and-death struggles between good and evil such as Sarah Epstein’s ‘Stop Revive Survive’ to vengeful ghosts, as in Jared Thomas’s ‘Seek and Destroy’, in which a burial ground is disturbed, with deadly consequences. There’s body horror to make your skin crawl, as in Alison Evans’s ‘Angel Eyes’, and psychological thrillers where you’re not sure what’s real and what’s not, as in Margot McGovern’s piece ‘Euryhaline’. Hometown Haunts offers work from established and well-regarded authors, as well as the delight of discovering new voices such as Felix Wilkins, who gives readers visceral, pubescent body horror, and Marianna Shek, who offers a spiritual bargaining arrangement with escalating stakes that is as fun as it is spooky. Hometown Haunts contains a diversity of stories, experiences and representation. Many of the pieces incorporate political and cultural tensions, challenging readers to reflect on our own history and society, on what makes us human and what makes us monstrous. Hometown Haunts is best suited for readers aged 13 and up but would be suitable for younger readers with an appetite for horror.
Jordi Kerr is a freelance reviewer and youth literature advocate, and a support worker for the queer community.
