Queer Horror

The best contribution to the conversion camp cannon since "But I'm a Cheerleader!" Any skeptics of meme king Chuck Tingle's debut horror novel will have to eat their words, or perhaps regurgitate them in a cloud of flies... Camp Damascus is not a one note experience, and Tingle expertly balances the bitter taste of ✨religious trauma✨ with the sweetness of first love, friendship in the face of the greatest odds, and the most satisfying "fuck around and find out" moment in literary history.
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member

 

 

I tore through this book the way this Texas suburb tears into the Maxwell family: ferociously. If you've read a book by Rivers Solomon you know how their prose has a way of getting its teeth in you, and Model Home is no different.
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member

Tingle has recently enjoyed mainstream success with his horror novels, including last year's Camp Damascus. With Bury Your Gays, Tingle proves once again to be the king of queer horror-comedy. His larger than life la la land personalities and truly terrifying creatures are a match made in hell. If you've ever been burned by the tragic death of a queer character you loved (Tara *sob*) this book is the vindication you need.
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member

White is for Witching is a haunted house story, a loose retelling of the infamous lesbian vampire novel, Carmilla, and a sharp exploration of the nationalism and white-supremacy that seep through generations of white women, hungry for the blood of the 'other.' Read this in tandem with Model Home by Rivers Solomon for an extra deep mind-fuck!
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member

Meet deranged radio DJ's, serpent cults, and a woman who's OCD may actually hold the key to world destruction in this delightful sampler platter of terror. I'm sure a few of these bite-sized stories will be just to your taste!
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member

On the first page we learn that Mi'kmaq artist Rita Francis has vanished during her artist residency in a remote cabin in the wetlands, leaving behind only her most inspired work yet. Each chapter begins with a gallery's description of her vivid mixed medium creations depicting unsettling images of dark figures embedded in scenes of ecological collapse. Green Fuse Burning reflects on, and is itself an example of, the ways we document global horrors such as climate change and grieve personal and cultural loss.
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member

Setting is everything in this slow-building nightmare on the high-seas. A whaling ship suggests chilling imagery right off the bat, but it is Nahil's mastery of atmosphere that cements the feeling of inescapable doom. You'll taste the salt on your lips and feel the dread in your own belly in this perfect marriage of ecological and queer horror.
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member

Is corporate participation in pride a metric of a shift towards progress or are the blink-and-you-miss-it rainbow logos hiding something more sinister? The Z Word tackles this debate with a cast of lovable and deeply familiar queer characters who must wrestle with the pressure to consume… or be consumed.
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member

Contrary to its name, this intrepid debut has marked Hache Pueyo as an author to watch. Using lush imagery, lyrical prose, and a lot of creepy crawlies, Pueyo comments on the lengths to which we will go to avoid being truly seen for who we are.
—Esmé, Firestorm Collective member