I had such a good time reading this anthology! It had a little bit of every type of spooky you could think of. My emotions were all over the place too…laughing, creeped out, heartbroken! If you are like me and love all things Halloween, I highly recommend checking out this book!

Here are my thoughts on each short story!

Welcome to the Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I absolutely loved the abandoned hotel setting. There’s something extra creepy about it. This did leave me with lots of questions but overall it was entertaining.

The Visitor by Kalynn Bayron
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one is emotional because it deals with grief. You think one thing is going to happen but then there’s the twist. So good!

A Brief Intermission by Sara Farizan
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one was definitely unsettling! I loved the drive in movie theater setting. I really wasn’t expecting that ending! I do wish it had been a little longer though.

Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells
⭐️⭐️
Couldn’t really get into this. I loved the concept but I think it being told in second person really threw me off.

Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle by Kosoko Jackson
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wow., this was a tough one. It was absolutely heartbreaking but so powerful. This story will stay with me for a long time. I cannot get this quote out of my head…
“I remember reading somewhere that it only takes one person to change the course of history. I wish someone had been brave enough when it mattered to be that someone for me.”

The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by Alex Brown
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was so cute and kind of funny! I loved the sibling relationship…so relatable! This story makes me want to read more ghost hunting books!

Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran
⭐️⭐️
This didn’t really work for me. It was pretty gory and honestly it left me confused. I’m also not the biggest fan of the chain message thing.

Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Loved this! I was about living your truth and it made my heart so happy! It’s told in second person which actually really worked for me this time.

In You to Burn by Em X. Liu
⭐️⭐️
I don’t really have many thoughts on this. I didn’t hold my attention.

Anna by Shelly Page
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This reminded me of an opening scene for a Supernatural episode and I really liked it! It was the perfect amount of spooky.

Hey There, Demons by Tara Sim
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was adorable & funny! I wish it was a full length book.

Save Me from Myself by Ayida Shonibar
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was another tough one to read! I really enjoyed the writing but didn’t care for the ending. I appreciate the content warning that the author provided!

Knickknack
Ryan Douglass
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Clowns are creepy! The romance was adorable!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. The following opinions are my own.

This collection of queer short stories was alright. I don't think one really stood out in particular to me. I would say maybe if they had more development and were longer they might have.

Great collection!! So very very creepy and full of so much fantastic rep. A must read for any queer horror fan. Will be featured on a future episode of Your Rainbow Reads podcast.

This was a really solid anthology, and a great introduction to a lot of newer/debut authors. While there were some stories that I enjoyed more or less than others, there weren’t any that felt like they didn’t belong, and I enjoyed seeing how each author interpreted the general theme of the book. Though this is a horror anthology, there’s a lot of different interpretations on horror, from the truly terrifying to the horror of life and the unreality as a response to that. Many of the stories felt like they could just be beginning, or as if the horror is in nothing truly being known. As a whole, I enjoyed reading this and I definitely recommend it to lovers of anything queer or horror!

NIGHT OF THE LIVING QUEERS takes the horror genre and centers those that traditionally don’t get to be at the forefront, telling the stories of queer BIPOC in horror. Many of the stories did a really good job of weaving together queer experience with the actual horror, while others instead took a more traditional horror story and put a queer BIPOC character at the center. While I wish that some of them had gotten to develop more (some of the earlier stories felt as if the horror elements weren’t that fleshed out), I largely enjoyed all the concepts and the stories that came out of it.

While I enjoyed all the stories, a few personal favourites were GHOSTED by Rebecca Kim Wells, LEYLA MENDOZA AND THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LANE by Maya Gittelman (the exploration of trans identity I could swoon), and IN YOU TO BURN by Em X. Liu. The most horrifying for me were THE VISITOR by Kalynn Bayron and NINE STOPS by Trang Thanh Tran.

As far as anthologies go, this was a pretty good one in my opinion. I have no doubt I’ll be returning to some of these stories in the future, and reading other books by the authors within. Definitely worth reading!

I’m really glad I got the chance to read this collection of stories. They kept me interested and I liked how some had an ambiguous ending or left you to imagine that things were about to get so much worse. There were a couple stories I liked less than others but it didn’t take away from the overall appeal of the book. It definitely gave me Halloween vibes in the spring and will be a great fall/spooky season read.

This is what every young queer needs in their life. This book is pure gold and i loved every story! The stories all have unique perspectives and vivid imagery and characters that allow you to get lost in the words over and over until the next story begins. Loved it!

I’ve read some amazing books due to Alex Brown’s recommendations, so I jumped at the chance to read this early, and I’m glad I did. Anthologies can obviously be hit or miss, but I liked the majority of the stories here.

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the opportunity to review this ARC.

I’m a huge fan of short stories and anthologies so I moved this one up on my TBR and I am so glad I did! Although these stories were YA, I think so many adults would love them! I plan on reading this out loud with my partner during Halloween time because they were all so good and I know he would enjoy them as well. With short stories, I often find there are a few that I don’t like, but I absolutely loved/liked each of these stories.

I really enjoyed this anthology. I love that we are getting more queer stories. Each story was something very unique.

Nice anthology. Good characters and stories. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books!

This collection was so fun. In addition to being a horror collection with queer protagonists at the forefront of the stories, so many of them were BIPOC! It made a fun blend of culturally specific narratives and lore as well as stories that you think you know but are completely flipped on their heads.

Read this book because there’s bound to be something for you in here.

I love a good YA anthology. A few of these stories were too creepy for me (I’m a big chicken) but otherwise I really enjoyed it. I think the audiobook edition of this will be great if they do it well!

3.5/5 stars
I REALLY enjoyed reading this set of short stories. I wasn't sure what to expect given that I'm not a huge horror lover but I do love short stories and this cover and title really got my attention. I appreciated the depth and insight that many of these stories were able to communicate in such a short number of pages, and there was a lot of creativity in these stories. Some of them were relatively predictable in their endings or weren't exceptionally surprising, but I still really enjoyed how I could relate and empathize with many of the primary characters of these stories.

This book is fun! There's references to all sorts of things that really scream Queer Halloween, like Buzzfeed Unsolved and hardcore costumes. A lot of the stories were really entertaining, with my personal favorites being "Guested," "In You to Burn," and "Hey There, Demons."

I think my biggest complaint is the vastly different tones of each story. Moving from "Guested" to "Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle" is incredibly jarring, as one's a fun story with a dark speculative ending, and the other is a harrowing tale of a hate crime and the fear the central character feels towards his attackers. Neither story is bad, and in fact, "Rocky Road" is a standout piece in its writing and execution, but it's hard to prepare for. Please be aware of the content in the book as you pick it up, and prepare yourself for the stories that cover subject matter that could be hard to read for you specifically. That's the danger of horror; one thing may scare someone way more than something else, and vice versa.

Overall, a fun short story collection I will likely recommend to others!

Absolutely fantastic if I do say so myself. 13 spooky queer stories on the 13th moon of the year, all written by BIPOC authors. The stories range from funny, to heartfelt, to downright terrifying. A perfect Halloween read :)

I'll admit that I hardly read anthologies, unless they're horror, or queer, but mostly horror. This collection blew me away several times and left me feeling better for it. There's nothing more camp, and warm, and safe, than reading about unapologetic queerness. The dark, beautiful, raw, unsettling kind. The soft, loving, patient, gentle kind, too. This features a list of authors I have heard of, but haven't read, and authors I've read before. What I appreciate more is the fact that this anthology is more than queer, it centers around ethnic diversity. I'll quote below the beautiful introduction.

"As queer women of color, we often feel overlooked and underrepresented- and we're not alone." I want to save the rest for all of you to experience, it's moving.

First, this anthology isn't meant for me. I'm white, French Canadian white. Though I am not the target audience, I want to expand my reading to make sure I include diverse, marginalized authors. I'm very lucky to have received this arc over others, I don't deserve it, but I'm thankful to give it the love and support it deserves.

I don't feel comfortable publicly rating individual stories, since I'm not the intended audience and a few of them flew over my head with things I didn't understand. However, I will briefly mention the ones I loved the most.

Starting off: Welcome to Hotel Paranoia by Vanessa Montalban, which yes, if you're me, you will sing in the tune of Hotel California. A beautiful sapphic narrative about a young girl who goes to a party at a haunted mansion abandoned by locals due to its infamy, where a legend of a ghost and an ex-best friend to ex-something haunt her.

"If you would've just waited for me to tell you I felt the same, if you would've never come here, I'd be yours. We'd be hours."

Oh my hearts. All the stars. It had me in a grip. It was also creepy, so a hundred more stars for that.


The second: The Visitor by Kalynn Bayron, was also a favorite, another sapphic short. It's about a girl named Toya whose mother passed on Halloween, and the tradition she holds with her ( amazing ) father every year, the loneliness and comfort of it all. It was also unsettling, and funny, and cute.

"I loved my time with Ari and with my dad. I loved them both, but the happy moments with them were like putting a bandage over a broken bone. It felt like it would never be enough to drown out the ache of my mom's death."

"I think it was just the wind, baby. Must've pushed the door open."
"That's exactly what people say right before a serial killer jumps out and stabs you seventy-six times."

The ending was sort of cheesy and went in a direction I wasn't entirely expecting, but I enjoyed it so much, and it melted my heart, and made me warm and gooey inside. These stories are the ones I want to map on my wall, to scream until my chest hurts. 10/10.


Next, my all time favorite which stole the breath from my lungs; Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells. Wow, just incredible. The prose, written in the second person narrative, blew me awayyyyy. Extra ys.

"You didn't tell him that you'd wanted to be someone else, somewhere else, for tears. That you felt completely empty sometimes, like there wasn't anything in you at all but the determination to see this through."

A story about a younger sister who sneaks her way into being invited to a party that changes your life for one night-- or the rest of them. After her sister is invited, and the next day acts... weird, she decides to see for herself. I won't give anything else away, you NEED to read it. It's funny, modern, interesting, chef's kiss!


I'll quickly add incredible honorable mentions:
- Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle ( very hard-hitting, graphic violence/homophobia TW ), which made me SOB
- Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman, which was PHENOMENAL and scifi-y and so emotional, it wrecked me physically and emotionally.

And finally, one that made me LOSE my mind with how funny it was.... Hey There, Demons by Tara Sim. Just... oh my gosh, it was so funny, and wholesome. Thank you Tara Sim for such a fun ride.

I will say it was hard to gage the ages of the characters in each story, they sort of blended between YA and NA but weren't distinct enough in the writing itself, and I thought more than a couple needed extra rounds of edits or a little more thought into them, but I digress. I loved these so much. Please get this as soon as you can, even if it's not Halloween!

I really love just how diverse this collection was! We need more queer and BIPOC voices and stories in horror. If there is a teenager in your life who is starting to get into horror, I think they will love this collection!

Night of the Living Queers is the perfect Summerween/Halloween season read. It’s a collection of 13 stories happening on Halloween on the night of a blue moon by queer authors of color putting a new spin on classic horror tropes. There are chills and thrills to be had for sure together with stories humor and emotion giving the anthology a really nice balance.

I enjoyed all of the stories this time but one standout for me was Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane by Maya Gittelman. The way it used Halloween to explore that feeling of otherness and finding belonging was really impactful and beautiful. Guested by Rebecca Kim Wells was also a super interesting premise with a haunting ending. The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by Alex Brown about a ghost haunting a shopping mall was cute and funny. Nine Stops by Trang Thanh Tran was eerie and absolutely chilling. I’ll definitely be reading this again as Halloween approaches.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Night of the Living Queers" is a YA queer BIPOC anthology specializing on my favorite topic: horror and Halloween! I knew about half of these authors and some were brand new to me going in, and I was very excited to get some nostalgic frights and chills from such a great collection of storytellers.

Like all anthologies, there are stories that spoke more to me than others, but they all were enjoyable in their own way. Slashers, ghost stories, monsters, all are represented here. My favs were by Tara Sim (Sim's story was hilarious, spooky, and clever) and Em X. Liu (eerie and strange!). Very much recommended to anyone who loves a good fright and most of all adores Halloween.