Queer Little Nightmares

By: David Ly - editor, Daniel Zomparelli - editor

Narrated by: Danielle Verayo

The fiction and poetry of Queer Little Nightmares reimagines monsters old and new through a queer lens, subverting the horror gaze to celebrate ideas and identities canonically feared in monster lit. Throughout history, monsters have appeared in popular culture as stand-ins for the non-conforming, the marginalized of society. Pushed into the shadows as objects of fear, revulsion, and hostility, these characters have long conjured fascination and self-identification in the LGBTQ+ community, and over time, monsters have become queer icons.

In Queer Little Nightmares, creatures of myth and folklore seek belonging and intimate connection, cryptids challenge their outcast status, and classic movie monsters explore the experience of coming into queerness. The characters in these stories and poems—the Minotaur camouflaged in a crowd of cosplayers, a pubescent werewolf, a Hindu revenant waiting to reunite with her lover, a tender-hearted kaiju, a lagoon creature aching for the swimmers above him, a ghost of Pride past—relish their new sparkle in the spotlight. Pushing against tropes that have historically been used to demonize, the queer creators of this collection instead ask: What does it mean to be (and to love) a monster?

Contributors include Amber Dawn, David Demchuk, Hiromi Goto, jaye simpson, Eddy Boudel Tan, Matthew J. Trafford, and Kai Cheng Thom.

©2022 Individual contributors (P)2023 Bespeak Audio Editions

Critic reviews

“Queer Little Nightmares is a marvelous, must-read monstrous romp. Like the best haunted house rides, which never repeat the same scare twice, Queer Little Nightmares thrills and surprises at every turn. The works gathered here are distinct in the histories they reclaim and renew, imaginative in the visions they construct and share, and manifold in the ways they move us as readers—whether it be with joy, anguish, humour, horror, intrigue, irreverence, or some chimeric combo of all these and more. If this groundbreaking anthology doesn’t make your skin tingle, your mind pulse, and your heart expand, you may already be dead!”—Daniel Scott Tysdal, author of The End Is in the Middle: Mad Fold-In Poems

“These queer little nightmares kept me up all night, because I could not put them down. Energizing, thrilling, poetic and gorgeous, this anthology sparks and it singed me to my emotional core. I’m not scared of how deeply I fell in love with every monster and creature, every story and poem. I want to horror-heroine scream from the rooftops that everyone should read this book. Embrace your inner monster with this impeccable collection of stories and poems that will haunt and heal.”—Dina Del Bucchia, author of Don’t Tell Me What to Do

“Editors David Ly and Daniel Zomparelli have created a wondrous space for writers to explore monstrous impulses in poetry and prose. Queer Little Nightmares is a fantastical examination of where we are at this moment in time and a celebration of who we may become if we embrace our shadow selves with love. You might say that this thrilling anthology is the beautiful dark twisted fantasy of our time.”—Doretta Lau, author of How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?