Hello! I’m back again! First of all, a giant thank you to my co-host Emmaly, who carried the load for running bookclub for the last two months while I was off gallivanting around Australia and the USA on book tour – thank you so much, Emm <3
Secondly, we have a new book for October, and it’s perfect for the spooky season: this month’s read is HOMETOWN HAUNTS, a collection of scary stories by some of the best up-and-coming authors in Australia right now, beautifully put together by Poppy Nwosu (herself an author of three wonderful YA novels, and a contributor to the collection).
Here’s the blurb:
One bite of an apple from a family shrine unearths hungry ghosts. A poison garden unfurls a polite boy’s deepest, darkest desires. Interfering with an Indigenous burial site unleashes ancestral revenge, to a metal soundtrack. An underground dance party during Covid threatens to turn lethal. And on the edge of a coastal rainforest, a grieving sister waits to witness a mysterious ‘unravelling’.
This #LoveOzYA anthology – the first to focus entirely on horror – unites a stellar cast of Australia’s finest YA authors with talented new and emerging voices, including two graphic artists.
Contributors are Wai Chim, Sarah Epstein, Alison Evans, Lisa Fuller, Margot McGovern, Poppy Nwosu, Michelle O’Connell, Emma Osborne, Emma Preston, Marianna Shek, Holden Sheppard, Jared Thomas, Vikki Wakefield and Felix Wilkins.
The stories in this wide-ranging collection dig deep and go hard. While some are straight-up terrifying rollercoaster rides, others are psychologically rooted in our society’s deepest fears and concerns: acceptance and fitting in, love and loss, desire and temptation, and the terror of a world threatened by catastrophic change … and even collapse.
I very much hope you enjoy this great mix of horror stories! (horror books are always dear to my heart) You can order HOMETOWN HAUNTS through Boomerang Books and receive free shipping using the ‘loveoz’ code, or you can find the ebook right here if you prefer to read in digital.
Catch us on the FB group page later in the month for a chat with the book’s editor, Poppy Nwosu, and happy reading!
xxEllie