David Ly

Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry David Ly

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, and Kai Cheng
Thom.