Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror
Edited by Sofia Ajram
Ghoulish Books, 2024
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-943720-94-1
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-943720-95-8
135 ppg., Ebook
If you’re looking for a good collection of queer horror to read, then look no further than Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror. This anthology of queer horror was hard to put down! There were a couple of stories in this anthology which I didn’t read – only because they were written in second person POV – but I did read all of the other stories, no matter how bizarre, hard-to-understand or surreal they were.
Or frightening. Many of these stories were indeed frightening!
You don’t need to be a member of the queer community in order to enjoy reading these stories, though. That is just my opinion. If you love and accept people in the community, and you also love reading horror, then this is definitely one horror anthology to read!
For me, though, it’s not an issue. The sexual identity of a character is not a factor of whether or not I enjoy reading a story; it’s the story itself! I read a lot of gay fiction, as well as queer fiction, so I am not new to this subgenre of horror.
There were a couple of stories in this anthology that really stood out for me:
“Summer Night” by Robbie Banfitch was a very sad story. And, yet, it was also eerily dystopian. Almost like a warning for what could happen if homophobia manages to take over our very lives in this country, which I used to think of as a “free” one. This story right here is an example of the hatred being shown towards homosexuals now, where in other countries, they are murdered. Having their heads bashed in with rocks, being thrown off of buildings or being hanged only because they love someone the same sex as them. It’s horrible that this happens and I fear it will start happening here if a certain President has his way.
I loved the story “American Gothic” by LC von Hessen. The ending was so sad but also so beautiful. It made me cry!
Many of the stories in the anthology Bury Your Gays also had undertones of sadness, and that's where the "tragic" part of the title comes in. A break away from the grisly horror that also takes place in the stories, some of them truly horrific to read. I loved how creative some of these stories were! I recommend this anthology of stories to anyone who enjoys reading queer horror, whether or not they are queer themselves.
Five stars
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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