I didn’t realize how often I would need to explain to people (okay, mostly like my grandma), that A) I did not in fact write “Fish Gather to Listen” and B) that it is decidedly different than my own author brand of writing queer YA with happy endings and no one dies especially not the pets.
So, I have created a completely my own thoughts on which stories are easier for the weenies out there like me to read, and the ones to maybe read over coffee in the morning rather than by flashlight under the sheets right before bed.
My history with the horror genre includes chunks of very large consumption of teenage vampire novels, followed by ignoring the genre completely until I started discovering for myself the overlaps with sci-fi. So my preferences and thoughts have had a must different journey than my co-editors. (Part of why I feel we make such an amazing team and wound up with such an amazing anthology).
Just because I list something as terrifying, does not mean it will hit the same for other readers. And it in no way is a scale of my enjoyment reading these stories.
Y’all, I’m legitimately scared of fish. Like I hate lakes and rivers. If I can’t see my toes, I assume they’re a hairs breadth away from getting gnawed on by an alligator gar. But when we decided that water was going to be our theme I screamed like I’d just won a Squishmallow from a claw machine.
Anyway, that’s a long way of saying, here’s the list I’m gonna print off to hand to my family members who unwaveringly support me, but are also big babies.
