When I was in elementary school, I was caught by my mom reading a book in the Goosebumps series. She told me that those were too scary, and that I shouldn’t be reading that stuff.

Needless to say, I doubled down and picked Goosebumps to write a book report on soon after. I checked out Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark from the school library, and decades later I still think about some of the creepy scenes.

As an adult, horror books stay near and dear to my heart. My focus these days is on stories from marginalized communities: POC, LGBTQIA+ folks, and women.