LGBTQ+ HORROR MONTH: DRAG NOIR EDITED BY K.A. LAITY

 
Drag Noir is an eclectic anthology, and I’ll hold my hands up now and admit two things (please don’t shoot me):
 
1. That not all the authors in this anthology identify as LGBTQ+. However a good proportion of them do; and those that don’t, do feel strongly that inclusivity, diversity and promotion of LGBTQ+ authors is important.
 
And
 
2. Not all the stories in this anthology are horror; although the tales are all certainly dark enough to comfortably sit alongside any pure horror anthology on the shelf.
 
Now that I’ve got those two slight sticking points out of the way, what I would like to say about this anthology is that the stories are great. All of the stories in the anthology have a strong Noir theme running through them. Some of them lean towards the traditional hardboiled Noir crime style (where the femme fatales really are fatal). Whilst others lean towards a more otherworldly, supernatural bent. Where the women/men of the night, really are of the night. Where vampires and werewolves stalk their prey down suburban streets, and fairies are not just hidden in pretty dells and valleys. However my favourite stories from this anthology find their stories much closer to home.
 
In Tracy Fahey’s “The Changeling” her elderly narrator tells us a heart wrenching tale of childhood bullying, small town mentality, and helplessness. That we can all relate to. Whilst in Redfern Jon Barrett’s “Straight Baby” he tells us an eerily realistic tale of eugenics (which seems worryingly too close for comfort). As he shows us horrific echoes of how medical, political and popular advances in the past have affected those termed as “deviant”, and how with future advances these horrors may once again be forced upon those that society deems as abhorrent.
 
As I said at the start of the review Drag Noir is an eclectic anthology, which fits well with its theme. Though with a mix of genres, I expect that does mean that not everyone will like every story. However it does mean that no matter what style of story you usually read there will definitely be something in the book for you, and with such a high calibre of writing within, it is also highly likely you may happen across a new genre or author for you to explore further.

DRAG NOIR EDITED BY K.A. LAITY

ABOUT PENNY JONES 

Penny Jones currently lives in Leicestershire with her long suffering husband and patron of the arts Simon, although they do spend any free moments they have plotting to leave the landlocked county and get closer to the sea.
 
Penny knew she was a writer when she started to talk about herself in the third person, her family apparently knew when she was little and Santa bought her a typewriter for Christmas (honestly who buys a three year old a typewriter?)
 
Penny loves reading and will read pretty much anything you put in front of her, but her favourite authors are Stephen King, Shirley Jackson and John Wyndham. Her whole family are avid readers meaning that they have had to move three times just to fit in their book collections. In fact Penny only got into writing to buy books, when she realised that there wasn’t that much money in writing she stayed for the cake.
 
You can find out more at her website www.penny-jones.com

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