Vampires never get old by Zoraida Cordova and Natalie C. Parker eds.

The range of well-known YA authors, including Rebecca Roanhorse, Tessa Gratton, Julie Murphy, Heidi Heilig and V.E. Schwab, and the ease of reading a short story drew me to this collection of eleven vampire stories. It is always fun to read through the contents page and pick an author that you are familiar with. The first story that I chose was The Boys From Blood River by Rebecca Roanhorse. Lukas is  a young Native American who is bullied for his background and for being gay. He is also trying to cope alone with his dying mother. While working in the diner he hears a strange song about the Blood River Boys and things heat up from here. Another one that I liked because of its historical background was The Boy and the Bell by Heidi Heilig. A young gravedigger, seeking corpses to sell for medical research, hears a bell from a newly dug grave, and got some shocks when the coffin is opened.  Perhaps the most original in the book was In Kind by Kayla Whaley, where a young disabled girl was supposedly killed by her father who claimed it was a mercy killing. When a vampire arrives, the father is in for a shock. A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire by Samira Ahmed was very humorous but also gave some very thought provoking moments about colonialism.

The editors, Zoraida Cordova and Natalie C. Parker, not only had a short story, Vampires Never Say Die, with Instagram influencers as the main characters, but at the end of each story, they wrote a short piece that put the story into context and asked the reader to consider how they would react to the situations the main characters faced.

With its diverse characters and eerie stories, this collection would be a good addition to a horror collection for Halloween.

Themes: Vampires, Short stories.

Pat Pledger