Tonya Pines

Feeling pretty crummy today, so I grabbed something unusual from the thrift store piles. This is a collection of YA horror stories from 1991, including some of the biggest names in the genre.

Christopher Pike's two-part story "Collect Call" bookends the collection, and is of course the best. The worst is definitely "Hacker" by Sinclair Smith, which has aged terribly in the 30 years since it was first published. Glowing Apple II screens and DOS prompts? Hilarious!

I also enjoyed:
* "House of Horrors" by J.B. Stamper
* "Dedicated to the One I Love" by Diane Hoh
* "The Boy Next Door" by Ellen Emerson White… (mehr)

Not that I enjoyed the simple, not-so-complex writing but the read was comforting. It reminded me of better days when I first picked up books to escape reality rather than be reminded of it.

R.L. Stein, of course, being the only author I've read as a kid - his Goosebumps novellas were my introduction to the awesome world of reading - I was reintroduced to familiar names that filled the shelves of my female cousins. Namely, Christopher Pike whose Slumber Party cover always reminded me of a young chick lit gone awry.

It's a four-star read for any adolescent wanting to take a stab of horror at their reading level, or for the adult who wants to reminisce about their childhood. However, the book is a little dated - cassette tapes probably have the Myspace generation scratching their hands on that one ("Why not use a CD and leave it on loop rather than having to rewind the song?"...or better yet, "what's a CD?!"). The advent of electronic mail made me smile - how crazy were we in the year 1991?… (mehr)