Monster, She Wrote

2 1/2 stars. Not enough detail. Too many mentions of Kelly Link throughout the book (“Kelly Link refers to this book as...” “Did you know Kelly Link was nominated for...?” Are the authors friends with her?)

And the offensive slights: One paragraph—and only one suggested book—for Joyce Carol Oates, who has written many, many horror and weird novels, and only two sentences dedicated to Lois Duncan, who wrote a long, long list of terrifying novels (I didn't sleep after reading Daughters of Eve or Down a Dark Hall) and introduced generations of kids and teenagers to the horror genre.
They tossed her in at the end of the paperback horror chapter after riffing on all the lurid Zebra books, and talking about who Ruby Jean Jensen might have been for pages, as an afterthought: yeah, you know, that Sarah Michelle Gellar movie, that was her book. She, and her decades of work that terrified millions of kids and brought them into reading horror, deserved much better than an afterthought.

And finally: the authors pull back from whether or not Amelia Edwards was gay, stating that she preferred to travel with female companions. I researched Amelia for an episode of my podcast about her, and Ellen Braysher was her partner and family.