Writer Alexandra West Tackles The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle & More!

"America no longer had a looming destructive force, but only Americans themselves--something that the 1990s Teen Horror Cycle would learn how to tackle."
-Alexandra West

I was the Scream 2 in-high school, one-woman, version of a street team. I would tell anyone who would listen its premiere date, I bought the Entertainment Weekly covers, as a news anchor in my video production elective, kept briefings on exclusive details at the top, bought the soundtrack, and tried to convince one of the employees at Coconuts (our local multimedia product outlet) to give me the enormous poster they used for promotion. I even, told my hairdresser to cut my hair like Neve Campbell in the film. Which she did. And I wore it proudly. Don't judge me too harshly.

Black & Native Women Horror Writers: Interview With Rebecca Roanhorse

It takes something significant for me to add a book to my already enormous to-read list. I make a point to do my best to read stories by and about marginalized people, as in the scope of publishing, we are still woefully underrepresented. One of the books I heard about during my travels on social media featured a Native woman monster hunter, and I knew I wanted to read it. The author Rebecca Roanhorse also had a short story (“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™” - linked to later in this article) published online at Apex Magazine that was nominated for several awards. After I devoured the Apex story, I joined Edelweiss, a site that provides advanced reading copies from publishers to bloggers and reviewers in order to read her upcoming novel Trail of Lightning.

Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last best hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

Maggie, a tense, terse, and a challenging character to get to know as she doesn’t care much for people. She’s also powerful and a necessary part of the community that she lives on the outskirts of. When she taps into her clan powers, which always seem to be simmering just below her surface, she is force of nature. Early on, Maggie performs acts of physical and mental strength that let me know I was in for an engrossing ride. Modern weapons, unlawful lawmen, clan powers, tricksters, and more than a few monsters, made this a book I tore through.