Tag Archives: Stephen Graham Jones

Review for I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

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My first Slasher was Halloween. I was 10. My mom rented a couple of movies from UHaul—yes, you could do that at one point—and I watched them repeatedly.

My older sisters were teenagers, and I was left to my own devices. My younger sister was too small to watch it, and I knew that after the first time through.

I remember the opening scene vividly. Michael stalked around the house. His mask went over his face, and he stabbed his sister.

The reveal of him being a kid blew me away.

Moving forward in time to the following parts of the movie, I loved it. It’s still one of my favorite horror movies.

I always wondered what made Michael that way. Rob Zombie’s version touched upon this, which I loved.

Stephen does something with this creation idea in I Was A Teenage Slasher. It’s not what you expected; it certainly wasn’t for me. I struggled to read this early on. I needed help understanding the connections or the placement of certain story aspects. When it all came together, I was blown away by all the connections.

I’ve read many of Stephen’s books, but his Mapping The Interior is one of my favorites.

I’m halfway through the final book of The Lake Witch Trilogy. I had to set it down to finish book reviews.

Stephen crafts a story with Slasher mainly about a loner, maybe a bit of an outcast, like Jade in the Lake Witch Trilogy. Having read the book’s acknowledgments and seeing how personal Slasher was to him, I liked it better. He pulled a lot from his growing up in Texas. His acknowledging that made me think about my own writing and how I put bits of myself into it.

I felt a kinship with Tolly Driver. I know what it feels like to be an outcast. I was an outcast for most of my childhood. We moved around a lot. I attended five different elementary, three other middle schools, and three different high schools. I know that’s a little for some. I was the new kid/outcast most of the time. I learned to make friends quickly.

Knowing how Tolly felt being at parties and having others treat him differently and the reasons that come out in the story(spoilers) made me like him more.

He wants friends. He wants his classmates to like him, but instead, they shun him. His desire to be liked by someone leads him to be at a party. That’s where the story actually starts.

We see Tolly being with his friend Amber; then it takes a turn I wasn’t expecting. This event is sad to watch/read? Stephen’s description is so amazing that I felt I was watching it.

What happens is the birth of The Slasher. Stephen takes all of the things in the movies and makes us see what it’s like behind the mask. From the small things, quick movement, the ability to open any door to the more significant things, the indifference in the killer’s eyes, and the ability to withstand any physical punishment, it’s these things that really capture the idea of the book. As a fan of these types of movies, Stephen does this masterfully.

I can’t give things away, but it does take a turn. The brutality of a Slasher movie is front and center in the kills. It stands out as the work of someone who loves the genre and takes care to make it feel natural to the reader.

Stephen is at the top of his game in this one. If this is a standalone, it’s one of Stephen’s best.

My Heart Is A Chainsaw

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Let’s start with basics, I love slashers, and there are few decent slashers in literature, at least that I’ve found.

I know the format for writing book reviews, but I can’t do it that way.

Here‘s a link to what you’re supposed to do when you review a book.

Let’s get into this.

I started this book after receiving it in my NightWorms horror book box, but I got sidetracked by writing projects, researching Norse Paganism, and reading other things. The Norse paganism is something for me personally, and if you look at my recent reads, you’ll see I’ve dived into that pretty heavily, but let’s get back to this review.

The book’s opening is classic for a slasher, much like the opening for Friday the 13th. It begins before everything goes crazy, and we see two people doing things that will get you killed in a slasher. What it also does is add some mystery to what’s happening and foreshadow things to come later, which Stephen is brilliant at doing.

After the opening, we move to Jade, who is now one of my favorite characters. I can’t wait for my wife to read this book. She’s going to love this character.

Jade is a character that we know a little about, but the discovery process is terrific as the first chapter moves along. The glimpses into her world, one that, as a guy and white, I can’t relate to, but wearing those tags, makes me feel terrible.

I know people who lived on reservations when I lived in Mesquite, NV, and I understand the way our government and society treat Indigenous people. I’ve had discussions about this with friends.

As we move along, Jade is deep into a belief that something is going to happen in her little town. To me, it appeared like she had mental issues caused by something, but I won’t get into that. Her refuge for her trauma is horror. It has been mine since I was a kid, and it’s one of the reasons I enjoyed the book so much.

The number of movies the author talks about is crazy. I had to go find a list of them. This list is a spoiler of coming attractions in the book, so be wary of looking at the list if you want to go in blind.

As the story progresses, more elements of slashers come into play. Jade believes that a girl is a final girl for whatever the killer’s purpose is. There are loads of red herrings throughout, but the sheer evil of some of them made me pause and wonder numerous times, but it all came around to the finality in proper slasher form.

The date of 4th of July is classic and is pulled from one of the best slashers, Jaws.

Now, as the finality goes on, other things come into play, and while I want to spoil it, I won’t.

This is a book that I enjoyed so much, and Stephen is one of my favorite authors.

I know this wasn’t a perfect review, but I want to leave some important things out. It’s best to experience this book for yourself, and I don’t want to be the one to screw it up.

On another note, I’ll be doing more of this in the future. If there is a book you’d like to me review, let me know.