We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures - Softcover

Costello, Rob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0762483202 ISBN 13: 9780762483204

Publisher: Running Press Kids, 2026

Synopsis

Tapping into the success of Out There: Into the Queer New Yonder and Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic, this exciting YA short story anthology contains 15 tales from bestselling, award-winning LGBTQIA+ authors-including Claire Kann, Kalynn Bayron, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, and H.E. Edgmon-each of whom has contributed a tale reimagining or creating original monsters and creatures as queer or allies of the community.

An empowering cross-genre YA anthology that explores what it means to be a monster, exclusively highlighting trans and queer authors who offer new tales and perspectives on classic monster stories and tropes. Winner of the 2025 CNY Book Award for Children's Books A 2025 Lambda Literary Award Finalist A 2025 Locus Award Finalist A 2025 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers: Fiction A 2024 Bram Stoker Award Finalist A 2024 Cybils Award Finalist A 2024 New York Public Library Best Book for Teens A 2024 Notable Young Adult Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Book by Reactor Magazine A 2024 Recommended Reading List by Locus Magazine A Best of 2024 Young Adult Horror and Dark Fiction by Ginger Nuts of Horror Be not afraid! These monsters, creatures, and beasties are not what they appear. We Mostly Come Out at Night is a YA anthology that reclaims the monstrous for the LGBTQA+ community while exploring how there is freedom and power in embracing the things that make you stand out. Each story centers on both original and familiar monsters and creatures-including Mothman, Carabosse, a girl with thirteen shadows, a living house, werebeasts, gorgons, sirens, angels, and many others-and their stories of love, self-acceptance, resilience, and empowerment. This collection is a bold, transformative celebration of queerness and the creatures that (mostly) go bump in the night. Contributors include editor Rob Costello, Kalynn Bayron, David Bowles, Shae Carys, H.E. Edgmon, Michael Thomas Ford, Val Howlett, Brittany Johnson, Naomi Kanakia, Claire Kann, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Sarah Maxfield, Sam J. Miller, Alexandra Villasante, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.

About this title

About the Author

Rob Costello (he/him) writes contemporary and speculative fiction with a queer bent for and about young people. He's the author of the short story collection The Dancing Bears: Queer Fables for the End Times (Lethe Press, 2024). His stories have appeared in The Dark, The NoSleep Podcast, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Hunger Mountain, Stone Canoe, Narrative, and Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America (Candlewick, 2020). He lives in upstate New York with his husband and their four-legged overlords.

Edition details

• Publisher: Running Press Kids
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0762483202
• ISBN 13: 9780762483204
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384