You're listening to All the Backless? A weekly show about books that are not new. I'm

your host Kelly Jensen and this is the September 15th, 2023 edition. As of recording this,

it's still very hot in the Midwest. We have had what has probably been one of the dumbest

summers ever between being way too hot to do anything outside, being way too smoky to

do anything outside, and being way too tornadoy to be outside. I am usually a huge fan

of summer, but this might be the first year that I am really itching for fall and even

the colder days of winter. It's also the time of the year where I find myself consuming

a lot of horror, like so many other readers do. Part of it is the season of course, but

the other part is the annual summer scarce committee work begins again. We're in several

groups who love horror, choose three, horror books and three categories, adult, YA and

middle grade, to feature and highlight two libraries across the country over the next year.

I've been capturing the YA piece of the program since the inception five years ago, and

so this time of year is just like consuming a lot of horror. I will drop a link to the

years past in the show notes or anyone who wants to dive into some excellent horror

reads, and all of that is to say this is an intro for today's episode, where I'm going

to highlight one of my favorite types of horror, which is horror that is also kind of funny.

I've got both a YA title and an adult title I've loved in the last couple of years that

scratch both my need for some chills and some LOLs. Before diving in though, I want to

talk briefly about Book Riot's new newsletter, The Deep Dive, for which I've written a few

pieces. One on the history of Barbie as a publishing phenomenon and one on the rising cost of

books over the last five years. Book Riot's editorial team is writing for casual and power

readers over at The Deep Dive, where you'll find weekly stories that inform and inspire readers,

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