I Was a Teenage Slasher - by Stephen Graham Jones (Hardcover)

About the Book

"1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton--and a place where everyone knows everyone else's business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, the unfairness of being on the outside, through the slasher horror he lives but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A USA TODAY Bestseller
An Alex Award Winner

From New York Times bestselling horror writer Stephen Graham Jones comes a classic slasher story with a twist--perfect for fans of Adam Cesare and Grady Hendrix.

1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton--and a place where everyone knows everyone else's business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, and shared sense of unfairness of being on the outside through the slasher horror Jones loves, but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.

Review Quotes

"Stephen Graham Jones's viciously clever, over-the-top, genre-skewing new novel turns a gruesome murderer into 'your friendly neighborhood slasher'...spectacularly engaging narrative voice, which is imbued with a street-smart lyricism that makes even the loftiest observations glitter like knife blades."-- "--New York Times Book Review"

"A playful, self-aware and remarkably gory horror novel."-- "--The New York Times"

"Readers will watch something original emerge before their eyes, realizing why everyone needs to be as obsessed with the Slasher as Jones is himself. Suggest to every reader who loves a perfectly rendered time and place or just wants a chilling, captivating, and thought provoking story where every detail matters and every page is worth their time." -- "--Booklist, starred review"

"The story has a clear love for the splashy slasher films that inspired it, and Jones does a great job of landing the plot's gorier excesses as the bodies pile up...{F]ans of meta horror will find a lot to love as Jones remixes well-worn tropes with glee."-- "--Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, and I Was a Teenage Slasher. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and a recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder.