ACK I can't believe I almost forgot to promo this anthology!!
Title: DYING WITH HER CHEER PANTS ON - SEANAN MCGUIRE
Media: Anthology of short stories
Approx length: 299 pages
Where to find it: Anywhere ebooks are sold, but I got my copy via Amazon. The physical copy was a limited edition Subterranean Press release, however.
What is it, in summary?: An anthology of linked short stories centered around members of the Flying Pumpkins cheerleading squad in the odd little town of Jordan's Crossing. Sounds fairly normal right? Only this squad is uh.. a little different. Picture what Sunnydale's cheer squad may have been if Buffy made the team, and formed her Scoobies around the other girls on the team instead. Basically the cheerleaders at this high school protect the school itself and the surrounding community from monsters and apocalypses and even aliens. Seriously. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
What do you love about it?: Seriously everything. I'm a fan of linked universe type anthologies - it puts me in mind the monster of the week vibe from some of my favorite shows. It has a distinctly Buffy vibe that way. Also, the characters are delightfully diverse (often in supernatural ways as well - the Captain is a vampire, and included on the squad are a hive mind, a zombie, a harvest goddess, and more!). It's just overall a really fun concept and my only complaint is that we didn't get a full novel series like McGuire's October Daye or Incryptid series. I'd love to see Netflix pick this up for a miniseries!!
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Just more stories for this squad and the world. I've specifically requested a few of my fave characters, but also worldbuilding. The anthology itself gives us a glimpse at 3 different squads (the very first squad in the first story in the book - all of whom die saving the world; Jude and her squad who are in most of the stories; and the squad captained by Jude's mother set roughly in the 50s/60s) and I'd totally be game for fic with glimpses of other squads from the past or future with the way this concept plays out. Honestly just anything would make me grin!
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: I don't know that it's easy to find the individual stories where they were originally posted and several were written new for the anthology. Of the anthology though and for my request, you could probably get away with just reading "Try Outs" to get the concept/most of the characters and "Turn the Year Around" which was my absolute fave of the anthology and is the only story that features Steph who I've requested. But really all of the stories are a lot of fun!
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Lots of gore and members of the squad do die with regularity. Basically urban fantasy/semi-horror warnings. Note, one specifically: there is a wendigo stereotype story - Seanan actually includes an author's note as she wrote that story early on in her career before she was aware of the issues with that plotline. Story title is "Fiber" and can be skipped.
DYING WITH HER CHEER PANTS ON - SEANAN MCGUIRE
Title:
DYING WITH HER CHEER PANTS ON - SEANAN MCGUIRE
Media:
Anthology of short stories
Approx length:
299 pages
Where to find it:
Anywhere ebooks are sold, but I got my copy via Amazon. The physical copy was a limited edition Subterranean Press release, however.
What is it, in summary?:
An anthology of linked short stories centered around members of the Flying Pumpkins cheerleading squad in the odd little town of Jordan's Crossing. Sounds fairly normal right? Only this squad is uh.. a little different. Picture what Sunnydale's cheer squad may have been if Buffy made the team, and formed her Scoobies around the other girls on the team instead. Basically the cheerleaders at this high school protect the school itself and the surrounding community from monsters and apocalypses and even aliens. Seriously. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
What do you love about it?:
Seriously everything. I'm a fan of linked universe type anthologies - it puts me in mind the monster of the week vibe from some of my favorite shows. It has a distinctly Buffy vibe that way. Also, the characters are delightfully diverse (often in supernatural ways as well - the Captain is a vampire, and included on the squad are a hive mind, a zombie, a harvest goddess, and more!). It's just overall a really fun concept and my only complaint is that we didn't get a full novel series like McGuire's October Daye or Incryptid series. I'd love to see Netflix pick this up for a miniseries!!
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Just more stories for this squad and the world. I've specifically requested a few of my fave characters, but also worldbuilding. The anthology itself gives us a glimpse at 3 different squads (the very first squad in the first story in the book - all of whom die saving the world; Jude and her squad who are in most of the stories; and the squad captained by Jude's mother set roughly in the 50s/60s) and I'd totally be game for fic with glimpses of other squads from the past or future with the way this concept plays out. Honestly just anything would make me grin!
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
I don't know that it's easy to find the individual stories where they were originally posted and several were written new for the anthology. Of the anthology though and for my request, you could probably get away with just reading "Try Outs" to get the concept/most of the characters and "Turn the Year Around" which was my absolute fave of the anthology and is the only story that features Steph who I've requested. But really all of the stories are a lot of fun!
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
Lots of gore and members of the squad do die with regularity. Basically urban fantasy/semi-horror warnings. Note, one specifically: there is a wendigo stereotype story - Seanan actually includes an author's note as she wrote that story early on in her career before she was aware of the issues with that plotline. Story title is "Fiber" and can be skipped.