Fantasy |
Short Stories |
Young Adult Literature |
Young Adult Fiction |
Summary
Summary
Five paranormal tales of deadly danger and high school drama from New York Times -bestselling authors Stephanie Meyers, Kim Harrison, and others. Senior Prom is a magical night to remember in this short story collection. Authors Stephenie Meyer ( Twilight ), Kim Harrison ( Once Dead, Twice Shy ), Meg Cabot ( How to Be Popular ), Lauren Myracle ( ttyl ), and Michele Jaffe ( Bad Kitty ) take prom mishaps to a truly hellish level. Wardrobe malfunctions and two left feet don't hold a candle to discovering your date is the Grim Reaper--and he isn't here to tell you how hot you look.From angels fighting demons to a twisted take on getting what you wish for, these five stories will entertain better than any DJ in a bad tux. No corsage or limo rental necessary. Just good, creepy fun.
Author Notes
Stephenie Meyer was born in Hartford, Connecticut on December 24, 1973. She received a bachelor's degree in English from Brigham Young University. Her first novel, Twilight, was published in 2005 and was the beginning of the popular Twilight Saga, which includes New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. All the books within the Twilight Saga were made into feature-length films. Her first novel for adults, The Host, was published in 2008.
Meyer's novel The Chemist has been on several best seller lists including USA Today, Barnes and Noble and New York Times.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-This exciting collection of short stories by popular teen authors-Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer, and Lauren Myracle-embraces the dark side of a revered tradition. It starts with vampire-hunting Mary, who takes her mission of revenge on Dracula seriously enough to evoke his wrath by killing his son at her high school prom, and ends with the horned demon Sheba, who tries to wreak havoc at her prom. With edgy writing designed to hook and captivate even the most reluctant of readers, each story is filled with strong, appealing characters who work their magic on the senses by appearing to be strong, daring, and passionate. Readers are taken on an exhilarating ride through the terrifying side of an otherwise common event, and the mood is cleverly sustained with an aura of fast-paced yet somber writing. One distinct highlight of the collection is the well-orchestrated balance between the different aspects of horror that each writer addresses. Sure to have appeal for older teens, this book will undoubtedly make the circuit of fans of demons, ghosts, vampires, and gothic love stories.-Caryl Soriano, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Vampires, superhero princesses, and demons populate the five stories in this collection by Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer, and Lauren Myracle. The situations are paranormal, but the protagonists have the usual prom concerns and the combination often produces highly comical results. Some of the plot lines are hard to follow, but the breezy dialogue will appease fans of these popular writers. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Prom Nights from Hell SNY Chapter One Mary The music is pounding in time to my heartbeat. I can feel the bass in my chestâ€" badoom, badoom . It's hard to see across the room of writhing bodies, especially with the fog from the dry ice, and the flickering light show coming down from the club's industrial ceiling overhead. But I know he's here. I can feel him. Which is why I'm grateful for the bodies grinding against one another all around me. They're keeping me hidden from his viewâ€"and from his senses. Otherwise he'd have smelled me coming by now. They can detect the scent of fear from yards away. Not that I'm scared. Because I'm not. Well. Maybe a little. But I have my Excalibur Vixen crossbow 285 FPS with me, with a twenty-inch-long Easton XX75 (the tip, formerly gold, now replaced with hand-carved ash) already cocked and ready to be released at the merest pressure from my finger. He'll never know what hit him. And, hopefully, neither will she. The important thing is to get a clean shotâ€"which won't be easy in this crowdâ€"and to make it count. I'll probably only get one chance to shoot. Either I'll hit the target . . . or he'll hit me. "Always aim for the chest," Mom used to say. "It's the largest part of the body, and the spot you're least likely to miss. Of course, you're more likely to kill than wound if you aim for the chest rather than the thigh or arm . . . but what do you want to wound for, anyway? The point is to take 'em down." Which is what I'm here to do tonight. Take 'im down. Lila will hate me, of course, if she figures out what really happened . . . and that it was me who did it. But what does she expect? She can't think that I'm just going to sit idly by and watch her throw her life away. "I met this guy," she'd gushed at lunch today, while we were standing in line for the salad bar. "Oh my God, Mary, you wouldn't believe how cute he is. His name's Sebastian. He's got the bluest eyes you've ever seen." The thing about Lila that a lot of people don't get is that beneath thatâ€"let's face itâ€"slutty exterior beats the heart of a truly loyal friend. Unlike the rest of the girls at Saint Eligius, Lila's never pulled an attitude with me about the fact that my dad's not a CEO or plastic surgeon. And yeah, okay, I have to tune out about three-fourths of what she says because most of it is stuff that I have no interest inâ€"like how much she paid for her Prada tote at the end-of-season clearance sale at Saks, and what kind of tramp stamp she's thinking about getting next time she's in Cancún. But this caught my attention. "Lila," I said. "What about Ted?" Because Ted's all Lila has talked about for the past year, ever since he finally got up the guts to ask her out. Well, I mean, all she's talked about besides the Prada sales and back tattoos. "Oh, that's over," Lila said, reaching for the lettuce tongs. "Sebastian's taking me clubbing tonightâ€"at Swig. He says he can get us inâ€"he's on the VIP list." It wasn't the fact that this guy, whoever he was, claimed to be on the VIP list of the newest and most exclusive club in downtown Manhattan that caused the hairs on the back of my neck to rise. Don't get me wrongâ€"Lila's beautiful. If anyone is going to be ap-proached by a random stranger who happens to be on the most sought-after VIP list in town, it would be Lila. It was the thing about Ted that got to me. Because Lila adores Ted. They're the quintessentially perfect high school couple. She's gorgeous, he's a star athlete . . . it's a match made in teen heaven. Which is why what she was telling me did not compute. "Lila, how can you say it's over between you and Ted?" I demanded. "You two have been going out forever"â€"or at least since I arrived at Saint Eligius Prep in September, where Lila was the first (and, to date, pretty much the only) girl in any of my classes to actually speak to meâ€""and it's the prom this weekend." "I know," Lila said, with a happy sigh. "Sebastian's taking me." "Sebâ€"" That's when I knew. I mean, really knew. "Lila," I said. "Look at me." Lila looked down at meâ€"I'm small. But, as Mom used to say, I'm fastâ€"and I saw it at once. What I should have seen from the beginning, that ever-so-slightly glazed expressionâ€"the dull eyes . . . the soft lipsâ€"that I've come to know so well over the years. I couldn't believe it. He'd gotten to my best friend. My only friend. Well. What was I supposed to do? Sit back and let him take her? Not this time. You'd think seeing a girl with a crossbow on the dance floor of Manhattan's hottest new club would maybe generate a comment or two. But it is Manhattan, after all. Besides, everyone is having too good a time to notice me. Evenâ€" Oh God. It's him. I can't believe I'm finally seeing him in the flesh. . . . Well, his son, anyway. He's more handsome than I ever imagined. Golden-haired and blue-eyed, with movie starâ€"perfect lips and shoulders a mile wide. He's tall, tooâ€"although most guys are tallâ€"compared with me. Still, if he is anything like his father, well, then, I get it. I finally get it. I guess. I still don'tâ€" Oh God. He's sensed my gaze. He's turning this wayâ€" It's now or never. I raise my bow: Good-bye, Sebastian Drake. Good-bye forever. But just as I have the bright white triangle of his shirt front in my scope, something unbelievable happens: A bright bloom of cherry red appears exactly where I've been aiming. Prom Nights from Hell SNY . Copyright © by Stephenie Meyer . Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.