An Electric Literature Best Nonfiction Book of the Year • A them Best LGBTQ+ Book of the Year •
A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year • An Autostraddle Most Anticipated October
Read • A BookRiot Most Anticipated Queer Book of the Year "In these extraordinary essays
Lisowski reads the entrails of her life like a witch and invites you along for the ride. How
could you say no?" — Carmen Maria Machado From Lambda Award-winning poet Zefyr Lisowski a
sharply personal and expansive memoir-in-essays dedicated to the strange and absurd beauty of
horror films exploring the complications of gender the insidiousness of class ascension and
the latent violence hidden in our own uncanny reflections. This is how it worked: first I loved
them and then I loved myself. At twenty-seven poet Zefyr Lisowski found herself in the place
she feared most: a locked psych ward. While inside she turned to horror movies—her deepest
most constant comfort. Rather than disturb scary movies have always provided solace and
connection for Lisowski as they do many others—offering a vision of a world filled equally
with beauty and pain and a reason to reach out to others and hold them tight. After all as
Lisowski argues what terrifies us most about these movies is our own uncanny reflection—and at
the root of that fear a desperate desire to love and be loved. In these wide-ranging essays
Lisowski weaves theory and memoir into nuanced critiques of films such as The Texas Chain Saw
Massacre and Saint Maud. From fears about sickness and disability to trans narratives and the
predator victim complex to the struggle to live in a world that wants you dead she explores
horror’s reciprocal impact on our culture and—by extension—our lives. Through it all Lisowski
lays bare her own complex biography—spanning from a trans childhood in the South to the sweaty
dancefloors of Brooklyn—and the family friends and lovers that have bloomed with her into the
present. Deeply felt blood-spattered and brimming with care and wonder Uncanny Valley Girls
thrusts this seasoned poet to centerstage.
