Scream Queen

Spanning the varied regions of the American South, Scream Queen offers glimpses into the tumultuous lives of characters facing imminent disaster. The mother of a felon looks to a group of Tibetan monks for peace of mind. A priest whose faith has been shaken after a tragic loss is sent to investigate an alleged miracle in a backwoods Louisiana church. At an Alabama horror convention, a middle-aged actress is forced to confront the uncomfortable truth about her legacy. A punk rock musician in the early stages of dementia tries to reconnect with his estranged son after a lifetime of debauchery. The stories in this book are at once humorous and tragic, deftly navigating issues of violence, spirituality, addiction, parenthood, and mortality for a clearer understanding of how our failures ultimately shape us.

remy Griffin grew up in Louisiana and received his MFA in creative writing from Virginia Tech University. He is the author of the short story collections A Last Resort for Desperate People: Stories and a Novella, from SFAU Press; Oceanography, winner of the Orison Books 2018 Fiction Prize; and Scream Queen, winner of the 2023 BLP Hudson Prize. His work has appeared in such journals as the Alaska Quarterly Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Hopkins Review, and Oxford American. He has received support from the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing.