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They Bloom at Night
Trang Thanh Tran
Trang Thanh Tran, the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of She Is a Haunting, describes her sophomore novel as Annihilation meets Speak.
The small town of Mercy, La., has been almost entirely claimed by an algae bloom. Anyone who remains in the town survives by the skin of their teeth, including 16-year-old Noon, who ekes out a living by fishing the dangerous red tides. Bloomsbury publishing director and Tran's editor Mary Kate Castellani said the book, which went through many drafts to get "the perfect balance, [is] a story that uses horror to unpack the fear and existential dread of a world being impacted by climate change." Even though Noon's home is disintegrating and something lethal glides under the water's red surface, "the other problems don't just go away... Friendship dynamics, horrible parents, abusive boyfriends, and difficult self-exploration still happen even as the world falls apart."
They Bloom at Night is queer dystopic cli-fi for adventurous YA readers.