SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS Blog Tour \\ Kendare Blake

Hey y'all! Have you heard about SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS yet? "A host of the smartest young adult authors come together in this collection of scary stories and psychological thrillers curated by Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’s April Genevieve Tucholke.

Each story draws from a classic tale or two—sometimes of the horror genre, sometimes not—to inspire something new and fresh and terrifying. There are no superficial scares here; these are stories that will make you think even as they keep you on the edge of your seat. From bloody horror to supernatural creatures to unsettling, all-too-possible realism, this collection has something for any reader looking for a thrill."

Here's a list of the authors who have stories in this collection:

Stefan Bachmann
Leigh Bardugo
Kendare Blake
A. G. Howard
Jay Kristoff
Marie Lu
Jonathan Maberry
Danielle Paige
Carrie Ryan
Megan Shepherd
Nova Ren Suma
McCormick Templeman
April Genevieve Tucholke
Cat Winters

HELLO AWESOMENESS! Yes, I need this book in my life! It comes out August 18th, from Dial Books, and you can order it or mark it on Goodreads now! 

We are so lucky to have the incredibly talented Kendare Blake with us today to talk about her story, ON THE I-5. Make sure you check out all the blogs on the tour to hear from the different authors! 

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Inspiration for “On the I-5”, by way of Tarantino and Ponyboy

by Kendare Blake

Yes, this Ponyboy

Because Ponyboy Curtis, aka C. Thomas Howell, also starred in the 1986 slasher flick, THE HITCHER.

See? Them’s his eyes in the rearview mirror.

At the heart of it, “On the I-5” is a road story. A story of hitchhikers and truck stops, of idling semis and traveling salesmen. It was the kind of story I’d been meaning to write for a long time, as an homage to my dad, who is a long-haul trucker, and who I accompanied on many California runs when I was a child. Oh, the roach coaches we ate from. Oh, the greasy spoons. Oh the lot lizards we waved to. Only I didn’t know what a lot lizard was back then, and I thought my dad had all the friends in the world because he used to talk to other truckers all the time on the CB radio.

Of course, I didn’t figure that the story I wrote as an homage to my dad would feature quite so much murder and pedophilia, but hey, he probably won’t take it personally.

Anyway, I digress. The Hitcher is also a road story, when it isn’t about using two trucks to pull Jennifer Jason Leigh in half (whoops, spoiler alert!), and it instilled a hearty fear of hitchhikers and hitchhiking in me from a young age. Way before Aileen Wuornos could do it in MONSTER by way of Charlize Theron. Did I ever tell you that Charlize Theron owns my best friend’s sister’s old dog? But I digress again. Let’s move on to the second bit of inspiration.

Quentin Tarantino’s DEATHPROOF

More specifically, the second half of DEATHPROOF,

Not the boring first half where the only

good part is when that chick’s leg

gets severed off clean at the hip, like a

Barbie leg. Whoops. Spoiler alert!

But then the second half happens, and we meet one of my favorite gangs of traveling ladies: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, stuntwoman/actress Zoe Bell, and two of the girls from RENT.

Not these two.

Yeah, these two.

See, (spoiler alert!) the deal with Deathproof is this murderous ex-stuntman likes to kill women by causing accidents with his deathproof car. Stunt cars are often “deathproofed” by adding roll bars and extra safety features/frame armor, etc. I didn’t know you could do this, but when I learned I immediately wanted to deathproof my Saturn, only to do so would make it so heavy it would suck more gas than one of those moving bandshells on Fury Road. 

Anyway, much like in “On the I-5”, our hapless murderer messes with the wrong string of ladies. They may have been victimized, but they will take revenge. Of course, my story is a bit more tragic than Deathproof, and the ending a bit more tender. But the spirit…the spirit is the same.

Sisterhood is sisterhood, and mother effers gotta pay.

Spoiler alert?

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Follow the tour

Stefan Bachmann - 8/10 – Winterhaven Books
Leigh Bardugo - 8/11 – The Hiding Spot
Kendare Blake - 8/12 – Reading Teen
A. G. Howard - 8/13 – Page Turners Blog
Marie Lu - 8/14 – Gone With the Words


Jonathan Maberry - 8/17 – Bookish Antics
April Genevieve Tucholke - 8/18 – The Midnight Garden
Danielle Paige - 8/19 – The Irish Banana
Carrie Ryan - 8/20 – Katie’s Book Blog
Megan Shepherd - 8/21 – Jessabella Reads


Nova Ren Suma - 8/24 - Bookiemoji
McCormick Templeman - 8/25 – The Eater of Books!
Cat Winters - 8/26 – Seeing Double in Neverland
Jay Kristoff – 8/27 - Fangirlish