In Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White, 16-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him – the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: The cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the Earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms … until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own. Moderated by Lee Mandelo, author of Summer Sons. Grades 11-12
Andrew Joseph White on Hell Followed with Us: Young Adult Horror
Andrew Joseph White on Hell Followed with Us: Young Adult Horror
White, Andrew Joseph
Andrew Joseph White is a queer, trans author from Virginia, where he grew up falling in love with monsters and wishing he could be one, too. He writes about trans kids with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back. In Hell Followed with Us (Peachtree Teen), his debut novel, 16-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him, a fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Benji desperately searches for a place where the cult can’t get its hands on him or, more importantly, the bioweapon they infected him with. He’s rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, known as the ALC, but its leader, Nick, knows Benji’s darkest secret: The cult’s bioweapon mutates him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the Earth. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend them. Benji accepts those terms – until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda and more than a few secrets of his own.
Mandelo, Lee
Lee Mandelo is a writer, critic, and occasional editor whose fields of interest include speculative and queer fiction, especially when the two coincide. Their debut novel Summer Sons (Tordotcom) is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic, and their work has appeared on Tor.com and in Uncanny Magazine, Clarkesworld, and Nightmare. Mandelo will be at Miami Book Fair 2022 to moderate a conversation with Andrew Joseph White, the queer, trans author of the novel Hell Followed with Us (Peachtree Teen).
