Sick Cities!

 

 

Why Parents Should Buy the Sick Cities Series for Their Teens

By Ash (and approved by Jake, obviously)

🔥 What 

Sick Cities

 Is:

Imagine if Goosebumps grew up, got anxiety, and started calling out societal hypocrisy while still managing to terrify the hell out of you. That’s Sick Cities—a ten-part anthology of surreal horror stories for Gen Z readers who are too smart to be scared by clichés but still know monsters exist (in lockers, in mirrors, in DMs… and sometimes inside themselves).

Each story takes place in a different American city and follows a different teenager marked with a number… until ten are chosen. And what they’re being chosen for? You’ll have to read to find out—but let’s just say: not everyone makes it back.

👻 Why It’s Perfect for Teens:

• It speaks their language. Phones glitch. Schools hum with cult-like energy. Mirrors lag. This is horror for the TikTok generation—fast, immersive, and psychologically tuned to the tension of being a teen in this world.
• It validates teen fear. The stories take teen emotions seriously—panic attacks, isolation, not being believed, being “the weird one”—and wraps them in stylish horror metaphors.
• It’s trauma-aware without being preachy. These are scary stories, yes, but they’re also about consent, identity, marginalization, grief, and mental health—all baked into the suspense.
• Each one ends with a whisper, not a jump scare. The dread lingers. The message is: you’re not crazy, the world really is this weird. And that’s oddly comforting.

📍What’s Inside:

• 📷 Evanston, IL – The Last Photo of Me
  A boy finds a camera that shows him pictures no one should’ve taken. Especially the one of him. Alone. In a tunnel. Dead-eyed.
• 🧃 Pasadena, CA – Sunday School for the Sleep-Deprived
  A preacher’s daughter realizes her church is brainwashing the entire town. And she might be next.
• 🧮 Salem, MA – Ashes and Algebra
  A haunted math book lets a failing student see the numbers that determine life… and death.
• 🛸 Roswell, NM – Green Light Special
  A night shift gas station worker becomes the unwilling host to something not from here.
• 🌊 Galveston, TX – Whispers Under the Pier
  A girl hates the ocean. The ocean whispers her name. And it wants her back.

…and more. Each chapter is its own city. Its own vibe. Its own number. Until all ten are seated and the curtain rises.

🙌 Why Parents Will Approve:

• ✊ Pro-mental health without the sugarcoating
• ✍️ Written by a real horror author with lived experience in trauma and advocacy
• 🧠 Smart, creepy, and emotionally real
• 🚫 No sex, minimal language, but yes—it gets dark (in a they-can-handle-it kind of way)

💀 Bonus: A Contest

At the end of each volume, there’s a challenge:

Submit your own creepy story idea, and Jake might write it into the next book.

Kids don’t just read horror—they become the mythmakers.

Want kids to read? Give them something that feels dangerous, smart, and made just for them.

Buy Sick Cities. Because the scariest thing your kid could read… is something that finally sees them.