Read If You Dare: Twelve Twisted Tales from the Editors of Read Magazine

by Catherine Gourley, Read Magazine (Compiler)

A collection of stories by such authors as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ambrose Bierce, and Stephen King, exploring the notions of fate, destiny, and coincidence

Genres: Young Adult

144 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

As a nonfiction author speciailizing in social history, Cathy spends a great deal of time researching the past. Her research has taken her into the belly of a whaleship on an icy January morning in Mystic, Connecticut, deep into a coal mine in Northeastern Pennsylvania, to tenement buildings on New York City's Lower East Side, and even into the Secret Annexe in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis during World War II. But she also researches the archives of old newspapers and digs for insights to people's past lives by reading their diaries and letters.

Cathy is also the national director of Letters About Literature, a reading promotino program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Additionally, she is the principal curriculum writer for The Story of Movies, a visual literacy initiative of The Film Foundation, Los Angeles and New York City.

Prior to returning home to Northeastern Pennsylvania in 1997 to write full-time, Gourley was the editor of special projects for Weekly Reader Corporation. In this position also she edited Read, a literature magazine for middle school students. In addition, Gourley spearheaded the relaunching of the Barnard College Young Adult Biography Series in 1996-97, working both with Barnard College and the series publisher, Conari Press, Berkeley, CA.

Gourley's first published book was a historical novel, The Courtship of Joanna, that explored the experiences of Irish immigrants who worked in the anthracite coal mines of Northeastern Pennsylvania in the 1880s. This adult book was nominated for the Carl Sandburg Award through the Chicago Public Library and was a finalist for the Jefferson Cup fof excellence in historical fiction.

Radio was the media venue for her first work of fiction, a short story title “Breaker Boy” which she adapted for broadcast on national public radio in 1986 through an award from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Cathy's hometown is Wilkes-Barre, PA. But she has lived and worked in a number of states: Ridgway, PA, where she first began publishing her short feature stories, Corpus Christi, Texas, where her freelance writing career got started; Chicago, Illinois, where she published her first book, a historical novel titled The Courtship of Joanna; Essex, Connecticut, where she worked as an editor for Weekly Reader's Read magazine. She returned to Northeastern Pennsylvania in 1997 to write full-time.

Reviews

[Meredith L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clever premise using subsections for each of the Three Sisters of Fate from Greek mythology. The idea is whether we can tempt fate or whether everything is already decided. I particularly enjoyed the classic tales such as "The Birthmark," by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The contemporary stories were rather average.
All in all, a nice collection if you're seeking a themed anthology.
God bless you all.

[Naomi Downing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good set of short stories.

[Abraham Gumba · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is targeted at students in middle and senior high school, and it was therefore a quick read for me, but I enjoyed it a lot.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by this collection of twisted tales, some by contemporary authors (Stephen King, Richard Matheson) and some by classic authors (Chaucer, Nathaniel Hawthorne). The theme running through these twelve tales is fate, symbolized by the three Fates of ancient Greek mythology. Can you avoid your fate? It would seem from these stories, that you can't. There were actually no stories I didn't like--they certainly did represent the best from Read Magazine. The Chaucer tale is one I don't remember reading when I read The Canterbury Tales in college. Maybe it's the retelling? "Snow Cancellations" put a whole new twist to the idea of a snow day off from school! This book would be good for reluctant readers, because the stories grab you from the beginning and are short. Recommended!

[Gail Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Out of the twelve stories in the book Read If You Dare I chose to read deadline. When I was reading this story it was confusing. I wanted to keep reading though to figure out what the old man was saying. You have to finish the book to get it, think about it, and then you will realize it was really creepy.

[Emely Yaneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a very fascinating book, I liked all the stories but to me the most interesting one was
the last one called deadline or Battlefield or maybe the rum. I really liked it, I am not a fan of people dying story and as far as I can tell in only one of then no one dies. It was very creepy reading it as well and sometimes confusing. But all in all it was great to me.

[Fred doornbos (DABOSS) · Rating 2 out of 5]

the stories were boring and not really scary

[Meya]

It wasn’t bad but it could have been better