Talia writes horror stories that everyone loves -until they start to come true.

The Right Path

It's the early 1960s. Stu Harmon's ex-wife is knifed to death by her lesbian lover...and it nearly destroys him. To understand the tragedy, and what led to it, Stu delves into the twisted world of love and sex among the beatniks in Malibu and Topanga Canyon, a journey that could lead to sweet oblivion...or his own grave.

The Lesson - According to Kicks... Heine pointed the knife at her. "O.K., Lady Godiva, take off the blouse." She stood motionless, unable to answer or move. "Go ahead," Heine said. "Take that piece-of-nothing off." The boy’s shoulders slumped and he began to groan. "Brace, mister!" Bar shouted. He put a fist in the boy’s gut, and the boy sank to his knees in the dirt, weeping helplessly. "O.K., green-belly," Bar said. "Stay there. Your turn comes next." Dazedly the girl undid her blouse. Heine reached and yanked it off her shoulders. She stood there quivering, her pink slip plain and worn. Behind them, Manny began to cough. Johnny stood rooted to the place from where he watched. "Let the straps down," Heine said to the girl. "Please. Please..." "Do what I tell you." Heine held the knife menacingly. The boy began to pray softly in Spanish. She raised trembling fingers to her bare shoulders and slipped the straps over them. The top of her slip and her bra fell to her waist. "Let her go," Manny whispered. "You ought to let her go now. Huh?" "Let her go!" Bar shouted. "What are you worried about, mister? We’re just teaching these two juvenile delinquents a lesson. Don’t you understand that, mister? We’re going to teach these two juvenile delinquents a lesson they’re never, never going to forget." He drew his foot back violently and kicked the boy in the groin. "Isn’t that right, green-belly?" The boy’s scream of pain rent the air of the summer night.

For fans of vintage YA, a humorous and in-depth history of beloved teen literature from the 1980s and 1990s, full of trivia and pop culture fun. Those pink covers. That flimsy paper. The nonstop series installments that hooked readers throughout their entire adolescence. These were not the serious-issue novels of the 1970s, nor the blockbuster YA trilogies that arrived in the 2000s. Nestled in between were the girl-centric teen books of the ’80s and ’90s—short, cheap, and utterly adored. In Paperback Crush, author Gabrielle Moss explores the history of this genre with affection and humor, highlighting the best-known series along with their many diverse knockoffs. From friendship clubs and school newspapers to pesky siblings and glamorous beauty queens, these stories feature girl protagonists in all their glory. Journey back to your younger days, a time of girl power nourished by sustained silent reading. Let Paperback Crush lead you on a visual tour of nostalgia-inducing book covers from the library stacks of the past.