“With his latest, Boden tackles aging and memory loss, packing an emotional punch while sending a chill down our spines.”
Once famed horror writer Ken Allenwood is being devoured, one memory at a time. Spending his time now in an elder care facility, Ken waits to draw his last breath, hoping to retain the remaining memories from his long and unusual life. But he soon wonders if the unraveling fabric of his mind has become tangled and threaded with his fictional undertakings.
Elijah, who spends most of his time alone, adores all things spooky. When the change comes to the little town of Cordry, it is swift and violent … killings without rhyme or reason, devoid of a pattern. Elijah tells Ken about these murders, and the old man grows fearful. Using his unreliable windows of focus, Ken tries to help his friends and figure out who is behind these terrible killings.
A monster is roosting in their midst craving blood and much more. An inheritance. Acknowledgment. A monster from the very dark recesses of Allenwood’s mind, a horror very old and very bitter…
Why we’re excited about this book:
John Boden’s fiction is known to pierce your emotions with pinpoint accuracy while needling away at our collective obsessions and fears. The author of Snarl, Spungunion, Walk the Darkness Down, Jedi Summer, Out Behind the Barn (with Chad Lutzke), Rattlesnake Kisses (with Robert Ford), and Detritus in Love (with Mercedes M. Yardley), Boden’s short fiction has been featured in such publications and anthologies as Shock Totem, Borderlands 6, Splatterpunk Fighting Back, Psychos, and LampLight among others. With his latest, Boden tackles aging and memory loss, packing an emotional punch while sending a chill down our spines. Candace Nola (Demons In My Bloodstream) calls Thrift Store Puzzles ” … so poignantly heartbreaking that it made me ache.” Michael Wehunt (Greener Pastures, The October Film Haunt) says: “Thrift Store Puzzles will make your heart ache and your stomach turn in equal measure.”, and Ray Van Horn Jr. (Behind the Shadows, Revolution Calling) says: “Your next favorite horror author, John Boden, not only understands, he sensitively breaches the subject while yet carving on your most paranoid nerve endings with a gonzo Dark Half/Basket Case shriekfest in Thrift Store Puzzles.”
Releasing from Dead Sky Publishing 13 May 2025, Thrift Store Puzzles by John Boden is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA
