Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
Weird Punk Books announce first two novellas in The Mud Ballad by Jo Quenell and Sabbath of the Fox Devils by Sam Richard
From the publishing house that brought you Zombie Punks Fuck Off and The New Flesh: A Literary Tribute to David Cronenberg, come the first two instances of a new novella line. The first of these is The Mud Ballad, the longform debut by Jo Quenell. In a dying railroad town, a conjoined twin wallows in Purgatory for the murder of his brother. A disgraced surgeon goes to desperate ends to reconnect with his lost love. When redemption comes with a dash of black magic, the two enter a world of talking corpses, flesh-eating hogs, rude mimes, and ritualistic violence. “A Southern Gothic folk tale steeped in black humor and the occult. If you enjoyed Geek Love, Nightmare Alley, or the works of Joe R. Lansdale, you’ll love the unique brand of literary madness Jo Quenell has conjured with The Mud Ballad.” – Brendan Vidito, author of the Wonderland Award winning Nightmares in Ecstasy. The second release is Sabbath of the Fox Devils by Sam Richard (To Wallow in 
Ash & Other Sorrows).
After learning about the existence of a powerful grimoire through a cartoon, 12-year-old Joe is determined to find it and change his lot in life. But in doing so, he’ll also uncover a local priest’s dark secret and how it may be connected to Joe’s brother abruptly leaving town five years ago. Part homage to the small-creature horror films of the 80s (Ghoulies, Gremlins, The Gate) and part Splatterpunk take on a Goosebumps book, Sabbath of the Fox-Devils is a weird, diabolical coming-of-age horror story of self-liberation in an oppressive religious environment set during the Satanic Panic. Prepare your soul to revel in the darkness. “Light the black candles and invert the cross as Sam Richard conjures a coming-of-age story of Satanic panic, creature carnage, and blasphemous terror!” — Ryan Harding (Genital Grinder, Header 3). The Mud Ballad is available now and Sabbath of the Fox Devils is coming mid-May. You can pick up both of these releases direct from Weird Punk Books here.
From British writer Phil Sloman and Alchemy Press, Les Vacances, available now
New from British writer Phil Sloman (Broken on the Inside) comes Les Vacances. Monasteries rising and falling. Heretics and stakes and fire. There were rebellions and revolution and tales of abundance and happiness and new beginnings. Within the book there were also lies and omissions and fallacies all designed to gloss over a dark past many had long forgotten. Many but not all. The vacation of a lifetime. Released 30 April, Les Vacances is available now, here.
From acclaimed British filmmaker and author Sean Hogan come two new releases
Sean Hogan, best known for his films The Devil’s Business and Little Deaths, has created two works of metafictional film criticism – England’s Screaming and its follow-up, Three Mothers, One Father. England’s Screaming is both a fictional history of UK genre cinema and a state of the nation address, taking films from 1945’s Dead of Night to 2018’s Possum to create a blackly satirical portrait of the country we live in today. It has a foreword by Jonathan Rigby and the cover art is by renowned illustrator and designer Graham Humphreys. Its semi-sequel, Three Mothers, One Father, widens the scope to look at several stand-out works of Eurohorror, and in the process weaves a narrative examining the parlous state of modern gender relations. 
Both books are written in the vein of David Thomson’s seminal Suspects; tapestries of characters from notable genre films that extend and intertwine their fictional biographies beyond the boundaries of the movies that spawned them. The author’s first publication in this style was his 2017 monograph on Death Line, the cult British horror film from 1972. In his introduction to that book, author and critic Kim Newman wrote: ‘Sometimes the best response to a painting or a poem or any work of art is another painting, poem or work of art.’ These two new books take this notion even further, employing genre films spanning the last century as a lens through which to look at where we are now.Both books are available now, with Three Mothers, One Father released through Black Shuck Books and available here, and England’s Screaming coming through PS Publishing and available here.
Fangoria Magazine announce bumper two-month free digital trial
To do their bit in the times of covid-19-related uncertainty horror fans find themselves in, Fangoria Magazine are offering a two-month, no obligation free digital trial, including access to scans of the first fourteen issues of volume one. You can find full details and sign up, here.
New from author M. Seamus Reed, Exitors, out now
Released 21 April, Exitors is the debut novel from author M. Seamus Reed. Part one of a forthcoming series, Exitors finds the city of Brackenshaw, U.S.A. in chaos after an ancient curse is inadvertently unleashed. Now, a band of misfits must fight to survive the nightmare. Meanwhile, a gifted detective is dispatched by an enigmatic agency that specializes in the paranormal. Packed with scenes of horrific violence and gore, Exitors is available in paperback and eBook now, here.
KEV HARRISON
