Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
R. B. Wood’s Bayou Whispers, coming 29 April from Crystal Lake Publishing
Bayou Whispers, the latest thriller from horror writer R.B. Wood, is the story of no-nonsense New Orleans native, Jeannine LaRue, the sole survivor of her family after the devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina. In the aftermath of the storm, she believed she’d been saved, but soon found herself held hostage and sexually exploited, rescued months later by sheriff’s deputy Curtis Jones. Twelve years after Katrina, Jeannine is a new attorney who returns to New Orleans to save her old friend Curtis Jones—now a local thief and trafficker of stolen goods—after he is arrested for the murder of Jeannine’s captors, whose bodies have recently been found. But Jeannine discovers more than she bargained for when she uncovers a family history of dark voodoo magic and an unholy alliance with an ancient evil Haitian god. Available for pre-order in paperback and eBook formats, you can guarantee your copy now, here.
She doesn’t know where she’s been, these last few years, or how she came by the scars that mark her body. She can barely remember who she is, a lot of the time. But Sasha knows Salvation Spring, the tiny nowhere town out in the middle of the desert that calls to her in dreams and haunts her waking life. Getting there is hard. But what she’ll find there – and what the place will ask of her – will be much, much harder. Because the Spring isn’t what it seems – far from it. And neither, for that matter, is Sasha. Not by a long way. From writer T. C. Parker (Salt Blood, A Press of Feathers) comes a genre-defying western where nothing is at is seems. Released 1 May in paperback and eBook formats, you can guarantee your copy right here, now.
An abandoned house. A locked desk drawer full of old papers. And an 80’s mix tape? Jill is tasked with seeking out any legal documents from the property. What she discovers, transports her into a world of nightmares, ranging from the macabre to the downright chilling. Jill knows she has to share the stories she’s uncovered … In Twisted: Tainted Tales, the Splatterpunk Award-nominee delivers creature features, supernatural urban legends, cannibalism and a few other surprises. Mixing flash fiction with short stories, these tales might be tainted and will be twisted. Includes a foreword from author Glenn Rolfe. Coming 1 May, you can pre-order the eBook now, with a paperback edition coming soon.
Stephen Barber has done, in hindsight, something very foolish. Investing his life savings, heirloom book collection, and all the blood, sweat, and tears he could wring out into an apartment complex development. Taking on financial partners was supposed to lessen the risk, but when a worksite accident leads to a dead hitchhiker with a pocket full of strange coins, those same partners draw him into an ill-advised cover up and soon find themselves in the grip of a travelling curse born of old, deep wounds. Now Stephen is changing, transforming. He’s seen what happened to his partners and knows the clock is counting down. The future he risked everything for is swept away as he embarks on a road trip to uncover the history of the hitchhiker, and reverse his terrifying metamorphosis before time runs out. Coming 7 June, you can pre-order your copy in eBook format now, with a paperback coming soon.
From Mark Cassell, author of the Shadow Fabric mythos, comes Six! Featuring a variety of dark tales, from the sinister to the outright terrifying, this unique collection is a must for horror readers everywhere. Includes the stories Skin, All in the Eyes, In Loving Memory, The Space Between Spaces, On Set With North, and Don’t Swear in Mum’s House. Released through Red Cape Publishing on 12 May, you can pre-order this collection in eBook now, with a paperback to follow shortly.
KEV HARRISON