Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
From British horror writer Gemma Amor (Cruel Works of Nature, The Nosleep Podcast) comes Dear Laura, a novella. Every year, on her birthday, Laura gets a letter from a stranger. That stranger claims to know the whereabouts of her missing friend Bobby, but there’s a catch: he’ll only tell her what he knows in exchange for something…personal.So begins Laura’s sordid relationship with her new penpal, built on a foundation of quid pro quo. Her quest for closure will push her to bizarre acts of humiliation and harm, yet no matter how hard she tries, she cannot escape her correspondent’s demands. The letters keep coming, and as time passes, they have a profound effect on Laura.From the author of Cruel Works of Nature comes a dark and twisted tale about obsession, guilt, and how far a person will go to put her ghosts to bed. Dear Laura is available right now, pick up your copy, here.
Tori Garett is a woman haunted by a hit and run accident in which a young girl died. She has turned to the bottle for comfort and lost her job. Carla Perez is the grieving mother of the girl Tori killed. She begins to stalk her until a confrontation in a bar. Tori decides to flee to a place of solace from her childhood, Cape May, NJ. She finds herself the only boarder in a bed and breakfast, her sanity rapidly unravelling until she meets Chris Silver. He becomes desperate to save Tori, but can anyone do it before she destroys herself and everyone around her. Get hold of your copy and find out, here.
Second volume of Corpus Press’ In Darkness, Delight, anthology series, out now
Featuring stories by Josh Malerman, Ray Garton, Eddie Generous, Mary SanGiovanni, Chad Lutzke, Jeff Strand, Glenn Rolfe and lots more besides, Creatures of the Night is the second installment of the In Darkness, Delight anthology series from Corpus Press. The book is available as a standalone book or as a set with the first volume. You can pick up your copy, here.
Pizza horror anthology, Tales From The Crust, to be launched at Killercon Austin, by Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing
New from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing and editors Max Booth III and David James Keaton comes the world’s first anthology of pizza horror, Tales From The Crust. Featuring a red hot TOC with authors such as Jessica McHugh, Brian Evenson, Tony McMillen, Izzy Lee, Andrew Hilbert and more, the anthology will be available in paperback, eBook and, as revealed in this article from LitReactor last week, a limited edition pizza box, full of goodies. You can pre-order your copy here, or be one of the very first to get your hands on this slice of horror history at Killercon, for which all the info is available, here.
Horror Writers’ Association member and editor with Crystal Lake Publishing, Renee S. DeCamillis unleashes her debut novella, The Bone Cutters into the world, with Eraserhead Press. The book finds Dory locked in a padded cell in a psychiatric hospital with no recollection of how she came to be there. She soon finds herself in the wrong therapy group, one where everyone bears the same kind of scars. Scars that reveal they are bone cutters, and that they have been harvesting ‘bone dust.’ Dory faces a fight to convince the hospital’s staff that she is under threat from these patients and escape. The Bone Cutters arrives 1 September, and is available for pre-order now, here.
New from NBH Publishing, comes Black Rainbow Volume one, an anthology of horror fiction by LGBTQ+ authors
Featuring twenty-five stories of horror fiction by authors identifying as LGBTQ+, Black Rainbow Volume one is an anthology of horror stories, from NBH Publishing. Featuring tales by Scott Savino, Hailey Piper and many more, this is volume one of an anthology series that NBH Publishing hope will showcase the best of horror within the LGBTQ+ communities for years to come. Released 6 August, you can grab your copy now, here.
Released soon, through Fundead Publications, is Exquisite Aberrations an anthology of gothic horrors. Aimed specifically at bringing the gothic horror story up to date with characters and writers from LGBTQ+, trans or non-binary communities, or those experiencing such traumas as PTSD, the anthology delivers gothic horror for today’s diverse society. Available in paperback and hardcover formats, $1 from each sale will be donated to the ACLU. In order to ensure your copy, you can place your pre-order right now, here.
Writer Lucas Mangum (Saint Sadist, We Are The Accused) has just unleashed two new stories. Cruel Summer is the tale of Willow, a voyeur filming a couple making love when a killer approaches. Before she can escape, the killer sees her. Long Night at Jade’s Diner finds the staff and patrons of a twenty-four hour diner confronted by a woman with a gun. Cruel Summer is available here while Long Night at Jade’s Diner is available here.
KEV HARRISON