Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
Available for pre-order now, It Haunts the Mind and Other Stories by Nick Roberts, coming 16 June from Crystal Lake Publishing
From Nick Roberts, the best-selling author of The Exorcist’s House and Anathema, comes fifteen dark tales that are as horrific as they are moving. Witness absolute evil in “Sally Under the Bed” and “It Haunts the Mind.” Endure vengeance and violence in “The Noose” and “The Bitter End.” Face the realities of addiction and grief in “Thanks for Sharing” and “The Weeping Wind.” Survive otherworldly monsters in “The Paperboy” and “Voodoo Bay.” In balancing the terrors of the supernatural with the horrors of real life, this collection drags you down the dark alleys of a haunted mind, forcing you to confront your demons, both real and imaginary. Available for pre-order now in eBook, paperback and hardcover editions, you can guarantee your copy here.
Arriving 14 July from writer Zachary Ashford and Crystal Lake Publishing, The Morass: Servant of the Fly God
The Australian Outback is a place mired in myth, folklore, and rumour that’s inspired some of the best horror fiction and creature horror books. Some say it’s full of deadly creatures. Others claim it’s rife with serial killers hunting for backpackers and stranded tourists. Whatever the cause, young people in central Queensland are disappearing and the locals are frightened. Katy is fresh from college and ready to research and write her magnum opus, a book investigating the many disappearances of outback youths in Australia. When she meets Kip, a guitarist on his way to the city, she knows she’s onto something good and that she can prove her hypothesis: there’s nothing there for the youth of today and they’re running away, searching for employment and prospects in the city.
Unfortunately, she’s wrong. In this terrifying cosmic horror book, there is a killer in the outback. One that thinks God is the ancient creature that lurks in the swamps near his property. With floodwaters rising, he’s certain Katy and Kip are the sacrifices that will allow the entity to emerge from the morass and cleanse the world of sinners. One terrifying abduction later, he has them both imprisoned. As they struggle to escape the terror and the torture, their desperate fight for survival will lead only to more horror. Because their kidnapper is not crazy. His god is real. His god is hungry, and it is screaming to be reborn. Available for pre-order now in eBook, with physical editions coming soon, you can guarantee your copy now.
Out now from writer Chris Alexander and Headpress, Corman/Poe: Interviews and Essays Exploring the Making of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe Films, 1960-1964
Produced on modest budgets for American International Pictures, Roger Corman’s adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories were popular in their time as escapist horror cinema. Most starred horror icon Vincent Price and were written (and “freely adapted”) by the likes of Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont and Robert Towne. Today the series is recognized as unique and sophisticated, one that delivers decadent Gothic chills while exploring ideas of faith, sexuality, psychology and the supernatural.
Corman/Poe: Interviews and Essays Exploring the Making of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe Films, 1960–1964 is the only book to fully examine this important chapter in horror film history. In-depth conversations with the maverick Roger Corman are book-ended by engaging critical analyses of each of the eight films, which together stand as a fully realized and consistent creative vision. The book is illustrated with dozens of photographs and stills, many of which have never been published before, and features a brand-new foreword from Corman. Available now in eBook and paperback editions, you can pick up your copy here.
Up now on Kickstarter, Dead Detectives Society
Throughout history and infinite dimensions, there exists a secret group of supernatural investigators operating on the fringes of society, lurking in the shadows, working the strangest cases with little reward. They are hardboiled zombies and ghosts, mythological creatures, ass-kicking vampires and even tortured humans. Uncanny sleuths whose normal is the bizarre and weird. Now, for the first time, their adventures are together in this one-of-a-kind anthology.
In the tradition of the great pulps of yesteryear, Kevin J. Anderson, Steve Niles, Nancy A. Collins, Joe R. Lansdale & Kasey Lansdale, David Avallone, Jonathan Maberry, Lisa Morton, Nancy Holder & Alan Philipson, John Jennings, Tim Waggoner, Jeff Strand, Rena Mason, and James Aquilone hadve joined forces for Dead Detectives Society.
They bring their creations Dan Shamble, Cal McDonald, Sonja Blue, Matt Richter, Dead Jack, Johnny Fade, and Saul When: Halloween Detective, among others. Dead Detectives Society boasts 13 short stories, each accompanied by a full-page illustration by such artists as Zac Atkinson and J.K. Woodward. To pledge your support, click here to find full details and perks available.
New from Cursed Morsels Press and editors Eric Raglin and Alexis DuBon, No Trouble At All
Politeness is the glue that holds society together. We are all expected to do our part-a pressure ripe with horror. Rotten, even. Whether we adhere to this contract or defy it, there are consequences. These fifteen stories respond to promises made for us, promises of compliance that cost too much to keep. Featuring stories from Nadia Bulkin, Gordon B. White, Gwendolyn Kiste, J. A. W. McCarthy and many more, this is an anthology you won’t want to miss. Available now in paperback and eBook, you can grab your copy now.
Out now from author Nico Bell and PsychoToxin Press, Open House
Realtor Caleb Birch is on the precipice of earning everything he’s ever dreamed: a partner position at his prestigious realty firm, financial stability that would make his mother proud, and a respectable professional reputation amongst Los Angeles’s wealthy and elite. All he has to do is nail his open house and secure a contract. Enter a mysterious woman with an air of familiarity claiming to be the perfect buyer. Her ruse dissolves revealing nefarious intentions and a twisted game that Caleb must win to survive the night. But she isn’t the only threat lurking behind closed doors. There are skeletons in the closet, and they’re coming out to play. Available in eBook and paperback editions, you can pick up your copy here.
Coming 16 June from author Craig DiLouie and Zing Communications, Djinn
In the violent aftermath of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, a photojournalist arrives to learn the fate of the Witch Doctors, a fabled Army occult warfare unit. Holly believes her father, reported missing in action, ran this mysterious outfit that sought to weaponize black magic to win the War on Terror.
As the Taliban advances and the national government crumbles, Holly makes a harrowing journey into the deep desert to an abandoned base, which houses a terrifying secret. There, along with a group of American ex-soldiers, themselves cursed, she will face the ancient evil the Witch Doctors unleashed… The terrors that live in the world of the djinn. The horrors that lurk in war itself. A modern thriller, Djinn reimagines the witch for the War on Terror era, taking the reader on a journey into the heart of darkness that is both human and supernatural. Available for pre-order now in eBook, with a paperback edition to follow soon, you can guarantee your copy here.
KEV HARRISON
