“With their debut novella, Racklin presents a death obsessed town under control of dark ritual magic, cursed with the return of the dead.”
In isolated Cairney, the Angel of Death allows the dead to return, but not always as desired. Friede Inkerman feels Death’s gift is more of a curse. As pianist to death-worshipping Cairney’s funerals, all Friede wants is to rest in peace after being murdered by her wife and resurrected against her will.
Death’s sacred relic is stolen, and the acolyte who guards it is brutally slain, thwarting Friede’s hope of passing on to eternal rest. With this also happening on Allhallowsmas, all the dead souls in Cairney are at risk of fading away at sunset. And Friede can’t help but notice how similar the acolyte’s murder was to her own.
Clinging to her oldest friend Bastian, Friede digs into Cairney’s secrets to set everything right and see that her last wish is granted. But nothing stays buried forever in Cairney. Friede’s search exhumes signs of ritual magic and a sick and twisted devotion that threatens everything she holds dear.
Why we’re excited about this book:
New to the horror fiction scene, Carly Racklin kicks off 2026 with a horror novella primed to crank up the creepy factor. Racklin has short fiction featured in such publications as The NoSleep Podcast, Metaphorosis Magazine, Luna Station Quarterly, Etherea Magazine, Frozen Wavelets, and Cosmic Horror Monthly among others, and non-fiction in NightTide Magazine. With their debut novella, Racklin presents a death obsessed town under control of dark ritual magic, cursed with the return of the dead. Rachel Bolton (Please Serve Cold, Moonglow) says: “Funeral Song is a love story of unusual power. A grotesque beauty in the vein of Guillermo del Toro, matched only by Carly Racklin’s elegant prose.”, and Paul Jessup (Cancer Eats the Heart, Daughter of the Wormwood Star) says: “With sharp prose that cuts like a knife, this grief horror kept me up all night terrified and shook me to the core. Funeral Song will be one I’ll think about for days afterwards, haunted by the prose.”
Releasing from Dead Sky Publishing 27 January 2026, Funeral Song by Carly Racklin is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA
