Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
Out now from author and poet Sumiko Saulson and Mocha Memoirs Press, Dance of Necromance: Poetry Book of the Dead
Dance of Necromance: Poetry Book of the Dead is an Afrosurrealist book of dark speculative poetry embracing themes of death, rebirth, sacrifice, communication with the ancestors, the mysteries that lie beyond, and perseverance in cursed times. Available now in eBook and paperback editions, you can grab your copy here.
Arriving 12 May from author Jackie Sonnenberg and Crystal Lake Publishing, The Fathoms Below
In the future, science has uncovered a shocking truth: humans evolved from merpeople.
Now, thanks to radical advances in genetics and medicine, humanity has found a way to return to its origins. Beneath the waves, a new civilization is rising—one built on the dream of reclaiming the oceans and transforming the deep sea into humanity’s next frontier. But there are some things that did not go extinct.
19-year-old Dallas Dwight is one among many to become new merfolk. And while she is getting used to her new body, she has to get used to a new environment that is still new to civilization. While Dallas is trying to learn where exactly she fits into it, she also learns things about her new self. Her singing talent on land adapted into something else under the sea: Echolocation, and this proves to be more useful than she ever imagined.
Her new home is threatened by an unknown monster, something from the deep that has discovered this new and plentiful food source. Merpeople go missing and bodies turn up in pieces. The search is on for what lurks in the deep to find it before it finds the rest of them.
So much of the ocean is still a mystery, and so much of the wild side is still dominant. And still the top of the food chain. The longer Dallas gets to know her new environment, the more she learns the first rule of survival that never aged: Hunt or be hunted. Available for pre-order now in eBook, with other editions to follow, you can guarantee your copy here.
Online folk horror writing day Strange As Folk coming 9 May from Writers Online
Summer might be a-comin’ in, but that doesn’t mean that the fiends of the forests and fields are any further away! STRANGE AS FOLK gathers some of the UK’s leading talent in folk horror writing for a lively online day of workshops and interviews, offering you plenty of insight and inspiration to get those terrifying tales written … Featuring authors Andrew Michael Hurley, Ellis Saxey, Steve Toase and This is Horror alumnus Dan Howarth, you can find full program information and buy tickets here.
Coming 8 May from author S. Alessandro Martinez and Crystal Lake Publishing, Mori Quinn And The Coffin Game
Moribeth Quinn doesn’t fit in. So when her parents drop her off at summer camp, Mori expects the worst—lonely days, awkward conversations, and no friends in sight.
She’s wrong. Mori quickly bonds with two girls, Emma and Henrietta. But their new friendship comes with a challenge: a creepy dare from the camp bully—sneak into a nearby cemetery at night and lie in old coffins to prove who’s the bravest.
It’s supposed to be a joke. It isn’t. When Mori climbs into one of the coffins, she’s transported to a strange and dangerous world filled with eerie ghosts, magical warriors, and terrifying monsters. Trapped in this dark fantasy realm, she must find her friends, survive the horrors that stalk the land, and face the terrifying Viscera Queen who rules it.
But escape won’t be easy. To make it home, Mori must confront her fears, stand up to the bully who started it all, and discover the courage she never knew she had. Available for pre-order now in eBook, with other editions to follow, you can guarantee yours here.
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KEV HARRISON
