Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
Global Tech believes it has solved world hunger.
Using revolutionary genetic engineering, the powerful Big Ag corporation has created livestock the size of elephants—cattle, pigs, and sheep engineered to feed the planet and make billions in the process. To secure political support, Global Tech hosts an exclusive showcase at its rural Pennsylvania headquarters, inviting senators, congressmen, and investors to witness the future of agriculture.
But not everyone believes Global Tech should control the food supply.
When eco-terrorists attack the facility, their sabotage triggers a catastrophic accident inside the research labs. What they release isn’t just dangerous—it’s monstrous.
From the earliest days of Global Tech’s experiments come the forgotten failures: genetically altered skin mites that grow, multiply, and swarm with horrifying speed. Within minutes, the party becomes a battlefield.
Scientists, Secret Service agents, and trapped guests must fight their way through a nightmare of crawling flesh-eating parasites spreading through the complex. And the deeper they push into the facility, the more terrifying the truth becomes. Available today in eBook, with other editions to follow soon, you can grab your copy here.
Plant horror. The fear of flora, fungus and intelligent, mobile trees and vines has filled cinema screens for decades. From the vicious attacks of the triffids to the terrors of airborne spores, film makers have postulated a wide variety of eco-terrors to try and take over or decimate the human population of Earth.
In this book, Lauren Jane Barnett and Tony Mardon strap on their hazmat suits and wield their weedkiller to venture into the fascinating world of arborial monsters. Along the way they consider flora from outer space; man made monsters; mushrooms and fungi; killer trees; naturally evolved threats; grasslands and cornfields; and a cornucopia of other films related to the genre.
Step inside and discover a wealth of cinematic delights dedicated to what happens when the plants take over! Available now in eBook and paperback, you can pick up yours here.
Danny Robins returns to theatres with new live show, Uncanny: Fear of the Dark
Uncanny: Fear of the Dark, the acclaimed live show based on the hugely successful BBC Radio 4 podcast and TV series, is set to conclude its sold-out UK tour with two nights at Soho Theatre Walthamstow on 5 & 6 May. A Walthamstow local, Danny Robins will round-off the Spring with these special homecoming shows.
Uncanny: Fear of the Dark is written and performed by Danny Robins, creator of the hugely successful BBC Radio 4 podcasts and global hits Uncanny, The Battersea Poltergeist, and The Witch Farm; the BBC TV series Uncanny; and the award‑winning West End play 2:22 – A Ghost Story, which is also currently on a UK‑wide tour.
In a first for the live show, audiences will be able to submit their own ghost stories in advance, and there will also be live participation during which the floor opens for people to share their experiences.
Uncanny: Fear of the Dark is no ordinary podcast show. This is storytelling and paranormal investigation at its best. Against a backdrop of spine‑tingling sound design, video projection, and theatrical magic, Danny brings to life accounts of hauntings, apparitions, poltergeists, UFOs, and events that seem to defy logical explanation. He examines them with the help of experts, psychologist Dr Ciarán O’Keeffe and writer and parapsychologist Evelyn Hollow, along with input from audiences, who get the chance to ask questions, offer theories, and share their own potentially paranormal experiences.
All provoke the same question: ‘why do we, as humans, continue to have a fear of the dark? Is it superstition? A remnant of our days as cavepeople huddled round a campfire? Or is there really something lurking out there in the darkness?’ As always, whether you are Team Sceptic, Team Believer or somewhere in between, everyone is welcome. Full tour details and ticketing information are available on the show website, here.
This is not a place of honor. This place is Cursed. These New Weird Horror novelettes by Sonora Taylor and Matthew Pritt are a danger to the Body, and to the Mind, and they can Kill. Sonora Taylor’s Passing Glance: Washington, D.C.’ s sprawling and storied Moore Mansion is built upon intrigue and secrecy, playing host to both political elites and the merely curious alike. Its labyrinthine rooms and passageways, festooned in eclectic art and mysterious mirrors, captivate all who explore them. Dylan arrives at the mansion for her friend’ s 30th birthday party at a crossroads of her own: adrift, eager to reunite with old friends, and seeking to rekindle a long-held lust for one of the group.
But tonight she will discover the true terrifying secrets of Moore Mansion: a house built to be a city, and one which unfolds like a trap. Matthew Pritt’s Lash Egg: The people of the Doe’ s country walk in the Balance, attuned to the land and guided by their benevolent nature spirit. For Ben, a refugee who narrowly escaped the madness-infested Bear’ s country to the south, the Doe remains a mystery. Ben has never heard the Doe speak, and marvels at his neighbors’ firsthand experiences with his new home’ s Protector. Fortunately his ten-year-old daughter, Lydia, doesn’ t share his struggles, and adapts to life in the Doe with ease. But when a mysterious wasting plague attacks the local wildlife, Ben suspects he is the cause of it. As the plague spreads and threatens to collapse the Doe’ s entire ecosystem, Ben must discover how he has offended the Doe, or risk losing the only safe place he and his daughter have ever known. Available for pre-order now in eBook and paperback, you can guarantee your copy here.
Hersham Horror Books presents Dark Duets 1, featuring bite size fiction from authors Penny Jones and Teika Marija Smits.
Sugar and Spice by Penny Jones: Once upon a time there were two sisters, but their life was anything but a fairytale.
The Unsilencing by Teika Marija Smits: A mysterious ailment strikes a schoolful of children, rendering them mute and motionless. One mother takes it into her own hands to find the evil truth behind it all. Available now in eBook, paperback and hardcover editions, you can grab your copy here.
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KEV HARRISON