Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …
Out now from author DS LaLonde, Chivalrous Monsters
hivalry and sharp weapons never go out of style.
Cassidy is working her way through college, struggling to pay the bills while living in a tiny two-bedroom apartment that requires three people to cover the rent. Troy, her best friend and roommate, has no plans aside from aspirations of influencer fame and fortune. Her other roommate, Wayne, is a bit odd. He’s quiet, sometimes comes home with blood on his clothes, and likes to drink mead.
Their mundane routine is broken when someone from Wayne’s past shows up on their doorstep. He’s a strange old codger who goes by the name of Merle. Something invaluable has been lost, and Merle needs Wayne’s assistance to recover it. Wayne reluctantly agrees to help, after which Cassidy and Troy find themselves swept along on the unlikely adventure as well. Merle can be oddly persuasive that way. Besides, a free trip to anywhere sounds nice.
Merle’s quest sends the trio to Cadbury, a quaint little village built around a sprawling castle set into a mountain at the edge of town. Cadbury’s an odd place, inhabited by people carrying swords and using them with reckless abandon, all of which Wayne seems to find completely normal. While Troy is focused on creating social media content, Cassidy tries to piece together what’s really going on.
A host of rugged characters have converged on Cadbury, all seeking to acquire what was lost. Swords slash, daggers dissect, and morning stars create misery in pursuit of that goal.
Some live by a code where sworn duty and honor endure until your last breath. Although that can become exhausting when your last breath refuses to come. Available now in eBook and paperback, you can pick up your copy here.
Arriving 6 October from editor A. C. Hessenauer and Dread House Publishing, Poisoned Folk Tales
When once upon a time becomes a nightmare …
From forgotten forests and haunted halls, to modern streets where old superstitions refuse to die. Poisoned Folk Tales gathers 23 chilling stories; some inspired by folklore from around the world, others spawned from the imaginations of some of horror’s finest. Each tale bends familiar pathways, leading us towards something darker and stranger, spanning centuries and continents, because monsters evolve, curses endure, and every story has another twisted ending, waiting to be told.
Includes a foreword by Dan Franklin, author of Steel Machines. Available for pre-order now in eBook, with other editions to follow, you can guarantee yours here.
New from author Alistair Cross and Glass Apple Press, The Red Scarab
In Salt Lake City, vampires are dying in droves — not by stake or silver, but from a mysterious infection spread by human carriers. When Cade and Father Vince are called to investigate, their search for answers leads them into a hidden vampire underworld of secret societies, decadent nightclubs where nothing is forbidden … and an ancient horror that knows exactly where to strike.
Deep within the city’s illicit nightlife waits the Sovereign — a creature of mist and shadow who can stop time, command death, and bend reality itself to his will. A creature that even the city’s oldest vampires fear.
As Cade and the Sovereign are drawn inexorably toward one another, old secrets surface, new alliances fracture, and Cade learns that this investigation holds an even more personal revelation for him. The secrets of his own heritage are about to drag him into a whole new darkness and bring him face-to-face with a horrific truth: that the monster he fears the most has been inside him all along. Available now in eBook and paperback, you can pick up your copy here.
Coming 9 October from writer Devin James Leonard and Crystal Lake Publishing, The Buddy Snatchers
Alcoholic man-child Cal McCarthy wants one thing: to stay sober long enough at his ten-year reunion to win back his high school sweetheart.
But reconnecting with old friends reveals he isn’t the only one pretending to be someone he’s not—almost everyone in town seems different.
Something has infiltrated Cal’s tiny Adirondack village and found its way inside the residents, altering their minds and taking control of their bodies. After a decade apart, Cal must rely on fading memories of his friends to figure out who’s been infected, who’s simply lying—and who’s just grown into someone he no longer recognizes. Available for pre-order now in eBook and paperback editions, you can guarantee your copy here.
For more articles like this, please follow @thisishorror on Twitter and Bluesky.
KEV HARRISON
