News Round-up Week Ending 7 July 2023

Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week …

Coming 18 July from writer Ronald Malfi and Titan Books, They Lurk

Five terrifying collected horror novellas newly reissued from the “modern-day Algernon Blackwood”.

Skullbelly: A private detective is hired after three teenagers disappear in a forest and uncovers a terrible local secret.

The Separation: Marcus arrives in Germany to find his friend up-and-coming prizefighter Charlie in a deep depression. But soon Charlie’s behavior grows increasingly bizarre. Is he suffering from a nervous breakdown, or are otherworldly forces at work?

The Stranger: Set a rural Florida parking lot, David returns to his car to find a stranger sat behind the wheel. The doors are locked and there’s a gun on the dashboard. And that was when then the insanity started…

After the Fade: A girl walked into a small Annapolis tavern, collapsed and died. Something had latched itself to the base of her skull. And it didn’t arrive alone. Now, the patrons of The Fulcrum are trapped, held prisoner within the tavern’s walls by monstrous things, trying to find their way in. And one more novella to be revealed! Available for pre-order now in eBook, paperback and audiobook, you can guarantee your copy here.

Out now from author Rebecca Rowland and D&T Publishing, Optic Nerve

Shawn is a scientist developing the formula for a drug that may cure blindness by stimulating another area of the brain that controls perception. When he surreptitiously tests the drug on himself, he accidentally accesses a neural pathway that appears to allow him to communicate with a complete stranger through telepathy instead. When Shawn finally discovers the significance of their connection and of the drug’s true effects, it is too late to stop the damage their intimate friendship has set in motion to unfold. Out now in eBook, paperback and an all new audiobook narrated by Jason Grell, you can pick up your copy here.

Arriving 11 July from writer Catherine Cavendish and Flame Tree Press, The After-death of Caroline Rand

At a weekend house-party at ancient Canonbury Manor, Alli is caught between fantasy and reality, past and present, in the life of Caroline Rand, a famous singer from the late Sixties, who reportedly killed herself in that house. Alli soon learns that evil infests the once-holy building. A sinister cabal controls it, as it has for centuries. Before long, her fate will be sealed, and she will learn about her role in the after-death of Caroline Rand.

It begins with a chilling greeting: “Welcome to The Columbine, Miss Sinclair. You are expected.” Available to pre-order now in eBook, paperback and hardcover editions, you can guarantee your copy here.

Out now from writer Erik Hofstatter and Next Chapter, The Hurricane Caged Inside of Her

Sirin AKA Tristan Grieves is a death bringer. A borrower of lives with a loose moral compass that points to Liene. A continent eater and the daughter of the Alkonost. He travelled everywhere. Now he must travel in her. Cannibalise her energy. They chase each other from door to door, star to star. Across borderless boredom. Immortals on pause. Only time can resume them.
Will he survive the hurricane caged inside of her? Available now in eBook and paperback editions, you can grab your copy here.

Available 14 July from author Lee Allen Howard and Three First Names, The Covenant Sacrifice

Jarod Huntingdon wants more than anything to start a family, yet he’s unable to commit to his girlfriend and isn’t sure why. When the father of his childhood best friend, Scotty, passes away, Jarod takes the opportunity to return home to the remote rural community of Annastasis Creek for a season of soul-searching. But overnight, a violent rainstorm traps everyone in the valley, blocking roads and severing communication with the outside world. And one by one, the residents of Annastasis Creek go missing.

While helping with the search efforts, Jarod learns of a curse as old as he is, one tied to the reappearance of the cicadas, first placed on the community after five young people perished in a house fire decades before. To temporarily appease the curse, defrocked Pentecostal pastor Uriah Zalmon must find a sinner to sacrifice. The dead are returning to Annastasis Creek…

Can Jarod break the curse for good, save the innocent from the homophobic Covenant Trustees, and vanquish what the screaming cicadas have awoken? Available to pre-order now in eBook and paperback editions, you can guarantee your copy here.

Out 25 July from editor Eric J. Guignard and Dark Moon Books, Horror Library Volume 8

The +Horror Library+ anthologies are internationally praised as a groundbreaking source of contemporary horror short fiction stories–relevant to the moment and stunning in impact–from leading authors of the macabre and darkly imaginative.

Filled with Fears and Fantasy. Death and Dark Dreams. Monsters and Mayhem. Literary Vision and Wonder. Each volume of the +Horror Library+ series is packed with heart-pounding thrills and creepy contemplations as to what truly lurks among the shadows of the world(s) we live in.

Containing 31 all-original stories, read Volume 8 in this ongoing anthology series, and then continue with the other volumes. Shamble no longer through the banal humdrum of normalcy, but enter the Horror Library! Available for pre-order now in eBook and paperback, guarantee your copy here.