SKIN: An Anthology of Dark Fiction
A collection of twenty-five skin-themed stories from some of the best up-and-coming authors of horror.
“Carrion Birds” is a dark sci-fi tale of self-discovery, first love, and the rejection of a “right” way to be queer. Antoinette wants to survive the final day of Scout Class and make it to First Flight, where the bird of her soul will be borne to the world and she will finally meet the girl she’s been text-chatting with for years. Before she can fly, she must come to terms with herself: whether she will become the raptor she’s been trained to be, the dismal crow her classmates think she is, or something else entirely.
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CRESCENDO, Adult Horror/Romcom
CRESCENDO is an contemporary horror novel with romcom elements that combines the funny, entomological stylings of A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher to the small-town murder mystery of Jackal by Erin E. Adams and the musician-led romance of Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto. Rory Bowman wants college to be over, because she’s sick of playing second baton to local prodigy Link Withers and her conducting grad school dreams are just around the corner. When band members get murdered, however, and a mysterious ant queen starts sending Rory visions about how to solve the case, the two rival drum majors may have to work together to expose old mysteries haunting Fairside, North Carolina.
HERE THEY ARE VYING, YA Historical Fantasy/Horror
HERE THEY ARE VYING is an upper YA dark fantasy novel that combines the creepy, water-drenched horror of House of Salt and Sorrows and the monstrous and religious overtones of Hell Followed With Us. Glenn Erskine has served the Bishop family his whole life, following them from their mansion a rock’s throw from the Thames to the dreary swamps of south Georgia. What the Bishops didn’t count on was the new environment being hard on their teenage son Henley’s asthma, leaving him bereft and mostly bedridden. When Henley suffers a grave attack and the swamp witch Laria appears, offering to take Glenn to the Heart of the Swamp to find a cure for Henley, Glenn jumps at the opportunity to save not just his young master, but his dear friend. However, the Heart of the Swamp is not easily swayed, and Glenn must grapple with the fact that the reality imposing itself upon him is not the one he thought he lived in.
THE LONE LAW, Adult Fantasy/Western
THE LONE LAW is an adult fantasy novel with classic western vibes that will appeal to fans of Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn books. Marley Roose wants the man who murdered her family to pay. However, that man is the most powerful landowner in Hiherella and is in-league with the church she adores, making things complicated. Marley’s religion outlaws magic, but she’s willing to bend the rules if it'll help her take him down and build a better future for her country.
She didn't consider her heretical husband wants to break the rules, not bend them. Some systems are made to be broken.
ROOTBOUND, YA Fantasy/Horror
ROOTBOUND is an upper YA fantasy novel with strong horror elements that will appeal to fans of Uprooted by Naomi Novik and The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones. Eighteen-year-old apothecary Althea joins a crew cutting paths through a deadly forest, where she hopes to find her missing mother in an isolated town. Instead, she finds camaraderie with the crew—and the forest that wants to kill them.