"Highly recommend this one. It's got shades of Stephen King at his best." —Steve Hugh Westenra, author of The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle

On the side of an old abandoned building, in an old abandoned shopping center, there is a Mouth.

It's a human mouth; and one that's big enough to drive a car through. It stands open and unmoving, teeth and tongue exposed to the world.

The first people to find it are a bunch of teenagers, among them the Dowel brothers: Freddie and Simon. They're just kids, and the thing about kids is that they're curious and they're reckless. It's not long before the brothers find themselves in the center of a terrible tragedy.

Word spreads. Tempers flare. Fingers are pointed and bonds are broken. In the wake of an awful loss, a community grows sick, and Simon's life begins to crumble apart.

And through it all, the Mouth remains open and unmoving, hungry and waiting. It calls, and one day soon, it will be answered.

4.6 Stars on Goodreads!

Get it from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CV7RVG3Y

Get it from Elsewhere: https://books2read.com/u/bPw1eY

GENRE

Fiction - Religious Horror

STATUS

Final Drafting (hoping to send to editor at the end of the month!)

AESTHETIC / TROPES

Religious trauma, Religion in general, queer characters, questioning faith, finding horror in the holy, if you look too closely at the holy...., spiraling mental health, psychosis

(it got kinda long so I put the rest of the info under the cut :) )

SUMMARY

Be Not Afraid Those three words have haunted me my entire life, and now I'm close. I know I am. I'm close to finding out the truth behind the words, the truth behind the Seraphim. The closer I get to uncovering the truth, to proving that the Seraphim are real, the further my mind slips. I can't sleep - can't dream - without seeing them. Life has become difficult all of a sudden and I know it's tied to them. I just have to keep going, keep learning, keep discovering. Everything will be better once I complete my research... Incorrect Eyes is a psychological religious horror involving paranoia, angels with too many eyes, and the least mentally stable protagonist I’ve ever written. Please read with caution. Content Warnings: bodily mutilation, extreme paranoia, eye things (including disembodied eyes, being watched at all times, and removal of eyes), fear and terror, psychosis

MAIN CHARACTERS

Hunter (he/him) - the main character who’s POV we get. I think this might be the only time his name is mentioned, but he is the eyes we see the story through (pun intended, you'll understand later). Hunter is a trans queer man who was raised Roman Catholic, only to be pushed out of his church. To this day, Catholicism is a special interest of his and that's why he's here. He's also the least mentally stable protag I've ever written

The Seraphim (unk) - Well... you'll see...

MASTERLIST

GoodReads

That's it so far

TAGLIST

@winterandwords @crypticcodexcreations @inkspellangel @smol-feralgremlin @/joswriting @/love-whatit-loves @/annetillney

Please fill out this form to be added or ask to be removed!

Have you read...

Her doctor is giving her the body of his dreams... and her nightmares. Isa is a micro-celebrity who rarely shows her face, and can’t wait to have it expertly ripped off and rearranged to look more feminine. When a successful fundraiser makes her gender affirming surgery possible, she’s overjoyed—until she has to give up all her money to save her dying father. Crushed by gender dysphoria and the pressure of disappointing her fans who paid for a new face, she answers a sketchy ad seeking transgender women for a free, experimental feminization treatment. The grotesquely flawless Dr. Skurm has gruesome methods, but he gets unbelievable results, and Isa is finally feeling comfortable in her skin. She even gains the courage to ask out her crush: an alluring and disfigured alchemy-obsessed artist named Rayna. But Isa’s body won’t stop changing, and she’s going from super model to super mutant. She has to discover the secret behind her metamorphosis—before the changes are irreversible, and she’s an unwanted freak forever.

submit a horror book!

omg it's book accurate carrie yay

mapping the interior

Dan Bodelson (detail)

Happy Halloween, everyone.

I played a game so good it made me spontaneously write a novella.

You can read the first half of it on Patreon now, with the second half soon to follow. The game is by Meghan Cross, but it isn't out yet or I WOULD be yelling and pointing at the Itchio link to it right here. Til it is released, just picture me doing that, please.

WE CAN NEVER LEAVE THIS PLACE

By Eric LaRocca

We have a cover, y'all!

The World As It Should Be is available for PRE-ORDER as a Kindle eBook on Amazon here!

PLEASE NOTE: There WILL also be a print edition, but it's not quite available for preorder yet. If you prefer a physical copy, I'll share the link for that order as soon as it's ready! (Of course, you could always order both a Kindle edition AND a physical copy. ;p)

Thank you so much to Maya Preisler, the wonderful cover artist, and to Mocha Memoirs Press, for making this debut author's dreams come true!

What would you sacrifice to change the world?

*Content warnings: suicidal ideation, supernatural horror, gore

Synopsis: Charity Olmstead wants to die. Despite being raised by two self-proclaimed psychics, she isn’t cut out for life in the new magic-ravaged world. When she meets a kelpie on a riverbank in Salem, she believes she’s found her exit. But it turns out the monster is hungry for more than a meal. Sensing Charity’s unawakened magic, he enlists her help in a quest for revenge against the hunters who slaughtered his mate, and in return he promises to grant Charity a swift, painless death once their job is done. As they track the hunters to their base, Charity and the kelpie uncover a terrifying truth: Salem’s corrupt mayor has joined a war that has been brewing for centuries, a battle for magical control that drove Salem's most powerful witch out of her mind and ended the world. Charity must take up the mantle of this fight, grow into her powers, and find a renewed will to live. But the war is not won yet, and its weight may prove too much to bear.

I loved this! I think as far as sequels go, this was just perfect. Alex heads into kan homeland, Galacia, accompanied by Angus and kan horse, Hob (btw, the horse is fine). Staying in kan hunting lodge, Alex discovers that the caretaker has passed away and in such a way that has started rumors of a Moroi. Readying the house for Miss Potter (one of my all-time favorite experts in mushrooms), Alex hires a local duo to help out around the place.

Of course, the Moroi that even Alex knows ka should have initially believed in at this point turns out to be a bit more real than just a rumor. This Moroi and what it does really remind me of sleep paralysis which is something I struggled with for a little over a year, and trust me, it's a terrifying experience.

I really liked this. I think one of my favorite aspects of this book was learning so much more about Alex and particularly T. Kingfisher's created country, Galacia. It's horrifying but also cozy and funny. I just hope I get to see more about Alex. I am in such awe of this author and their creativity and humor. The balance between feeling scared and cozy vibes is just brilliant.

Out February 13, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Debut Novella Cover Reveal!!

'What Happened at Hawthorne House' is out on August 25, 2023! That's so close!

'Set in 1926, nine-year-old Rosalyn invents a new game to play with the girls she shares a dormitory with in the Hawthorne House Orphanage. Revolving around a Royal Court, their make-believe game quickly becomes a way to gain some measure of control in their unhappy lives. But when the rules start changing and the stakes start rising, nothing is safe, and Rosalyn finds that she’s willing to get her hands dirty in order to be the Queen.

Rosalyn will do whatever it takes to wear the crown.

All that’s left is to take it.'

Good for people who like spooky, disturbing gothic horror with a child narrator...

IF YOU'RE READING THIS, I'M SORRY, BUT YOU'VE BEEN TRAPPED IN A TIME LOOP

That's right: you've been doomed to repeat today over and over again until you can find some method of breaking the loop. Luckily, I know exactly what you need to do to escape...

...pre-order The Last Day, my new time loop horror novella!

It's the morning after Ronald Lawrence's high school reunion. He's woken up next to an old crush, listened to her speech about how this was a one-time thing, and now he's stopping for coffee before he leaves this town and his more successful peers and heads back to his own life of mediocrity. Then a man with yellow eyes beats him to death. It's the morning after Ronald Lawrence's high school reunion, and he had the weirdest dream last night. He dreamed he was attacked by a giggling maniac with yellow eyes, after he woke up to his old school crush's speech about this being a one-time thing—the same speech she's giving him right now. A plague of homicidal insanity is spreading across the world. It's the end of civilization, and Ron is reliving it over and over again. Always they catch him. Always they kill him. Always he wakes back up in that hotel room, next to his old school crush. It's the morning after Ronald Lawrence's high school reunion. Forever.

Need more convincing? Why not check out the early reviews on Goodreads? (oh hey, 4.57 stars at time of this writing!)

The Last Day releases in October 27th! Pre-order it now on Kindle, Smashwords, Nook, Apple Books, or Kobo.

(There'll also be a paperback version available through Amazon; watch this space for more information!)

What are you waiting for? Pre-order The Last Day and break the loop!

(Or reblog this post. Or both. Those also work)

WUPDATE: Incorrect Eyes

𝚆𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝙹𝚊𝚗. 𝟹𝟷𝚜𝚝 || 𝙸'𝚖 𝚂𝚘 𝚃𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍

This week has been harder than expected on the healing front, so I'm quite a bit behind in... well... everything. But that's okay! I still have so much time before I absolutely have to have this project done. I plan on publishing in July, so I want to give a few months minimum to betas and my editor. That means I'm gonna be absolutely pushing to have the final draft done this coming month.

As it stands right now, we're 3,699 words into draft one with a goal of 10k! The final draft I would like to have at 20k, but this draft doesn't need to quite hit that lol

I've also realized that I have to update the content warnings for Incorrect Eyes, but I have no idea what this new content warning would be. I already have a warning about general eye stuff including disembodied eyes and removal of eyes, but idk. squelching and squishy eyes needs something. i'll just have to figure out what

ANYWAYS i know y'all are here for the snippet, so here yous go ↓

The texts swim in my vision, the words separating themselves from the scans of the papyri, twisting and turning around each other to form incomprehensible strings of Greco-Latinate text. My breath catches in my throat as those strings start to form eyes, blinking at me as they mock my inability to focus. Fuck, I need a break. I don’t bother putting the texts away as I stand up and stumble away from the desk. The cold brick to my back grounds me, but the eyes are still there. I can’t get any air in, my breath stuck as the eyes drift ever closer to me. I need to look away, I need to blink, I need to do something but I can’t. I can’t and they’re getting closer and I need to leave but I Can’t. Look. Away. The room starts heating up, the previously cold brick behind me is burning hot. It’s searing my skin, the room is cooking me alive and the eyes are getting closer. The shadows in the corners of my vision start creeping forward, sending tendrils to meet the eyes of text as I watch. It’s a battle over what will happen first, will I lose my vision or will the eyes reach me? In the end, my vision blacks out as I collapse onto the ground. My knee hits the linoleum floor hard, a sickening crack resonates in my mind as I finally take a breath in. My throat hurts, my lungs constrict. The breaths I take are shallow, but it’s still air in. I shift myself to sit criss-cross on the floor, my back pressed against the once-again-cool brick wall. My vision is begins returning to me as I lean my head back against the wall. Everything’s blurry, but at least there are no signs of the eyes. I’m alone again. Thank God.

TAGLIST

@winterandwords @crypticcodexcreations @inkspellangel @smol-feralgremlin @joswriting

Please fill out this form to be added or ask to be removed!

Have you read...

A recurrent, unidentifiable noise in her apartment. A memo to her boss that's replaced by obscene insults. Amanda - a successful architect in a happy marriage - finds her life going off kilter by degrees. She starts smoking again, and one night for no reason, without even the knowledge that she's doing it, she burns her husband with a cigarette. At night she dreams of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth on the shore of a blood-red sea. The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?

submit a horror book!

Made another Pinterest Shuffle for Brim’s Bane! I do kinda like this app lol.

"The seasons long for each other, like men and women, in order that they may be cured of their excesses."

The Hellbound Heart

Clive Barker

The Sussex Fretsaw Massacre

Enjoying the Pagham-on-Sea series but want more Ricky content? Or know a little something about the series and want to dip in but not sure if you want to start with the novels? This is the standalone novella for you: The Sussex Fretsaw Massacre sees five strangers doomed to die arrive at Fairwood House… but the sixth member of the party has a quite different destiny. You can buy this novella…

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