Well well well, here we go again with the 5th celebration of Titan Books, hoping to highlight as many of their new, forthcoming and backlist titles as I can read in a month!
From series’ concluding entries such as H.M Long’s ‘Pillar Of Ash’, and Stephen Graham Jones’s ‘The Angel Of Indian Lake’ to debut Titan novels such as ‘Myrrh’ by Polly Hall and ‘Diavola’ by Jennifer Thorne and movie novelisations of forthcoming blockbusters, such as ‘Godzilla X Kong’ by Greg Keyes there is something for everyone on the monstrous TBR pile…it’s positively Titanic!
Keep checking in through the year as titles are added, and reviews, and feel free to recommend any titles I have missed and that you love.
January – June
‘Pillar of Ash’ by H.M Long
Yske, daughter of the legendary warrior priestess Hessa, has dedicated her life to medicine and
pacifism in service to Aita, the Great Healer. When her twin brother Berin, hungry for glory, gathers a party to investigate rumours of strange sightings in the Unmade – shadows in the darkness at the end of the world – Yske joins the mission, to keep him safe.
Their journey east takes them through primal forests, walking paths last trod when gods were at war and ancient, powerful beasts were defeated and bound. And the closer they get to the Unmade, the more strange and terrible things haunt them from the shadows, corruptions in nature and monstrous creatures of moss and bone.
Earning the respect of Berin and his warriors, Yske must forge a place for mercy and healing in a world of violence and sacrifice. She must survive murderous ambushes and brutal sieges and take her place at the centre of the oldest war of all.
Thrust into a desperate conflict of survival, Yske and Berin will wage the final war with the gods – in the shadow of a vast and ancient tree, the fate of creation is about to be decided.
Due to be published 16/01/2024 / Twitter @hannah_m_long
‘What Kind Of Mother’ by Clay McLeod Chapman
After striking out on her own as a teen mother, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of
Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmer’s market.
It’s at the market that she reconnects with her high school boyfriend Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying monster waiting at the centre of the labyrinth―and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.
Due to be published 31/01/2024 / Twitter @claymcleod
‘Where The Dead Wait’ by Ally Wilkes
William Day should be an acclaimed Arctic explorer. But after a failed expedition to find the fabled
Open Polar Sea, in which his men only survived by eating their comrades, he returned in disgrace. A cannibal. A murderer.
Thirteen years later, his second-in-command, Jesse Stevens, has gone missing in the same waters. Perhaps this is Day’s chance to restore his tarnished reputation by bringing Stevens – the man who’s haunted his whole life – back home. But when the rescue mission into the frozen wastes becomes an uncanny journey into his own past, Day must face up to the things he’s done.
Aboard ship, Day must also contend with unwanted passengers: a reporter obsessively digging up the truth about the first expedition, and Stevens’s wife, a spiritualist whose séances both fascinate and frighten. Following a trail of cryptic messages, gaunt bodies, and old bones, their search becomes more and more unnerving, as it becomes clear that – for Day – the restless dead are never far behind.
Due to be published 23/01/2024 / Twitter @UnheimlichMnvr
‘Disciples Of Chaos’ by M.K Lobb
Damian Venturi isn’t aware of it yet. But as small shifts start to crack the foundations of the
Ombrazian power structure after the Rebellion’s attack, cracks are beginning to show in Damian’s own facade. Uncontrollable anger is bubbling to the surface and can’t always be pushed down. Can he keep everyone safe, even from himself?
Rossana Lacertosa should feel victorious. She accomplished everything she set out to do, and more. The Rebellion’s attack set countless prisoners free and brought attention to the unfairness in the Palazzo’s structure. And Damian is back by her side where he belongs. Yet the war with Brechaat rages on and government officials are hellbent on keeping the status quo.
Then an Ombrazian general arrives from the front lines, and orders dozens of arrests, shipping Roz and Damian’s friends up north. Determined to free those who matter most, Roz and Damian set their sights on Brechaat. But on their journey to hell on earth, Roz will need to face the fact that Damian is not just shifting further from the boy she used to know, but down a dark path into chaos.
Due to be published 06/02/2024 / Twitter @mk_lobb
‘Among The Living’ by Tim Lebbon
Estranged friends Dean and Bethan meet after five years apart when they are drawn to a network
of caves on a remote Arctic island. Bethan and her friends are environmental activists, determined to protect the land. But Dean’s group’s exploitation of rare earth minerals deep in the caves unleashes an horrific contagion that has rested frozen and undisturbed for many millennia. Fleeing the terrors emerging from the caves, Dean and Bethan and their rival teams undertake a perilous journey on foot across an unpredictable and volatile landscape. The ex-friends must learn to work together again if they’re to survive… and more importantly, stop the horror from spreading to the wider world.
A propulsive horror thriller––fast-moving, frightening, and shockingly relevant―this adventure will grip you until the final terrifying page
Due to be published 06/02/2024 / Twitter @timlebbon
‘Sworn Soldier-What Feasts At Night’ by T.Kingfisher
Mysterious socialite Dorian Gray is at the centre of Sherlock Holmes’ latest investigation in this astonishing, uncanny mash-up of Victorian mystery and horror1903Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson have tickets to the newly arrived Egyptian Circus. Holmes is puzzled by his brother Mycroft’s cryptic gift but is intrigued enough to attend the next production.
The performers, dressed as wondrous half-animal, half-human gods from Egyptian mythology, display superhuman agility and stunts. But they speak no Arabic, sequester themselves in the stables after each show and take orders from a mysterious ring master who is yet to be seen. And then one of the performers is murdered.Holmes’s enquires lead him to Montebank Manor, the home of the beautiful and secretive socialite Dorian Gray. As Holmes digs deeper, he learns Gray is hiding much more than his involvement in a murder. It’s a darkly fantastical tale of lies, experimentation, hypnosis and wicked ambition.
Due to be published 05/03/2024 / www.christianklaver.com
‘A Botanical Daughter’ by Noah Medlock
It is an unusual thing, to live in a botanical garden. But Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair of
gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian London, they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon, this means long hours in the dark basement workshop, working his taxidermical art. Gregor’s business is exotic plants – lucrative, but harmless enough. Until his latest acquisition, a strange fungus which shows signs of intellect beyond any plant he’s seen, inspires him to attempt a masterwork: true intelligent life from plant matter.
Driven by the glory he’ll earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate.
The experiment – or Chloe, as she is named – outstrips even Gregor’s expectations, entangling their strange household. But as Gregor’s experiment flourishes, he wilts under the cost of keeping it hidden from jealous eyes. The mycelium grows apace in this sultry greenhouse. But who is cultivating whom?
Told with wit and warmth, this is an extraordinary tale of family, fungus and more than a dash of bloody revenge from an exciting new voice in queer horror.
Due to be published 19/03/2024 / Twitter @medlock-noah
‘Basilisk’ by Matt Wixey
A terrifying and unputdownable horror-thriller novel of fiendish puzzles, compelling mysteries and paranoia about an enigmatic hacker, a deadly online game, and a cyber weapon that makes people go insane. Perfect for readers of Paul Tremblay, Neal Stephenson and Mark Z Danielewski’s House of Leaves, and the people who just have to know the answer.
Alex Webster is an ethical hacker who, like most hackers, prefers questions to answers. So when she and a colleague, Jay Morton, stumble across a mysterious game created by a shadowy figure known as The Helmsman, they are instantly hooked.
As they solve increasingly bizarre puzzles and uncover The Helmsman’s deranged manifesto, they are pursued by a sinister group known only as XXX XXXXXXX XXXXXX, who will do anything to stop them uncovering the Basilisk, a cognitive weapon which makes anyone who understands it lose their mind.
When Jay disappears, as they hone in on the truth of the Basilisk, Alex is left trying to piece together what’s happened to her friend, escape the awful smiling glitch people stalking her every move, and solve The Helmsman’s final puzzle.
Due to be released 02/02/2024 / Twitter @wixeywrites
‘A House With Good Bones’ by T.Kingfisher
In this ordinary North Carolina suburb, family secrets are always in bloom.
Samantha Montgomery pulls into the driveway of her family home to find a massive black vulture perched on the mailbox, staring at the house.
Inside, everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects; instead the walls are a sterile white. Now, it’s very important to say grace before dinner, and her mother won’t hear a word against Sam’s long-dead and little-missed grandmother, who was the first to put down roots in this small southern town.
The longer Sam stays, the stranger things get. And every day, more vultures circle overhead…
Due to be published 26/04/2024 / Twitter @Ursulav
‘The Angel of Indian Lake’ by Stephen Graham Jones
It’s been four years in prison since Jade Daniels last saw her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho, the day she took the fall, protecting her friend Letha and her family from incrimination. Since then, her reputation, and the town, have changed dramatically. There’s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there’s one aspect of Proofrock no one wants to confront…until Jade comes back to town. The curse of the Lake Witch is waiting, and now is the time for the final stand.
New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones has crafted an epic horror trilogy of generational trauma from the Indigenous to the townies rooted in the mountains of Idaho. It is a story of the American west written in blood.
Due to be published 26/04/2024 / Twitter @SGJ72
‘Diavola’ by Jennifer Thorne
Anna only has one rule for the annual Pace family vacations: tread lightly, and survive.
It isn’t easy when she’s the only who doesn’t seem to fit in. Her twin brother Benny goes with the flow so much he’s practically dissolved, and her high-strung older sister Nicole is so used to everyone—including her blandly docile husband and two young daughters—falling in line that Anna often ends up chastised for simply asking a question. Her Mom is baffled by Anna’s life choices (why waste her artistic talent at an ad agency?), and her Dad—well, he just wants a little peace and quiet.
The gorgeous villa outside a remote Tuscan town seems like the perfect place to endure so much family time—not to mention Benny’s demanding new boyfriend, Christopher. If her family becomes too much to handle, then at least Anna can wander off to a wine tasting or lose herself in an art gallery. That is, until strange things start to happen—strange noises at night, food rotting within hours, dreams that feel more like memories. Then, the unsettling warnings from the locals: don’t open the tower door.
But Anna does open it. And what she releases threatens to devour her family—that is, if her family doesn’t tear itself apart first.
Due to be published 26/04/2024 / Website – Jennifer Thorne
‘This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances’ by Eric LaRocca
Four devastating tales from a master of modern horror…
This Skin Was Once Mine
When her father dies under mysterious circumstances, Jillian Finch finds herself grieving the man she idolized while struggling to feel comfortable in the childhood home she was sent away from nearly twenty years ago by her venomous mother. Then Jillian discovers a dark secret in her family’s past–a secret that will threaten to undo everything she has ever known to be true about her beloved father and, more importantly, herself. It’s only natural to hurt the things we love the most…
Seedling
A young man’s father calls him early in the morning to say that his mother has passed away. He arrives home to find his mother’s body still in the house. Struggling to process what has happened he notices a small black wound appear on his wrist-the inside of the wound as black as onyx and as seemingly limitless as the cosmos. He is even more unsettled when he discovers his father is cursed with the same affliction. The young man becomes obsessed with his father’s new wounds, exploring the boundless insides and tethering himself to the black threads that curl from inside his poor father…
Prickle
Two old men revive a cruel game with devastating consequences…
All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn
Enoch Leadbetter goes to buy a knife for his husband to use at a forthcoming dinner party. He encounters a strange shopkeeper who draws him into an intoxicating new obsession and sets him on a path towards mutilation and destruction…
Content warning found inside book.
Due to be published 02/04/2024 / Twitter @hystericteeth
‘Myrrh’ by Polly Hall
Myrrh has a goblin inside her, a voice in her head that tells her all the things she’s done wrong,
that berates her and drags her down. Desperately searching for her birth-parents across dilapidated seaside towns in the South coast of England, she finds herself silenced and cut off at every step.
Cayenne is trapped in a loveless marriage, the distance between her and her husband growing further and further each day. Longing for a child, she has visions promising her a baby.
As Myrrh’s frustrations grow, the goblin in her grows louder and louder, threatening to tear apart the few relationships she holds dear and destroy everything around her. When Cayenne finds her husband growing closer to his daughter – Cayenne’s stepdaughter – and pushing her further out of his life, she makes a decision that sends her into a terrible spiral.
The stories of these women will unlock a past filled with dark secrets and strange connections, all leading to an unforgettable, horrific climax.
Due to be published 09/04/2024 / Twitter @pollyhallwriter
‘The Dark Side Of The Sky’ by Francesco Dimitri
It’s been labelled a doomsday cult, but the Bastion might be humanity’s last hope. Amidst all the
lies and chaos, come hear their true story, in their own words.
On the rural coast of Puglia, Italy, Becca and Ric run the Bastion, offering solace and a home for lost souls. Each year they welcome new members to join the Open Feast, where they teach them to release their burdens and create a better world, in a journey of self-discovery and spiritual teachings.
But the Bastion has secrets. The Bastion has a destiny. Deep in the Inner Pinewood, a place of real magic and beauty, they are all that stands against the dark forces that would tear the sky wide open
And what of those who call Becca and Ric liars? Cult leaders and con artists? What of those who tried to leave the Bastion? As it becomes increasingly difficult to tell truth from fiction, who can you trust to save us all?
Due to be published 07/05/2024 / Twitter @fdimitri
‘Immortal Pleasures’ by V.Castro
In this seductive dark fantasy from the author of The Haunting of Alejandra, an ancient Aztec
vampire roams the modern world in search of vengeance and love.
Hundreds of years ago, she was known as La Malinche: a Nahua woman who translated for the conquistador Cortés. In the centuries since, her name has gone down in infamy as a traitor. But no one ever found out what happened to La Malinche after Cortés destroyed her people.
In the ashes of the empire, she was reborn as Malinalli, an immortal vampire. And she has become an avenger of conquered peoples, traveling the world to reclaim their stolen artifacts and return them to their homelands.
Due to be published 07/05/2024 / Twitter @vlatinalondon
‘The House That Horror Built’ by Christina Henry
A woman working in the house of a reclusive horror director stumbles upon terrifying secrets,
from the author of Good Girls Don’t Die and Horseman.
Single mom Harry Adams has always loved horror movies, so it’s not really a coincidence she took the job cleaning for horror movie director Javier Castillo. His forbidding greystone mansion is filled from top to bottom with terrifying props and costumes, as well as glittering awards from his decades long career making films that thrilled audiences and dominated the box office―until his wife mysteriously disappeared and he vanished from the industry.
Javier values discretion, and Harry has always tried to clean the house immaculately, keep her head down, and keep her job safe―she needs the money to support her son. But then she starts hearing noises from behind a locked door. Noises that sound remarkably like a human voice calling for help, even though Javier lives alone and never has visitors. Harry knows that not asking questions is a vital part of keeping her job, but she soon finds that the house―and her enigmatic boss―have secrets that she can’t ignore.
Due to be published 14/05/2023 / Twitter @C_Henry_Author
‘Small Town Horror’ by Ronald Malfi
Maybe this is a ghost story…
Andrew Larimer has left his past behind. Rising up the ranks in a New York law firm, and with a heavily pregnant wife, he is settling into a new life far from Kingsport, the town in which he grew up. But when he receives a late-night phone call from an old friend, he has no choice but to return home.
Coming home means returning to his late father’s house, which has seen better days. It means lying to his wife. But it also means reuniting with his friends: Eric, now the town’s sheriff; Dale, a real-estate mogul living in the shadow of a failed career; his childhood sweetheart Tig who never could escape town; and poor Meach, whose ravings about a curse upon the group have driven him to drugs and alcohol.
Together, the five friends will have to confront the memories—and the horror—of a night, years ago, that changed everything for them.
Because Andrew and his friends have a secret. A thing they have kept to themselves for twenty years. Something no one else should know. But the past is not dead, and Kingsport is a town with secrets of its own.
One dark secret…
One small-town horror…
Due to be published 04/06/2024 / Twitter @RonaldMalfi
July-December
‘I Was a Teenage Slasher’ by Stephen Graham Jones
1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton—and a place where
everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge.
Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, the unfairness of being on the outside, through the slasher horror he lives but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography.
Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.
Due to be published 16/07/2024
‘Bury Your Gays’ by Chuck Tingle
From Chuck Tingle, author of the USA Today bestselling Camp Damascus, comes a new heart-
pounding story about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.
Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for decades, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he’s pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale―”for the algorithm”―Misha discovers that it’s not that simple.
As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what’s right―before it’s too late.
Due to be published 16/07/2024 / Twitter @ChuckTingle
‘The Dissonance’ by Shaun Hamill
Four teenagers are thrust into a life of magic, secrecy and sacrifice in this captivating dark fantasy, perfect for fans of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower and The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning
It starts as an end-of-junior-school sleepover, but when Athena, Hal, Peter and Erin stumble across a missing boy, deep in the forests surrounding sleepy Clegg, Texas, they discover a world of sorcery and untold power. So begins a new life with the Dissonance, under the tutelage of Professor Elijah Marsh.
Twenty years later, separated and broken by their experiences, the friends are pulled back to Clegg for the anniversary memorial service at the town’s high school. Each carrying their own trauma, they come together once more to confront the legacy of their actions, and the monsters they failed to bury.
Hurled onto a collision course with the apocalyptic events of their past, Owen, a young man trapped in service to a murderous entity, and several lifetimes of mistakes, three unsuccessful adults and one frightened teen are all that stand between reality and oblivion.
Due to be published 23/07/2024 / Twitter @shaunhamill
‘Smothermoss’ by Alisa Alering
Set in an isolated 1980s Appalachian community, reeling from the brutal murder of two hikers, this novel is deliciously creepy and unsettling, yet gorgeous and dreamlike in its portrayal of two impoverished girls who must come to terms with what’s happening on the sentient mountain they call home and also with themselves as they stand on the cusp of adulthood.
1980s Appalachia. Sheila knows she needs to keep her appetites in check. Isolated and struggling in ramshackle poverty, her desires – for food, for escape, for the perfect girls in the pages of her pilfered magazines – are about the only things she can control. But with every passing day, life with her exhausted mother and her half-feral younger sister Angie feels more like a rope tightening around her neck.
When a pair of hikers are brutally murdered on the trail, Sheila and Angie find themselves drawn inexorably into the hunt for the killer. The mountain they live on is ancient and powerful – and it’s using them for its own ends. Sheila knows the landscape’s folklore is dangerous and unpredictable, but as the ever-present threat of violence looms larger, it might be the only thing that can save her and her sister from the darkness consuming their home…
Somewhere between a rural gothic and a dark fairytale, Smothermoss beckons readers into the eerily beautiful woods of the Appalachian Mountains―as well as into a lyrical investigation of girlhood, bodies, class, desire, nature, and the otherworldly. Full of the picturesque dread of an A24 horror movie, it’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle meets Winter’s Bone, and will appeal to fans of Sophie Mackintosh, Julia Armfield, and Kelly Link.
Due to be published on 24/07/2023 / Twitter @alering
‘Gilgamesh’ by Emily Wilson
Now is the time for the gods of war
Gilgamesh, soon to be crowned King of Uruk, travels north to find his homelands in flames and his family on the run. A blood-red moon brings warnings of a new kind of war, and in the far north, the enemies of Sumer are massing.
Inanna and Ninshubar sail south to take their revenge upon Enki, the king of the water gods. Armed with the master mee and struggling to understand its true nature, Inanna will face impossible demons in her quest to fully comprehend the power she has inherited.
Meanwhile Ereshkigal, queen of the underworld, has a mysterious visitor. This dark stranger brings with him the threat of dangers far more terrible than Enki, or even Sumer’s warlike neighbours. Because a long time ago, in a realm faraway, a little girl was taken from her family. Now, a vengeance, long prophesied, is about to unfold.
As the forces of chaos rise across the riverlands, Gilgamesh must face overwhelming odds in his battle to save the city he loves, and the Anunnaki will soon discover that no one can escape the sins of the past. Not even the gods.
Due to be published 06/08/2024 / Twitter @emilyhwilson
‘Sacrificial Animals’ by Kailee Pedersen
Two brothers return to their family home to care for their dying father, only to find the ghosts of their pasts are restless and hungry for blood, in this gothic horror perfect for fans of Hereditary and readers of Stephen Graham Jones.
When their father calls them to tell them he is dying, Nick and Joshua rush back to their Nebraskan childhood home, Stag’s Crossing, hoping for a deathbed reconciliation with man who raised them. But their return sparks memories of their childhood, and their father – Carlyle – a ruthless, violent, racist man who ruled Stag’s Crossing with an iron fist.
Returning home, the family find themselves falling into familiar patterns. As Joshua and his father renew their tight bonds, Nick finds himself ostracised and growing closer to Emilia, his brother’s enigmatic wife.
But something else has arrived at Stag’s Crossing, a presence out for revenge, and Nick, Joshua and Carlyle, who have traded in blood, dirt and violence for so long, are about to face a reckoning like no other.
Due to be published 20/08/2023 / Twitter @KaileePedersen
‘Crypt of the Moon Spider’ by Nathan Ballingrud
Years ago, in a cave beneath the dense forests and streams on the surface of the moon, a
gargantuan spider once lived. Its silk granted its first worshippers immense faculties of power and awe.
It’s now 1923 and Veronica Brinkley is touching down on the moon for her intake at the Barrowfield Home for Treatment of the Melancholy. A renowned facility, Dr. Barrington Cull’s invasive and highly successful treatments have been lauded by many. And they’re so simple! All it takes is a little spider silk in the amygdala, maybe a strand or two in the prefrontal cortex, and perhaps an inch in the hippocampus for near evisceration of those troublesome thoughts and ideas.
But trouble lurks in many a mind at this facility and although the spider’s been dead for years, its denizens are not. Someone or something is up to no good, and Veronica just might be the cause.
Due to be published 27/08/2023 / Twitter @NBallingrud
‘Roots Of My Fears’ edited by Gemma Amor
British Fantasy and Bram Stoker-nominated author Gemma Amor brings together an imitable line-up of authors to explore heritage and horror, featuring stories from Chuck Wendig, Gabino Iglesias, Erika T. Wurth and many more
It’s a bedtime story, ancient family lore, a secret passed down from generation to generation. Stories that have deep dark roots, ever-growing, ever-creeping.
This anthology explores stories of heritage and horror. The tales we grew up on, hometown rumours and legends.
The things we pass down through our bloodlines.
Due to be published 09/09/2024
‘Bound In Blood’ edited by Johnny Mains
A terrifying and chilling anthology of over 20 original stories exploring cursed and haunted books from award winning authors including Eric LaRocca, A. G. Slatter, and Alison Moore.
You find it hidden in the dark corner of the bookstore; tucked away in a box in the attic, desperate to be read; lurking on your bookshelf, never seen before. Crack the spine, feel the ancient pages. Read it aloud, if you dare.
This anthology brings together horror’s best and brightest to delve into the pages of cursed books, Eldtritch tomes and haunted bookstores.
Due to be published 10/09/2024
‘Frankenstein’s Monsters’ by J.S Barnes
A bold, unique sequel to Mary Shelley’s classic work of literature from the author of Dracula’s Child and The City of Dr Moreau.
“He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance.” There are those who would swear that Victor Frankenstein is dead. Those who would swear his Creature died also.
They were wrong.
1842. Underneath the Thames, workmen digging Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s tunnel uncover something monstrous, asleep in the clay. In Norfolk, a ragged stranger arrives at the home of philosopher Samuel Greene and his wife and sets to work, conducting bizarre experiments.
1850. Stories spread across London: someone living in the shadows, helping those in need. In Newgate prison, Samuel Greene stands accused of murder. Philanthropist Edwin Melrose and investigator Arthur Phipps are determined to understand what happened, but the story Greene has to tell is almost unbelievable: monstrous, impossible creations made in an outhouse laboratory.
In this visionary sequel to Mary Shelley’s original classic of literature, old experiments resume, new mysteries arise, and the true question of mankind’s morality tested once more.
Due to be published 03/09/2024
‘The Bog Wife’ by Kay Chronister
A gripping and claustrophobic rural gothic horror novel about an isolated family who worship the bog that surrounds them, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Stephen Graham Jones.
It is said that the Haddesleys have too much of the bog in their blood to live in the world. Living an isolated existence in the Appalachians, they observe strange rituals and worship the forest and mud that surrounds them.
When Charles, the patriarch of the family, reveals he is dying, his children rally around him, only to find their fraying bonds tearing apart one by one, and their beliefs upended. For Wenna, the only Haddesley to have ever escaped the forest, it means coming home to face difficult truths. For Charlie, the eldest son, his father’s death means facing up to new, terrifying responsibilities.
Because the bog is waiting, ever-growing, ever-hungry, and if the Haddesley children aren’t careful, they will awaken something they have tried to keep at bay for a century.
Due to be published 01/10/2024/ Twitter @kaychronister
‘Where the Dead Brides Gather’ by Nuzo Onoh
Bata, an eleven-year-old girl tormented by nightmares, wakes up one night to find herself standing sentinel before her cousin’s door. Her skin, hair, and eyes have turned a dazzling white colour, which even the medicine-man can’t heal. Her cousin is to get married the next morning, but only if she can escape the murderous attack of a ghost-bride, who used to be engaged to her groom.
Through the night, Bata battles the vengeful ghost and finally vanquishes it before collapsing. On awakening, she has no recollection of the events. And when the medicine-man tries to exorcise the entities clinging to her body as a result of her supernatural possession, Bata dies on the exorcism mat. There begins her journey. She is taken into Ibaja-La, the realm of dead brides, by Mmuọ-Ka-Mmuọ, the ghost-collector of the spirit realm. There she meets the ghosts of brides from every culture who died tragically before their weddings; both the kind and the malevolent. Bata is given secret powers to fight the evil ghost-brides before being sent back to the human realm, where she must learn to harness her new abilities as she strives to protect those whom she loves.
Due to be published 22/10/2024 / Twitter @NuzoOnoh
This list, by no means comprehensive, has me feeling like-
What are YOU looking forward to?
I am so excited to see what the New Year holds, thank you for reading this and thank you for visiting my blog!
Author
bridgeman.lenny@gmail.com
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