075: Just like a three-year-old's birthday party, except the cake has tentacles
075: Just like a three-year-old's birthday party, except the cake has tentacles
Burn in hell, you old bastard.
Hey Ho Tenebrous Cult!
So the day came and went without either of us noticing—although Alex and I were both at StokerCon at the time—but this past June was the three-year anniversary of GREEN INFERNO’s release. GREEN INFERNO was the first official book from Tenebrous Press: an eco-horror anthology inspired by COVID and the horrific forest fire season here in the Pacific Northwest in 2020. I put out a call for climate-related conflict horror from perspectives around the world, and a very opinionated Romanian named Alex Woodroe delivered the goods. And the rest is history.
Except that’s not the whole story.
(The details of precisely how Alex wound up in the slush pile are pretty wild, and too long to recount here; ask her about it the next time you see her at a convention. I’m telling you, if anything could inspire me to believe in divine intervention, it might be the circumstances that led to us meeting and piloting this Weird ship.)
We recognize GREEN INFERNO as our first official title, but it wasn’t until the next book—when I asked Alex to take the editorial reins, and to build an anthology around a theme that spoke to her—that Tenebrous was fully formed.
Until Alex was in the editorial seat, Tenebrous was just a cool logo and a word that I bastardized from the Argento film. The opinionated Romanian brought clarity of vision to what we do; she flat-out defined us as New Weird Horror. Our family will grow—Alex Ebenstein, Cameron Howard, every creator we’re blessed to work with—but the core remains us two. So although it’s actually been closer to four years since Tenebrous announced itself as—more or less—a for-real entity, it wasn’t until that second book, IN SOMNIO, that the convenant was officially sealed.
IN SOMNIO: A Collection of Modern Gothic Horror came out in November 2021; and while Alex and I won’t likely be in the same continental proximity to celebrate our third birthday this November, we will be a few weeks prior, when she joins me here in Portland for the HP Lovecraft Film Festival, October 4-6th. So that seems as good a time as any to party.
What will we do to commemorate the occasion? Honestly, I have no idea**. But if you happen to be in the Pacific Northwest in early October, come say hey, give a high-five or a hug.
And Jim H., if you’re reading this: I still owe you many, many drinks.
**I’m sure we’ll try to sell you some cool shit, who am I kidding? But our wheels are spinning with some fun ways to make November a very Tenebrous month.
TRVE CVLT arrives September 25th
Man oh man, nothing feels quite so good as pushing up against the deadline threshold; just barely clearing it; finally getting a chance to see what has actually been wrought; and turns out, it has exceeded what you’d hoped for in the first place. That’s what Michael Bettendorf’s TRVE CVLT has felt like to me.
Now obviously, this book belongs to Betts first and foremost. It began with his vision; every word on the page is his. But the job that Alex did in wrangling every forking path, in keeping the endless detours straight; and the typically stunning cover art that Echo Echo wrapped it in; and Lori Michelle’s design work and formatting skills making it an even more intuitive reading experience than we had originally envisioned; and hell, I even doodled a bunch of pictures for the interiors, inspired by the proud tradition of adolescent metalheads scribbling on their Trapper Keepers. TRVE CVLT, the finished product—whether you read it in print or click your choices in eBook—was a team effort.
I can’t wait for y’all to get lost in it. Here’s a sampling so you know what you’re in for:
About TRVE CVLT:
You wake with a brutal hangover, but that can't crush your spirits: you’ve been invited to take back the drum throne for Abyss, the cult band you co-founded!
It means quashing a turbulent history with Abyss' vocalist, Austin. You aren’t sure if he’s invited you back to bury the hatchet, or if he’s just desperate because infamous black metal legends Waste Doctrine are rolling through town. They've given you the opportunity to open for them and maybe, finally, get the hell out of this nowhere town.
The promise of the upcoming gig doesn't come without its share of hurdles. Austin’s hellbent on creating a ritualistic experience out of the performance, turning the abandoned roadhouse he’s chosen as a venue into a bloody, occult nightmare. Yes, it’s black f$%king metal, but is it too far?
Only you can decide.
Get the gig. Ditch this town. Burn them all alive.
TRVE CVLT is out September 25th. There’s still time to preorder it, before the band pulls up outside your home. And you don’t wanna mess with their singer, I’m tellin’ ya that dude’s nuts.
SPLIT SCREAM opens for Submissions on September 16th
Our acclaimed double feature novelette series returns with two new volumes in 2025, and editor Alex Ebenstein is opening for submissions from September 16 to September 30; so get those novelette manuscripts between 10,000 and 20,000 words ready. More details will be available here when the time comes.
If you wanna know more about what has come before, you can check out SPLIT SCREAM volumes 1-5 here.
And Volume Six, featuring David Corse and Ryan T. Jenkins, is available to preorder now! It’s out November 12th, so preordering it is a great way to help us celebrate our birthday.
ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE: cover art reveal & preorder info coming soon
Nostalgia is in the air, I guess; after the aforementioned GREEN INFERNO and IN SOMNIO brought us together, our first single-author title was ONE HAND TO HOLD, ONE HAND TO CARVE, by the singular M.Shaw.
That book went on to win last year’s Wonderland Award for Best Novel; and this December, M.Shaw returns to where we all started with ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE, a collection that spans genre and tone but locks in hard on the Weird throughout.
We’ll be sharing Echo Echo’s beautiful cover art for this, our first single-author collection, next time out, as well as opening up preorders on it.
And if the stars align—they might, who knows?!—we might have an announcement or two that put the final pieces in place for our 2025 calendar…and well beyond.
Hail Indie Publishing.
Hail New Weird Horror.
Hail the Tenebrous Cult.
Matt + Alex