Tenebrous Tidings - 10p062 - We've Got No Strings
I don't know what I hold in my hand, could it be that I'm evil? Plunder on, there's no law in this land, the horror guides me through
Hey Ho, Tenebrous Cult!
Let’s kick off with a Weird peek into the future:
Valkyrie Loughcrewe’s PUPPET’S BANQUET coming in 2025
Val’s book, CROM CRUACH—an alternate historical giallo/epic poem/actual magickal ritual/incendiary device—was an experiment for us. We released it in 2022 and to be honest, we didn’t know what the hell to expect. We didn’t know if it would cause confusion and/or outrage or if it would literally catch fire in readers’ hands. All outcomes seemed equally likely.
It wound up being our “cult”-est release to date. The people who love CROM CRUACH f&*king love CROM CRUACH. Jonathan La Mantia’s still-impossible-to-describe cover art has also made it our most “pick it up and ask what the hell is this thing?” book at conventions (note to new up-and-coming publishers: make sure at least one of your books has a “pick it up and ask what the hell is this thing?” cover.)
I’d say it was our “let’s risk commercial suicide” book but let’s be real: to commit commercial suicide you have to have commercial success, and while we’re happy with where we are at the moment, we’re not exactly lighting our cigars with hundred dollar bills.
No, what CROM gave Alex and me was reinforcement that following our artistic instincts—even if we were unsure of what exactly they were in the moment—was the only way that Tenebrous could go.
So when Val presented this new book to us—this book, I should note, which is even harder to peg down and pigeonhole than CROM CRUACH was—Alex and I shrugged our shoulders and agreed that whatever Val has up her dingy, seemingly-endless-and-almost-certain-to-contain-illicit-substances-or-someone-else’s-harvested-organs sleeve, that it almost certainly was tailor-made for us.
And here we are. PUPPET’S BANQUET, coming your way in 2025. Cover art this time around will be handled by mixed media artist Donna Anita Black (we’re ahead of the game too; the art is finished, and somehow it absolutely sums up this insane book perfectly.)
I’ll be damned if I know how to talk about it yet. It walks a fine line between high-falutin’ literature and in-the-gutter splatter exploitation, and oh-dear-sweet-god-no Body Horror that makes my brain runny…in a good way. It’s pure chaos, it’s pure Val, and it’s pure Tenebrous.
It’s commercial suicide.
SPLIT SCREAM Vol. Five is up for preorder now (and on sale)!
I spent a lot of my hyperbole allotment up above, but I do want to mention that this latest volume of SPLIT SCREAM is special.
I mean, they’re all special; editor/creator Alex Ebenstein has a hell of a talent for pairing up novelettes with shrewdly subtle shared themes, crafting a reading experience that allows each half to strengthen its twin.
But while SPLIT SCREAM Volume Four was the first of the line to be released under Tenebrous proper, it was already underway before Ebenstein moved into his sweet new digs. Volume Five is the first to go from conception to release at 10p, and we couldn’t be happier with it.
It turns out that neither featured author is a stranger to Tenebrous this time around; or to Indie Horror in general. Bitter Karella is the mastermind behind the wildly popular Midnight Pals and contributed to YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR BODY. Lyndsey Croal (Have You Decided on Your Question) contributed to THANK YOU FOR JOINING THE ALGORITHM. But they’re co-headlining this show, and the results are New Weird Horror personified:
About SPLIT SCREAM Volume Five:
The Ballad of Horse Girl - Bitter Karella
California, 1860. The corrupt judge and snake oil baron, Lazarus Dives, murdered her family; now the nameless drifter known only as the Horse Girl is out for revenge. But can a man who’s sold his soul to the devil for eternal life be killed? It’ll be no easy task; but with extra motivation in the form of a bounty on the judge by Death herself, the Horse Girl plans to collect—even if it costs her soul. A classic Western tale of retribution meets supernatural horror.
The Girl with Barnacles for Eyes - Lyndsey Croal
Every year, the enigmatic Curator sails into Evie’s coastal town to display his wonders from beneath the ocean. Each time, Evie is drawn by the fascinating sights. But this year, he’s brought something different: a captive girl with barnacles for eyes. Evie risks everything to free her, ignoring her Ma’s warnings to stay away from the freak of nature. But is the Girl truly a monster, or is there more than meets the eye?
SPLIT SCREAM Volume Five is out July 23rd. The final cover art will be provided once again by Evangeline Gallagher, and interior illustrations come courtesy of the always-impressive Echo Echo.
**And for the first 48 hours of presales, print copies are 15% off and eBooks are 25% off. Pick it up here.
BRAVER NEWER WEIRDER
The files for our second annual volume of BRAVE NEW WEIRD are off to our formatter; preorders are open (including limited edition hardcovers w/signed bookplates!); y’all wanna take a look at the final Table of Contents?
Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas - Lullaby for the Unseen
Thomas Ha - In That Crumbling Home
Hussani Abdulrahim - The Library Virus
Patrick Malka - Show Me
Eirik Gumeny - A Balanced Breakfast
David Simmons - Food is Poison
Premee Mohamed - Quietus
Perfect Kiss Strickoll - punctum (o baked alaska for you i am a former american)
LC von Hessen - Transmasc of the Red Death
Simone le Roux - The Man Outside
KS Walker - River Bargain Baby
M.M. Olivas - The Prince of Oakland
Amitha Jagannath Knight - My Mother, The Exoskeleton
Rachael K. Jones - The Sound of Children Screaming
Judith Shadford - Endless Yearning
Daniel DeRock - Guest Opinion: We must take action regarding the [REDACTED] High School janitor
Geneve Flynn - A Box of Hair and Nail
Anemone Moss - Everything You Dump Here Ends Up in the Ocean
Karlo Yeager Rodríguez - Up In the Hills, She Dreams of Her Daughter Deep In the Ground
Elena Sichrovsky - Embryo
Ivan Zoric - Our Roots Will Dry Out in the End
Michael Bettendorf - As the Music Plays Groovy
Chris Kuriata - Family Not Going To Heaven
Other than crafting the cover art and occasionally nudging Alex with my opinions, I don’t personally have a lot to do with the contents of BRAVE NEW WEIRD. All the stories were first published by other daring, innovative publishers. The tales themselves sprung from the minds of twenty-three of the brightest New Weird writers of today and tomorrow. So why does this book resonate so much with me?
I think because it’s so easy to watch the flood of Horror anthologies that hit the market every year, see the same lists of names in slightly different order, and grow a bit jaded by the whole thing. BRAVE NEW WEIRD is an antidote to all that. It’s a reminder that none of us have seen everything that the Horror genre has to offer. There are stories and perspectives and voices here that you’ve never considered, and I guaran-damn-tee that you’re going to fall in love with at least a few of them.
It’s a big round world, full of abundance, and we don’t need to keep eating the same meal every day.
Eat something Weird. You may find that you like the taste (and I’m gonna let my “eating books” analogy end there, as it’s starting to hew a little too closely to the plot of one of BRAVE NEW WEIRD’s stories already).
FROM THE BELLY arrives this month
It’s May, which means 1.) Alex and I will be convening on StokerCon in San Diego in less than a month, and 2.) Emmett Nahil’s FROM THE BELLY comes roaring to apocalyptic life!
About FROM THE BELLY:
The whaling vessel Merciful has just made its strangest catch yet: a massive whale containing a still-living man secreted within its stomach lining. Sailor Isaiah Chase is tasked with keeping the enigmatic man alive.
As their relationship grows, a series of accidents, injuries and deaths quickly befall the ship and its crew. Isaiah is plagued by strangely prophetic dreams, even as the crew continues their endless quest for whale oil under the command of an increasingly unhinged captain.
As events spiral further out of control, the mysterious man confesses what Isaiah has begun to suspect: the crew of The Merciful has fallen into a cycle of punishment for their greed and destruction. Isaiah must confront the sea's vengeance made flesh, and choose between this new, strange love and the fate of the ship itself.
“Seeps into your skin, reaching as deep as the bone, [and] harbours a sense of dread that never dissipates.”
Clay McLeod Chapman, What Kind of Mother and Ghost Eaters
“A darkly sensuous dive…beautifully empathetic and character driven. I loved this book from start to finish.”
Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Below
“Blends the vast, incomprehensible danger of the ocean with the queasy intimacy of body horror to create an atmosphere that feels both timeless and new. Wild, ominous, and darkly romantic."
Lindsay King-Miller, author of The Z Word
FROM THE BELLY surfaces May 30th. Still time to preorder it!
Weird Hot American Romanian International Summer
As you can probably gather, starting from roughly now until…oh, ‘round Christmas, Tenebrous is moving rapid-fire without a break. Here’s the rest of the year’s calendar:
May 30 - FROM THE BELLY by Emmett Nahil
June 26 - BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror Volume Two
July 23 - SPLIT SCREAM Vol. Five featuring Bitter Karella & Lyndsey Croal
August 15 - A SPECTRE IS HAUNTING GREENTREE by Carson Winter
September 25 - TRVE CVLT by Michael Bettendorf
October 17 - THE SKULL & LAUREL Magazine, Issue One
November 12 - SPLIT SCREAM Vol. Six, authors TBA
December 5 - ALL YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE: STORIES by M.Shaw
Indie publishing is both a ludicrously complex web to weave, and insanely, stupidly simple. Literally every single book, or shirt, or patch, that you purchase directly from us helps make things happen. Helps keep the Weird flowing.
If that’s not your best option? Buying or requesting our titles at your local bookstores and libraries is a huge boost.
Snag our eBooks from any of the dozens of online digital stores that carry us. Buy from Amazon, if that’s what your option is.
We are endlessly grateful for the chances you take on us, and our authors, and we intend to keep things Weird AF long into the future.
Support Indie. Support Weird Horror. Keep the world a little less predictable.
Hail the Tenebrous Cult.
Matt & Alex