Tenebrous Tidings - SPLIT SCREAM Vol. 5 Cover Art Reveal!
A chill runs up your spine, and crawls into your brain, the freezing touch of fear, it's driving me insane
Hey Ho, Tenebrous Cult!
Just a quick-ish one this week (I always say that, don’t I? And then I yammer away without direction because it’s one of my many “gifts”) because we’re elbows deep in StokerCon preparation, which involves shipping lots of cases of books;
figuring out how the newfangled point-of-sale hardware works;
struggling in vain to find a dive bar with a dartboard within walking distance of the hotel;
and various other vital tasks.
BUT!
The Tenebrous Era of SPLIT SCREAM Officially Begins
I’ve loved each of the volumes of SPLIT SCREAM that editor Alex Ebenstein released through Dread Stone Press; and it’s true that the fourth volume made its debut via Tenebrous last year after we brought Ebs into the fold.
But this is the first volume conceived and released in full under its new roof, so I can’t help but puff my chest out a bit. And I hope you allow me that, because this lineup of novelettes from Lyndsey Croal (Have You Decided on Your Question) and Bitter Karella (Midnight Pals) is absolutely vicious.
Portuguese artist Echo Echo pulls double triple quadruple TBD duty for us this year in providing interior illustrations in her inimitable, hyper-detailed style; and keeping the series visually consistent, Evangeline Gallagher has delivered their typically incredible eye-catching imagery for the cover:
About SPLIT SCREAM Volume Five:
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.
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.
“I devoured ACE doubles back in the day, and SPLIT SCREAM feels like a sleek, bullet-sized iteration of those beauties.”
Laird Barron, author of The Imago Sequence and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All
“Continues to blow my mind with the quality of stories included, not to mention a sleek as hell design scheme. [A] great way to introduce readers to authors in bite size pieces, opening the door to seek out their other books, [and] it showcases how incredibly talented these writers are.”
Lor Gislason, author of Inside Out
SPLIT SCREAM Volume Five is out everywhere July 23rd, but you can preorder it from us now!
Two Weeks ‘Til FROM THE BELLY Emerges From the Deep
This was nice to see today in our Ingram reports (Ingram is our distributor to bookstores and other channels, if you’re unaware):
Number One in Horror, huh? I s’pose we’ll settle for that. The truth is, we send out advance e-copies of Emmett Nahil’s Weird nautical epic to hundreds of indie bookstores, so they know what they’re talking about, and they have good reason to be excited: FROM THE BELLY is epic as hell, with a vibe that crawls cold under your skin. I couldn’t stop reading it when Emmett first sent it to us, and you won’t be able to stop either.
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
“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
“A darkly sensuous dive…beautifully empathetic and character driven. I loved this book from start to finish.”
Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Below
FROM THE BELLY is out everywhere May 30th.
Alex arrives in Portland next week to absorb some Pacific Northwestern culture ahead of StokerCon. But before we head for San Diego, we’ll be back next week for a very special announcment.
Hey, that actually was a quick-ish one!
Number One in Indie Horror.
Number One in your hearts.
Matt + Alex