Prey Species by Various Available February 28

February 19, 2023 4 Evil Eyes

Author: Various

“Are you saying someone anchored their bottom teeth behind the victim’s neck and bit through the arteries at the top of his heart?”

“No, man, humans can’t do that.”

Can’t they?

Detective Lieutenant Lucas Cross, stuck with a rookie partner, a teen-aged Cadet, and a computer he’s not allowed to touch, is ordered to find a serial killer whose only description is “a really fast guy who avoids punching.” ***

BANG-BANG-BANG. A metallic whirrrr.

A target in the outline of a man ran back to the shooter. Zoë laid down her Walther and pulled off her earmuffs. In the next booth, Lucas had his around his neck, reloading while his target ran back.

“I’m not saying it’s supernatural,” she said. “But we have to consider the possibility. Vampire freaks file their teeth. Bite each other. It’s a sex thing.”

Lucas’ target arrived — five in the ten, one in the nine. “I’m a f—ing cop, Zoë, I know it’s a sex thing. But it’s not our thing. It’s Canfield’s thing. He can consider the possibilities.”

“Our body’s the same; we should go talk to him.”

Lucas holstered his weapon. “We should go to the morgue where our victim has, I hope, arrived.”

Zoë thumbed her cell. Lucas glanced at her target. Three holes in the center of the forehead, three in the center of the chest. Nice.

“I’m sending the pictures to Nicky to put in Canfield’s file,” she said.

“Canfield will be so grateful while he’s handling a double homicide,” Lucas said, knowing part of what she said was right. “Grab your weapon, rookie. Let’s go find him.”

OOZE : Little Bursts of Body Horror by Various Available February 28

February 19, 2023 4 Evil Eyes

Author: Various

Body horror is best when it comes in little bursts. In this novella-length collection full of gross, grimy, creepy, crawly, bubbling, bursting fun, what you’ll be surprised by is how much heart and story can be packed into such small packages. With twenty up-and-coming authors putting forth their best short works of body horror, be prepared to be smacked in the face with a combination of the classic and the new. There’s plenty that you hope for when you pick up a book of body horror—transformation, dissolution, decay—but there are also a delightful number of heartfelt and surprising twists on the idea. Every story is under 2,500 words and many are shorter.

The book contains weird and wonderful cover art for each story and has a foreword by Bridgett Nelson. It features stories by Judith Sonnet and Rowland Bercy Jr., along with eighteen other authors, some established in the horror world and others with totally fresh voices.

This book is revolting, ridiculous, touching, and terrifying. It’s a little burst of fantastic new body horror.

Nightmare Carnival by Various Available February 28

February 19, 2023 4 Evil Eyes

Author: Various

Encounter the scariest clowns and freakiest curiosities under the big top, in stories by Stephen Graham Jones, Laird Barron, Priya Sharma, and others.

With an introduction from Katherine Dunn

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up for fifteen tales of terrifying rides, supernatural sideshows, and petrifying performers guaranteed to keep you up all night—with Hugo and Bram Stoker Award–winning editor Ellen Datlow as the ringmaster.

In Stephen Graham Jones’s “The Darkest Part,” three men are driven to madness by the clown that has haunted them since one misguided Tunnel of Love ride during their childhoods. The deaths of three circus performers—two brothers and a beautiful fire dancer—become the burning obsession of an author who wrote a book about the tragedy in “The Firebrand” by Priya Sharma. “Skullpocket” by Nathan Ballingrud takes you to an alternate fantasy world where a well-respected ghoul from a town near Chesapeake Bay grieves the death of his one true love, a freak show attraction known as the Orchid Girl.

Under the tent, you’ll find more chilling stories by Genevieve Valentine, Robert Shearman, N. Lee Wood, Nick Mamatas, A. C. Wise, Terry Dowling, Joel Lane, Glen Hirshberg, Jeffrey Ford, Dennis Danvers, and Livia Llewellyn.

Monstorm : A Charity Anthology of Horror by Various Available February 28

February 19, 2023 4 Evil Eyes

Author: Various

Storms are the epitome of nature at her most primal, savage, and untamable. They inspire awe and terror in equal measure. When storms unleash their fury, nothing and no one can stand against them.

Hurricane Ian was such a storm. When Ian ripped into South Florida in the fall of 2022, homes and businesses were reduced to piles of rubble. Cleanup and recovery were slow, and as of the printing of this book, there is still much to be done to get things back to normal for those in the region whose lives were turned upside down.

This book contains 20 stories by seasoned genre veterans as well as fresh voices and represents the horror community’s response to hurricane Ian. There are stories about storms, the devastation they can cause, and what they reveal about the people who live through them, stories of tearing wind, driving rain, blizzards, hurricanes.

These are stories of terror, but this book is one of hope, produced to help raise money to support those who, in Ian’s wake, need help most. The proceeds from this volume will go directly into the hands of the local All Faiths Food Bank, which serves the areas most affected by Hurricane Ian.

Storms will always come. What matters most is how we respond to them.

Lovecraft Unbound : Tales Inspired by the Works of H.P. Lovecraft by Various Available February 28

February 19, 2023 4 Evil Eyes

Author: Various

Here are twenty Lovecraftian stories—both new and rediscovered—that take their cues from the mythos of the iconic horror writer. Today’s masters of supernatural thrills celebrate H. P. Lovecraft’s oeuvre with tales of weird fiction and cosmic horror, collected by Hugo and Bram Stoker Award–winning editor Ellen Datlow.

Michael Chabon’s “In the Black Mill” follows an archeologist who visits a small Pennsylvania town to study Mound Builders, but becomes singularly obsessed with the dark and sinister mill that looms over the area. In “Commencement” by Joyce Carol Oates, a university begins its annual ceremony of renewal with three renowned scholars whose lifetime achievements are fodder for the student body. A couple desperate to have another child turn to the darkest rituals of folklore and mythology in “Catch Hell” by Laird Barron. And Holly Phillips’s “Cold Water Survival” trails a group of Antarctic explorers who encounter vast, unexplainable shapes in the ice—a danger to humanity awakening from its frozen slumber.

Rounding out the collection are more spinetingling tales from Brian Evenson, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Marc Laidlaw, Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, Dale Bailey and Nathan Ballingrud, Richard Bowes, Anna Tambour, Amanda Downum, Joel Lane, William Browning Spencer, Michael Cisco, Lavie Tidhar, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Michael Shea, Gemma Files, and Nick Mamatas.

Eldritch Prisoners : A Cthulhu Mythos Anthology by Various Available February 28

February 19, 2023 4 Evil Eyes

Author: Various

Earth is home to us, but to others it is a prison planet, where alien convicts are imprisoned in human bodies. Four tales by veteran Cthulhu Mythos authors explore the collisions between humans and unwilling visitors among us.

Children of Lovecraft by Various Available February 28

February 18, 2023 4 Evil Eyes

Author: Various

Fourteen original stories inspired by the influential horror writer, including tales by Laird Barron, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Gemma Files, and Brian Evenson.

Compiled by Hugo and Bram Stoker Award–winning editor Ellen Datlow, these original stories of the supernatural employ H. P. Lovecraft’s trademark terror of the cosmic unknown. A fresh generation of writers have been set free to play in his playground, exploring new themes and new horrors.

In “Oblivion Mode” by Laird Barron, a revenge-fueled woman and her ragtag band confront a vampiric baron. Rumored to have belonged to a Donner Party survivor, a jade figurine winds its way through many different hands and centuries, spreading evil along the way in Caitlín R. Kiernan’s “Excerpts for An Eschatology Quadrille.” In Gemma Files’s “Little Ease,” a pest exterminator meets a woman researching Enochian—the language of angels—and makes a horrific discovery in the walls of a building. A woman’s new pair of bifocals comes with a warning she should take seriously in “Glasses” by Brian Evenson. Also included are tales by Siobhan Carroll, Orrin Grey, Richard Kadrey, A. C. Wise, Brian Hodge, Stephen Graham Jones, John Langan, Maria Dahvana Headley, David Nickle, and Livia Llewellyn.

Belongings and Possessions by Various Available February 28

February 18, 2023 4 Evil Eyes

Author: Various

Sometimes it’s the people. Sometimes it’s the structure. Sometimes it’s the land itself. But once a deep evil settles in, it can transcend time and space. Three powerful voices in women’s horror share this tale of woe. Together, their stories weave a dark tapestry about a pervasive malevolence luring generation after generation of hapless, innocent victims into the demon’s snare

In “They Belong to Her”…

A newly renovated ballet studio at Heathermeade is beset by an ominous presence intent upon claiming a young dancer as its own. Although Anya’s family is increasingly aware of the mounting threat, the distraction of a famed ballet troupe’s arrival incites deadly jealousy from beyond the veil.

In “Longing to Belong”…

Lily is an exceptional dancer, but she feels like an outcast at dance school. Her secondhand ballet shoes draw the attention of jealous classmates who mock Lily mercilessly. When Lily hears the story of the vengeful spirit Margaret Lee, she decides to call on the ghost for help…but summoning such a spirit isn’t always wise

In “We Always Belonged Here”…

A day in the country seems harmless enough when Nana Hazel invites Essie to tag along. Only, the troubled teen didn’t think to ask enough questions about the crumbling old Mallory House. Murder, mayhem, something wickedly evil—Essie finds it all there, where the catkins grow.