Rebecca Rowland

Michael Aloisi

Thirty boxes. Thirty body parts. Eighteen turned in to authorities. A forensic technician from a quiet Massachusetts suburb does the unthinkable: stalks a local woman, abducts her, divides her body into thirty pieces, and mails the sections to random Americans across the country. Each white postal box that Dennis Sweeney prepares contains an ambiguous note and a piece of Julie Piedmont. Most of Sweeney's intended recipients contact the authorities about their gruesome packages, but twelve of the parcels go unreported. Pieces, the genre-bending hybrid of crime thriller infused with a short-story vibe, takes a closer look at the body parts that were never recovered and the possible reasons why their recipients never told anyone about their grotesque discoveries. Weaving the accounts together is Dennis' story as well as Jackson Matthews', the reporter to whom Dennis chooses to document his sick game.

Pieces

Shagging the Boss

In a bloody twist on the antiquated trope of "burying the gays," the newest anthology from Dark Ink Books boasts brand new short stories spotlighting LGBTQ+ characters. Presenting the darkest of themes as explored by sixteen established and award-winning genre fiction scribes from around the globe, Unburied contains creature features and paranormal hauntings, shadow fables and dreadful delusions. This twisted box of curiosities serves the readers a cornucopia of chilling horror, sci-fi terror, and dark fantasy. Prepare to unearth your deepest nightmares.Felice PicanoGreg HerrenDaniel M. JaffeJ. AskewLaramie DeanLaura DeHaanChristina DeliaSarah Lyn EatonThomas KearnesVeronica KirinGeorge Daniel LeaAzzurra Nox Elin OlaussonRobert P. OttoneLouis StephensonM.C. St. John

A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction

Unburied

Three adolescent bullies discover that the vicious crime for which they were never charged will haunt them in unimaginably horrific ways; a dominatrix and a bondage fetishist befriend one another as one's preoccupation grows to consume his life. A man persuades his wife to start a family, but her reluctant pregnancy comes with a dreadful side effect. A substitute teacher's curiosity about a veteran teacher's methodology provides her with a lesson she won't soon forget. An affluent, xenophobic lawyer callously kills two immigrants with her car with seeming impunity; a childless couple plays a sadistic game with a neglected juvenile each Halloween. An abusive father, a dating site predator, a neglected concierge, and an obsessed co-worker: they are all among the residents of Rebecca Rowland's universe, and they dwell in the everyday realm of crime and punishment tempered with fixation and madness. There are no vampires, zombies, or magical beings here; no, what lurk in this world are even more terrifying. Once you meet them, you will think twice before turning your back on that seemingly innocuous neighbor or coming to the aid of the helpless damsel in the dark parking lot. These monsters don't lurk under your bed or in the shadows: they are the people you see every day at work, in the supermarket, and in broad daylight. They are the horrors that hide in plain sight, and they will unsettle you more than any supernatural being ever could.

The Horrors Hiding in Plain Sight

Elaine Pascale

A tribute to author Anne Rice, a scrabble of authors show their love to the Queen of Horror with a collection of Gothic tales written to honor her.

A Tribute to Anne Rice

Dancing in the Shadows

Shawn is a scientist developing the formula for a drug that may cure blindness by stimulating another area of the brain that controls perception. When he surreptitiously tests the drug on himself, he accidentally accesses a neural pathway that appears to allow him to communicate with a complete stranger through telepathy instead. When Shawn finally discovers the significance of their connection and of the drug's true effects, it is too late to stop the damage their intimate friendship has set in motion to unfold. "Merging bio-medical science-fiction with thrilling mystery and body horror, Optic Nerve approaches post-pandemic literature in a refreshing, unique way that is sure to leave you thinking long after you close the book" -Holly Rae Garcia, author of Parachute "Rebecca Rowland masterfully crafts a tale of understated, psychological sci-fi horror that pulls you in with its realistic, relatable characters. When the horror rears its ghastly head, you'll feel like you've been in a car accident" - Jon Steffens, author of the Splatterpunk Award-nominated The God in the Hills "An intriguing novella of the not-so-far future with an unexpected and clever ending" -Frederick Pangbourne, author of Dreamers of the Tomb

Optic Nerve

Bestselling editor Rebecca Rowland (Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction) and Dark Ink Books (Savini, Unmasked: The True Life Story of the World's Most Prolific Cinematic Killer) present a unique anthology of monster, folk, paranormal, and psychological horror as glimpsed through the lens of the latchkey generation. In this assortment of spine-chilling tales, twenty-two voices shine a strobe light on the cultural demons that lurked in the background while they came of age in the heyday of Satanic panic and slasher flicks, milk carton missing and music television, video rentals and riot grrrls. These Gen-X storytellers once stayed out unsupervised until the streetlights came on, and what they brought home with them will terrify you. Featuring brand new fiction from Kevin David Anderson, Glynn Owen Barrass, Matthew Barron, C.D. Brown, Matthew Chabin, L.E. Daniels, C.O. Davidson, Douglas Ford, Phil Ford, Holly Rae Garcia, Dale W. Glaser, Tim Jeffreys, Derek Austin Johnson, Eldon Litchfield, Adrian Ludens, Elaine Pascale, Erica Ruppert, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Rob Smales, Mark Towse, Thomas Vaughn, and Thomas K.S. Wake. "Brimming with insightful storytelling and haunting scares, Generation X-ed proves there are no slackers in this eclectic collection of latchkey horror writers." -Daily Dead

Generation X-Ed

With its twenty-one stories of serial killers and sociopaths, fixations and fetishes, breakdowns and bad decisions crafted by authors as diverse as their writing styles, Shadowy Natures leads fans of psychological horror down dark and treacherous roads to destinations they will be too unsettled to leave. Under the tutelage of a charismatic caretaker, a young boy learns that the rules don't apply to "exceptional" people; under the blinders of parental love, a parent considers the after-effects of his daughter's criminal exoneration. One suburban dad finds himself inexplicably drawn to something he spies while walking the family pet, and another discovers buried compulsions awakened by his daughter's dental deformity. Sorting through a deceased relative's belongings, a family stumbles upon a horrific treasure, as a drifter with a dark secret wanders the Old West. While a military officer spends his days delivering despair, a procrastinator is consumed by guilt after making a deadly mistake, and a businessman stumbles upon a bizarre family photo gallery. Postpartum paranoia and isolation threaten one mother's sanity until an outside threat pushes her over the edge while another mother picks at her son's psychological scabs until he scrambles for release. Urban blight bears down on a convenience store owner; a middle-aged man takes a terminally ill acquaintance captive to avenge his lover's death; a depressed suburban housewife makes a strange new friend, and a neglected teen finds solace and inspiration in a vicious classmate's company. When her brother moves back into the family home, a woman becomes consumed by what he leaves behind; when a man disappears, his sister considers the warning signs he may have been leaving since childhood. One couple abandons urban life for the isolating wilderness while another plays a dangerous game, hoping to rekindle their relationship. While one son revisits the scene of his father's horrific crime spree, another returns home to ponder his family's well-hidden secret.From unique twists on traditional terror tropes to fresh frights found in the most innocuous of places, these tales will surprise and unnerve even the most veteran horror fans.

Rebecca Rowland

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