HWA Seattle Chapter Publishing News
2023 Publications
Find the latest spooky reads by our very own HWA Seattle Chapter members.
"Vial Thoughts" from Van Essler
Released: May 2023
Balanced on a thin wire between horror and steampunk, Van Essler's debut novel is an acrobatic performance at the darkest of circuses.
Lenora Leahill has recently inherited her father's estate and is ready to take her place in the enlightened Age of Awareness where books can be instantly consumed as injections using an Aqua Peritia cuff.
She has grand plans for securing her legacy, but navigating these new responsibilities alone is not easy, especially when it's impossible to see clearly under the city's ashfall.
When an old colleague of her father's demands fulfillment of a promise Lenora knows nothing about, she discovers this new Age of Awareness is haunted by a dark history. Lenora must wade through the shadows of the past and gain her footing in the present if she has any hopes of a future-unless death or madness finds her first.
"Fashion Trends, Deadly Ends" - Brianna Malotke
Released: August 8th, 2023
Inspired by historical fashion trends, this poetry collection is Malotke's debut horror book.
With over 50 poems, this collection takes you on a grisly journey of getting dressed from head to toe.
Goodreads Review - "What. A. Collection. I received this book at midnight, read a little, and finished it up before work. Malotke is an incredible poet. The direction she took of mixing fashion trends of olden times, fun [and often deadly facts], and the corresponding poetry for each section was done beautifully. Each piece in a particular section, while having the same theme, all stood out in their own way. The climb from the exquisiteness of each trend and its eventual downfall of the tragedy behind it is incredible. Fashion lovers....poet lovers...history lovers... please check this collection out!!!"
Order on: Amazon or Direct from Publisher
"Hell Shall Make You Fear Again" - from Jack Finn
Release Date: July 8th, 2023
As a life-long student of global folklore, Jack weave elements of the horrors that exist in the dark places of our world with settings in the 17th-21st century. The stories feature creatures feared from the first epoch of man still lurking in hidden places, long forgotten but eager to remind us why we should fear the darkness, the shadows, and what comes in the night. You will not find any Final Girls (or boys) in this book. No priests holding crucifixes and extolling, "The power of Christ compels you," well...at least not successfully. The stories are the tales of those who, in their arrogance, greed, or ignorance, traversed lines best never crossed. They stepped off the sunlit path and found the world beyond dark, malevolent, and unforgiving.
For more from Jack Finn - follow him on Twitter/Instagram/Threads @therealjackfinn
"The Legacy of Rose Valley: A Creature Feature Horror Suspense (Lorestalker Book 6)" from J.P. Barnett
Released September 12th, 2023
As the multiple-award-winning, critically acclaimed, popular “Lorestalker” series comes to an end...
The problem with hunting monsters is that, sometimes, they hunt you.
Miriam and Macy have started to make a name for themselves as cryptozoologists, but they’ve left behind a few loose ends. The two of them move on from college and settle in Rose Valley, where the past comes back with a vengeance.
Once again thrown into turmoil, the town must face an amalgamation of evil that no one could have predicted.
"Whatever Takes Us" - a short story by Aigner Loren Wilson
Release date: November 2023
November 2023 Issue of Nightmare Magazine
'Whatever Takes Us' is a dark fantasy horror short story about a young girl and her friend being bullied at a school dance and finding salvation in an unlikely savior.
Girl, Incorrupted: a love-horror story by Megan Bledsoe
Release Date: September 12, 2023
While trying to become the kind of girl her boyfriend says he'd marry, college senior Daphne James entangles herself with the local vaudeville star, an incorrupt corpse who thinks that Daphne can help reanimate her body. With magical lore, all the feels, and ominous characters who haunt the page, this love-horror hybrid will hold you captive until the very last word...
For links to the Look Book, first chapters, socials, and much more, visit meganbledsoe.com/linkinbio.
AHH! That's What I Call Horror: An Anthology of '90s Horror ed. Chelsea Pumpkins anthology - Story Included from J.W. Donley
Released: 01/25/2023
With fourteen horror stories set during the decade of flannel shirts and neon dolphin Trapper Keepers, Ahh! That’s What I Call Horror features a PHAT (pretty horrific and terrifying) collection of totally rad horror and weird fiction authors exploring the darker side of what many consider a time of relative peace and prosperity. With Communism falling and Clear Channel rising, the horror of the 1990s requires peeling back layers of safe, sanitized media to reveal the nightmares waiting beneath. When it comes to ‘90s horror, this is one anthology guaranteed to be all that and a bag of haunted chips.
You won’t need a dial-up connection to reach the beyond in this time-warp to the ‘90s. With undead grunge rock icons, menacing action figures, family sitcoms gone very wrong, and more: these terror tales will return you to the end of the old millennium.
How will you get back?
Like, who says you will?
Monster Anwalt (Monster Lawyer - Book II in the series) - Royce Buckingham
Released: October 18, 2023
Urban Fantasy Novel
Danny Becker was bullied as a kid and terrified of his own shadow—any shadow, really—until he learned to use his words, grew up, and became a lawyer. Thirty years later, Danny wakes up to find the closet monster who tormented him all through his youth sitting on his bed. Turns out his childhood nemesis … needs a lawyer. More fun than a canine paralegal, the Monster Lawyer series combines an atmospheric secret world in drizzly Seattle with a strong set-up and an unlikely hero who hangs out his shingle to champion Seattle‘s most underrepresented population.
Dark Tide 11: Sherlock Holmes and the Arcana of Madness
Anthology Featuring John Linwood Grant, Angela Yuriko Smith and Naching T. Kassa
Date published - November 3, 2023
This trilogy, comprising of: “A Promise of Blades” by John Linwood Grant “The Adventure of the Tarot Card Prophecies” by Angela Yuriko Smith and “The Riddle of the Red Tower” by Naching T. Kassa …invites readers into the enigmatic world of prophecy, art, and the supernatural, with each tale bound by the common thread of Dadd’s mystical tarot cards. Join Holmes and Watson as they traverse through the realms of the arcane, encounter enigmatic entities, and battle the forces of darkness, in their quest to unravel the secrets of the Arcana and to shed light on the shadows of madness.
For more from Naching - go here.