Hey Ho, Tenebrous Cult!
We're back from Chicago, where we ate our weight in [name it: Korean, Mexican, Italian beef, hot dogs] and mastered the finer points of vending books while alternately melting on 95-degree pavement with no shade and in the middle of a downpour:
But we did it in style, and with some delightful cohorts from the Bizarro circle, old friends and new—hails to Michael Allen Rose, Sauda Namir, Lauren Bolger, Laura Lee Bahr and everyone else who welcomed us despite the weekend's schizophrenic weather.
Speaking of! The next BizarroCon has just been confirmed for May 6-9th, 2027, returning again to the Jupiter Hotel in Portland, Oregon; and Tenebrous may be playing a more active role in some aspects of it this year, if the stars align. Mark your calendars now, y'all.
Alright, we got shit to get to:
Announcing our final 2027 title: Lock up the cats, dogs & miscellaneous New Weird furry friends
Okay so read that plot description again, and then read it again again. As you can probably surmise, Rain Corbyn's BONIS defies easy categorization, but we guarantee it's gonna both turn stomachs and break hearts in equal measure.
We first met Rain as a contributor to YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR BODY, and got to know them later as a vocal member of our Discord and as the founder of Haruspex Audio (get Hazel Zorn's REEF MIND on audiobook now!) and honestly, BONIS feels like the next logical step in their creative story. We can't wait for you to meet and fall in love with this slobbery thing (at least...we hope it's slobber).
BONIS is scheduled for release November 2027.
Danger Slater's WE ARE GOOD PEOPLE is up for preorder; there goes the neighborhood
We've pondered a lot in-house—Danger, Alex and I—about the most thoughtful way to approach some of the subject matter within Danger's upcoming book, and how best to prepare the reader. Content warnings are a given, and are very much present, but the risk of misinterpretation without proper context always exists.
We've released books that edge up to my own personal triggers—hello, SOFT TARGETS and ALICIA IS IN THE BASEMENT—and I can state unequivocally that it is never our goal to subject readers to material that they're not emotionally prepared for.
But readers of Weird fiction continue to prove over and over again that they are a savvy, clever bunch, and that a lot of my fears are unfounded; because the first review that made its way to Goodreads so thoroughly gets what this book is going for that I want to reprint a big chunk of it here verbatim:
"Riddled with purposefully problematic elements and characters, the narrative explores everything from gender stereotypes, cognitive dissonance, political divisions, systemic imbalance, and bodily autonomy to ethics, racism, homophobia, prejudice, discrimination, and more. The dialog - along with protagonist Logan's private reflections - is deliciously loaded and layered, the plot uber-grotesque and hilarious, producing a mind-bending powerhouse of a story that, in its absurdity, acts as a balm. And what an unbelievable relief it is to laugh at taboo situations that, in the real world, would be oh-so-heavy and anything but funny...
...If this sounds scary and upsetting, it should. Because it is. It's a nuanced tale that's brutal and offensive, grotesque and shocking, riveting and merciless, surreal and extreme, absurd and scathing, nihilistic and horrible, ironic and nauseating, symbiotic and parasitic: an utterly brilliant skewering of all things then and now and an insanely original take on the haunted house. A mind-blowing examination of greed and privilege, selfishness and entitlement, ignorance and hypocrisy, and dehumanization and violence: the utter lack of empathy, compassion, morality, and self-awareness that plagues and characterizes modern times.
This is bizarro horror at its finest. The most terrifying aspect is relatability: satire, symbolism, and extreme/bizarre facets lay the groundwork, rendering unspeakable horrors palatable, guiding the reader and allowing room to breathe (and laugh) before delivering a wallop of stark realization. It's haunting, masterful stuff."
Emphasis mine; thank you so much for your astute, thoughtful words, Amanda!
Dismiss this as marketing hype at your peril, but this is the book Danger Slater has been working toward his whole career. It's an evolutionary leap that abandons none of his absurdist Weird Horror sensibilities and retains his singular voice completely.
And goddamn is it funny. Uncomfortably so, as we slowly realize that we are all the joke. You need to read it.
About WE ARE GOOD PEOPLE:
The Hopewells are Good People, living the Dream. Pillars of the community, even. Logan is the inventor of the wildly successful-and wildly invasive-social media app Bckyrds. Kennedy runs WagWear, a charity that makes tiny pants for terminally ill puppies.
Look, we don’t all have the same Dream, okay?
One morning they awaken to find themselves mysteriously, and permanently, bonded to their house via fleshy umbilical cords. They can’t eat; they can’t leave; their once-protective home is now a prison, draining them of their luster, and quite literally of their nutrients. What did two Very Good People ever do to deserve this?
Turns out, there’s a solution. It’s just a bit messy.
We Are Good People is an absurd, hilarious journey through privilege, morality and murder; a splat-ire for the new golden age.
Cover art and interior illustrations by Matt Blairstone.
WE ARE GOOD PEOPLE is out February 9th, 2027. Be a good person and preorder your copy today.
Tvrrible Tvvos
We would never advise any of our authors to snort a mountain of cocaine off of a sword blade. Please: be a responsible Horror writer and inhale your cocaine off of a housekey, or maybe a small mirror in front of your typewriter.
Michael Bettendorf's Black-Metal-Choose-Your-Own-Adventure TRVE CVLT celebrates its two-year anniversary this Thursday! To mark the occasion, we teamed with Betts to make this commemorative shirt, available at our Threadless store.
And if you haven't stalked the accursed text of TRVE CVLT to one of its myriad possible (doomed) endings...well, which part of "Black Metal" and "Choose Your Own Adventure" didn't you understand?!
YOUR BODY IS A FEVER DREAM Release Events!
We're just two weeks away from the release of YOUR BODY IS A FEVER DREAM and we've been coordinating with some fabulous bookstores around North America to celebrate the release of this Weird Cosmic Horror anthology from trans and GNC creators. While we're still ironing out the details on a couple, here's some info we can share, should you happen to be near one of them.
Always Here Bookstore, Portland Oregon, Friday Oct. 9th, 6:30pm
Twisted Spine Books, Brooklyn New York, Monday Oct. 5th, 6pm
Little Ghosts Bookstore, Toronto ONT, Canada, Monday Oct. 26th, 6pm
Bloodstone Books, Sacramento CA, Tuesday Oct. 6th, 6pm
**This one's a twofer, as Bitter will be signing their own release, QUAINT FOLK, out that day as well!
More locations to come once the details are locked in, stay tuned.
About YOUR BODY IS A FEVER DREAM:
PERSISTENT HORRORS DEMAND PERSISTENT REBELLION
The spiritual successor to 2022’s acclaimed and beloved anthology YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR BODY has entered local airspace. Prepare for transmission:
A gunslinger in possession of an apocalyptic text that would end the oligarchy flees a corporate death-squad with the aid of their eight-legged talking horse.
A linguist's body transforms to better make use of the alien language they are translating.
A miracle elixir that was never supposed to work sets loose something rather beautiful-via email.
The argument of whether it's pornography or art persists across the universe.
Creatures from separate worlds find each other-and love?-in the depths of the sea.
🔺🔺🔺A F%#KED UP CENTAUR FILLS YOU UP WITH TRIANGLES🔺🔺🔺
Starving artists learn that the price of a mouthful of immortality is never too high.
Over thirty Trans and Gender Nonconforming creators unite to voice their existential questions in this anthology featuring unreality, bog witches, snake-oilers, artistic misunderstandings, architectural misgivings, several languages that may or may not exist, exorcisms, in-xorcisms, illustrations, and a fishing horror RPG.
Proceeds from YOUR BODY IS A FEVER DREAM will go to the Trans Legal Services Network and Trans Doe Task Force.
Christ that felt like a lot. I even cut some stuff out; I guess we'll tell you about it next week.
Hey before we go, wanna see a sneak peek of the next BRAVE NEW WEIRD cover?
I barely had to tweak a thing from this initial sketch.
See you next week.
Hail Indie Publishing.
Hail New Weird Horror (+ More!)
Hail the Tenebrous Cult.
Matt + Alex
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