No Gods for Drowning update

As you might have seen on social media, Polis Books is closing down and its titles are going out of print. This includes No Gods for Drowning, my novel mixing dark fantasy, noir, and horror into a genre stew of serial killers, detectives, sea monsters, and bloodthirsty gods.

The audiobook from Dreamscape, narrated by the ever-talented Jodie Harris, will remain available.

There will also continue to be short stories set in the world of Aeon.

No Gods for Drowning will find a new home in time. Until then, thank you to everyone who’s taken the visit to the shores of Aeg.

Release day: Cranberry Cove

Posted on 2024-04-02 by Hailey Piper cranberry cove novella

At last, it’s release day!

My supernatural crime novella Cranberry Cove is loose in the world from Bad Hand Books. Tremendously grateful to them, Lynne Hansen with her stunning, eerie cover art, Eric LaRocca and Booklist for their kind words pre-release, and everyone who’s pre-ordered checking it out. No Gods for Drowning was my first foray into crime fiction with its genre stew, and getting to wade deeper in with this supernatural crime novella is a treat. The doors are open.

Available in paperback and ebook from: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop

Something unspeakable is happening at Cranberry Cove.

For decades, the chilling mystery within the derelict hotel has claimed those foolish and unwary enough to go inside.

Following the violent assault of a criminal kingpin’s adult son, enforcer Emberly Hale takes a dark journey into the haunted core of Cranberry Cove—and her own past—to find out the horrible truth.

“The best crossover episode of Law & Order: SVU and X-Files that you never knew you wanted and now cannot live without.”

—Booklist

“Cranberry Cove feels like a more thoughtful and nuanced episode of Tales from the Crypt with its harrowing examination of masculinity and gender roles inside a carnivorous hotel. Exquisitely written with Piper’s signature lush and haunting prose, this bleak and undeniably upsetting novella will provoke and excite like all excellent works of art should.”

—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

cover reveal: All the Hearts You Eat

Posted on 2024-03-26 by Hailey Piper all the hearts you eat novel

I’m a day late but not a vampire short: yesterday Titan Books revealed the cover to my upcoming modern gothic coastal vampire novel, All the Hearts You Eat!

The sea wants blood, and Julia Lloyd’s gorgeous cover screams out its beastly thirst. It also shows a few kind words from Chuck Wendig:

“A dark and powerful undertow … it’ll pull you far, far out to sea.”

All the Hearts You Eat is up for pre-order at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target, Bookshop, Libro.FM & more, and will wash ashore from Titan Books on October 15th.

What really happened to Cabrina Brite?

Ivory’s life changes irrevocably when she discovers the body of Cabrina Brite on the sands of Cape Morning, along with a mysterious poem. How did she die, and why does it seem she was trying to swim to Ghost Cat Island, the center of so many local mysteries?

Desperate to uncover the answers surrounding Cabrina’s death, and haunted by her discovery, Ivory begins to see the pale ghost of Cabrina, only to shake it off as a mere hallucination. But Ivory is not alone. Cabrina’s closest friends have also seen a similar apparition, and as they toy with occult possibilities, they begin to unravel the truth behind Cabrina’s death.

Because Cape Morning isn’t a ghost town, but a town filled with ghosts, and Ivory is about to discover just what happens when you let one in.

TGONG pre-orders return!

Posted on 2024-03-04 by Hailey Piper collection convention the ghostlands of natalie glasgow

You might have noticed that the pre-orders page for The Ghostlands of Natalie Glasgow disappeared for a few weeks. Rooster Republic was doing some remodeling.

But it’s back now! The limited edition hardcover is up for order once again. Gathering The Possession of Natalie Glasgow alongside six all-new interconnected stories, the hardcover is up for order until April 30th. After that, it will no longer be available, but there’s still plenty of time before then.

Also, I was recently at the Scarelastic Book Fair in McCordsville, Indiana and it was wonderful. If you have a chance next year, check it out!

Next event: I’ll be at AuthorCon 3 in Williamsburg, Virginia from April 12th-14th. Hope to see you there!

Events, upcoming books 2024

Posted on 2024-02-27 by Hailey Piper audiobook convention cranberry cove novella song of the tyrant worm the worm and his kings

A few quick things!

This weekend (Saturday, March 2nd) I’ll be in McCordsville, Indiana at the Scarlet Lane Brewing Company for the Scarelastic Book Fair with plenty of cool horror folk. It’s going to be a fantastic time!

Also, look what’s arrived!

These are the copies of Cranberry Cove pre-ordered directly from the publisher, Bad Hand Books. There are a couple hundred to sign, and then hopefully they’ll be getting out before the April 2nd release date. Can’t wait for the doors to open on this abandoned hotel. It’s also still up for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Lastly, and perhaps out of the usual chronology (fitting for the Worm series), Song of the Tyrant Worm audiobook is up for pre-order. The other format pre-orders are still to come, but if audio is your jam, you can find this one on Libro.FM.

Song of the Tyrant Worm cover reveal

Posted on 2024-02-11 by Hailey Piper novella song of the tyrant worm the worm and his kings

Excited to reveal the cover for the final book in The Worm and His Kings trilogy, Song of the Tyrant Worm!

Cassie Daley is the artist, and she’s captured all the cosmic weirdness of the book and the series as a whole in this dazzling visage of portals and planets and starlight.

Plot synopsis and pre-order is still to be announced, but Song of the Tyrant Worm will be out from Off Limits om June 1st! The end is coming.

In other book news (now’s a good time to remind I have four books releasing this year, right?), the paperback for Cranberry Cove is now up for pre-order on Barnes & Noble.

“Modern Art Curse, Mixed Media” in Scissor Sisters

Posted on 2024-01-29 by Hailey Piper short story

My first short story of the year is out!

It actually came out last week, but for various reasons I haven’t been able to update about it until now. “Modern Art Curse, Mixed Media” appears in the new anthology Scissor Sisters, a book of villainous sapphic stories, a theme both salacious and delightful. My story tells of a murder, an unfinished painting, and the answer that lies within the art.

Check it out!

All the Hearts You Eat in Paste’s Most Anticipated 2024

Posted on 2024-01-12 by Hailey Piper a light most hateful all the hearts you eat novel queen of teeth

Happy New Year! We’re into 2024, which is going to be a big year for horror. I have four titles releasing this year, and the fourth had the good fortune to appear in Paste Magazine’s article, “The Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2024.”

Alongside exciting upcoming titles by Stephen King, Stephen Graham Jones, Rachel Harrison, Johnny Compton, Josh Malerman (you don’t need me to list everyone, check the article!) comes All the Hearts You Eat, coming October 15th from Titan Books. From the article:

“Why We’re Excited: Hailey Piper will deliver several new books in 2024, but All the Hearts You Eat is the one that intrigues me most. Apart from the title, which might be the best Piper’s delivered so far (and that’s really saying something), there’s the promise of another tale of a small town full of mysteries and darkness, and the young woman at the center of it all who must dig for the truth. Throw in the Gothic touch of a ghost girl trying to point the way, and you’ve got a book I need in my hands right this second.”

Right now it can only be pre-ordered from UK retailers Waterstones & Forbidden Planet, but hopefully Titan will be expanding on that soon! And also soon, a cover reveal. Can’t wait!

Also, Queen of Teeth got a lovely mention in BookRiot’s “9 Horror Books with Romance at Heart.” I’ve said it before, so remember: horror and romance are lovers!

A Light Most Hateful also got a shout-out on The Line-Up’s “From the Haunted Stacks: 2023 Horror Book Highlights,” saying “If Neil Gaiman, Mary Shelley, and Shirley Jackson could birth a book baby, this stunning novel would be the outcome.”

A Light Most Hateful in Paste’s Best Horror Books 2023

Posted on 2023-12-18 by Hailey Piper a light most hateful novel

I keep thinking I’ve hit my last site update for the year, and then another thing will happen and I’m jumping back in here.

Paste Magazine today published their article “The Best Horror Books of 2023,” and among such recent titans as Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory and Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones is the storm of my most recent novel, A Light Most Hateful!

“One of the most imaginative horror authors in the game right now, Hailey Piper outdid even herself with A Light Most Hateful (link to Paste’s review), the story of a small Northeastern town transformed into a nightmarish dreamscape over the course of one fateful night.

The horror starts in the opening pages and never lets up, as Piper spools out fascinating image after fascinating image, weaving them all into an unforgettable tapestry of fear, beauty, and humanity.”

“One Is the Only Number” in Back 2 OmniPark

Posted on 2023-12-17 by Hailey Piper short story

December surprise time: I have one more short story out this year! I truly thought everything was finished with last month’s tale, but Back 2 OmniPark is out this weekend.

Follow-up to the Bram Stoker Award-nominated original anthology, Back 2 OmniPark gathers stories of OmniPark’s origins, from its construction to how its strange sections came to be.

My story “One Is the Only Number” opens on the construction site, where a worker is digging a hole only to find another man looking up from inside. He says they’re building a park on his side, too. Wouldn’t you like to see it?

That should certainly do it for short stories this year. It’s been a wild one. Eager to share what’s coming in 2024!

Hailey Piper