Hailey Piper

The Worm and His Kings early reviews; Novel announcement

Less than a month to go until The Worm and His Kings releases on November 15, 2020! There’s still time to pre-order a paperback from the publisher and the ebook from Amazon.

Early reviews are already coming in from Goodreads and iHorror!

And then another announcement:

I’ve signed with Rooster Republic/Strangehouse Books to publish my body horror novel as part of their 2021 line-up! Check out the press release snippet from the publisher:

“Hailey Piper … has signed on to release a new horror novel through Strangehouse Books, and this is one hell of a manuscript. We are tempted to call the book “Cronenbergian” but we aren’t sure that really does the story justice. It’s more than that. This book will knock yer socks off. It’ll be getting the hardcover treatment, as well, and we’ll have further announcements over the next couple of months. But, go ahead and get excited.”

Title, cover art, and release date to be announced. Stay tuned! This one has teeth.

“Hopscotch for Keeps” in Places We Fear to Tread; “Autotomy” in Monsters Out of the Closet

Two new stories for September!

First, travel back to the ’90s in central New York in this location-based horror anthology. Play a game, kids, but make sure you know what you’re playing for.  My story “Hopscotch for Keeps” appears in Places We Fear to Tread.

Then, Lovely LGBTQ+ horror podcast Monsters Out of the Closet released a new episode today.  DOUBLE focuses on doppelgangers. My story appears second, “Autotomy.” Mom is gone, replaced by a stranger, and she has plans.  Check it out here or on Spotify, iTunes, any podcast place!

The Worm and His Kings – cover reveal, synopsis, release date

I’m thrilled to show the cover art for The Worm and His Kings, my new novella releasing from Off Limits Press on November 15, 2020. A work of queer cosmic horror that’s up on Goodreads, I can’t wait to share the story with you later this year.

From the back cover:

New York City, 1990: When you slip through the cracks, no one is there to catch you.  Monique learns that the hard way after her girlfriend Donna vanishes without a trace.

Only after the disappearances of several other impoverished women does Monique hear the rumors. A taloned monster stalks the city’s underground and snatches victims into the dark.

Donna isn’t missing. She was taken.

To save the woman she lives, Monique must descender deeper than the known underground, into a subterranean world of enigmatic cultists and shadowy creatures. But what she finds looms beyond her wildest fears–a darkness that stretches from the dawn of time and across the stars.

August Interviews/Articles

I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to a few awesome people and those conversations or articles have emerged together this month.

First, I visited the Cursed Morsels Podcast to talk about The Possession of Natalie Glasgow.

Then, Michelle R. Lane invited me to her blog Girl Meets Monster for Fiction Fragments, where I talked about a project that’s still finding its feet, along with writing lady monsters and queer horror.

Mother Horror invited me to the Nightworms blog, appropriate to discuss my upcoming novella, The Worm and His Kings, due out in November from Off Limits Press, plus a few clues about what else I’m working on.

There will be a free flash fic story up by the end of the month, so stay tuned for that too!

“Unkindly Girls” in Worst Laid Plans; “Toad Man, Toad Man” in Monsters, Movies & Mayhem

It’s a double release day!

First up, the highly-anticipated first anthology from Grindhouse Press, Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror takes summer vacation to horrific extremes. My story, “Unkindly Girls,” is a departure for me and probably my bleakest short story yet.

Find it here!

Monsters, Movies & Mayhem digs its claws into cinematic horror, behind the scenes, on set, and inside the theater itself, where not even the audience is safe. That’s where you’ll find my story, “Toad Man, Toad Man,” where bored adolescents stumble into a private screening of an old occult film one hot summer day. I have my copy already and it’s beautiful.

Check it out!

“Scarlet Hide Molly” on Monsters Out of the Closet

I’m a couple days behind on this; the last week has been trying.

But I’m proud to say my story “Scarlet Hide Molly,” which previously appeared in Planet Scumm #6, has now been adapted to one of my favorite podcasts, Monsters Out of the Closet. This podcast takes horror fiction by LGBTQIA authors and adapts it into full productions with voice cast, music, sound effects.

The second story in their latest episode, WITCH, Robin Tynan, Abigail Birkett, Taara Rangan, and Anna Podds do an incredible job voicing narrator and the three women who tell campfire tales of the titular mountain fiend. Give it a listen!

Book announcement; interviews galore

I’m ecstatic to announce that my first short story collection, Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, will be published in spring 2021 from The Seventh Terrace! Focusing on queer horror, isolation, and the monstrous feminine, the book will cover 18 stories, including a new novelette, “Recitation of the First Feeding.”

I’ll keep the site updated (technical issues aside) as info comes in such as cover and release date.

As for interviews, I had technical difficulties that kept me from updating as they came:

That should be all the interviews this month! And at month’s end, there will be a podcast tale.