queen of teeth

“The Majestic Art of Flesh” and “A Year in the Angel-Handed House”

Unfortunately I’m a little behind on updating short stories here! Let’s make up for that with TWO Neon Hemlock anthologies I have stories in:

The Crawling Moon published on July 30, a book filled with queer gothic depravity by Suzan Palumbo, Donyae Coles, Caitlin Starling, myself, and many more! My tale “A Year in the Angel-Handed House” follows a couple thrown into the shadowy uncertainties of hauntings, legacies, genders, and strange futures.

And then even more recently, Embodied Exegesis released August 27, an anthology of transfem cyberpunk with stories by Maya Deane, Ryka Aoki, Jess Levine, and more!

I never thought I would return to the world of my first novel Queen of Teeth, but “The Majestic Art of Flesh” returns three years after the book and across the river from Newark, where a new business has taken root, a business of flesh. You don’t have to have read the book to read the story, though book fans will have a different perspective on the world. Maybe I’ll come back again someday! We’ll see.

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

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.”

Out now: La Reina Dentada

It’s release day for La Reina Dentada, the Spanish edition of my Bram Stoker Award-winning novel Queen of Teeth!

Dilatando Mentes Editorial has done another amazing job both in translating the tale of Yaya, Doc, and the vagina monster Magenta, and in the presentation, with a beautiful cover by Raúl Ruiz, as well as lots of tentacled sweetness inside the book.

Imagina que, un buen día, te levantas y haces un descubrimiento sobre tu cuerpo, uno tan sorprendente, que provocaría que tu vida cambiase drásticamente; imagina descubrir que tienes dientes en partes de tu cuerpo donde no deberían estar. Eso es lo que le sucede a Yaya Betancourt, una mujer que padece una rara afección genética causada por unos experimentos llevados a cabo hace décadas por la Farmacéutica AlfaBeta, cuando ella, y miles de personas más, a las que se les denomina quimeras, aún estaban en el útero de sus respectivas madres. Lo que no puede imaginar Yaya, es el alcance y las repercusiones que tendrá su descubrimiento y la metamorfosis que este acarrea, no solo en su vida, sino en la del resto de la humanidad.

«Una historia de terror tan poderosa como hermosa». (Kirkus Reviews)

Cover reveal: La Reina Dentada

I’m so pleased to share the cover to La Reina Dentada, the Spanish edition of Bram Stoker Award-winning novel Queen of Teeth, coming from Dilatando Mentes Editorial this fall!

Dilatando Mentes also published the Spanish edition of The Worm and His Kings last year, El Gusano y Sus Reyes. It’s a beautiful book through and through, and having seen their edition of Queen of Teeth, it’s just as gorgeous inside (and full of tentacles). The cover art is by Raúl Ruiz is so beautiful and striking (and also full of tentacles).

“Queen of the Cloven Heart,” novel mentions

Out now from Dark Matter Ink, it’s Zero Dark Thirty, an anthology gathering 30 of the darkest stories from Dark Matter Magazine’s first year. The stories are dark sci-fi and horror, and among them you’ll find my medieval vampire tale “Queen of the Cloven Heart.”

Also in regal news, Queen of Teeth had the pleasure of appearing on Sara Tantlinger’s LitReactor horror romance article “Horrormance Titles for a Macabre Valentine’s Day,” and on Lindy Ryan’s LitReactor article “Eat Your Heart Out.”

Lastly, No Gods for Drowning had the honor of appearing on the Locus Recommended Reading List alongside a marvelous curation of speculative work from 2022.

Audio release: Queen of Teeth

Final post for the year, and it’s to share a much-anticipated release: queer body horror love story Queen of Teeth, winner of the Bram Stoker Award, is at least an audiobook from Tantor Media!

Jenn Lee delivers a terrific performance bringing Yaya, Doc, Magenta, and the rest of this alt-present New Jersey monster tale together. You can find it on Libro.FM, Audible, and Barnes & Noble, and many other audiobook sellers!

“invigorating futuristic horror” – Autostraddle

“delightfully fucked-up and tremendously imaginative” – Vulture

“If there’s such a thing as defiant horror, Hailey Piper’s Queen of Teeth must be its gold standard. This bold, visceral story about the right to one’s own body is equal parts heartfelt and brilliant – and most importantly, razor-sharp.” – Nadia Bulkin, author of She Said Destroy

Within forty-eight hours, Yaya Betancourt will go from discovering teeth between her thighs to being hunted by one of the most powerful corporations in America.

She assumes the vagina dentata is a side effect of a rare genetic condition caused by AlphaBeta Pharmaceutical, decades ago, when she and several thousand others were still in the womb.

But, when ABP corporate goons upend her life, she realizes her secondary teeth might be evidence of a new experiment for which she’s the most advanced test tube … a situation worsened when Yaya’s condition sprouts horns, tentacles, and a mind of its own.

On the run and transforming, Yaya may be either ABP’s greatest success, or the deadliest failure science has ever created.

“Cross-Generational Cryptid Theory” in The Arcanist

My final short story of 2022 is up!

The Arcanist is going on permanent hiatus. I’ve had the honor of appearing there four times in the past with stories  Crones in Their Larval State,  Demons of Particular TasteJormungander’s Dance, and The Mother Stitch, with the first three reprinted in my short story collection Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy because I felt so strongly about them (and the fourth might have been there, but it came out after signing the collection with The Seventh Terrace).

So many final story of 2022 is also my final Arcanist story. I’m so glad I could be a part of its swan song with this weird post-post-apocalyptic weird familial flash fic, “Cross-Generational Cryptid Theory.” It’s free to read and listen to online, so enjoy.

In Queen of Teeth news, two items: the novel has been nominated for the This Is Horror Award for Novel of the Year 2021, so thank you everyone who voted for it. Also, the audiobook will be releasing from Tantor on December 27th, but it’s available for pre-order now.

Also exciting, No Gods for Drowning has officially made Vulture’s list of “The Best Horror Novels of 2022” alongside incredible work that came out this year. I’m honored to see my book among them.

“Hollywood Werewolf Conspiracy” in It Was All a Dream

I have a new story out this week, “Hollywood Werewolf Conspiracy.” Evil Dead meets The Howling in a story that’s about endings … or is it? You can find it closing out the new anthology It Was All a Dream, in which a stellar bunch of authors take on overused tropes to give them a fresh twist.

Also this month, a few of my books have wound up on some lovely lists!

No Gods for Drowning makes another list, this time on The Lineup’s “9 Chilling Supernatural Horror Books with Fresh Takes” alongside other fantastic releases, here laying out the novel’s genre stew nature.

Queen of Teeth gets another Rue Morgue shout-out in “Ten Creature Feature Books for Frightful Halloween Reading.

And Benny Rose, the Cannibal King appeared in Tor Nightfire article “10 Slasher Novels to Send Off Summer Right.

 

Queen of Teeth audio news; LOHF Awards

Things have been true chaos of late, between novel edits and short story work and the world, so I’m a little behind on site news. Here’s a wonderful piece: after many, many requests, my Bram Stoker Award-winning novel Queen of Teeth will finally be coming to audio! Expect a production and release from Tantor Audio in the future, with the sci-fi horror romance vagina monster story of Yaya, Doc, and Magenta nipping at your ears.

In more recent news, I’m honored to see Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy nominated for the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Collection 2021 and Queen of Teeth nominated for the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Debut 2021, in both cases alongside stunning company.

Audiobook: Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing; Tor Nightfire article

Narrated by Laura Lockwood

It’s early, but the audiobook for my new space horror novella Your Mind Is a Terrible Thing is out! Find it on Libro.FM + Audible + other sites! Laura Lockwood gives a stellar narration following the plight of Alto, Esme, and Zelany against the horrors on the M.G. Yellowjacket.

Proud to share that I’m not represented by Lane Heymont of The Tobias Literary Agency. I’m excited for what lies ahead!

Also, since I won a Stoker and lost a bet with my wife, I had to make a deleted scene from Queen of Teeth public. Thankfully Tor Nightfire was happy to host, so check out Yaya Betancourt Dreams of Teeth (Or, How to Kill a Toothy Darling).