short story

“She Tasted of Good Fortune” in We’re Here + more

I’m heading to StokerCon in Pittsburgh this afternoon, but a quick update before hitting the road on two new stories.

We’re Here: An Anthology of LGBTQ+ Horror is out today in ebook! All stories by queer authors, and all proceeds go to the Trevor Project, and with it releasing during Pride Month, what could be more perfect?

I have a novelette inside, “She Tasted of Good Fortune,” which takes place in the world of No Gods for Drowning and tells of curses, criminals, and a sultry deal to find a fortune teller before the night is done. It’s a standalone tale, so whether this is your first dive into the No Gods for Drowning world or you’re returning from reading the book, you’re good to go.

I’ve added a hub page for No Gods for Drowning as a series/setting, where you’ll be able to find links to the current book and novelette, as well as future books and stories as they’re announced/released.

Also if you’re attending StokerCon, I have a flash fic in the new souvenir book, The Monsters That Made Us, which isn’t available beyond the con. “The Black Lagoons of Our Eyes” is my queer love letter to The Creature from the Black Lagoon and series, and how I see myself in its titular creature. I’m delighted it can appear with many top-notch essays and stories of horror origins.

“The Girls With Claws That Catch” in Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic

Posted on 2023-05-21 by Hailey Piper short story

My last new short story for May is out today! The awesome magazine Cosmic Horror Monthly presents their new anthology, Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic: An Anthology of Hysteria Fiction, a book that “is rage-made-art, an unsettling meditation that also serves as a charitable platform to support abortion rights in the United States. Inside are twenty-six haunting speculative tales that explore the social, political, and personal dimensions of hysteria.”

Among those 26 is my story “The Girls With Claws That Catch,” about navigating a life far removed from what your parents wanted and expected of you, told through the lens of Lewis Carroll’s “The Jabberwocky.”

Tech Horror, two new stories

Posted on 2023-05-16 by Hailey Piper short story

I have two new stories out (and one more to come a little later this month).

First up, What Draws Us Near, an anthology of forbidden media, released on Saturday, the first anthology published by the lovely bookstore Little Ghosts Books in Toronto. It’s an amazing TOC, and I’m excited to be part of it with my story of a suspicious VHS tape, a dead mother, and a dark secret, “There Is No Cult, This Is No Classic.”

And today, Shortwave Media has released Obsolescence, a Black Mirror-esque anthology of future tech gone wrong. My story opens the books with The Fly meets Society in “Why a Bicycle is Built for One.”

“In the Garden of Horn, the Naked Magic Thrives” in Bound in Flesh

Posted on 2023-04-18 by Hailey Piper short story

It’s a new story day! And in fact, it’s my first new short story of 2023, and it’s a wild one.

Bound in Flesh releases today from Ghoulish Books. Edited by Lor Gislason, it’s a banquet of 13 body horror tales, including my story of blood magic, “In the Garden of Horn, the Naked Magic Thrives,” which boasts probably a record number of a certain organ for a short story. Check it out!

“Queen of the Cloven Heart,” novel mentions

Posted on 2023-02-15 by Hailey Piper no gods for drowning novel queen of teeth short story

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.

“Cross-Generational Cryptid Theory” in The Arcanist

Posted on 2022-12-08 by Hailey Piper aeg article flash fiction no gods for drowning novel queen of teeth short story

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 Taste, Jormungander’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.

Fangoria, TPONG, and Hideous Horrors

Posted on 2022-11-04 by Hailey Piper a light most hateful movie novelette novella short story the possession of natalie glasgow

A couple of quick things to share!

Excited to see Fangoria reporting on A Light Most Hateful movie rights being picked up! So excited! The book releases in 2023, and I’ll keep things up to date with both novel and movie news to come.

As some might have noticed, my first novella The Possession of Natalie Glasgow is now out of print. It’s been picked up by a publisher who can hopefully be named later this year or early next year. Expect to see a new edition in 2024. In the meantime, it’s only available via the audiobook narrated by Gemma Amor + stray paperbacks in bookstores.

My The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors story “When I Catch You” appeared in this star-studded list, “15 Of the Scariest Short Stories to Read This Halloween (And Where to Find Them)” on Paste. Check it out, and the other stories on the list!

Film News – A Light Most Hateful

Posted on 2022-10-26 by Hailey Piper a light most hateful movie novel short story

I’m so pleased to share that my upcoming 2023 novel from Titan Books, A Light Most Hateful, has been picked up by producer Tony Eldridge and Lonetree Entertainment for film adaptation!

From the Deadline article:

“A Light Most Hateful is billed as a terrifying survival horror full of haunting friendships in which the female experience turns monstrous. The story focuses on Olivia, who having fled home three years prior is stuck in a dead-end job in nowhere Chapel Hill, PA with her best friend Sunflower. That’s until a night storm crashes into town with a mind-bending monster in tow. If Olivia’s going to survive the night to someday reconcile with her parents, she needs to dodge residents enslaved by the storm’s otherworldly powers and find Sunflower. But as the night strains friendships and reality itself, Olivia suspects the storm, and its monster, may have more to do with Sunflower than anything else.”

A Light Most Hateful releases from Titan Books late next year. I’ll keep things up to date on both book and movie news as allowed, but in both cases, it’s an exciting time!

On the publishing side, I have a new story out, “The Deep End of You,” which is about the most unique soul in the world–yours!–and how it can be captured, in art and in other ways. Check it out in Stories of the Eye from Weirdpunk Books!

“Hollywood Werewolf Conspiracy” in It Was All a Dream

Posted on 2022-10-20 by Hailey Piper no gods for drowning novel queen of teeth short story

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.”

Into the Halloween Season 2022

Posted on 2022-09-28 by Hailey Piper article novella short story the worm and his kings

September’s end is upon us as we enter the Halloween season! I’ll be part of numerous upcoming events, which I’ll share about soon. In the meantime, a few recent releases:

Last week my new novel No Gods for Drowning released from Polis Books.

But so did El Gusano y Sus Reyes, the Spanish language edition of my 2020 cosmic horror novella The Worm and His Kings. Published by Dilatando Mentes Editorial in a new hardcover volume, with art by Raúl Ruiz and a translation by Alexander Páez, I’m excited a new audience can gain access to the story of Monique’s search for Donna beneath 1990 Manhattan.

On September 25, the sapphic horror anthology Moonflowers and Nightshade released, edited by Samantha Kolesnik. My story “A Change in Universal Flavor” appears among 18 tales of queer horror, following a young woman who encounters a shift in the heavens while being blackmailed by authorities.

On September 27, Chiral Mad 5 released from Written Backward, featuring a roster of incredible authors like Stephen King, Victor LaValle, Linda Addison, Josh Malerman, and many more. My story “Sable’s Bestiary for Those Who Remain” is a help guide telling how to survive an apocalypse brought on by strange light and stranger creatures.

Lastly, in time with my recent novel release, CrimeReads was kind enough to host my article “10 Shadowy Meetings of Crime and the Occult” which delved into ten stories/books mixing crime and horror.