short story

Queen of Teeth translation + new stories

Bunch of new things today, starting with the announcement that Queen of Teeth will be joining The Worm and His Kings in upcoming Spanish editions from the wonderful Dilatando Mentes Editorial. They do a beautiful job with their translations and releases, and I’m looking forward to seeing these books join their line-up.

Next, new stories! First, my tale of manipulation and monstrous love, “End-Times Magic” appears in the new Dark Dispatch: Deadly Love.

After that, I have a weird post-apocalyptic dark fantasy, “In the Land of Ash, Where the Light Is God,” appearing in 2021’s final issue of Boneyard Soup Magazine.

“Queen of the Cloven Heart” in Dark Matter Magazine; “An Invitation to Darkness” on Tales to Terrify

Happy Halloween month! It’s the best time of year for us horror lovers, a time where we can creep out of the closets and crawl up from under the beds and be absolutely obnoxious about our love for all things that go bump in the night. You know, more than usual.

I have a new story and an old story to start this October. Dark Matter Magazine is usually more leaning toward dark sci-fi, but they have a special Halloween issue out this month, and for a limited time, it’s free to read online, but you can also get a digital edition (and audio later). It’s loaded with beautiful art and horrifying stories, including my medieval vampire tale “Queen of the Cloven Heart.”

Let’s then swing it over to Tales to Terrify, where my 2019 novelette “An Invitation to Darkness” has been brought to life in audio. Heather Thomas shines from beginning to end; it’s a glorious narration, and whether you’re new to Leavenworth Manor or an old visitor, hearing it this way it’s a lovely treat.

Lastly, it’s been three years since the release of my first novella, The Possession of Natalie Glasgow!

“The Thread That Dreams Are Made Of” in What One Wouldn’t Do

Likely both the last update and last story of September 2021, I have a new strange short out in the anthology What One Wouldn’t Do, about hard choices and the people who make them. It has a wonderful TOC of amazing talent, and you can find my fantasy/crime story “The Thread That Dreams Are Made Of” inside. Take a dash of fairy tale, some mob family vengeance, and maybe a dream or two, plus a nightmare. Check it out in paperback or ebook!

“There Will Always Be Men Like Johnny” in Hymns of Abomination; Queen of Teeth on ebook

September is here, aka Halloween Month Eve, and I have a new short story out. Hymns of Abomination: Secret Songs of Leeds is a tribute anthology to Matthew Bartlett, packed with bizarre horror that squirms and writhes through the fictional region of Leeds. My murderous story “There Will Always Be Men Like Johnny” tells of half measures and full horrors. It’s a bit personal, a bit farfetched, and I’m proud to be on such an incredible TOC. The ebook is out now, with the paperback coming sometime in the future.

Check it out on Kindle!

In other news, Queen of Teeth has been available for a lovely tentacle-filled month in paperback. Well, the story’s monster has only grown her reach, as now she’s available in ebook too!

“Unkindly Girls,” LOHF Awards 2020

So honored to learn that “Unkindly Girls,” my story from last year’s Worst Laid Plans anthology, has won the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award 2020 for Best Short Story. All the nominees are amazing, and I’m truly grateful for this. I owe thanks not only to LOHF, but Grindhouse Press for publishing, Sadie Hartmann for her grand introduction, and most of all the brilliant Samantha Kolesnik, not only the anthology’s editor, but producer behind the Worst Laid Plans motion picture coming from GenreBlast Films, of which “Unkindly Girls” will be a segment.

“Wife-Beast of Eden” in The Bad Book

New story, probably the only one for July. Bible tales retold as horror stories fill The Bad Book, edited by John F.D. Taff, with my Genesis story “Wife-Beast of Eden” tackling serpentine secrets and marital terrors.

Also, two weeks until my debut novel Queen of Teeth releases in paperback!

Queen of Teeth release dates update; Pride Month stories

“… one of the best horror books of 2021.” – Rue Morgue

My debut novel from Strangehouse Books, Queen of Teeth, is closer than ever now! Limited hardcover orders carry on to the end of June, and now we have new release dates for other version.

Paperback: August 1, 2021

Ebook: September 1, 2021

Kindle pre-orders are up on Amazon! Paperback soon to come!

I’m excited for readers to meet Yaya, Doc, and Magenta all the sooner!

In the short story realm, I have two new ones out for Pride Month! The first is not horror at all, strangely enough, but a steampunk western romance flash fic, “The Heart Is a Spare Part,” which appears in Baffling Magazine #4, available right now on their Patreon and then in July on their main page.

Next, The Wicked Library has unleashed their super-stuffed Pride Month Special, with stories by many wonderful queer horror authors. My sci-fi horror tale “A Little Too Late for Little Green Men” kicks off the festivities!

“Crepuscular” in Far From Home; “In Subspace” in Year’s Best Hardcore Horror 6

A couple of short story updates today!

First, I have a new queer horror story through Off Limits Press in their first anthology, Far From Home: An Anthology of Adventure Horror. “Crepuscular” follows two mothers and their ill daughter to a Pacific island that may cure their troubles or ruin everything. The TOC is brilliant; check it out!

Then, my final 2020 short story, an erotic horror tale “In Subspace, No One Can Hear You Scream” has been reprinted among last year’s most graphic stories in Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volume 6: Masquerade, in print, ebook, and audiobook! This is my second time having fiction appear in a Red Room Press best-of anthology, and as with “Feast for Small Pieces” in Volume 5, it’s a wonderful honor.

Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy release day!

At last, it’s release day for Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy! My first short story collection comes from The Seventh Terrace, stuffed with 18 tales of queer horror, isolation, and the monstrous feminine. It includes my first novelette in two years, “Recitation of the First Feeding,” and a host of body horror, sci-fi horror, and all things macabre.

Check it out in paperback and ebook

Praise for Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy:

“In Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, Hailey Piper masterfully crafts a resolutely modern gothic, unearthing the rotten, the broken and the strangely beautiful. Piper wields incisive prose with empathy and deep intuition, carefully dissecting the monstrous bodies herein and spilling their stories onto the page. A compelling and essential collection.”

– Laura Mauro, British Fantasy Award-winning author of Sing Your Sadness Deep

“With surgical precision, Hailey Piper’s stories slice through the skin, fat, and muscle of her characters’ lives, all the way down to the living bone and what is written on it. In terms of their prose, their wit, their insight, their compassion, their terror, these are the sharpest of stories. Read them, but be prepared for the cuts.”

– John Langan, author of Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Fisherman

 

“That Ye Shall Transgress” in ProleSCARYet; “The House of Shapes” in Dark Matter Magazine

Happy May Day to all! It’s a double publication day, with two new short stories appearing.

First, “That Ye Shall Transgress” unites with a thrilling TOC in ProleSCARYet: Tales of Horror and Class Warfare, in which an alternative to vacation reveals an all-consuming system we dwell in every day.

Over in Dark Matter Magazine #3, visit “The House of Shapes,” where the titular house vexes and isolates an already alienated young girl. She’ll have to get rid of it. There’s an audio version, too!