“Magic Loves the Hungry” in A Conjuring for All Seasons; Library Journal article

A new novelette emerges! Cemetery Gates Media has released A Conjuring for All Seasons, an anthology of five dark witch novelettes with an incredible table of contents. “Magic Loves the Hungry” opens the book with a story of rejection, predation, and horrors both extraordinary and very human.

I also had the honor of writing an article for Library Journal about my debut novel Queen of Teeth which released earlier this year. Hailey Piper on Combining Romance and Horror is free to read on the Library Journal website!

“The Median King” in Diabolica Americana; Chicago Public Library panel

Happy November, all! Hope you had a fantastic Halloween. I have a new story out; it released last week, but things were a bit chaotic. Find my story of curses and concrete, “The Median King,” in Diabolica Americana, a charity anthology of American horror stories.

Give it a read!

Also, I had the pleasure of joining award-winning and bestselling authors Alma Katsu and Stephen Graham Jones in a roundtable Halloween horror talk hosted by the Chicago Public Library and moderated by Becky Spratford.

You can check it out here on Youtube!

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!

Paperback release: Queen of Teeth

My debut novel, Queen of Teeth, has released in paperback from Rooster Republic Press via their imprint Strangehouse Books! Paperback available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and indie bookstores!

Follow Yaya Betancourt’s saga from her discovery of vagina dentata to being hunted by the most powerful corporation in America. Set in alternative present day Newark, New Jersey, a genetic dystopia seeks to swallow Yaya up in its new experiments, but as her condition grows tentacles, horns, and a mind of its own, we’ll see who eats and who gets eaten.

“A powerful, beautiful horror story.” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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

“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

“Hailey Piper’s debut novel, Queen of Teeth, is a gorgeous, wonderfully weird tale that does not hesitate to take readers into a unique, magenta-colored dystopia. Not a single word is wasted. Every moment propels us along into a battle for control, a search for identity, and the need to transform into something bold and true. Piper’s wit, razor-sharp imagination, and dedication to her craft are so brilliantly centered throughout the entire book. A true becoming is a bloody, beautiful, and sinewy kind of change — arrive hungry, pick up this book, and make your world a better place.”

– Sara Tantlinger, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Devil’s Dreamland
Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper is so fucking good, and so fucking gay, that I am absolutely in awe. Like a city-destroying monstrosity secreted within a human form, this dystopian body horror story conceals layers upon layers of romance, tragedy, guilt, and what it means to be human. I would happily be devoured by it again and again.”
– Lindsay King-Miller, author of Ask a Queer Chick

Ebook pre-order at Amazon (releases September 1, 2021)

 

“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.

Queen of Teeth – paperback pre-order live

The pre-order for QUEEN OF TEETH in paperback is live on Amazon! Releasing on August 1st, this mix queer body horror novel has been call “a powerful, beautiful horror story” by Kirkus in a starred review and “one of the best horror books of 2021” in Rue Morgue.

Only two weeks left to pre-order!

Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper is so fucking good, and so fucking gay, that I am absolutely in awe. Like a city-destroying monstrosity secreted within a human form, this dystopian body horror story conceals layers upon layers of romance, tragedy, guilt, and what it means to be human. I would happily be devoured by it again and again.”
– Lindsay KingMiller, author of Ask a Queer Chick