“A Riddle to the Death” in Les Petites Morts

Posted on 2023-06-20 by Hailey Piper short story

I’m back from a wonderful StokerCon just in time for a new short story release!

It’s publication day for Les Petites Morts, the new anthology from Ghost Orchid Press. Here find 14 stories of erotic horror inspired by fairy tales, myths, and folklore, and some of them are illustrated! It’s a fantastic TOC, featuring Sara Tantlinger, K.P. Kulski, Joe Koch, S.T. Gibson & more.

My spicy sphinx tale “A Riddle to the Death” has the honor of opening the volume, and it has an illustration by Daniella Batsheva. This is an exciting, heart-pounding anthology, perfect for lovers of horror and dark romance alike!

“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.

Cruel Angels Past Sundown in Paste Magazine

Posted on 2023-06-02 by Hailey Piper cruel angels past sundown novel

Jazzed to see that my upcoming Splatter Western novel Cruel Angels Past Sundown in Paste Magazine’s hot article “The 15 Horror Books We Can’t Wait to Read In Summer 2023.”

There are a bunch of incredible books coming out, some I’ve read early, some I can’t wait to read! Check it out and these other books too!

Cruel Angels Past Sundown releases on July 25th from Death’s Head Press!

“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.”

Locus Awards; Cruel Angels release date

Posted on 2023-05-01 by Hailey Piper award cruel angels past sundown no gods for drowning novel

Award news: It’s an incredible honor to learn my noir horror dark fantasy novel No Gods for Drowning is a 2023 Locus Award Finalist.

No Gods for Drowning released last year from Polis Books, and it appears alongside fantastic novels by Sarah Gailey, Gabino Iglesias, Catriona Ward, Paul Tremblay, Richard Chizmar, Stephen King, Alma Katsu, Christopher Golden, Stephanie Feldman, T. Kingfisher, and Thomas Olde Heuvelt, all nominated for the Locus Award in Best Horror Novel from 2022.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported it! 2023 Locus Awards winners will be announced in mid-June (shortly after StokerCon).

In news a little further into the summer, my upcoming Splatter Western Cruel Angels Past Sundown has a release date: July 25, 2023! The book summary has been released too, and paperback pre-orders are up at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. There’s also a synopsis of the heaven and hell awaiting within:

New Mexico Territory, 1882: She comes to the Klein ranch at sunset, a strange naked pregnant woman dragging a cavalry saber. Annette Klein and her husband have built peace between their marriage and secret relations beyond, but their serenity dies in bloodshed tonight through a cannibalistic demon and a mad preacher.

Annette barely escapes the bloodbath to the nearby town of Low’ s Bend, where she might find safety with a shotgun-toting barkeep, two no-nonsense boarding room ladies, and the gunslinging bounty hunter who’ s captured Annette’ s heart.

But hell is at her heels. If she’ s going to survive until dawn, she’ ll have to forget everything she knows about peace and mercy, and face a hollow malevolence more ancient and ruthless than she’ s ever imagined.

Release day: Even the Worm Will Turn; announcements

Posted on 2023-04-22 by Hailey Piper Announcement audiobook cranberry cove even the worm will turn novella the worm and his kings

Release day at last, it’s here: Even the Worm Will Turn is out today from Off Limits Press!

Four years after the events of The Worm and His Kings, Donna Ashton ekes out a life far removed from her troubled past, only to be abducted one December night by a monster in man’s skin.

Held prisoner by operatives of a clandestine research facility and drugged into a sickened state, each day brings questioning and punishment. Escape should be possible when Donna faces only mortal hands this time, but the more she sees, the worse her mind splinters with horrific understanding.

This facility has punched a hole in space and time. Within it lie secrets mankind should never know of a darkness beyond the universe, the legacy of the almighty Worm, and revelations behind Donna’s ordeal four years ago which now might get her killed.

The ebook is up on Amazon, and you can grab the paperback from Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, and Little District Books, among other indie bookstores.

And joining the release is a cool announcement: an audiobook for Even the Worm Will Turn is coming from Tantor Media in the near future! They’ll also be producing audiobooks for the third book in The Worm and His Kings series, as well as Cranberry Cove.

What’s Cranberry Cove? My just-announced supernatural crime novella releasing in early 2024 from Bad Hand Books. More details on that to come, but signed paperback pre-orders are available in limited quantity right now from the publisher.

“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!

Cover reveal: Cruel Angels Past Sundown

Posted on 2023-04-07 by Hailey Piper cruel angels past sundown novel

It’s a cover reveal-loaded month!

Earlier this week, Rue Morgue revealed the covers to the next three upcoming books in the infamous Splatter Western series from Death’s Head Press, including Cruel Angels Past Sundown, my upcoming short novel entry.

The art is by series regular Justin T. Coons, who lovingly painted this magnificent, colorful display featuring some of the book’s primary characters and the harsh landscape in which they find themselves.

Cruel Angels Past Sundown will release this summer. Release date and pre-order info to come!

Cover reveal: A Light Most Hateful

Posted on 2023-03-28 by Hailey Piper a light most hateful novel

It’s cover reveal day! I’m pleased to share the cover art for my upcoming small-town survival horror novel A Light Most Hateful.

The striking art is by Julia Lloyd, with a lovely quote from Rachel Harrison, author of The Return and Such Sharp Teeth.

A Light Most Hateful will release from Titan Books on October 10th, 2023 and is up for pre-order at all major book retailers!

Hailey Piper