Events, upcoming books 2024

A few quick things!

This weekend (Saturday, March 2nd) I’ll be in McCordsville, Indiana at the Scarlet Lane Brewing Company for the Scarelastic Book Fair with plenty of cool horror folk. It’s going to be a fantastic time!

Also, look what’s arrived!

These are the copies of Cranberry Cove pre-ordered directly from the publisher, Bad Hand Books. There are a couple hundred to sign, and then hopefully they’ll be getting out before the April 2nd release date. Can’t wait for the doors to open on this abandoned hotel. It’s also still up for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Lastly, and perhaps out of the usual chronology (fitting for the Worm series), Song of the Tyrant Worm audiobook is up for pre-order. The other format pre-orders are still to come, but if audio is your jam, you can find this one on Libro.FM.

Song of the Tyrant Worm cover reveal

Posted on 2024-02-11 by Hailey Piper novella song of the tyrant worm the worm and his kings

Excited to reveal the cover for the final book in The Worm and His Kings trilogy, Song of the Tyrant Worm!

Cassie Daley is the artist, and she’s captured all the cosmic weirdness of the book and the series as a whole in this dazzling visage of portals and planets and starlight.

Plot synopsis and pre-order is still to be announced, but Song of the Tyrant Worm will be out from Off Limits om June 8th! The end is coming.

In other book news (now’s a good time to remind I have four books releasing this year, right?), the paperback for Cranberry Cove is now up for pre-order on Barnes & Noble.

“Modern Art Curse, Mixed Media” in Scissor Sisters

Posted on 2024-01-29 by Hailey Piper short story

My first short story of the year is out!

It actually came out last week, but for various reasons I haven’t been able to update about it until now. “Modern Art Curse, Mixed Media” appears in the new anthology Scissor Sisters, a book of villainous sapphic stories, a theme both salacious and delightful. My story tells of a murder, an unfinished painting, and the answer that lies within the art.

Check it out!

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

Posted on 2024-01-12 by Hailey Piper a light most hateful all the hearts you eat novel queen of teeth

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 … Mary Shelley, and Shirley Jackson could birth a book baby, this stunning novel would be the outcome.”

A Light Most Hateful in Paste’s Best Horror Books 2023

Posted on 2023-12-18 by Hailey Piper a light most hateful novel

I keep thinking I’ve hit my last site update for the year, and then another thing will happen and I’m jumping back in here.

Paste Magazine today published their article “The Best Horror Books of 2023,” and among such recent titans as Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory and Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones is the storm of my most recent novel, A Light Most Hateful!

“One of the most imaginative horror authors in the game right now, Hailey Piper outdid even herself with A Light Most Hateful (link to Paste’s review), the story of a small Northeastern town transformed into a nightmarish dreamscape over the course of one fateful night.

The horror starts in the opening pages and never lets up, as Piper spools out fascinating image after fascinating image, weaving them all into an unforgettable tapestry of fear, beauty, and humanity.”

“One Is the Only Number” in Back 2 OmniPark

Posted on 2023-12-17 by Hailey Piper short story

December surprise time: I have one more short story out this year! I truly thought everything was finished with last month’s tale, but Back 2 OmniPark is out this weekend.

Follow-up to the Bram Stoker Award-nominated original anthology, Back 2 OmniPark gathers stories of OmniPark’s origins, from its construction to how its strange sections came to be.

My story “One Is the Only Number” opens on the construction site, where a worker is digging a hole only to find another man looking up from inside. He says they’re building a park on his side, too. Wouldn’t you like to see it?

That should certainly do it for short stories this year. It’s been a wild one. Eager to share what’s coming in 2024!

Cover reveal: Cranberry Cove

Posted on 2023-12-07 by Hailey Piper cranberry cove novella

It’s cover reveal day! Excited to let loose the cover of Cranberry Cove, my upcoming supernatural crime novella, out from Bad Hand Books on April 2, 2024. So I guess it’s also a release date reveal.

The art comes from legendary artist Lynne Hansen, who I’ve wanted to work with for the longest time, and she’s truly captured the book’s eerie uncertainty and sense of being watched.

Ebook pre-orders are already up on Amazon, along with a brief plot summary:

What’s been happening at Cranberry Cove? It’s unspeakable. It’s unspoken.

Emberly Hale is about to take a dark journey inside the derelict hotel—and inside her own past—to find out the horrible truth.

A Light Most Hateful in Library Journal Best Horror of 2023

Posted on 2023-12-05 by Hailey Piper a light most hateful novel

So jazzed to share that my recent Titan Books novel A Light Most Hateful landed on Library Journal’s Best Horror of 2023 list!

“If … Mary Shelley, and Shirley Jackson could collaborate, this stunning novel would be the result.”

It’s an honor to see my cosmic horror tale appear alongside brilliant work by Tananarive Due, Grady Hendrix, Stephen Graham Jones, Cassandra Khaw, Victor LaValle, Josh Malerman, Cynthia Pelayo, Jade Song, and Chuck Tingle.

This year was another incredible time to be a horror fan, and I can already tell 2024 is shaping up to be another beautiful storm.

“The Ruins of Elfland,” Even the Worm Will Turn audiobook

Posted on 2023-11-07 by Hailey Piper audiobook even the worm will turn flash fiction novella short story

My final (I’m pretty sure) short story of 2023 released today in The Seventh Terrace’s new anthology, Solstice in Purgatory, a flash fic snowstorm of winter holiday horror. My tale, “The Ruins of Elfland,” shows the secret cost of Christmas in a world going cold for the sake of toys.

Also, on Halloween the audiobook for Even the Worm Will Turn released from Tantor! Allyson Voller reprises her role as narrator from The Worm and His Kings to bring this sequel to audio, and she’ll be returning for the final book next year, Song of the Tyrant Worm.

Audio at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, LibroFM

“Midnight Bang” and “Wolfen Divine”

Posted on 2023-10-24 by Hailey Piper short story

I have two more stories out this lovely Halloween season!

The first is “Midnight Bang,” which shows up in Literally Dead: Tales of Holiday Hauntings, which explores stories taking place throughout the winter holidays. My story picks up on New Year’s Eve, when a drug trip at a nightclub turns sour at the haunting of a girl who died one year before.

Second, Cullen Bunn’s new anthology Swords in the Shadows offers a battlecry of sword-and-sorcery horror, the perfect place to unleash a new story from the world of No Gods for Drowning. “Wolfen Divine” takes place during the Holy War and tells of Mero, a half-wolf, half-god, who pretends he’s a war refugee, but in secret, he has a blood promise to keep.

I think I have one new story left this year, but for all I know I’ve forgotten something. Keep an eye out. Next week, Even the Worm Will Turn releases in audiobook!

Hailey Piper