6/15/26
Chet Williamson finished narrating the audiobook for AN OCCURRENCE IN CRAZY BEAR VALLEY so you should see that become available very soon. The audiobook of ENTOMBED is still in production.
The next round of rights reversions will bring DEAD SEA, ENTOMBED, GHOUL, and CASTAWAYS back in house (meaning I own them entirely). If you are a collector or completist and don’t have a Deadite Press edition of those titles, you might want to snag one soon. They will be rereleased later this year under my Manhattan On Mars imprint.
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Next signing is coming up in about a month. Join me, Christopher Golden, Mary SanGiovanni, CJ Leede, Victor Lavalle, Nat Cassidy, Clay McLeod Chapman, John Langan, Nicky Gonzalez, Nicholas Kaufmann, Tanya Pell, and Tony Tremblay on Tuesday, July 21 from 5pm to 8:30 pm at the Brooklyn Brewery. This event is sponsored by The Twisted Spine. There will be two panel discussions involving all of us, and we will also be signing books. You can purchase books at the event or bring them from home. This is a ticketed event, so make sure you purchase one in advance by clicking here. It is expected to sell out.
And speaking of Nicky Gonzalez…
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Women In Horror Year: Day 58
Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez
Hardcover - Paperback - eBook - Audiobook
An eerie, hypnotic debut about friendship, desire, and memory set against the sultry backdrop of Florida’s swamplands.
“A mesmerizing, hallucinatory adrenaline rush of a novel.”—Claire Luchette, author of Agatha of Little Neon
LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
It’s been years since Ingrid has heard from her childhood best friend, Mayra, a fearless rebel who fled their hometown of Hialeah, a Cuban neighborhood just west of Miami, for college in the Northeast. But when Mayra calls out of the blue to invite Ingrid to a weekend getaway at a house in the Everglades, she impulsively accepts.
From the moment Ingrid sets out, danger looms: The directions are difficult, she’s out of reach of cell service, and as she drives deeper into the Everglades, the wet maw of the swamp threatens to swallow her whole. But once Ingrid arrives, Mayra is, in many ways, just as she remembers—with her sharp tongue and effortless, seductive beauty, still thumbing her nose at the world.
Before they can fully settle into the familiar intimacy of each other’s company, their reunion is spoiled by the reemergence of past disagreements and the unexpected presence of Mayra’s new boyfriend, Benji. The trio spend their hours eating lavish meals and exploring the labyrinthine house, which holds as much mystery as the swamp itself. Indoors and on the grounds, time itself seems to expand, and Ingrid begins to lose a sense of the outside world, and herself.
Against this disquieting setting, where lizards dart in and out of porches and alligators peek from dark waters, Gonzalez weaves a surreal, unforgettable story about the dizzying power of early friendship and the lengths we’ll go to earn love and acceptance—even at the risk of losing ourselves entirely.
Mayra is Nicky Gonzalez’s first novel. Prior to its publication, her short fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, BOMB, The Kenyon Review, Taco Bell Quarterly, and elsewhere. How popular is the book? Well, here’s something anecdotal for you. A few months ago, Nicky did a signing with myself, Christopher Golden, Joe Hill, Catherynne Valente, Ronald Malfi, Rebecca Rowland, and others, and she sold completely out of books before any of the rest of us. Indeed, I’d wanted to grab a copy for myself but they were all gone before I could. I had to buy one, unsigned, when I got home.
Mayra starts with a trope that’s as old as the genre — an invitation from an old friend. Nicky quickly eviscerates that trope, delivering a gripping psychological thriller that allows itself to be a full-on horror novel couched in the traditions of southern gothic while traversing everything from coming-of-age territory to magic realism. It’s a slow, simmering build up, and in the hands of a lesser writer, that could have resulted in a slog, but Nicky deftly keeps the momentum moving forward (and the reader turning pages) through a combination of flashbacks and other devices. If you’re looking for a creepy, sinister, slow burn psychodrama that will appeal to fans of Shirley Jackson or Peter Straub, then Mayra is for you. Available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook from Penguin Random House.
