In the shadowed heart of the Canadian Rockies lies a town most maps acknowledge but few travellers ever remember leaving unchanged. Eerie, British Columbia has always carried stories in its bones. Missing hikers. Strange sounds in the night. Shapes that move just beyond the reach of firelight. When disappearances begin to pile up and whispers grow louder than reason, the town's fragile calm starts to fracture.
BATS: Definitive Edition - Chapter 1: The Missing opens the gates to a dark world where folklore and reality bleed together. As Sheriff Curtis Carson struggles to hold his community together, an ancient force stirs beneath the mountains, feeding on fear and awakening forgotten legends. Every shadow feels alive. Every silence feels watched.
Blending gothic horror, dark fantasy, and visceral graphic storytelling, this opening chapter plunges readers into a nightmare where courage is measured in moments, not victories, and survival demands more than belief. The deeper the town searches for answers, the clearer the truth becomes:
Some stories are not meant to be remembered.
And some nightmares never stopped waiting.
Aryn Bats is a Canadian author of horror, psychological thrillers, serial killer crime fiction, dark gothic fantasy epics, and relentless suspense. He also created his own Genre to fit his work perfectly, Psychogothic Fantasy.
A self-publishing indie writer, Aryn began releasing work publicly at age 48, though the passion for storytelling started at sixteen. After decades working in the trades, a severe back injury and long recovery shifted the course of his life. When the depression lifted following successful spine surgery, the urge to write returned stronger than ever.
In 2024, Bats dusted off an old manuscript written as a teenager, expanded it into a full saga, and has not stopped since.
Known for twisted serial-killer crime sagas like Grey Kong, Bah Bah Blacksheep, and Cry Little Sister, as well as Dark Fantasy Epics such as Brackengloom, and Brackenflare.
Also atmospheric stand-alone horrors such as Eye-Spy, 1313, Bloodmaw Wastes.
Bats blends psychological depth with dark, immersive, lyrical storytelling.
Readers who enjoy the unsettling tension of Stephen King, the psychological sharpness of Gillian Flynn, or the stylized darkness of shows like Hannibal, Dexter and Mindhunter will find a familiar chill in Aryn's work.
Bats has more than 20 new stories in development... proof that sometimes a second chance at life ignites a fiercer voice than the first.
