Synopsis
“Markov moves fluidly between pitch-black humor and deeply felt depictions of grief, and between the mythological and the viscerally embodied. They find in Slavic legend a rich vocabulary for queer desire, loss, and transformation. The result is a collection that refuses to look away from darkness while still, against the odds, reaching for hope.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A perfect twilight read, this book will stick with readers as they devour story after story (just as some of Markov’s characters devour their prey). A stunning, thrilling, and eerie collection of short stories that will delight readers of gothic fiction.” —Kirkus
“Stylish, macabre, and startling as a cigarette burn . . . A haunting debut.”
—Angela Slatter, Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy Award winner
A murderous nine-headed monster from legend permits a podcast interview. The mall has opened its doors, and nothing, not even certain death, will keep the shoppers away. A dead man’s curse drives his descendants to drown themselves, no matter how far from home they flee. An eerie haunted house attraction receives an even more unnerving guest. A grieving widower, knife in hand, undertakes a painstaking, gruesome ritual to appease the gods. If seeking a boon from Baba Yaga sounds nerve-shattering, imagine having to live under her roof.
These thirteen tales from Bulgarian author Haralambi Markov meld Slavic mythology, pitch-black humor, and moving explorations of queer identity with vistas rooted in body horror and nightmares, yielding results that are sometimes deeply disquieting, sometimes surprisingly hopeful, and always strikingly novel. As Hugo and World Fantasy award-winning editor Ann VanderMeer states in her introduction, Markov “writes with such power and intensity that you can’t imagine where they get the courage to put such words on paper. Their work challenges us to face our fears, our insecurities, and not look away.”
Cover art and design by Diana Naneva
MORE PRAISE FOR HARALAMBI MARKOV
“Like being flayed on the inside of your eyelids, but in a good way. So weird. So queer. So nauseating. And so, so beautiful.”
—C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award winner
“Themes of mythology, traditional stories, and fairy tales resonate across the collection, as do complex family relationships and the idea of wrestling with history and legacy.”
—A. C. Wise, Bram Stoker, Nebula, Shirley Jackson, and World Fantasy award nominee
“A must-read for fans of Clive Barker, queer Weird lovers, and anyone with a taste for beautiful, creeping dread.” —Nino Cipri, author of Dead Girls Don’t Dream
"These terrifying tales speak truth in the language of hunger; the language of dirt, roots and seeds; the language of meat and bone; the language of knives. A haunting and harrowing debut by a rising star in horror.”
—Carina Bissett, Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson award nominee
“An impressive debut collection from one of the most compelling voices of modern horror fiction. Haralambi Markov investigates the body and the self, unflinching from what makes these fragile cages beautiful, and what can transform them ... Come to these stories ready to be changed.”
—Martin Cahill, author of the USA Today Bestseller Audition for the Fox
“Disturbing in all the best ways.” —Craig Laurance Gidney, Lambda Award-nominated author of A Spectral Hue
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