Split Scream Volume Seven - Paperback

by Íde Hennessy (Author), John K. Peck (Author), L. Mahler (Author)

Volume Seven of our ongoing series of paired New Weird Horror novelettes takes readers on nightmare excursions to lonely locales.

Íde Hennessy - Sequoia Point

California's rugged "Lost Coast" has long been a treacherous place where dreams-and people-go to die. Meg's adrenaline junkie husband had been so drawn to Sequoia Point's beaches that he'd requested his ashes be scattered on their black sands. Reeling after his death and a miscarriage, Meg decides to put down new roots in this strange place.

What she finds is a van-life conspiracy theorist seeking refuge from 5G radiation; mysterious packs of roving dogs; cryptic talismans on doors; and a mute woman who looks exactly like her. When a mudslide cuts the town off from civilization, Meg must overcome her debilitating fears to unravel the mysteries of Sequoia Point.

John K. Peck & L. Mahler - Evergreen

Wrapping up the loose ends of her mother's death, Deirdre makes a startling discovery: a tree growing in the closet of her childhood home, and a bizarre collection of knick-knacks buried in its soil. She soon learns that her mother had a hand in her hometown's long history of odd disappearances and misfortune, and that this ominous tree is her legacy.

Nurturing the tree's soil with filched mementos, Deirdre learns that she can control the vast system of roots thriving beneath the town to a terrifying degree, and she soon finds herself fighting her darkest desires to wreak terrible vengeance on the town that wronged her.

Author Biography

Í DE HENNESSY (she/they) lives in Humboldt County, California with her partner and three special needs cats who can see ghosts. Her fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Reckoning, Cosmic Horror Monthly, Dark Matter's The Off-Season: Coastal New Weird anthology, Fusion Fragment, Flash Point SF, King Ludd's Rag, and more. She also writes lyrics for and performs with darkwave band Control Voltage. You can find her at idehennessy.com, on Bluesky as ideofmarch, and on Instagram and Twitter as ahennessyvsop.