Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror
I’m thrilled to announce the presale is now live for Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror. This is the third and final fix in a series of addiction-themed horror anthologies, and follow up to the Shirley Jackson Award Finalist, Lullabies for Suffering.
Brazilian artist Marcela Bolivar has created this haunting cover.
Publication date is 5/4/22. Digital presale price is $5.99. Paperback is $14.99
Amazon / Indie Bound /
My goal with Orphans of Bliss was a more diverse table of contents, as well as diverse subject matter, and the result is the biggest anthology yet. Inside you’ll find fiction from two New York Times Best-Selling writers, a USA Today Best-Selling writer, and a host of award-winning writers and amazing talents.
The horror genre has flexed its muscles in these works. Dark truths requires dark stories, for addiction is a perpetual epidemic, where swarms of human moths fluttering willfully to the flames of hell. Even after relationships are destroyed, and our body and soul are suffering, we still crave what is killing us, and live, as the title suggests, like an Orphan of Bliss.
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR ORPHANS OF BLISS
KEALAN PATRICK BURKE —You Wait For It, Like It Waits For You
Kealan is the Bram Stoker Award winning author of Turtle Boy, Kin, and Sour Candy, and one of the most prolific and talented horror writers in the genre. Kealan’s work is the lead story in all three anthologies, each existing within the same universe, and he’s done nothing less than create an addiction-fueled, fever dream mythos.
SA COSBY — One Last Blast
The New York Times best-selling author of Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland. His unmistakable, powerful voice, tells a story of a powerful new blend of meth that overruns a rural town.
CASSANDRA KHAW — What We Name Our Dead
USA Today Best-Selling writer of Nothing But Blackened Teeth. Khaw’s amazing prose is on full display in her story about an adult child haunted by the ghost of her substance abusing father.
JOHN FD TAFF —Huddled Masses, Yearning to Breathe free
Two-time Bram Stoker Award finalist, Taff has had a story in all three anthologies, and has been the backbone for the series. In Huddled Masses, a heroin addict puts down the needles but his character defects pile high in his cellar where a more insidious addiction continues. You’ve never seen a hoarder’s episode like this, I promise.
CHRISTA CARMEN —Through the Looking Glass and Straight Into Hell
Christa Carmen's debut collection, Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked, won the Indie Horror Book Award for Best Debut Collection. Readers are in for a shock when they follow an addict trying to get clean Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell. A jaw dropping final scene and one of the best stories of the series.
GABINO IGLESIAS—Holding ON
Wonderland Award winning author of Coyote Songs, Gabino was nominated for a Bram Stoker award for his work in Lullabies for Suffering. This time, he’s created a dystopian world where a drug called Gravedust impacts the most disenfranchised. It’s a super-charged story that only Gabino could write, so hold on tight.
SAMANTHA KOLESNIK—Buyer’s Remorse
Splatterpunk Award-winning author of the novel True Crime which took readers by storm and made Kolesnik a must-read author for so many. Her tale is about a character who is constantly craving a new identity with perpetual consumption to fill her empty spaces.
JOSH MALERMAN—A Solid Black Lighthouse on a Pier in the Cryptic
New York Times Best Selling writer of Bird Box, as well as Goblin, Black Mad Wheel, and the Bird-Box sequel, Malorie. His story is a sort of King Midas tale for those who can never seem to drink enough. Beware, for here there be Witches on barstools
KATHE KOJA—Singularity
Author of the legendary novel, The Cipher. Koja’s short, mystical, piece captures the obsessive nature of addiction in her trademark shocking, speculative style
MARK MATTHEWS— My Soul’s Bliss
The editor of, and a contributor to, all three anthologies. My Soul’s Bliss is the funeral of sorts to this addiction horror theme—but then again, in horror, nothing stays dead forever.
Lastly, a HUGE thanks to the NightWorms crew for hosting this announcement, and for their support of horror every damn day of the year.
*Rumor has it a hardcover edition of Orphans of Bliss is coming with an alternative cover, created by Elderlemon Design. Stay tuned!