Narrator

Kyla Garcia

Kyla Garcia
  • Weird Tales magazine is known for launching a number of sub-genres of fiction—cosmic horror, swords & sorcery, dark fantasy, and others. It has also greatly added to existing genres like science fiction, horror, and—a personal favorite of editor Jonathan Maberry—weird mystery stories. Or, as they became known—occult detective tales. Here are all-original tales about people who peer into the shadows in order to solve a mystery. Sometimes successfully … and sometimes the darkness wins. The stories range from nail-biting horror to very dark comedy, and there’s a generous mix of short stories, flash fiction (shorter works of about 1500 words), and poems. The lineup is killer, as you’ll discover, and the interpretations of what constitutes “occult fiction” is unique to each writer.

    “The Eyrie” by Jonathan Maberry
    “Dead Jack and the Mystery of Room 216” by James Aquilone
    “Beneath the Scarred Pulpit” by Kenneth W. Cain
    “Denizen of Deep Holler” by Jennifer Brody
    “The Ephemera of Dreams” by Carina Bissett
    “Forming Threads” by Jody Lynn Nye
    “The Painted Unseen” by Taylor Grant
    “Bull Runs” by Kevin J. Anderson
    “Shimmer” by Keith Strunk
    “Hold my Beer” by Jeff Strand
    “La Silla Del Diablo” by Sofía Lapuente & Jarrod Shusterman
    “The Three-Headed Problem” by Rachel Aukes
    “Inception” by Brian Lumley
    “Laurel Canyons” by Lisa Diane Kastner
    “The Taxidermist” by Lyndsey Croal
    “Within You, In Time” by Brian Keene and Steven L. Shrewsbury
    “Your Sins Will Find You Out” by Cavan Scott
    “Night’s Disease” by Colleen Anderson

  • In this lush and terrifying debut—perfect for readers of The Hunger Games and Children of Blood and Bone—Camila Victoire creates a future where cruelty and spectacle hold the keys to subjugating humans on a ravaged earth.

    At the end of the twenty-first century, climate change and famine almost ended humanity—until the discovery of the Klujns, a barbaric, humanoid species with strangely colored eyes and even stranger abilities. Their crystal claws and bones fertilize barren soil, and their tender meat is a super-protein. Klujns are both humans’ saviors and natural-born enemies, meant to be hunted and used.

    When sixteen-year-old Ava finds herself on the wrong side of a military fence erected to protect the North American Territory, she’s captured by Klujns and made to participate in the Blood Race, a macabre tradition where young human hostages compete to the death for Klujn amusement. At first, she is terrified, but as Ava observes Klujn behavior that contradicts what she’s learned, she begins to wonder: Are Klujns as different as she was led to believe? And, as she fights for her life, does it matter?

    Inspired by four years on the road with a traveling circus, where the word itself embodies an entire culture built on dark spectacle, Camila Victoire delivers a twisted coming-of-age tale that combines elements of fantasy, magical realism, and suspense. Blood Circus will capture fans of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games and Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone. Its masterful worldbuilding, plot twists, and boundary-pushing Blood Race are wholly immersive—and compel readers to call their own long-held assumptions, values, and belief systems into question.

  • Award-winning Mexican-American and Indigenous author Jennifer Givhan brings us an exquisitely written, spell-binding psychological thriller—weaving together folk magick with personal and cultural empowerment—that is perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic.

    When Eva’s husband is arrested for the murder of a friend, she must confront her murky past and embrace her magick to find out what really happened that night on the river.

    Eva Santos Moon is a burgeoning Chicana artist who practices the ancient, spiritual ways of brujería and curanderisma, but she’s at one of her lowest points—suffering from disorienting blackouts, creative stagnation, and a feeling of disconnect from her magickal roots. When her husband, a beloved university professor and the glue that holds their family together, is taken into custody for the shocking murder of their friend, Eva doesn’t know whom to trust—least of all, herself. She soon falls under suspicion as a potential suspect, and her past rises to the surface, dredging up the truth about an eerily similar death from her childhood.

    Struggling with fragmented memories and self-doubt, an increasingly terrified Eva fears that she might have been involved in both murders. But why doesn’t she remember? Only the dead women know for sure, and they’re coming for her with a haunting vengeance. As she fights to keep her family out of danger, Eva realizes she must use her magick as a bruja to protect herself and her loved ones, while confronting her own dark history.

    River Woman, River Demon is a mysterious incantation of reckoning with the past and claiming one’s unique power and voice.