To serial slayer Andrew Compton, murder is an art, the most intimate art. After feigning his own death to escape from prison, Compton makes his way to the United States with the sole ambition of bringing his "art" to new heights. Tortured by his own perverse desires, and drawn to possess and destroy young boys, Compton inadvertently joins forces with Jay Byrne, a dissolute playboy who has pushed his "art" to limits even Compton hadn't previously imagined. Together, Compton and Byrne set their sights on an exquisite young Vietnamese-American runaway, Tran, whom they deem to be the perfect victim. Swiftly moving from the grimy streets of London's Piccadilly Circus to the decadence of the New Orleans French Quarter, and punctuated by rants from radio talk show host Lush Rimbaud, a.k.a. Luke Ransom, Tran's ex-lover, who is dying of AIDS and who intends to wreak ultimate havoc before leaving this world, Exquisite Corpse unfolds into a labyrinth of murder and love. Ultimately all four characters converge on a singular bloody night after which their lives will be irrevocably changed — or terminated. Poppy Z. Brite dissects the landscape of torture and invites us into the mind of a killer. Exquisite Corpse confirms Brite as a writer who defies categorization. It is a novel for those who dare trespass where the sacred and profane become one.

The long-awaited new novel from the author of global sensation Tender Is the Flesh: a thrilling work of literary horror about a woman cloistered in a secretive, violent religious order, while outside the world has fallen into chaos. From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe. But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened? A searing, dystopian tale about climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the tidal pull of our most violent, exploitative instincts, this is another unforgettable novel from a master of feminist horror.

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what’s going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: "Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world."

A woman’s mysterious death puts her husband and son on a collision course with her demonic family. A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality. For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate? Moving back and forth in time, from London in the swinging 1960s to the brutal years of Argentina’s military dictatorship and its turbulent aftermath, Our Share of Night is a novel like no other: a family story, a ghost story, a story of the occult and the supernatural, a book about the complexities of love and longing with queer subplots and themes. This is the masterwork of one of Latin America’s most original novelists, “a mesmerizing writer,” says Dave Eggers, “who demands to be read.”

“I used to be the warning in the chorus of a sea shanty. Men feared me. Now, I’m a petty thief.” Killing her betrothed and fleeing an arranged marriage was meant to free Briar, the Princess of the Sea, from a life trapped on land and chained to a throne. Powerful, ruthless, and wild, she once sailed the seas under her queen mother’s rule as the feared captain of The Twelfth Night. A decade later, she’s a pickpocket and the king’s favorite courtesan in a foreign, enemy court, working as an undercover spy while having a secret affair with the queen. As punishment for her murderous revenge, she’s stuck on land—cursed, forgotten to history, and stripped of her ruthless power that once made her so formidable. One spray of the sea against her skin will kill her. She’s trapped, hiding in plain sight, until the King announces a competition in which the winner will be granted a single wish—a wish that could undo her curse. Determined, she conceals herself as a pirate, and magically seals herself to The Gales and its trials.Only, the pirate identity she stole is being hunted by notorious bounty hunter and fellow trials competitor, Kressa—the same bounty hunter Briar is supposed to seduce and spy on as a courtesan.The same woman whose kiss ignited Briar’s dormant magic, breaking all the rules of her curse.Fifty competitors, three trials, two stolen identities, and one princess desperate enough to risk it all.Let the games begin. The adventure in Pirates of the Caribbean meets the romance of The Serpent of the Wings of Night in This Splintered Sea, a heart-wrenching sapphic romance full of adventure, intrigue, and betrayal.

Published in 1942 by French author Albert Camus, The Stranger has long been considered a classic of twentieth-century literature. Le Monde ranks it as number one on its "100 Books of the Century" list. Through this story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on a sundrenched Algerian beach, Camus explores what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd."

From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in the heart of an Empire which doesn’t consider you fully human.On Oct 25th, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This tweet was viewed over 10 million times. One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This chronicles the deep fracture which has occurred for Black, brown, indigenous Americans, as well as the upcoming generation, many of whom had clung to a thread of faith in western ideals, in the idea that their countries, or the countries of their adoption, actually attempted to live up to the values they espouse. This book is a reckoning with what it means to live in the west, and what it means to live in a world run by a small group of countries—America, the UK, France and Germany.  It will be The Fire Next Time for a generation that understands we’re undergoing a shift in the so-called ‘rules-based order,’ a generation that understands the west can no longer be trusted to police and guide the world, or its own cities and campuses. It draws on intimate details of Omar’s own story as an emigrant who grew up believing in the western project, who was catapulted into journalism by the rupture of 9/11. This book is his heartsick breakup letter with the west. It is a breakup we are watching all over the U.S., on college campuses, on city streets, and the consequences of this rupture will be felt by all of us. His book is for all the people who want something better than what the west has served up. This is the book for our time.

A talented heretic must decide between the pursuit of forbidden magic, or the ecstasy of forbidden love, in the start of a captivating epic fantasy trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Tessa Gratton. Can an empire trip and fall on a mere strand of silk? Iriset is a prodigy and an outlaw. The daughter of a powerful criminal, she dons her alter ego Silk to create magical disguises for those in her father’s organization, but she longs to do more with her talent: to enhance what it means to be human by giving people wings, night-sight, and other abilities; to unlock the possibilities of gender and parenthood; to cure disease and even to end mortality itself. Everything changes when her father is captured and sentenced to death. To save him, Iriset must infiltrate the palace and the empire’s fanatical ruling family. There, she realizes she has a chance—and an obligation—to bring down the entire corrupt system. She’ll have to entangle herself in the lives of the emperor and his sister, getting them to trust and even to love her. But love is a two-way street, and Iriset’s own heart holds the most mysterious and impenetrable magic of all.

From bestselling author Maddie Martinez comes a deliciously dark sapphic retelling of The Phantom of the Opera drenched in Polish folklore–perfect for fans of Ava Reid, Catherynne M. Valente, and S.T. Gibson. A tale of obsession and desire… The city of Larzég glitters as bright as its famous Nectar Performance House, where violinist Kasia has worked her fingers to the bone to chase one dream: becoming Perła, the theater’s prestigious concertmaster. When the current Perła mysteriously dies during a performance, Kasia refuses to be distracted by whispers of a phantom in the theater’s wings. All she sees is her chance to replace the fallen star—until the orchestra director refuses her an audition because of her Azjarian heritage. Devastated, Kasia is desperate enough to strike a bargain with the phantom of the theater—revealed to be Death herself. Behind her dark veil, Lady Death is prepared to help Kasia in her quest to become Perła, if Kasia becomes her companion. But one cannot be companion to Lady Death without bearing her mark, and soon Kasia discovers that her music is entrancing, capable of bending the audience to her will. This alluring new gift thrusts Kasia into the spotlight, but also into the city’s highest circles of power, where influential men seek to control her, Lady Death’s demands grow increasingly dangerous, and Kasia finds herself falling further into the thrall of a master who promises her everything… as long as Death can call Kasia hers.

Meet a once-renowned human warrior, trapped in an abandoned city with a demon who hates her. A demon who woke her from a fifty-year magical slumber specifically for the sake of tormenting her.The demon’s Vesper. She and Char go a long, long way back. They used to be partners on the battlefield. National heroes. An unbeatable team bonded by magic. That bond was supposed to last for the rest of their lives.Now Char’s memory is full of holes. The sealed city is full of hostile magical beasts. And Vesper, with her sharp teeth and unpredictable moods, is the most vicious of them all. As an ageless demon, she’s fully prepared to keep holding Char captive forever.Char struggles to unravel the mystery of why they've ended up pitted against each other, locked in a private war that seems certain to end with one or both of them dead. Does Vesper’s senseless cruelty stem from simple demonic bloodlust? From years of suppressed loathing? What else could have driven her past the breaking point—compelled her to suddenly snap and betray her own bondmate?To uncover the truth, Char will have to face her demon as she would any other deadly as an enemy of humanity, the most formidable and vindictive foe she's ever encountered.The First and Last Demon is a dark f/f enemies to lovers story with a heavy emphasis on the enmity—but an indelible slow-burning love at its core. Although it's set in the same contemporary fantasy world as the Clem & Wist series, this novel can be fully enjoyed as a standalone tale.

When Mr. Earnshaw, master of Wuthering Heights, returns from a trip with an unkempt orphan in tow, he announces that the child, Heathcliff, is now a member of the family. While young Catherine Earnshaw becomes close with Heathcliff, her older brother, Hindley, sinks into bitter resentment. As Catherine and Heathcliff mature, and their affection blossoms into desire, Hindley’s resentment boils over into hatred, setting the stage for a tragic drama whose aftermath will shake the foundations of their world.

Once upon a time, a vampire corrupted a hunter. Octavia Beaumont, one of the original three vampires, is determined to run the city. Red, an expert hunter, is hell-bent on getting revenge on the vampire that turned her sister. When deadly trials for the heir of the city begin, Red and Octavia are forced to work together. Octavia wants a crown. Red wants blood. But there’s only one first place. To win, they’re going to have to trust each other. But teamwork is not easy when their past is filled with betrayal… A betrayal Red can’t remember. Someone is lying. Someone has a secret. Everyone has a hidden agenda. The last thing Red and Octavia want to do is fall in love… But hearts remember, even when the mind doesn’t. To win the trials and get revenge… They must reveal a truth that will shatter their souls. Remember a past that will break their hearts. And fight a war that will change the face of the city forever. Three tasks. Three choices. Three sacrifices. All of them have a cruel price. The question is, are they willing to pay it? This is a very steamy lesbian vampire romance with a sprinkling of enemies to lovers and second chance romance, royals, multiple POV and timelines, bratty bedroom vampires, exhibitionism, and more. Please check author website or look inside for the trigger warnings. 18+ only.