She's the quintessential sunshine girl. He's the lovable class clown. But storm clouds are rolling in, and this Tommen boy is about to get serious. Tommen's cheeky lad, Gerard 'Gibsie' Gibson, is a comedian at heart, but underneath his happy-go-lucky-nature lurks a broken boy, tortured by the events of his past. Using humour to cope with his demons, Gibsie hides everything from the world. Only one person knows who he truly is on the inside. His friend's little sister. His Claire-bear. Enveloped in sunshine, Claire Biggs, has spent her whole life adoring the boy across the street. Her brother's friend. Seeing a side to Gerard that no one else sees, Claire is determined to tame her wild-at-heart childhood best friend. But when the unexpected occurs and lines are crossed, will Gibsie and Claire's friendship survive? Will it blossom into something more, or will they lose themselves in the riptide?

"Gereiztheit, eigentümlich Bösartiges bestimmte von vornherein die Atmosphäre bei diesem Ferienaufenthalt in Norditalien, Mitte der zwanziger Jahre; »diese Leute ... machten soeben etwas durch, so einen Zustand, etwas wie eine Krankheit ..., nicht sehr angenehm, aber wohl notwendig«; das ungute Gefühl wird sich steigern und, nicht nur für die Gäste, durch die alles übersteigernde Gestalt und Wirkung des Zauberers Cipolla, »dieses allzu Sicheren«, zum tragischen, letztendlich jedoch befreienden Ende führen. Mit dem Bemerken, »wer zu gehorchen wisse, der wisse auch zu befehlen, und ebenso umgekehrt; der eine Gedanke sei in dem anderen einbegriffen, wie Volk und Führer ineinander einbegriffen seien, aber die Leistung, die äußerst strenge und aufreibende Leistung, sei jedenfalls seine, des Führers und Veranstalters, in welchem der Wille Gehorsam, der Gehorsam Wille werde«, verlockt und verblendet dieser »Typus des Scharlatans, des marktschreierischen Possenreißers« sein Publikum und hypnotisiert es zu einer »trunkenen Auflösung der kritischen Widerstände«. In Mario, dem jungen Kellner, glaubt er, sich steigernd, schließlich ein Opfer gefunden zu haben, das er aufs tiefste demütigen, ja vergewaltigen kann, ohne mit der Würde des Menschen rechnen zu müssen. Wie stark die »politisch-moralische Anspielung, in Worten nirgends ausgesprochen«, aus dieser Erzählung bereits bei ihrem ersten Erscheinen 1930 wirkte, spiegelt sich in Julius Babs Rezension: »Wenn Mussolini etwas von Kunst verstände, müßte er diese Novelle in Italien verbieten lassen."

"Gereiztheit, eigentümlich Bösartiges bestimmte von vornherein die Atmosphäre bei diesem Ferienaufenthalt in Norditalien, Mitte der zwanziger Jahre; »diese Leute ... machten soeben etwas durch, so einen Zustand, etwas wie eine Krankheit ..., nicht sehr angenehm, aber wohl notwendig«; das ungute Gefühl wird sich steigern und, nicht nur für die Gäste, durch die alles übersteigernde Gestalt und Wirkung des Zauberers Cipolla, »dieses allzu Sicheren«, zum tragischen, letztendlich jedoch befreienden Ende führen. Mit dem Bemerken, »wer zu gehorchen wisse, der wisse auch zu befehlen, und ebenso umgekehrt; der eine Gedanke sei in dem anderen einbegriffen, wie Volk und Führer ineinander einbegriffen seien, aber die Leistung, die äußerst strenge und aufreibende Leistung, sei jedenfalls seine, des Führers und Veranstalters, in welchem der Wille Gehorsam, der Gehorsam Wille werde«, verlockt und verblendet dieser »Typus des Scharlatans, des marktschreierischen Possenreißers« sein Publikum und hypnotisiert es zu einer »trunkenen Auflösung der kritischen Widerstände«. In Mario, dem jungen Kellner, glaubt er, sich steigernd, schließlich ein Opfer gefunden zu haben, das er aufs tiefste demütigen, ja vergewaltigen kann, ohne mit der Würde des Menschen rechnen zu müssen. Wie stark die »politisch-moralische Anspielung, in Worten nirgends ausgesprochen«, aus dieser Erzählung bereits bei ihrem ersten Erscheinen 1930 wirkte, spiegelt sich in Julius Babs Rezension: »Wenn Mussolini etwas von Kunst verstände, müßte er diese Novelle in Italien verbieten lassen."

Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for. Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once. At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking. Until one day, he does… As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

This is a prequel short story, told by Thomas and it is set the summer before Don't Let The Forest In. It happens one day before the flashback on page 208 in the book. Contains the slightest of spoilers for Don't Let The Forest In but it is a prequel so technically you can read it without reading the book first. It's told by Thomas Rye (which means you get to see Andrew through his eyes) and it's set the summer before the events of Don't Let The Forest In, aka before everything went very very badly! I hope you enjoy letting the forest in once more and spending just a little more time with Andrew, Thomas, and Dove. I don't imagine i'll ever write more of them so this is the bittersweet last time. You can read the story for free on the authors website.

Can two broken boys find their perfect home? Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he's ever known. Now Sam's trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he's caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing - each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie. But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.

CG Drews, New York Times-bestselling author of Don't Let the Forest In and Hazelthorn, weaves a disturbing and intoxicating siren-call in Scorpion Deep, about a lonely boy who accidentally awakens an obsessive eldritch sea god.The only thing Jonathan Covey wants from the gloomy, moldering isle of Kelcarrow is to leave it. Summer is ending, and his friends are looking forward to college on the mainland, unaware that Jonathan was not accepted to join them. He'll be left behind with nothing but the ocean's haunts and a rising dread of being abandoned.In an act of wild desperation, Jonathan pays a tithe to Scorpion Deep, an eldritch sea god who many of the locals have dismissed as myth. He wants to forget the past, he wants to follow his friends, and most of all he wants to finally escape.To his shock and horror, the ritual works—Scorpion Deep awakens. And despite his terror, Jonathan can't help but feel drawn toward the ageless entity that seems just as mutually obsessed with him. As scales start growing down his spine and Scorpion Deep's adoration of him turns bloody, Jonathan realizes the only way to end the nightmare is to destroy the monster one way or another.But once a god has awoken, the only way to be free is to pay a price of blood.

From C.G. Drews' Patreon: This short story is a crossover between Hazelthorn and Don't Let The Forest In. It contains major spoilers for Hazelthorn, but you could still read it even if you haven't read Don't Let The Forest In yet (it only contains minor spoilers for it). [...] This story is by Laurie's POV and it takes place during the October when Don't Let The Forest In was happening. The story takes place in the lead up to Chapter 16 in Don't Let The Forest In (and this all happens before the events of Hazelthorn). [...] Writing this was a chance to explore Laurie's previously untold perspective and I thoroughly loved being in the head of my wretched, snarky boy. The story turned out to be 9,000-words so, well !! Turns out Laurie had much to say. I hope you enjoy reading a little more forest rot. Available as free text (everyone) or epub (paid subscribers) on author's Patreon (@ Paper Fury)

CG Drews, acclaimed author of Don't Let the Forest In, returns with another deeply unsettling and yet hauntingly beautiful tale of murder and botanical body horror, perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Evander has lived like a ghost in the forgotten corners of the Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in by his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, when he was a child. For his safety, Evander has been given three ironclad rules to follow: He can never leave the estate. He can never go into the gardens. And most importantly, he can never again be left alone with Byron's charming, underachieving grandson, Laurie. That last rule has been in place ever since Laurie tried to kill Evander seven years ago, and yet somehow Evander is still obsessed with him. But when Byron suddenly dies, Evander inherits Hazelthorn’s immense gothic mansion and acres of sprawling grounds, along with the entirety of the Lennox-Hall family's vast wealth. There’s just one caveat: He must choose a new guardian from amongst Laurie's scheming, backstabbing relatives to help manage the estate until he turns eighteen. Except Evander's sure his guardian was murdered, and Laurie may be the only one who can help him find the killer before they come for Evander next. Perhaps even more concerning is how the overgrown garden is refusing to stay behind its walls, slipping its vines and spores deeper into the house with each passing day. As the family’s dark secrets unravel alongside the growing horror of their terribly alive, bloodthirsty garden, Evander needs to find out what he’s really inheriting before the garden demands to be fed once more.