Aaron Dries

Three unflinching novellas of cursed objects, folk horror, and dark family secrets... The Deathplace Set by Kaaron Warren: Gloria inherits a set of cigarette cards, 24 beautifully illustrated, historically accurate cards depicting death scenes. Once she meets her future husband, they become obsessed with cards, determined to visit each of the locations, driven by a force they don't understand. They profit from this obsession, flipping haunted houses from dumps to delights, selling them for a good return. Their family grows and their five children join the exploration, learning to live with the ghosts, the constant moves, the underlying smell of death that follows them. The family vandalize each place they live in, knowing that you need to destroy in order to rebuild. It's only once the ghost of a young boy is roused that the true history of the cards is revealed and the true sacrifice to obsession begins. We Called it Graffitiville by Aaron Dries: Well intentioned virtue-hunters, Dan and Kiki, are two young Australian volunteers posted in Samoa. They met in-country, fell in love, and believe they are making a difference to the local communities. But over the past few months, the value of their work has been challenged. Their love has started to crumble, too. A trip to the southern part of the island proves to be a last-ditch effort to keep their relationship intact... but nature intervenes. A catastrophic tsunami obliterates the coastline, forcing Dan and Kiki inland. They seek refuge in an abandoned village on the side of a dormant volcano. Only this village--notable for the humanoid graffiti on the walls of its old churches and houses-- is not as empty as it at first seems. By night, these graffiti figures come alive and hunt Dan and Kiki through the surrounding jungle, desperate to drag them back to Graffitiville where the couple must participate in an ancient sacrificial rite. Quicksilver by J.S. Breukelaar: Some curses don't know how to die. Over two centuries, the artists, Ahava, Alex and Angel inherit a family curse passed down aunt-to-niece through the generations. The curse goes all the way back to a village in Poland where a mad uncle sold his soul to a witch for a shot at eternity. Although the witch gave his female heirs a fifth word to transform the curse into a blessing, this has forced them into a strange ritual of desecrating their own art in order to keep it sacred, an act of self-vandalism that consumes their bodies and their minds. A ritual that cannibalises their friendships, their love affairs, their lives, the darkness always just a brush stroke away. Until one day, one year and in one city, the curse comes too close to home, and the final niece learns the true meaning of wearing your he/art on your sleeve. Perfect for fans of Folk horror books, Horror mystery, Haunted Houses, Mystery Thrillers, Australian Horror, the South Pacific, Survival Horror, curses, demonic possession, and deals with the devil. Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.

Three unflinching novellas of cursed objects, folk horror, and dark family secrets... The Deathplace Set by Kaaron Warren: Gloria inherits a set of cigarette cards, 24 beautifully illustrated, historically accurate cards depicting death scenes. Once she meets her future husband, they become obsessed with cards, determined to visit each of the locations, driven by a force they don't understand. They profit from this obsession, flipping haunted houses from dumps to delights, selling them for a good return. Their family grows and their five children join the exploration, learning to live with the ghosts, the constant moves, the underlying smell of death that follows them. The family vandalize each place they live in, knowing that you need to destroy in order to rebuild. It's only once the ghost of a young boy is roused that the true history of the cards is revealed and the true sacrifice to obsession begins. We Called it Graffitiville by Aaron Dries: Well intentioned virtue-hunters, Dan and Kiki, are two young Australian volunteers posted in Samoa. They met in-country, fell in love, and believe they are making a difference to the local communities. But over the past few months, the value of their work has been challenged. Their love has started to crumble, too. A trip to the southern part of the island proves to be a last-ditch effort to keep their relationship intact... but nature intervenes. A catastrophic tsunami obliterates the coastline, forcing Dan and Kiki inland. They seek refuge in an abandoned village on the side of a dormant volcano. Only this village--notable for the humanoid graffiti on the walls of its old churches and houses-- is not as empty as it at first seems. By night, these graffiti figures come alive and hunt Dan and Kiki through the surrounding jungle, desperate to drag them back to Graffitiville where the couple must participate in an ancient sacrificial rite. Quicksilver by J.S. Breukelaar: Some curses don't know how to die. Over two centuries, the artists, Ahava, Alex and Angel inherit a family curse passed down aunt-to-niece through the generations. The curse goes all the way back to a village in Poland where a mad uncle sold his soul to a witch for a shot at eternity. Although the witch gave his female heirs a fifth word to transform the curse into a blessing, this has forced them into a strange ritual of desecrating their own art in order to keep it sacred, an act of self-vandalism that consumes their bodies and their minds. A ritual that cannibalises their friendships, their love affairs, their lives, the darkness always just a brush stroke away. Until one day, one year and in one city, the curse comes too close to home, and the final niece learns the true meaning of wearing your he/art on your sleeve. Perfect for fans of Folk horror books, Horror mystery, Haunted Houses, Mystery Thrillers, Australian Horror, the South Pacific, Survival Horror, curses, demonic possession, and deals with the devil. Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.

An agency that sends social workers into the homes of grieving families to impersonate dead loved ones... The kind old woman who saved a teenager's life but now finds herself haunted by the weight of a cheated suicide... And the daughter of a candlestick maker as she tries to survive a painful existence after her father's execution for making human chandeliers of drunken cowboys... These stories and more-ranging from supernatural to the frighteningly domestic, Splatterpunk to the weird and cosmic-stain the pages of Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts by Aaron Dries. They serve as a timely reminder of the cost of caring too much. Or not caring enough. Of how we mask cruelties behind kindness. And of our willingness to rip ourselves apart in the hope of satisfying a world that doesn't always care for you back. Featuring an exclusive introduction by Mick Garris, creator of Masters of Horror and director of Stephen King's The Stand, this unforgettable collection truly cuts deep.

The story of a boy who dreamed of becoming a man... But dreamed up a monster insteadYou're on the run. Marked. Don't think about the kid you used to be when you're homeless and dumpster-diving in the rain. Just eat whatever you find to keep your engine full. Because the shadow with too many teeth wants you tired. You're easier to catch when you're tired. It has hunted you since the summer of 1994, back when we confessed who we were through mixtapes. When every movie at the video store had dirty heads. You were thirteen and thought you knew who you were. Only the shadow with too many teeth knew you better. It still does. And it won't stop. Not until you come home. Back to where it all began. Part cosmic horror, part coming-of-age monster story, DIRTY HEADS is a terrifying read from the author of HOUSE OF SIGHS, THE FALLEN BOYS, and A PLACE FOR SINNERS

Sometimes, survival is a sin.Ko Mai Phaaw, a remote island off the coast of Thailand, awaits its visitors. They will cross the sea at dawn. They always do. All creatures seek retreat in the end.On the rickety boat is Amity Collins and her brother, Caleb. They have waited years to leave behind their claustrophobic Australian town, an overbearing mother, and their shared traumatic past. For them, this is the long overdue trip of a lifetime.Also aboard is Robert, a burned-out American businessman in the throes of a midlife crisis. Only he's not alone. Bedbugs and regrets he can't shake have hitched a ride, too.Tobias, the German backpacker, is in wanderlust. And denial.Finally, there is Susan Sycamore, a woman with a horrific secret. She has journeyed from country to country, leaving a trail of carnage in her wake.All of these lives are about to converge on a single strip of sugar white sand. "Discover paradise," the advertisement read. "Come and feed the monkeys " It sounded like such a good idea at the time.But on this beach, blood will be shed, and no one will ever be the same.An uncompromising novel of surreal terror from the author of HOUSE OF SIGHS and THE FALLEN BOYS.

This award-winning, psychological experience is back in print, and includes the exclusive sequel The Sound of his Bones Breaking, a novella that will leave you truly shaken. "This taut, grisly thriller reads like a sick and twisted extreme horror SPEED. You don't know who, if anybody, will make it. Catch this bus at your own risk." - Eric Red, The Hitcher and Near Dark Board for free. But the cost might be your life. In House of Sighs, Local bus driver, Liz Frost, pulls the gun from her mouth and decides to live with her loneliness for one more day. She dresses, combs her hair, and goes to work. Nine souls board her route that fateful morning in rural Australia, nine souls who Liz drags back to her home against their will. She wants to build a new family from these passengers, men and women who are willing to kill to avoid becoming her kin. The bus leaves a trail of carnage in its wake as it rockets towards a house that has held its secrets for far too long, a place where crows now gather, ready to feed on whatever is left behind. "Prepare to be blown away." - Dread Central Includes the sequel novella The Sound of his Bones Breaking: Trauma has teeth. Big ones. And it's always hungry for seconds. Aiden and Danny down their beers in the open bar overlooking the road, legs brushing together, about as far as they let their public displays of affection go in that part of Australia. The warm breeze and pounding music--their last happy memory. Everything changes when the taxi pulls up and its drunken driver stumbles out, starting a street brawl that leaves Danny broken and bleeding on the ground. In an attempt to give his lover the space he needs to heal, Aiden accepts an employment opportunity in Thailand, and the two men set off overseas, their fates sealed air-tight within the confines of the airplane. But in the claustrophobic hush of their tiny Bangkok apartment, and while Aiden goes off to work, instead of mending, Danny's old scars begin to sing. The lonely walks. The woman cooking bones in a vat of broth, whispering at him to eat the parts that hurt. The flies nobody but Danny can hear. A burning desire to trace his heritage of hurt back to ground zero, and there, find someone to blame. The Sound of his Bones Breaking is the dread-infused sequel to House of Sighs. "Aaron Dries is a master of emotional horror. And there is horror here, but it's heightened by his authentic characters and their raw emotions. Dries makes you feel, makes your heart break. He also surprises you, taking the story in directions you'd never see coming." - Mark Allan Gunnells, author of Asylum and Companions in Ruin Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing--Tales from the Darkest Depths.

A Novel of Psychological Horror Memories scream behind every blink: the footage of Marshall's son, Noah, and of his long, fatal fall. Remains beneath a blood-stained morgue sheet. Good times, shattered. Marshall's hunger to understand the reason for his son's suicide devours his life. It appears that the boy's secret will remain buried with him-until Marshall discovers something tucked into the seams of a musty, old teddy bear. It is a portable thumb-drive, the contents painting a chilling portrait of a child who was desperate to be heard, and his mysterious Internet friend who was only too happy to listen. And whisper, whisper, whisper.Step by step, Marshall must track these digital footprints into very real and very dark woods, unaware that he is being led into a maze of lies and violence from which he may never return.The Fallen Boys is a gut-wrenching novel of extreme psychological horror from the author of House of Sighs and Where the Dead Go to Die."...A terrific book. Beautiful and brutal. Heartbreaking and incredibly emotional." - Mick Garris (director of Stephen King's The Stand, and creator of Masters of Horror)"A tale you will never forget, as told by one of the most important new voices in the genre." - Hellnotes