J S Breukelaar

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.

Seasons have always been connected with the passing of time and the changes of life, inspiring myths, folklore, poems, and songs. In this short collection award-winning J.S. Breukelaar and Seb Doubinsky have decided to pay tribute to the old tradition of yearly almanacs, which contained short pieces of lore and traditions. Keeping with the short format, they have renewed the genre by infusing it with a modern-day setting, pushing the boundaries of the folk-horror uncanny into the borders of our cities. A succession of disturbing stories and vignettes, sometimes poetic, sometimes funny, but always gruesome, Turning of The Seasons will surely be an almanac you will never forget.

Meera and her twin sister Kai are among thousands of hybrid women—called Mades—bred by the Father in his Blood Temple cult. Meera is rescued by a mysterious healer and storyteller, Narn, but her sister, Kai, does not survive the Father’s “unmaking.” Years later, when the cult is discovered and abolished, Meera, still racked with guilt and grief, enrolls in college to take advantage of a generous new Redress Program. When Narn’s conjure stories buy Meera a free ride to a notorious horror reading series, she is soon the darling of the lit set, feted by the other students, finally whole, finally free of the idea that she should have died instead of her sister. But college is not all it seems—Narn has lost a sister too, and Meera agrees to try and find her if Narn will keep feeding Meera the stories that are opening her up to memories she’s never acknowledged, secrets she’s never wanted to know, about Narn’s and the Father’s connection to a violent campus stalker.

"J.S. is leaving her footprints on a path blazed by luminaries such as M.R. James, Robert Aickman, Tanith Lee, Kelly Link, Charlotte Perkins Gillman, Jeff VanderMeer, Gustave Flaubert, Edgar Allan Poe, Daphne DuMaurier, Leonora Carrington and Charlotte BrontË, to name but a few." —Angela Slatter, Award-winning author of Sourdough and Other Stories, Vigil, and CorpselightA collection of twelve of J.S. Breukelaar's darkest, finest stories with four new works, including the uncanny new novella "Ripples on a Blank Shore." Introduction by award-winning author, Angela Slatter. Relish the Gothic strangeness of "Union Falls," the alien horror of "Rogues Bay 3013," the heartbreaking dystopia of "Glow," the weird mythos of "Ava Rune," and others. This collection from the author of American Monster and the internationally acclaimed and Aurealis Award finalist, Aletheia, announces a new and powerful voice in fantastical fiction.