William Jackson

Hardship and adventure seemed to be in their DNA. Their Scots-Irish roots had led them to a one room cabin in the country outside of Durham, North Carolina where they huddled around a wood stove for heat in the winter and spent summers outdoors playing in the creek to stay cool. The chance to buy the old farmhouse on the hill seemed like a small step closer to doing just a little bit better in life for the Jackson family. What they did not know was that they would share the home with former residents that were not ready to give the house up. Foot-steps, banging doors and phantom odors gave way to full body apparitions and demonic visitors. The house seemed to lift the blinders from the eyes of the family and allowed them to experience other worldly encounters wherever they went.Their shared experiences would bond them forever, and the little white farmhouse would be a beacon for them - reminding them of the love, pain, laughter and tears they shared there. The terrifying paranormal experiences were woven into the family threads and tied their stories together forever.

Out of Water is the first story in the queer horror collection Shapes in the Dark by William Jackson and a particular favourite of our publisher's: 'Drown in this skilful evocation of the sea, of slim-hipped youth, of desire, life and death.'Matt has rented a beach house for the summer on a remote and unpopulated coastline. He walks and swims and relishes his own aloneness. Then one day everything changes: what he took to be a seal turns out to be a strange and beautiful castaway with no name.Out of Water is the third book in the Publisher's Choice series, a collection of slim volumes selected by our publisher at the Cambridge Queer Press.