Creature Publishing

It can feel impossible to form words around this cruelty and brutality. But words, in this case, are much less important than action. We’ll be silly and spooky in this space again, but we wanted to make sure you know what we care about. Let’s get out there and fight.

When you become a mother, BRUJA’S NEST warns, “[y]our body suffers the first transformation, and then your mind shifts too.” Last Mother’s Day, we spoke to Grace Daly about the horrors of maternal abuse in THE SCALD-CROW, and this year, Grace interviewed Brenda LaTorre about the many terrors of motherhood in BRUJA’S NEST. Their interview appeared in The Lineup last week, and we’ve got some fantastic extra material here for you today. (Content note: Brenda discusses pregnancy loss and parental grief in some detail here.) BRUJA’S NEST is available for preorder on our website and at your favorite stores — if you’ve ever loved someone beyond reason and the laws of nature, this is the book for you.

She’s here...THE BLOOD YEAR DAUGHTER! G.G. Silverman’s fairytale-horror collection is a riotous cascade of difficult women and girls: cursing family members, gnawing themselves out of traps, and deciding what to sacrifice. We’ve loved watching early readers experience its beauty, violence, and catharsis, and we’re so excited for the world to fall under its spell. G.G.’s first few events will be at @thirdplacebooks , @crypticonseattle with @hwaseattle , and @hauntedburrowbooks , but we’ve got plenty more to come! DM or email us at [email protected] if you want to request her for your local store, bookclub, or convention. Pick up your copy today, and let it mutate you.

Just as Women in Horror Month is every month at Creature, it’s Independent Bookstore Day 666 days a year. We couldn’t be more grateful for the people who create essential community spaces, host our most bonkers events, and connect us with readers who didn’t know they’d been looking for Creature books. It’s an honor to be scary with you! We gave some of our 2026 authors the objectively impossible task of shouting out some of their favorite independent bookstores, and they did wonderfully. Make sure to check out these amazing stores: @greenhandbooks , @nookandcrannyseattle , @thirdplacebooks , @riverstonebookstore , @judgingbythecoverbooks , and @theopenbook_pasadena . Happy IBD!!

Another fantastic review for THE BLOOD YEAR DAUGHTER, this time from @forewordreviews ! Rebecca Foster spotlighted the book’s morbid humor, its explorations of the vital bonds of motherhood and sisterhood, and the ways that women’s bodies are “imperiled by sadistic men and acts of self-sacrifice.” BLOOD YEAR DAUGHTER is out next Tuesday, April 28th (!!), and we can’t wait for you to get your teeth into its stories. Make sure your favorite bookstore’s ready for a dark delight.

One week until #IndieBookstoreDay and we're unboxing books! The Blood Year Daughter by GG Silverman is a fairytale-horror debut collection that centers women and girls who survive, transform, and protect themselves in worlds shaped by violence and desire. Official release from @creaturepublishing will be April 28, but YOU can get in on some pre-release action on Saturday 4/25! @gg_silverman will be stopping by from 11-12 to sign books so you can purchase your exclusive early copy while supplies last! #NewRelease #AuthorEvent #SeattleBookstore #IndieBookstore

Calling all fairytale horror lovers: We have a new title with a sapphic monster romance à la Jennifer’s Body coming next summer! Enter Hailey Spencer’s EPIPHYTE. *When Olivia wakes up in a storybook cottage with two suns in the sky and her estranged childhood best friend Isabella by her side, it’s clear they’re no longer on Earth. Caught in the narrative wheels of fairytale without Earthly memories to guide them, day after day they repeat the same experience: RSVP to the prince’s ball? No, thank you. But as Isabella becomes sicker with a mysterious illness known as the Hunger, they realize they’ll have to say yes to keep the story moving forward. Otherwise they’ll be trapped in this world forever. Only saying yes—adhering to the storyteller’s rules—comes with its own set of consequences. And these two women are no longer girls. Their appetites are bigger. They want to spin their own story this time, a story with extra joints and a mouthful of teeth.* So thrilled to be working with @outofloveinspring on this, and many thanks to @gabrielleharbowy at @corvisierolit for this one! Also very excited for Creature’s Krysta Winsheimer (@procoquette ) who will be editing!

We have a special project coming to you in fall 2027—@rjacksonjoseph ’s nonfiction MOTHERS, LOVERS, AND OTHERS: BLACK WOMEN IN HORROR FILMS! Over the holiday season, Creature’s publisher Amanda sat down with a group of librarians and said: “Prove to me this book already exists.” After some careful digging, the librarians reported back with related titles, but none that specifically focused on the Black woman as portrayed in horror films, or that argued for the necessity and joy of presenting varied and complex Black women in a genre that’s already a rife and robust social commentary vehicle. In R.J. Jackson’s own words: “The horror genre is based on monsters and horrifying events and circumstances. These monstrosities and terrors are identified according to the things which are deemed frightening by the societal majority. Maintaining this focus not only limits how the genre can progress but also erases the experiences of marginalized groups, specifically, Black women. . . “Moreover, the very existence of a Black woman and the nuances of Black femininity are often horrific in ways that are rarely seen in horror, aboveboard. This erasure ensures that horror fans rarely experience horror through the lens of a Black female experience and prohibits Black female horror fans from seeing their experiences played out in the genre they love. . . “Many experiences of Black women are horrific and nuanced; thus, the experiences should be used to create multi-dimensional and realistic Black, female characters in these films while extending to support for why these lived experiences should be held as a standard to which the horror genre aspires as a genuine effort towards inclusion. . . [A]llowing more Black, female horror content creators the opportunity to develop their works for the screen would result in multi-dimensional Black, female characters in stories that can help bring a freshness to the horror genre.” We’re about to go on a trip through horror films of recent years. Come meet the Black women who have made them more dynamic and shocking than they would otherwise be. If you aren’t yet demanding to see more Black women take center stage, you will be.

The WOODFEAST Booktail by @pickyourpotions ! As someone very into bourbon, this is horribly exciting for me. Thank you, @pickyourpotions for such beautiful photos and for this amazingly delicious recipe! Everyone should have already read Lindsay’s The Gold Persimmon and Vampires at Sea, and Witches of the Wheel, also with @creaturepublishing , launches Sept 22, 2026! It’s is on NetGalley right now! I suggest you check it out immediately and preorder! More about the WOODFEAST Booktail: “Meg Ripley’s Woodfeast, the sequel to Necrology, is a spellbinding tale following multiple characters. The story is set against a backdrop of ongoing war between the fundamentalist misogynist Freemen and the magical Dirty folk who worship the Wilds. Amidst this chaos, we find Rabbit, a child leading a band of siblings, all of whom possess shards of the Woodfeast–a kind of wand with a mysterious purpose. Together, it’s up to the children to protect the Dirt and save their world.  The Woodfeast booktail is made with apple and currant-infused bourbon for Vivenne’s offerings to her mistress, a Supreme among the Freemen and the supposed reincarnation of Jude: “Floyd clears her throat, eventually reaching for the bourbon. Bringing the small glass to her lips, she tastes the liquid’s sharp, sweet woodiness, then swallows its sting.” Apple evokes Rabbit’s longing for cooked apples, as well as Hyena’s tornado twisting like an apple peel. Currants are plucked from the bread for the children, on whom the world depends. Brown sugar molasses simple syrup adds a complementary bittersweetness, a nod to funeral cake. The drink is garnished with a sweet, refreshing orange twist.” -Lindsay Merbaum

Our 2026 titles are headed your way in audio!

Happy Friday, Creatures! We’re now 25 days out from the release of G.G. Silverman’s debut collection THE BLOOD YEAR DAUGHTER, called “spare yet ferocious” by Publishers Weekly and “a spectacular and bloody star shooting across the sky” by @gwendolynkiste . If you’ve ever needed to know when it’s worth reincarnating, where to slide a sewing needle, or what lurks in the fog, G.G.’s got the answers. Here are G.G.’s first few events in support of BYD, but keep an eye out for plenty more — and if you’d like to host her yourself, get in touch with us via DM or at [email protected]. Preorders available at all your favorite bookstores, or by letting a single drop of blood fall into dessert.

We’re thrilled to close out our 2026 cover reveals with our third book from VAMPIRES AT SEA’s Lindsay Merbaum, her metaphysical mystery WITCHES OF THE WHEEL. In this lush dark fantasy, Lindsay weaves a spellbinding tale of mythology, bartending, and queer belonging. Gold grows up knowing only a few things about herself: something lets her see ghosts and read her neighbors’ secrets, and her mother seems to hate her. But when she strikes out on her own, she stumbles into a job at The Wheel, a literally-underground lesbian bar where a coven gathers every Thursday and each entrance requires a painful sacrifice. As she entangles herself in her new community, she learns more about herself than she wanted to know – and attracts an ancient goddess’s deadly attention. WITCHES will be out 9.22.26, and — like all our ‘26 titles — is now available for preorder. Huge thanks to @luisadias.jpg , as always, for this gorgeous cover!