The Barre Incidents + Hellarkey
Lauren Bolger’s second novel, The Barre Incidents, is on Reactor’s can’t-miss list. After Printers Row last weekend, we have a dwindling supply of signed first editions, printed in Minneapolis by the very nice folks at Bookmobile. Lauren is signing copies and getting ready to put them in the mail. If you’d like to claim a signed copy for yourself, you can get 20% off at checkout on our website with code BEOWULFOFWALLSTREET.
Preorder The Barre Incidents
And for the first time ever our Halloween zine is printed and ready to go before October. Hellarkey #4 features short horror stories from Francesco Levato, Katherine Souza, Dee Holloway, William Couper, K.A. Roy, Ivy Grimes, Adam Sleper, Ilyn Welch, Hawk Williams, and Brendan Faux. It goes for $8 on the website but you can get it free if you preorder The Barre Incidents, that is, until Lauren runs out of copies.
“Bolger continues to propel herself forward as one of the finest voices in Horror. She excels at weaving familial relationships, trauma, and existential dread with the kinds of creatures that will haunt your dreams.”
—Michael Bettendorf
When Kara's miner father dies of Silicosis, she grapples with the old horror stories in their hometown of Barre Vermont. Stories she insisted she didn't believe. Like dead miners walking the five miles of road between Hope Cemetery and Rock of Ages quarry to resume their work, making believers of anyone who interrupted their nightly march. A terrifying encounter at the cemetery the night of his burial rips the tarp off old memories she'd suppressed, making it near impossible to believe that her father’s body is at rest.
In her quest to help her father, she learns he cheated death as a teenager, and his closest friend wasn’t so lucky. A regular at the local grill remembers a horrible mechanical being watching them from a tree that night. When cryptids, an interdimensional creature, and an old god creep out of the shadows, Kara knows she’s getting closer to the truth, but the path to her endgame grows treacherous.
The Barre Incidents is a Cosmic Horror with Dark Fantasy and Found Footage elements. It’s an exploration of love born under the shadow of grief in a world where horrible and awesome magic are everywhere for those who dare to wrap their hands around it.