Angela Slatter's Blog

Happy bookthday to me!

Or rather, to my new novella The Cold House.

This one is contemporary folk horror rather than Sourdough gothic fairy tale, so pick your fighter! It might not be your thing if you’re looking for the Sourdough vibe… but just maybe you’ll find you like something unexpected.

When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash she finds out nothing is quite what she thought… Secrets, lies and grief collide in this funny, tragic, intimate and utterly compelling horror novella.

Written by the acclaimed author of the Sourdough Universe novels and winner of multiple awards including the Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy, this searing tale is perfect for fans of Rachel Harrison, Delilah S. Dawson and Sarah-Maria Griffin.

When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash she finds out nothing is quite what she thought… Secrets, lies and grief collide in this funny, tragic, intimate and utterly compelling horror novella from the award-winning author. Perfect for fans of Rachel Harrison, Delilah S. Dawson, Sarah Gailey and Sarah-Maria Griffin.

Writer Everly Bainbridge’s life is left in ruins when her husband takes their child to the supermarket one day and a lorry collides with their car. After the accident, a lawyer appears on her doorstep and tells her her husband was not who he said he was and she is a very rich widow. She retreats to a lonely house in the countryside to recover. But there’s a well in the cellar, a spectacularly cold room, and one night, Everly wakes up with a foot hanging over the emptiness of the well and the echo of her daughter’s voice in her ears…A short, sharp, emotionally layered story of horrific secrets and dangerous lies, this dark, fierce gem of a novella will keep you turning the pages late into the night…

Hello, lovely people.

Here it is, the glorious cover for The Sourdough Compendium (big version below).

This collects together all 3 mosaic collections: Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, and The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, which have been out of print for a few years.

These largely form the base code of the Sourdough universe so if you’re a fan of the novels – All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns, The Briar Book of the Dead, The Crimson Road and the forthcoming A Forest, Darkly – you might want to consider getting this.

The pre-order links can be found here https://titanbooks.com/72850-the-sourdough-compendium/ but not all are working yet due to circumstances beyond my control, but B&N, Waterstones and the ‘zon do have pre-order pages.

Thank you to @missnatmack for yet another brilliant cover!

Just a reminder that The Cold House is out very soon… 

 

Excerpt from a letter written by Ellie Briar regarding the threat from the North…

“I write now because I believe the threat is becoming manifest. There are whispers from the North, that the Anchorhold and whatever resides there is moving. An increase in its foot soldiers, leaders deposed in the few powerful cities and anarchy left to reign, and rumours of a black miracle to come and the Darklands set free of the border that keeps us all safe.

Our friends on the other side of that self-same border do their best to discover more, but are hampered by their condition, and their source inside the Anchorhold fell silent some weeks since. I am told, however, that the two who come have been set into play, or shall be very soon. The Hidden One will, with luck and our best contrivances, make haste to you. We beg and bid you render them any and all aid – the gods know they’ll need it.

Should the border fall, Silverton will be first in its path. Should the border fall, the Briar Witches may well be safe from the predations of the Leech Lords, however we will no longer have protection against the malice of the church, and there will be nothing to save us from the god-hounds.

Be ready: dark times are coming, my sister in shadow. I fear it will take all our resources and more to survive them.”

UPDATE: There are three spots left on this next “drop” of Sourdough ephemera… These photos are ones I stole from @generalsheenanigans of her little bits of Sourdough ephemera (she got them framed, that’s on her!) so you can see a finished version. One is a little tale freshly written by Miren O’Malley for her own new book of tales, the other is a letter from Ellie Briar warning of danger from the Darklands and a cover letter from Cordelia Lawrence who got the letter by mistake… So: new microfictions with marginalia by the excellent @tanaudel. Your choice of a microfiction or letter or shopping list or ransom demand or diary entry or recipe for a spell written by me at your request. Want a letter from one of my characters in either of the gothic fantasy novels, All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns, The Briar Book of the Dead or The Crimson Road? Or even the forthcoming A Forest, Darkly? A love letter from Eli to Asher? A call to arms by Ellie Briar in the oncoming Witches’ War? A prophecy about the return of the Leech Lords?  Want to know what happened to an obscure character in the mosaic collections Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, or The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, or the novellas Of Sorrow and Such and The Bone Lantern? Want a folktale about mer-queens, wolf-wives, leech lords, shifters, trolls-witches, the true history of the dead bride in “No Good Deed”? Or have even “The Summer Husband” done as a one-off chapbook? Email me at me@angelaslatter.com to discuss the price, etc, and what you’d like created for you and who you’d most like to hear from in the Sourdough World. Delivery timeline: end of November 2025. So, perfectly in time for Christmas or as birthday gifts for those unfortunate enough to be born on 31 Dec so everyone forgets… Make them feel special.

I’m completely in love with the cover for the Spanish translation of The Path of Thorns – Una Senda De Espinas!

The artwork is by Ismael Pinteño, translation by Carla B. Estruch, published by Duermevela Ediciones

Greetings once again, readers and friends of the Sourdough Universe!

I’m offering ten (10) new microfictions with marginalia by the excellent @tanaudel.

Your choice of a microfiction or letter or shopping list or ransom demand or diary entry or recipe for a spell written by me at your request.

Want a letter from one of my characters in either of the gothic fantasy novels, All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns, The Briar Book of the Dead or The Crimson Road? Or even the forthcoming A Forest, Darkly? A love letter from Eli to Asher? A call to arms by Ellie Briar in the oncoming Witches’ War? A prophecy about the return of the Leech Lords?

Want to know what happened to an obscure character in the mosaic collections Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, or The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, or the novellas Of Sorrow and Such and The Bone Lantern?

Want a folktale about mer-queens, wolf-wives, leech lords, shifters, trolls-witches, the true history of the dead bride in “No Good Deed”? Or have even “The Summer Husband” done as a one-off chapbook?

Email me at me@angelaslatter.com to discuss the price, etc, and what you’d like created for you and who you’d most like to hear from in the Sourdough World.

Delivery timeline: end of November 2025. So, perfectly in time for Christmas or as birthday gifts for those unfortunate enough to be born on 31 Dec so everyone forgets… Make them feel special.

Absolutely over the moon for the cover of A Forest, Darkly to be released into the wild! Many thanks to the wonderful Mother Horror, Sadie Hartmann, for the insta reveal Artwork by Natasha Mackenzie and to be published by Titan Books in Feb of 2026. A page-turning dark fantasy of persecuted witches, snatched children, twisted magic, changelings and the sins that bind. Set in the author’s acclaimed dark fairy-tale inspired Sourdough Universe, this standalone story sits alongside previous novels, including the multi-award-winning The Path of Thorns.Mehrab the witch’s solitary existence is disrupted when a young woman appears on her doorstep seeking shelter, pursued by godhounds who wish to destroy all those practising magic. As Mehrab teaches the girl how to control her powers, together they forge a cure for their isolation with heartbreaking consequences… Meanwhile, in the local village, children begin to disappear, sometimes returning forever changed. Sinister offerings appear on Mehrab’s doorstep, and a dark power pursues her through the trees. As the villagers turn hostile and the godhounds close in, Mehrab finds herself at the centre of a struggle to save the soul of the forest, the life of an old love – and her own new-formed family. A bewitching gothic tale; haunting, gripping and written with wit and heart, this is a book to both savour and devour. Pre-order links:USAmazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Forest-Darkly-G-Slatter/dp/1835412564Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/…/a-forest…/1147411535 UKAmazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forest-Darkly-G…/dp/1835412564Forbidden Planet: https://forbiddenplanet.com/456994-a-forest-darkly/Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/…/a-g-slatter/9781835412565 Or your local, favourite indie bookseller!    

This is one of the prettiest books I’ve ever been in – Titan’s really pushed out the boat for The Secret Romantic’s Book of Magic.

Edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane, this anthology contains twelve Romantasy stories of every shade.

Lost lovers return for a second chance –? but what are their motives? Academic rivals compete for a prestigious position, but their sizzling chemistry might get in the way. A monster slayer? posing as an unwitting sacrifice meets an intriguingly moral prince.

From relationships caught ?in disparate timelines to ghostly ballrooms and dragons that need rescuing from princesses, this anthology gives you an inventive new spin on all your favorite tropes, and much more that you’ve never seen before.

FEATURING BRAND-NEW STORIES FROM:
Olivie Blake
A. G. Slatter
Tasha Suri
Katherine Arden
Kelley Armstrong
Hannah N. Maehrer
Melissa Marr
Megan Bannen
Kelly Andrew
Kamilah Cole
A. C. Wise
Eliza Chan

Purchase from your favourite local bookstore or these suppliers:

US

– Barnes & Noble**

– Books A Million (BAM) 

– Amazon.com

 

Canada

– Indigo

– Amazon.ca

 

UK

– Waterstones

– Forbidden Planet

– Bookshop.org

– Amazon.co.uk

I’m honoured to have a short story in the new anthology from NewCon Press, Blood in the Bricks, edited by Neil Williamson. There’s an impressive ToV and the anthology will be launched at World Fantasy Con in Brighton this year.

Pre-order here.

Tales of the city redolent with ritual and drenched in dread.  Folk Horror is primarily associated with isolated settings and weird beliefs. Traditionally the isolated setting is rural, but our cities have been around for a long time too, their histories constructed layer upon layer, their secrets long kept and buried deep. And there are other types of isolation than geographical remoteness: housing schemes and suburbs, gilded business districts and gated communities, industrial wastelands and crumbling tower blocks…  Who knows what our old bricks were made of or what lies beneath our brightly lit pavements? Who knows what superstitions have been passed down the generations and who knows what goes on behind the locked doors of the community centre? Editor Neil Williamson has assembled a cadre of gifted writers to explore these chilling issues and much much more.  Contents:Down Street – James BennettDanse Macabre – Kim Lakin Hagstone – Tracy FaheyGerädert Fühlen – Steve Toase The Inverse Nurse – Ian WhatesOpen Studios – E Saxey Escape Notice – Tim MajorLarking – Phil SlomanWhen the Blood Runs Dry – Lyndsey CroalA Tiding – Timothy J JarvisOur Sister of Blackthorn – Dan CoxonOne of The Rotten Ones – Matthew HopkinsThe Rope Swing – Penny JonesA Pinch of Salt – Joanna CorranceA Body’s Got to Have Hope – Angela SlatterThe Call – James EveringtonFulfilment – Harvey Welles & Phil RainesExtraction – Don RedwoodFlip – Ray Cluley