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After a major accident leaves her in a dire financial situation, Maxine Forrest returns to live in her childhood home. The empty husk holds only the memories of her father’s abuse and her mother’s reticence to leave her parents are nowhere to be found. The cocoon of her past remains unchanged, yet wrapped in the ghostly remnants of her mother’s whispered insistence that things could change. Escaping the sins of her parents should be easy enough for Max, but those sins are intrinsic to her genetic make-up, so escape is impossible—succumbing, and metamorphosis, are inevitable.
98 pages, Paperback
Published June 20, 2024
About the author
Eden Royce
63 books399 followersEden Royce is a writer from Charleston, South Carolina now living in Southeast England. She’s a Shirley Jackson Award winner and a Bram Stoker Award finalist for her adult fiction, which has appeared in a variety of print and online publications.
Her books for young readers have received Walter Dean Myers Award Honors, and been recognized as a Bram Stoker Award winner, an Andre Norton Nebula Award Finalist, an Ignyte Award winner, and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner for outstanding children’s literature.
Find her on social media via her LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/edenroyce.
Sign up for her newsletter: https://edenroyce.eo.page/sbtyt
Her books for young readers have received Walter Dean Myers Award Honors, and been recognized as a Bram Stoker Award winner, an Andre Norton Nebula Award Finalist, an Ignyte Award winner, and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner for outstanding children’s literature.
Find her on social media via her LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/edenroyce.
Sign up for her newsletter: https://edenroyce.eo.page/sbtyt
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 21, 2025
With atmosphere for days and a wonderfully complicated protagonist, Royce does a great job of exploring how we carry our trauma with us no matter how far we run. I think she does a great job at world-building, giving us a wonderful portrait of this young women’s world and then peeling off the veneer layer by layer, blending a forced optimism with bleak uncertainty really well. The story has a very strong sense of place, which serves it well. Our main protagonist feels richly textured, someone who has down the work to be free of her trauma but can’t quite get away. I especially appreciate the conflicting emotions toward her mother, the anger and frustration and pity and gratitude all mixing into something indescribable and very real. The story itself is smart. It feels very much part of a legacy of horror stories about returning to a place you know you should avoid, and it doesn’t feel like it is trying to subvert any sort of genre legacy but instead embrace that niche and add to it. The idea of facing down what it is we ran away from, trying to save the ones who we left behind, and in this case balance CPTSD with PTSD and disability and a new determination to cling tight to a hard-won independence, one that is still maturing, still in molt, is enticing and captivating. I do think the story suffered a little from pacing issues. The reveal at the end and the way it is reacted to felt rushed, and while there was a sense of dread and tension rising steadily before that point there still seemed an emotional and narrative disconnect, for me. We are to believe, I think, after the reveal, that she has been stalked by this invisible presence ever since returning home. I think we needed more of this on the page, more incidents that would have been off-putting and raising red flags from when she walked in that door up to the reveal. As it was, well I appreciated the ending, it didn’t feel entirely earned, at least not narratively, even if it is pitch perfect emotionally. There are other character decisions that also left me scratching my head, which I will not mention specifically as they would spoil parts of the story, but I think the novella could have benefitted from a bit more character interactions which might fill in some of the gaps in the plot. Still, having said that, I still really had a fun time with the atmosphere and the characters and the ideas within the story itself. It feels like it has a whole lot more story to share and I like that approach, that sensation, that this is but a taste of this character’s life, and it is effective in this moody meditation on family and responsibility.
(Rounded from 3.5)
(Rounded from 3.5)
June 10, 2024
Came for the beautiful cover, stayed for the incredible southern gothic horror.
The house—dark, suffocating, looming—a character of its own. But Maxine is our true star here. Readers follow the winding road of Maxine’s dark past and witness her emerge from the chrysalis of trauma as something new, shedding her old skin.
I devoured this, consumed it. It’s memorizing and exquisite and weird but in the best way. Bonus points for the setting being South Carolina, my home state.
“A house is the worst kind of monster… when we step through its doors, we are transported back through time, to a moment where we were perhaps at our most vulnerable.”
Thank you RDS Publishing and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 06/20/2024!
The house—dark, suffocating, looming—a character of its own. But Maxine is our true star here. Readers follow the winding road of Maxine’s dark past and witness her emerge from the chrysalis of trauma as something new, shedding her old skin.
I devoured this, consumed it. It’s memorizing and exquisite and weird but in the best way. Bonus points for the setting being South Carolina, my home state.
“A house is the worst kind of monster… when we step through its doors, we are transported back through time, to a moment where we were perhaps at our most vulnerable.”
Thank you RDS Publishing and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 06/20/2024!
November 5, 2025
Nice writing, good creepy topics and the ending caught me offguard. .there were scenes way too short for my liking...
May 23, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I don't quite know how I feel about this book, but I think that might be more of a me problem than a this book problem, so I'm rounding it up to four stars. I went into this novella fully blind, pretty sure that it had something to do with family trauma but having quite literally zero idea that it was horror. Even so, I could immediately pick up on the atmospheric horror elements of this book. The description was excellent, and a little chilling. I love books that take the concept of 'haunted houses' and turn them on their heads in such a real, scary way by talking about the actual experiences the main character had in the house. However, I think for me, the book jumped very quickly from feeling realistic, if chilling and kind of creepy, into actual horror very abruptly, and then the whole thing was just over in a couple of pages. I think this might have worked better for me as a longer novella or full-length novel. There were a few loose ends or things I would have liked to be explored more, and I just found the horror element so jarring and abrupt that it was almost a little bit... funny? I think that's on me though for going in with no clue what was going to happen. It just all felt a bit unrealistic. Which like, okay, obviously, but it felt unrealistic to the point where I couldn't quite believe what was happening even in the context of the book, if that makes any sense. It just felt a little beyond the scope of the rest of the book.
Overall, however, what I think the book did really well at was an exploration of complex family dynamics and childhood trauma.
I don't quite know how I feel about this book, but I think that might be more of a me problem than a this book problem, so I'm rounding it up to four stars. I went into this novella fully blind, pretty sure that it had something to do with family trauma but having quite literally zero idea that it was horror. Even so, I could immediately pick up on the atmospheric horror elements of this book. The description was excellent, and a little chilling. I love books that take the concept of 'haunted houses' and turn them on their heads in such a real, scary way by talking about the actual experiences the main character had in the house. However, I think for me, the book jumped very quickly from feeling realistic, if chilling and kind of creepy, into actual horror very abruptly, and then the whole thing was just over in a couple of pages. I think this might have worked better for me as a longer novella or full-length novel. There were a few loose ends or things I would have liked to be explored more, and I just found the horror element so jarring and abrupt that it was almost a little bit... funny? I think that's on me though for going in with no clue what was going to happen. It just all felt a bit unrealistic. Which like, okay, obviously, but it felt unrealistic to the point where I couldn't quite believe what was happening even in the context of the book, if that makes any sense. It just felt a little beyond the scope of the rest of the book.
Overall, however, what I think the book did really well at was an exploration of complex family dynamics and childhood trauma.
May 7, 2024
ARC for review. To be published June 20, 2024.
Maxine Forest, twenty-five, lives in Washington, DC and is a crime victim. She has just lost her job when she receives a missive from Charleston, South Carolina, her hometown informing her that she must take possession of the contents of a safe deposit box she holds with her mother within just a few days. She believes this means her mother has finally left her father.
When she arrives in Charleston and goes to her family home her father is also not there and she is left to reclaim the mysteries of her past.
This was just OK for me. There’s a lot that seems to go unexplained and that Maxine doesn’t even seem to wonder about, which struck me as a little odd. This is a novella, not a full length book.
Maxine Forest, twenty-five, lives in Washington, DC and is a crime victim. She has just lost her job when she receives a missive from Charleston, South Carolina, her hometown informing her that she must take possession of the contents of a safe deposit box she holds with her mother within just a few days. She believes this means her mother has finally left her father.
When she arrives in Charleston and goes to her family home her father is also not there and she is left to reclaim the mysteries of her past.
This was just OK for me. There’s a lot that seems to go unexplained and that Maxine doesn’t even seem to wonder about, which struck me as a little odd. This is a novella, not a full length book.
December 12, 2025
Oh wow. I thought this would be a standard haunted house story with a peek into how the past can loom over a person’s life. It is that and so much more. Hollow Tongue explores how monsters are made and grown, how they sow fear and leave scars that birth fragile, ugly futures. There’s an overall theme around transformation that Max and her parents experience, and that’s mirrored in the structure of the story itself (at no point did I foresee the last two chapters!) The story also had some beautiful parallels between Max’s childhood and how the traumas she endured shaped her present day relationships and circumstances. Wonderful, eerie, creepy, smart horror novella!
January 13, 2025
Hollow Tongue, is the fifth book in the Selected Papers From The Consortium Of Anomalous Phenomenon, and this one is written by Eden Royce after an accident, Max comes home injured after living in Washington DC for years. She never thought she would be back in the neglected abusive home. Her mother gave all her savings to get her out of. due to a letter from the bank, Max knows her mother has fled, but she expects to find her dad right where she left him although he never hit her. His abuse was rampant and hurtful, and took many different faces. in the house, she doesn’t find her dad and so decides to settle in. She starts having nightmares in the strange plague her the whole time she’s there it isn’t until she finds her mother on the Internet that she gets a warning that although she thought her dad was gone, he definitely is not. like always there’s so much. I’m not putting in this review although this is a quick story just like the rest of the books in the series has a real creepy overtone with a wall ending. This book will leave you shaking your head for days after finishing because OMG this was a creepy well written tail that will linger in your mind. I only hope I too. Don’t have nightmares about it. It is one of those books that when the ending comes so much in the middle of the story takes on a whole different meaning and makes it that much creepier. it will also have you reading this novella again just so you can catch onto the things that look different when you know the whole story. I am definitely getting some of Eden Royce‘s books because she is such a great intelligent writing style that I absolutely enjoyed and can’t wait to read another book by her. If you love, intelligent horror, then you will definitely definitely enjoy this crazy crazy book.#RawDogScreamingPress, #EdenRoyce, #HollowTongue, #TheSelectedPapersFromTheConsortiumOfAnomalousphenomena,
June 22, 2024
One of the themes that hits hardest in Gothic fiction for me, particularly Southern Gothic, is the notion of characters who are forced to return home, especially to a childhood home. The protagonist of Eden Royce’s "Hollow Tongue" novella is in this situation.
No one does Southern Gothic like Eden Royce. She is a virtuoso of every point and corner of these narratives, and has written some of the most evocative ones in all of speculative fiction. “Hollow Tongue” is no exception. Royce’s prose commands the reader to unfurl it slowly and savour it, like a hard candy that’s very rich.
There’s a creeping sense that will crawl under the reader’s skin of something not right and things gone awry as readers move through the narrative. To say that the protagonist’s relationship with her parents is strained would be an understatement. Complicating matters, she can’t seem to find her father.
“How can I apologize for what I don’t remember?” — a line that hung over me like a cloud with memories of my own experiences.
In all haunted house stories, the house itself must be an overbearing presence that contributes to the terror of those who dwell within it, and intensifies that fear more as the book goes on. This is definitely the case with “Hollow Tongue.”
The amount of times that the protagonist tried to save her mother and put all the cards on the table, and created all of the solutions and then her mother had an excuse every time, also resonated with me very deeply, and it hurt me in the chest.
And trust me when I say you will never look at butterflies the same way again.
Run out and buy "Hollow Tongue" now and keep on buying more of Eden Royce's work -- give this author the flowers she deserves!
No one does Southern Gothic like Eden Royce. She is a virtuoso of every point and corner of these narratives, and has written some of the most evocative ones in all of speculative fiction. “Hollow Tongue” is no exception. Royce’s prose commands the reader to unfurl it slowly and savour it, like a hard candy that’s very rich.
There’s a creeping sense that will crawl under the reader’s skin of something not right and things gone awry as readers move through the narrative. To say that the protagonist’s relationship with her parents is strained would be an understatement. Complicating matters, she can’t seem to find her father.
“How can I apologize for what I don’t remember?” — a line that hung over me like a cloud with memories of my own experiences.
In all haunted house stories, the house itself must be an overbearing presence that contributes to the terror of those who dwell within it, and intensifies that fear more as the book goes on. This is definitely the case with “Hollow Tongue.”
The amount of times that the protagonist tried to save her mother and put all the cards on the table, and created all of the solutions and then her mother had an excuse every time, also resonated with me very deeply, and it hurt me in the chest.
And trust me when I say you will never look at butterflies the same way again.
Run out and buy "Hollow Tongue" now and keep on buying more of Eden Royce's work -- give this author the flowers she deserves!
July 3, 2024
Publishing date: 20.06.2024
Thank you to Netgalley and RDS Publishing for the ARC. My opinions are my own.
The book as a meal: A full plate of trauma with a side of misogyny
The book left me: Feeling a little nasty
Negatives:
Moreso a story of trauma than horror
The "horror" was revealed a little too late
Positives:
Strong spooky vibes
So descriptive I could almost smell it
Features:
A character with a disability, lots and lots of family trauma, bugs and smells are pivotal to the story, jumping between now and the past
Why did I choose this one?
I had to continue the Selected Papers series as I adored book 4. The cover is also an eye catcher, and I trust RDS publishing to front great books.
Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Pick-up-able. The pacing feels natural for a story like this, and there is just enough curiosity to what is going on to keep me reading.
What was the vibe and mood?
A little spooky. I felt like I was wandering in a dark house with stale air. Oppressive mood. And just a faint nauseating smell of flowers follows my every step.
Final ranking and star rating?
4 stars, A tier. Selected Papers has done it again. I adore the concepts of this series, and this one continues that. I will be keeping an eye out for book 6, and I will be recommending this strongly.
Thank you to Netgalley and RDS Publishing for the ARC. My opinions are my own.
The book as a meal: A full plate of trauma with a side of misogyny
The book left me: Feeling a little nasty
Negatives:
Moreso a story of trauma than horror
The "horror" was revealed a little too late
Positives:
Strong spooky vibes
So descriptive I could almost smell it
Features:
A character with a disability, lots and lots of family trauma, bugs and smells are pivotal to the story, jumping between now and the past
Why did I choose this one?
I had to continue the Selected Papers series as I adored book 4. The cover is also an eye catcher, and I trust RDS publishing to front great books.
Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Pick-up-able. The pacing feels natural for a story like this, and there is just enough curiosity to what is going on to keep me reading.
What was the vibe and mood?
A little spooky. I felt like I was wandering in a dark house with stale air. Oppressive mood. And just a faint nauseating smell of flowers follows my every step.
Final ranking and star rating?
4 stars, A tier. Selected Papers has done it again. I adore the concepts of this series, and this one continues that. I will be keeping an eye out for book 6, and I will be recommending this strongly.
June 8, 2024
What an amazing surprise this book turned out to be. I went in knowing very little about this story other than it was about a woman returning to her childhood home and I’m glad I did it that way.
Eden Royce tells such a shocking and horrific story in the small amount of time you spend with Max in this novella. Her words pack such a punch as she tells you about the abuse and trauma Max and her mother endured over the years. The house itself feels like the main character, as the descriptions of it had me feeling like I was right there with Max smelling the floral soaps and feeling the heat that Charleston is known for.
What an eerie journey this was from start to finish. The final reveal at the end was so disturbing in the best way. Royce flawlessly hands you a monster that will haunt your dreams for a long time to come!
Eden Royce tells such a shocking and horrific story in the small amount of time you spend with Max in this novella. Her words pack such a punch as she tells you about the abuse and trauma Max and her mother endured over the years. The house itself feels like the main character, as the descriptions of it had me feeling like I was right there with Max smelling the floral soaps and feeling the heat that Charleston is known for.
What an eerie journey this was from start to finish. The final reveal at the end was so disturbing in the best way. Royce flawlessly hands you a monster that will haunt your dreams for a long time to come!
July 1, 2024
This creepy novella about past trauma, abuse, and loss turns into something horrific.
Max is headed back home. She left as soon as she was 18 with guidance and help from her mother. Her father is abusive and intolerable yet her mother stays so she can escape.
Injuries from a shooting makes her less mobile but she drives eight hours hoping her mother has finally left her father. But nobody is home. Or...
That's all I'll say about it for now. But when you think you're getting one kind of book and it swerves to something you didn't expect in the most terrifying way, that's a win!
I highly recommend this well written, emotional, and frightening novella.
I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley with no consideration. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.
Max is headed back home. She left as soon as she was 18 with guidance and help from her mother. Her father is abusive and intolerable yet her mother stays so she can escape.
Injuries from a shooting makes her less mobile but she drives eight hours hoping her mother has finally left her father. But nobody is home. Or...
That's all I'll say about it for now. But when you think you're getting one kind of book and it swerves to something you didn't expect in the most terrifying way, that's a win!
I highly recommend this well written, emotional, and frightening novella.
I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley with no consideration. This review is voluntary and is my own personal opinion.
July 9, 2024
Thank you NetGalley and RDS Press for the copy of this book.
I really enjoyed this beautifully written horror novella with an ending I was totally unprepared for!
Maxine returns home to deal with some family business with the hopes that her mother has finally left her father. She hasn't spoken to either of her parents for years. Her mother is gone but so is her father. Assuming he is out drinking, Maxine begins to remanence and is swallowed up by the atmosphere of her childhood home. Haunted by past abuse the house takes on a dark and creepy life of its own. The house has one more secret for Maxine, leaving the reader with a totally satisfying ending!
I really enjoyed this beautifully written horror novella with an ending I was totally unprepared for!
Maxine returns home to deal with some family business with the hopes that her mother has finally left her father. She hasn't spoken to either of her parents for years. Her mother is gone but so is her father. Assuming he is out drinking, Maxine begins to remanence and is swallowed up by the atmosphere of her childhood home. Haunted by past abuse the house takes on a dark and creepy life of its own. The house has one more secret for Maxine, leaving the reader with a totally satisfying ending!
May 13, 2024
This was just a meh for me. While the book was very descriptive and built the characters decently, I found myself just not enjoying the atmosphere or the book in general. At times the descriptions were almost too much, and too much was put into the descriptive statements over character development and or story line development. There were times I was lost as to what was happening and what was supposed to be happening and lost interest fast. It was well written, just not something that I personally liked or would suggest for others. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.
August 25, 2024
Southern gothic at its finest. This novella follows Maxine as she is forced to return to her childhood home after a tragic incident that causes her to lose her job. Max is reluctant to return to a home that caused her so much pain. When she pulls up, the house looks desolate save for the front yard. She enters to find the house empty and dust filled. The reader learns about her trauma and relives her memories with her. What follows is an interesting twist and changes that are unexpected.
May 20, 2024
I really enjoyed this book by Eden Royce in The Selected Papers from the Constortium for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena series. It was very well written, and I definitely didn't see where it was going until the end. Great character, great story, and great pacing. Will definitely like to read more from Eden Royce. #HollowTongue #NetGalley
June 22, 2024
Thanks to NetGalley and the author for granting me a copy of this book for an honest review!
I wish I could give this six stars. I'm absolutely obsessed. I'd read anything written by this author. Were I an influencer, this would be the horror book I didn't shut up about.
I wish I could give this six stars. I'm absolutely obsessed. I'd read anything written by this author. Were I an influencer, this would be the horror book I didn't shut up about.
Read
March 9, 2025Enjoyed this Southern Gothic quite a bit. Some good creepy atmosphere, some excellent body horror, and does a really solid job exploring psychological trauma, emotional abuse, and how it feels to return to a home that badly hurt you.
May 21, 2026
My blurb of Hollow Tongue: “In this transformative novella, Royce deftly explores what it means to revisit childhood trauma from an adult perspective. With an arresting voice, stunning prose, and atmosphere thick enough to taste, Hollow Tongue is Southern Gothic at its finest!”
July 16, 2024
That it? Felt like the equivalent to someone talking a big game and only lasting 30 seconds. I feel cheated.
February 6, 2026
a quick read, heavy in atmosphere that makes you know it's leading somewhere, but you're not sure where. you won't figure it out!
June 30, 2026
For the most part a slow typical family drama, with only a few ominous hints, but last 10 pages are nightmare fuel.
August 11, 2024
Holy crap was this a great book. I loved it. From the setting to the characters to the creepy dreamlike sentences it all builds a dread that you feel all over. My god what a book. Eden Royce - you are one of my new authors to follow and just buy any new book. Wow. Just wow.
January 28, 2025
I don't think I'm going to be able to shut up about this book!
This book was everything I need in a horror novella, it was horrifying but strangely beautiful.
An incredible gothic horror with a suffocating atmospheric house and a main character you just absolutely root for.
I went in knowing very little about this book (I actually prefer it this way) and I was immediately enveloped into the most gloriously spooky story.
Maxine Forrest must return to her childhood home and finds both parents unaccounted for, all of the poisonous memories from her childhood coming flooding back but is there a more physical danger waiting for Maxine?
This book was everything I need in a horror novella, it was horrifying but strangely beautiful.
An incredible gothic horror with a suffocating atmospheric house and a main character you just absolutely root for.
I went in knowing very little about this book (I actually prefer it this way) and I was immediately enveloped into the most gloriously spooky story.
Maxine Forrest must return to her childhood home and finds both parents unaccounted for, all of the poisonous memories from her childhood coming flooding back but is there a more physical danger waiting for Maxine?
November 15, 2024
This is my absolute favourite novella from this series by RDSP. It was so well written you don’t even see the genre switching twist ending coming but when it does it shocks you and makes you think WTF did I just read ( in the best way possible). Eden is such a master that in the end you realize that the clues where there all along. I walked away wondering why did that book have to end? What am I going to read next that’s even comparable?
November 23, 2025
The butterfly horror is unique and works well. The haunted house elements were fittingly gross, although I wasn't clear how they tied into the butterfly theme. I appreciated the protagonist voice.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews