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Split Scream Volume Eight: Cursed Places
Not yet published
Expected 21 Apr 26This place is not a place of honor. This place is Cursed. These New Weird Horror novelettes are a danger to the Body, and to the Mind, and they can Kill.
Sonora Taylor - Passing Glance
Washington, D.C.’s sprawling and storied Moore Mansion is built upon intrigue and secrecy, playing host to both political elites and the merely curious alike. Its labyrinthine rooms and passageways, festooned in eclectic art and mysterious mirrors, captivate all who explore them.
Dylan arrives at the mansion for her friend’s 30th birthday party at a crossroads of her own: adrift, eager to reunite with old friends, and seeking to rekindle a long-held lust for one of the group. But tonight she will discover the true terrifying secrets of Moore Mansion: a house built to be a city, and one which unfolds like a trap.
Matthew Pritt - Lash Egg
The people of the Doe’s country walk in the Balance, attuned to the land and guided by their benevolent nature spirit. For Ben, a refugee who narrowly escaped the madness-infested Bear’s country to the south, the Doe remains a mystery. Ben has never heard the Doe speak, and marvels at his neighbors’ firsthand experiences with his new home’s Protector. Fortunately his ten-year-old daughter, Lydia, doesn’t share his struggles, and adapts to life in the Doe with ease.
But when a mysterious wasting plague attacks the local wildlife, Ben suspects he is the cause of it. As the plague spreads and threatens to collapse the Doe’s entire ecosystem, Ben must discover how he has offended the Doe, or risk losing the only safe place he and his daughter have ever known.
Sonora Taylor - Passing Glance
Washington, D.C.’s sprawling and storied Moore Mansion is built upon intrigue and secrecy, playing host to both political elites and the merely curious alike. Its labyrinthine rooms and passageways, festooned in eclectic art and mysterious mirrors, captivate all who explore them.
Dylan arrives at the mansion for her friend’s 30th birthday party at a crossroads of her own: adrift, eager to reunite with old friends, and seeking to rekindle a long-held lust for one of the group. But tonight she will discover the true terrifying secrets of Moore Mansion: a house built to be a city, and one which unfolds like a trap.
Matthew Pritt - Lash Egg
The people of the Doe’s country walk in the Balance, attuned to the land and guided by their benevolent nature spirit. For Ben, a refugee who narrowly escaped the madness-infested Bear’s country to the south, the Doe remains a mystery. Ben has never heard the Doe speak, and marvels at his neighbors’ firsthand experiences with his new home’s Protector. Fortunately his ten-year-old daughter, Lydia, doesn’t share his struggles, and adapts to life in the Doe with ease.
But when a mysterious wasting plague attacks the local wildlife, Ben suspects he is the cause of it. As the plague spreads and threatens to collapse the Doe’s entire ecosystem, Ben must discover how he has offended the Doe, or risk losing the only safe place he and his daughter have ever known.
130 pages, Paperback
Expected publication April 21, 2026
3 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Sonora Taylor
35 books160 followersSonora Taylor is the award-winning author of Little Paranoias: Stories, Without Condition, The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales, Please Give, and Wither and Other Stories. Her short stories have appeared in multiple publications, including Camden Park Press’s Quoth the Raven, Kandisha Press’s Women of Horror Vol. 2: Graveyard Smash, The Sirens Call, Frozen Wavelets, Mercurial Stories, Tales to Terrify, and the Ladies of Horror fiction podcast. Her latest book, Seeing Things, is now available on Amazon. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
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Review of advance copy received from Author
*Huge thanks to Tenebrous Press for the digital ARC of this one!*
Tenebrous Press continues to release new and exciting books and their Split Scream project is something I see so many people continually rave about. Shamefully, I believe this is the first one I’ve managed to read, but when I heard that Sonora’s novella was going to be in this, I wasn’t going to miss this one!
A few years ago, Sonora and I were working on a unique release together. It consisted of a singular novella that told the story of two writers facing the end of the world and in their final hours, they each write their own last novellas, in the hopes that should humanity manage to survive, maybe they’ll find these and read them. We sent it to a few places, had a few nibbles but then ultimately decided to shelve it and we took our individual novellas and tweaked them to send them out further into the wide world. For my part, I actually can’t recall what my own novella was about! It very well might be the sci-fi/horror novella I have sitting there waiting for me to finish. But when Sonora shared that hers had been picked up by Tenebrous, I was ecstatic.
On the other side, when this project was announced, I read the synopsis for Pritt’s portion and was over the moon. Having already read Sonora’s and loving it, pairing it with this insane sounding folk-horror piece seemed perfect and I couldn’t wait to dive in!
Let’s start with Sonora’s piece.
Passing Glance by Sonora Taylor
What I liked: This novella takes place at the secretive Moore Mansion, a building in Washington, D.C. that has a history filled with odd occurrences, strange disappearances and intrigue stacked on wonder. Dylan arrives to celebrate her friends 30th birthday, equally excited to celebrate the milestone while also learning more about the history of the crazy place.
Sonora sets things up well, including giving us an early glimpse at both a potential tryst between Dylan and another party guest, but also the mansion’s oddities. Things keep getting odder and after Dylan finds a hidden hallway, things really go off the rails. Sonora takes Dylan on a terrifying descent into the truth within the walls as well as her own madness as she grows more and more disoriented.
The ending was a lot of fun, though it will make you question a few of the five W’s regarding how it ends.
What I didn’t like: In this particular case, I wished that a few more of the party goers would’ve had odd experiences as well, as the novella focuses solely on Dylan and it would’ve been fun to see the others deal with the puzzle/trappings of the mansion.
Lash Egg by Matthew Pritt
What I liked: What could only be described as speculative folk horror (I think, lol!) Pritt’s ‘Lash Egg’ walks the line between Bizarro and Dystopian, while focusing on environmental horror elements.
The novella follows Ben and his daughter, Lydia, who’ve only lived in the land of the Doe for about six years. After a madness took hold of the inhabitants – human and animal alike – in the land of the Bear where they lived previously, they fled, being hunted by everything, until they managed to arrive at the land of the Doe and since then, they’ve been trying to keep their lives aligned with the balance the Doe requires. But that’s not easy. Because Ben doesn’t believe.
The story ramps up when their reliable chicken lays a lash egg, a rubbery, mound of pus. Soon, the chicken itself is filled with pus and other animals around their farm seem to catch the same thing, becoming disoriented and bursting open, their insides mush.
Ben knows it’s because of him, but he wants to keep Lydia safe.
Pritt does a wonderful job of bringing us into this strange new way of life, where people farm and make their own clothing and do what is needed to survive, which is part of the crux of the story for Ben. What does he need to do to maintain his own balance? And how will that effect his daughter?
The ending is powerful and, as one would expect, pushes Ben to make the hardest decision of his life.
What I didn’t like: In this particular one, I found it odd that they’d lived there – at least in that particular area – for as long as they did and Ben still struggled with some of the basics of ‘The Balance.’ Sure, even if he didn’t believe, if he was worried about them kicking him and Lydia out of the area, I feel like he should’ve done as much as he possibly could to make sure he lived within the alignment.
Why you should buy this: As I’ve said a hundred times over the years, Sonora Taylor should be an auto-buy/auto-read author for everyone. This was my first go around with Pritt and I loved his entry so much. These two play in the same sandbox, though at very different sides of the horror world and that’s what makes this pairing so much fun. Each story pushes their characters to the edge of what they can handle and we get to see what happens when they realize they’re just one step away from toppling over that edge. And as readers, you kind of want to see what happens then, right?
Two fantastic novellas from two fantastic writers – and one release you definitely don’t want to miss out on!
Tenebrous Press continues to release new and exciting books and their Split Scream project is something I see so many people continually rave about. Shamefully, I believe this is the first one I’ve managed to read, but when I heard that Sonora’s novella was going to be in this, I wasn’t going to miss this one!
A few years ago, Sonora and I were working on a unique release together. It consisted of a singular novella that told the story of two writers facing the end of the world and in their final hours, they each write their own last novellas, in the hopes that should humanity manage to survive, maybe they’ll find these and read them. We sent it to a few places, had a few nibbles but then ultimately decided to shelve it and we took our individual novellas and tweaked them to send them out further into the wide world. For my part, I actually can’t recall what my own novella was about! It very well might be the sci-fi/horror novella I have sitting there waiting for me to finish. But when Sonora shared that hers had been picked up by Tenebrous, I was ecstatic.
On the other side, when this project was announced, I read the synopsis for Pritt’s portion and was over the moon. Having already read Sonora’s and loving it, pairing it with this insane sounding folk-horror piece seemed perfect and I couldn’t wait to dive in!
Let’s start with Sonora’s piece.
Passing Glance by Sonora Taylor
What I liked: This novella takes place at the secretive Moore Mansion, a building in Washington, D.C. that has a history filled with odd occurrences, strange disappearances and intrigue stacked on wonder. Dylan arrives to celebrate her friends 30th birthday, equally excited to celebrate the milestone while also learning more about the history of the crazy place.
Sonora sets things up well, including giving us an early glimpse at both a potential tryst between Dylan and another party guest, but also the mansion’s oddities. Things keep getting odder and after Dylan finds a hidden hallway, things really go off the rails. Sonora takes Dylan on a terrifying descent into the truth within the walls as well as her own madness as she grows more and more disoriented.
The ending was a lot of fun, though it will make you question a few of the five W’s regarding how it ends.
What I didn’t like: In this particular case, I wished that a few more of the party goers would’ve had odd experiences as well, as the novella focuses solely on Dylan and it would’ve been fun to see the others deal with the puzzle/trappings of the mansion.
Lash Egg by Matthew Pritt
What I liked: What could only be described as speculative folk horror (I think, lol!) Pritt’s ‘Lash Egg’ walks the line between Bizarro and Dystopian, while focusing on environmental horror elements.
The novella follows Ben and his daughter, Lydia, who’ve only lived in the land of the Doe for about six years. After a madness took hold of the inhabitants – human and animal alike – in the land of the Bear where they lived previously, they fled, being hunted by everything, until they managed to arrive at the land of the Doe and since then, they’ve been trying to keep their lives aligned with the balance the Doe requires. But that’s not easy. Because Ben doesn’t believe.
The story ramps up when their reliable chicken lays a lash egg, a rubbery, mound of pus. Soon, the chicken itself is filled with pus and other animals around their farm seem to catch the same thing, becoming disoriented and bursting open, their insides mush.
Ben knows it’s because of him, but he wants to keep Lydia safe.
Pritt does a wonderful job of bringing us into this strange new way of life, where people farm and make their own clothing and do what is needed to survive, which is part of the crux of the story for Ben. What does he need to do to maintain his own balance? And how will that effect his daughter?
The ending is powerful and, as one would expect, pushes Ben to make the hardest decision of his life.
What I didn’t like: In this particular one, I found it odd that they’d lived there – at least in that particular area – for as long as they did and Ben still struggled with some of the basics of ‘The Balance.’ Sure, even if he didn’t believe, if he was worried about them kicking him and Lydia out of the area, I feel like he should’ve done as much as he possibly could to make sure he lived within the alignment.
Why you should buy this: As I’ve said a hundred times over the years, Sonora Taylor should be an auto-buy/auto-read author for everyone. This was my first go around with Pritt and I loved his entry so much. These two play in the same sandbox, though at very different sides of the horror world and that’s what makes this pairing so much fun. Each story pushes their characters to the edge of what they can handle and we get to see what happens when they realize they’re just one step away from toppling over that edge. And as readers, you kind of want to see what happens then, right?
Two fantastic novellas from two fantastic writers – and one release you definitely don’t want to miss out on!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
From my blurbs for each story:
PASSING GLANCE by Sonora Bostian-Posner is a propulsive, horny, delightfully entertaining and surprising dark story that will have you nodding with satisfaction at the final scene.
LASH EGG by Matthew Pritt is a world-class folk horror tale that repeatedly forces the reader to answer the question, "What would you do?" and the answers are never good. Deeply disturbing, makes you thankful it's only a story.
Overall, this is a great pairing.
PASSING GLANCE by Sonora Bostian-Posner is a propulsive, horny, delightfully entertaining and surprising dark story that will have you nodding with satisfaction at the final scene.
LASH EGG by Matthew Pritt is a world-class folk horror tale that repeatedly forces the reader to answer the question, "What would you do?" and the answers are never good. Deeply disturbing, makes you thankful it's only a story.
Overall, this is a great pairing.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews