Surgery: Table for Two

by M. von Lindenberg, Noah Rook (Editor)

Corey Everheart was willing to trade everything for fame, but when he gave up his heart, he didn't realize what he was losing.



Now, as he climbs the ladder of heavy metal fame, the price of his sacrifice becomes impossible to ignore. Amid the blood, the brutal reality of his choices, and a hollow, almost romantic longing for something more, Corey must face the emptiness that fame can't fill.



Table for Two is a raw, visceral exploration of what happens when we cut away the parts of ourselves that make us human-and what we lose when we dare to rebuild from the wreckage.

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2026

About the author

Writer, producer, musician, cinematographer, director, painter...

There are a lot of things I have called myself over the years. Many of them still hold true, even though some of those boxes are sitting on shelves waiting to be cracked open again.

I began playing music around age 9 and always enjoyed writing when prompted with an idea. Even as a kid, short stories were something I could whip up and dump onto a page. I'd never thought myself a writer in any official capacity, not any more than I'd thought myself a "professional" musician. Alas, some 25 years after recording my first tracks, I have quite a few works in my discography.

In 2024, I endeavored to write a short story that turned into the multi-part series "No One's Time" after a conversation with a buddy. Early 2025, I released the first part to the public and the rest are to follow.

Feel free to follow the bouncing ball and see what happens next in this newest chapter (pun intended).

Reviews

[Ann Adolphson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an eARC of Surgery: Table for Two by M. Von Lindenberg from the author, and I’m leaving this review completely voluntarily.

Surgery: Table for Two is a psychological and body horror that caught me off guard in a good way. It wasn’t at all what I expected going in, and that unpredictability made the reading experience even more unsettling.

We follow Corey, a struggling band frontman who is heartbroken, desperate, and searching for something more. When he stumbles across a mysterious ad in the newspaper, he makes a choice that feels reckless but understandable: he trades his heart for fame. At first, it seems like the deal might actually be worth it. But that illusion doesn’t last long. As Corey’s fame grows, so does the horror, and what he gave up begins to return to him in disturbing visions and dreams that refuse to let him rest.

This story really leans into the question: What would you be willing to sacrifice to make your dreams come true? The line between grief, obsession, and desire blurs in a way that feels deeply uncomfortable and intentionally so. There’s a slow-burn quality to the horror that almost feels romantic at times, which somehow makes it even more disturbing.

If you’re looking for a psychological/body horror that’s eerie, introspective, and quietly unsettling, Surgery: Table for Two is absolutely worth checking out.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dark, uncomfortable, and hard to put down book!The tension sits with you the entire time, and the atmosphere does a lot of the heavy lifting without relying on over-the-top shock.

It’s a short read, but it sticks. If you like psychological darkness, and uneasy vibes this one’s worth picking up.