Annie Neugebauer

I have been dying to share this news: I have another book coming out next year!! My creepy novella The Extra is being released on September 9, 2025 by Shortwave Publishing!

This was an awesome, wild ride. I actually got the offer on this book the same week that I got the offer on my short story collection. (Along with a second offer on the collection, believe it or not!) So after almost two decades of working toward publishing a book, I had three publication offers and a cover (!) sitting in my inbox on the same week. And my writing friends know how heart-fluttery it is to see that Publishers Marketplace listing.

The novella, The Extra, and the short story collection, You Have to Let Them Bleed, are totally unrelated and will be published by two different, amazing indie presses in 2025. You Have to Let Them Bleed will be out in spring through Bad Hand Books, and The Extra in September through Shortwave Publishing. There is no crossover in content or anything, so you can and should order both! 😀 I will share the preorder link for The Extra as soon as I have it. In the meantime, it is included in Shortwave’s 2025 Quarterly Book Boxes–a very cool subscription drive that includes books by Gemma Files, Nat Cassidy, Todd Keisling, and more.

Two! Debuts! I’m going to have two books out!

Here is the longer description for The Extra:

A university backpacking trip heads into the wilderness with all ten hikers accounted for. But after a strange EMP during a rainstorm kills their flashlights, the number of participants changes—to one extra. Matt, leading this trip of students and staff, remembers every one of the eleven people now present. There is no obvious interloper. An insidious mystery ensues as Matt attempts to quietly uncover who the extra is and why they’re here masquerading as one of the group. Because one thing is certain: he came here with ten people, and only ten people are going back home.

I will continue to share updates about my book, like a preorder link and the cover, here on my blog, so subscribe if you’re not yet.

And thank you so much to editor Alan Lastufka for picking up this novella, and to my agent Alec Shane for matching us up. I am a very happy, very lucky, very grateful writer.

Next year is going to be exceptional. I’m so glad you’re here with me.

After seventeen years of waiting for this, I can finally say: I have a book coming out!

My debut will be a collection, You Have to Let Them Bleed, out in spring 2025! You can preorder NOW to get the paperback with a signed bookplate through my publisher, Bad Hand Books!

You Have to Let Them Bleed brings together nineteen horror stories with eight original poems, featuring one never-before-seen short story. It explores themes of art, violence, loss of identity, motherhood and children, grief, control vs. chaos, monstrosity, and insidious fear.

It is an absolute labor of love built from well over a decade of passionate creative pursuit, literary study, and dogged determination. Pre-orders are incredibly important for the success of a book, so clicking this link and ordering yours now is the number one way you can support me!

If you are a reader of mine already, you will likely find a favorite or two in this collection, but you will surely find some unread stories as well, along with one never-before-published short certain to stick right in your brain meat. Don’t be scared! (Yet!) Do it!

Here’s the book description:

The collector hunts the darkness for terrible beauty: macabre and marvelous stories worth displaying in their shadow boxes. Tour these horrors with them, but beware: if you’re not careful, you might find yourself lost in a labyrinth of fear.

A pickup artist is after your skin. A junk drawer opens into the abyss. The twin sons of an ill-fated magician plot against their abusive mother. A man wastes his life dreading an unseen entity. A senior water aerobics class takes a turn for the bizarre…

YOU HAVE TO LET THEM BLEED brings together the best horror fiction by two-time Bram Stoker Award finalist and nationally award-winning poet Annie Neugebauer. Together with eight new poems, this nineteen-story collection will draw you into the lovely darkness, lure you deeper into the heartbreaking and gruesome, and leave behind its own collection of horrors to fill the shadows of your mind.

I will continue to share news and developments about my book (like a cover!) as we get closer to publication, but for now, thank you so much for ordering your copy and sharing my news with all of your book- and horror-loving friends!

Big, big thanks to editor Doug Murano for picking up this project, and to all of my readers, friends, and supporters over these years for sticking it out with me. We’re doing the thing. Let’s go.