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.
You Have to Let Them Bleed released March 17th through Bad Hand Books.
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“A unique and unsettling voice, one readers will want to revisit in future books. For fans of the weird, original, and thoughtfully crafted works of Kelly Link, Cassandra Khaw and Samanta Schweblin.” —Booklist
“The stories in this book run the gamut from the strange to the disturbing to up-all-night, all-out terror. This volume should cement Neugebauer as one of the most exciting voices in modern horror and win her plenty of new fans with its bloody, witty, unforgettable tales.” —Bloody Disgusting
“You Have To Let Them Bleed is a masterclass in controlled devastation. With this collection, Annie Neugebauer proves that horror is at its most powerful when it is both beautiful and brutal.” —The Fandomentals
“I’m convinced Annie Neugebauer is an apothecary of dread, an archaic chemist capable of constructing disquieting tales that attack the very fabric of my being. The assortment of stories found within You Have to Let Them Bleed are agents of trepidation, fast-moving, panic-inducing narrative narcotics that only a master craftsman of horror could prescribe.” —Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes
“The voice of a poet, the heart of a killer, and the fury of a pugilist—this collection of stories and poems will work you over and leave you spent. Blending horror with magic, loss with hope, and fear with love, Annie Neugebauer is one of the most powerful authors writing today.” —Richard Thomas, Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller Award finalist
“Annie Neugebauer stuns in this exquisite collection in which poetry and lyrical prose stand side by side. Dripped with decadent dread, You Have to Let Them Bleed showcases a stellar range of styles, from Gothic to psychological and beyond. This is one of the best collections I’ve read this year.” —Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Vanishing Daughters
“The stories in this superb collection find the unnatural in nature, chaos in order, and the frightening in the commonplace. Annie Neugebauer is one of those rare authors who can summon terror from a kitchen drawer, a shift of colors, or a coin rolling across a countertop, and You Have to Let Them Bleed places her in the top ranks of horror writers working now.” —Lisa Morton, six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award
“From its opening notes, You Have to Let Them Bleed announces itself as a symphony of poetry and prose. A nightmarish treasury of shadowy gems, these tales will lurk in the back of the mind and haunt you in the cold hours. Neugebauer has woven a tapestry of darkness.” —Angela “A.G.” Slatter, award-winning author of The Crimson Road
“Annie Neugebauer’s first collection You Have to Let Them Bleed is a great mix of the stories and poems she’s acclaimed for, where something as simple as a kitchen drawer becomes ominous. Her deft prose and tone-perfect imagery make this a best collection of the year contender.” —John F.D. Taff, Bram Stoker Award and World Fantasy Award Finalist
“It was a terrible and breathtaking delight to read You have to Let Them Bleed, where the fear seeps in slowly, like spilled honey. In this short story collection, sprinkled with vivid and wild poetry, two-time Bram Stoker award winner and award-winning poet, Annie Neugebauer, is at her finest. With every turn of the page, Neugebauer reveals how modern horror writing can be as beautiful and lyrical as any piece of great literature. ” —Joy Reads Books