2021 BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINEE FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN A NOVEL 2021 INTERNATIONAL LATINO BOOK AWARD WINNER "GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOUR HEART THUMP AND SKIN CRAWL”—The New York Times A gripping, modern-day spin on the Pied Piper fairy tale, as well as a gritty love letter to the underworld of Chicago from acclaimed Bram Stoker nominee Cynthia Pelayo. Reminiscent of the Bloody Mary urban legend, the Pied Piper’s story can be tracked back to the deaths of children for centuries and across the world—call to him for help with your problems, but beware when he comes back asking for payment. Chicago detective Lauren Medina’s latest call brings her to investigate a brutally murdered teenager in Humboldt Park—a crime eerily similar to the murder of her sister decades before. Unlike her straight-laced partner, she recognizes the crime, and the new graffiti popping up all over the city, for what it really means: the Pied Piper has returned. When more children are found dead, Lauren is certain her suspicion is correct. Still reeling from the recent death of her father, she knows she must find out who has summoned him again, and why, before more people die. Lauren’s torn between protecting the city she has sworn to keep safe, and keeping a promise she made long ago with her sister’s murderer. She may have to ruin her life by exposing her secrets and lies to stop the Pied Piper before he collects.

A fabled lost movie. An increasing body count. How much do you risk for art? Paloma has been watching the Grand Vespertilio Show her entire life. Grand, America’s most beloved horror host showcases classic, low-budget and cult horror movies with a flourish, wearing his black tuxedo and hat, but Paloma has noticed something strange about Grand, stranger than his dark make-up and Gothic television set. After Paloma’s husband, a homicide detective, discovers an obscure movie poster pinned on a mutilated corpse on stage at the Chicago Theater, she knows that the only person that can help solve this mystery is Grand. When another body appears at an abandoned historic movie palace the deaths prove to be connected to a silent film, lost to the ages, but somehow at the center of countless tragedies in Chicago. The closer Paloma gets to Grand she discovers that his reach is far greater than her first love, horror movies, and even this film. And she soon becomes trapped between protecting a silent movie that’s contributed to so much death in her city and the life of her young son.

A city's haunted history and fairy-tale horrors converge for two women in an addictive novel of psychological suspense by a multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author. Sisters Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow on the Chicago River. They're tethered to a disquieting past, and with nowhere else to go, nothing can part them from their family home. Not the maddening creaks and disembodied voices that rattle the old walls. Not the inexplicable drownings in the area, or the increasing number of bodies that float by Anna's window. To stave off loneliness, Anna has a podcast, spinning ghostly tales of Chicago's tragic history. But when Anna captures the attention of an ardent male listener, she awakens to the possibilities of a world outside. As their relationship grows, so do Jennie's fears. More and more people are going missing in the river. And then two detectives come calling. They're looking for a link between the mysteries of the river and what's housed on the bank. Even Anna and Jennie don't understand how dreadful it is--and still can be--when the truth about their unsettled lives begins to surface.

Into The Forest And All The Way Through is a collection of true crime poetry that explores the cases of over one hundred missing and murdered women in the United States."This book shook me, ripped my heart out, and haunts me still. Into the Forest and All the Way Through shines a harsh light on a subject society has been far too content to ignore...and it's about goddamn time. This Is a vital collection." -Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Sour Candy

Award-winning author Cynthia "Cina" Pelayo's acclaimed short story collection Lotería, now with added illustrations and new bonus stories...as well as an exclusive preview for her upcoming sequel to CHILDREN OF CHICAGO, THE SHOEMAKER'S MAGICIAN (out this Spring). The Mexican board game of Lotería is a game of chance—similar to bingo. However, in Lotería instead of matching up numbers on a game board, players match up images. There are 54 cards in the Lotería game, and for this short story collection you will find one unique story per card based on a Latin American myth, folklore, superstition, or belief—with a slant towards the paranormal and horrific. In this deck of cards you will find murderers, ghosts, goblins and ghouls. This collection features creatures and monsters, vampires, werewolves and more. Many of these legends existed long before their European counterparts—passed throughout the Americas via word of mouth, collected just like the tales the Brothers Grimm. These are indeed fairy tales—Latin American fairy tales—but with a horrifying slant.

The Mexican board game of Lotería is a game of chance--similar to bingo. However, in Lotería instead of matching up numbers on a game board, players match up images. There are 54 cards in the Lotería game, and for this short story collection you will find one unique story per card based on a Latin American myth, folklore, superstition, or belief--with a slant towards the paranormal and horrific. In this deck of cards you will find murderers, ghosts, goblins and ghouls. This collection features creatures and monsters, vampires, werewolves and more. Many of these legends existed long before their European counterparts--passed throughout the Americas via word of mouth, collected just like the tales the Brothers Grimm. These are indeed fairy tales--Latin American fairy tales--but with a horrifying slant.

This World Belongs to Us is an anthology of horror stories about bugs, writ large: we're not scientists, so spiders and slugs and scorpions (oh my!) are in here too. This anthology features stories by Bram Stoker Award winner Kealan Patrick Burke, multiple Bram Stoker Award nominees Cynthia Pelayo and V. Castro, plus Paula D. Ashe, Octavia Cade, Felix I.D. Dimaro, Jaclyn Youhana Garver, Donnie Goodman, Laurel Hightower, Rowan Hill, C.B. Jones, Bitter Karella, Gwen Katz, R.M. Kidd, J.A. Prentice, Bert S.G., David Simmons, Yvette Tan, and Kay Vaindal as well as a major rediscovery--John B.L. Goodwin's 1946 story The Cocoon, one of the creepiest stories ever written but out of print for more than 40 years.

In Crime Scene, Special Agent K is called to the discovery of the skeletal remains of a child located in a forest. As the investigation unfolds, memory and grueling present are at conflict throughout this poem told in narrative verse, inspired by the classical styles of epic poetry of heroic journeys. Names, dates, people, and events are told in minimalist styles in Crime Scene, as placeholders for all the uncertainties and unknowns which occur during a missing and murdered person case.Crime Scene follows Pelayo's Bram Stoker Award® and Elgin nominated 2020 poetry release by Burial Day Books, Into The Forest And All The Way Through, which features true crime poetry that explores the cases of over one hundred missing and murdered women in the United States

Cynthia Pelayo constructs a narrative in her poetry in response to the work of Jorge Luis Borges that examines the themes and subsequent consequences of insomnia, death, and blindness. There's a visionary quality to her work that dances along the line between the present world that we inhabit and the other world that lingers beyond the veil. Her poetry folds back this blanket of darkness, and shows readers the quiet violence and beauty that hides beneath waiting to be exposed, experienced, and encompassed. Pelayo showcases this scream of silence through an urban and metaphysical night as she reflects on the spiritual, the occult, and the everyday happenings that become extraordinary in their own rights. Her poems are sermons, prayers to the voices that surround us in the dark, and comforts to those who watch over us as we sleep. Her style is honest, raw, and her voice will leave readers asking questions about what waits for them in the beyond, and whether or not their sins and frustrations are trapping them in the here and now. She shows us that all too often, there is nothing to be scared of when the sun goes down, but that sometimes, we have every reason to be afraid, especially as we enter her world of blackness and decay, of smudged fingerprints and burnt pictures. These poems are cautionary tales for those who choose not to cover their eyes, warnings for those who refuse to find the light. And when our dreams come to roost, when our sleep eases us in, Pelayo shows us what nightmares are made of, and why there are some stories we can never escape.