In one week, the demons are free! The Calamities hits shelves next Tuesday, 8/18, and let me just be the first to say: AHHHHH.

And, in addition: AHHHHHH.

It’s very exciting to have this story on the precipice of emerging from its long dark cosmic prison — this is the first of two parts, the second being Chaos Reigns, and it was a great deal of fun to write. It’s also a bit of a gear shift. It’s still something that is, for me, absolute horror, but it’s also thrust through with a spear of strange, mad fantasy. A little bit of Barker, a bit of Mount Char, but (hopefully) still feels uniquely like a book only I could’ve written.

And with that in mind, I also note that it’s a book that draws in threads from a number of my other books — Book of Accidents, Black River Orchard, Staircase in the Woods, and even (gasp) The Blue Blazes. None are required to read or understand this, obviously, but for those who have, then hopefully ye shall be rewarded.

It’s a big book!

It’s full of nasty people! (Who I also sorta love, just the same.)

Bad, bisexual half-demons go to save and also maybe ruin the world? The best of the worst people go on an adventure? Nightmare ensues? Hell yeah.

Hope you enjoy.

Preorder: Doylestown Bookshop | Bookshop.org | B&N | Amz | Kobo | Libro.fm | Apple Books | BAM

I remind you that I am going on tour —

Philly! NYC! Doylestown! Harrisburg! Pittsburgh! Cincinnati! Chicago area! Milwaukee! Madison! Minneapolis! Denver! St. Louis! Charlotte area for the Belmont Litfest! And I get to talk to some amazing people — Richard Kadrey, Benjamin Percy, Tracy Townsend, Sarah Read, Erika Wurth, Nat Cassidy, Clay McLeod Chapman, Todd Keisling, JH Markert, ML Motherfucking Rio! Plus all the authors of Dark Ink, and Belmont LitFest.

It’s gonna be a hoot.

So I hope you’ll go. All the tour details here. Note that many of the stores require either RSVPs or tickets. (Tickets usually get you entry plus the book.) It’s good to support indie bookstores — you can also, if you can’t make it, order from the store, I’ll sign it, and then you can pick it up. (Some stores even ship. My own local, Doylestown Bookshop, does, if you want a copy from them.) But you should still try to go because we’ll have fun. We’ll talk weird apples. We can talk about creepy staircases that don’t belong. We can definitely talk about my favorite demons.

All right. I’ll be back next week to properly yell at you about the release. Thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for checking out the book. Thanks for telling all your friends and family that if they don’t check out the book you’ll never talk to them again. Thanks for sacrificing relentlessly on the altar, thus earning favor from the fiends who are trapped inside the book. Also fuck AI.

Bye!