The Tenebrous Cult's Got Talent
Apr 16, 2026 1:31 pm
Hey Ho, Tenebrous Cult!
You good? Or at the very least remembering to breathe and hydrate regularly? We're good. We're in this lower-case-w weird stretch of time where we're less than two months from shifting operations over to the new distro deal with IPG and it's a mix of racing to tie up loose threads, triple-checking that this/that/the other got done, a short list of sizable unanswered questions that we're still waiting to iron out, and then a big UNKNOWABLE label stamped over the whole thing.
Ask us again in one month how we're holding up and we'll have a more accurate answer. Better yet, ask for a hair count! If I still have any left, that means things are going okay.
For now, let's focus on the KNOWABLE. Such as:
TENEBROUS AT NORWESCON
the last show where two tables can hold all our books!
At this point you've probably heard us identify as publishers of "New Weird Horror + More" a time or seventy. We've zigged and zagged around speculative genre norms pretty much from the jump—does anyone anywhere think of ONE HAND TO HOLD, ONE HAND TO CARVE as a conventional horror story?—so we've grown quite comfortable with selling ourselves to new audiences who carry with them certain preconceived notions of what Horror means.
In fact, there's not much I love more than tabling Tenebrous in an environment where we are the outsiders; a chance to prove ourselves, to reach a new audience who's never heard of us. Our first year tabling at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival remains one of our favorite experiences; hard to beat the satisfaction of convincing a lifelong Mythos reader that there is Weird Horror beyond Cthulhu, sending them home with a copy of CROM CRUACH, and knowing that you've either just permanently broken a brain or created an acolyte for life.
watching the awards ceremony w/New (Weird) pals John Larson & J.A. Prentice
I went into Norwescon knowing full well that there's a sizable contingent of Sci-Fi/Fantasy readers who have zero interest in Horror landing anywhere on their shores. And that's okay! All genres are not for all readers. Tenebrous has never been a spray-and-pray publisher, and that ain't about to change (lord I hope IPG knows what they signed up for). Each of our books stands uniquely apart from the others, but each is still a careful part of a design that Alex and I can see.
Don't mistake our curatorial vision for a lack of ambition: we'd be pleased as punch if our books sold a hundred thousand copies. But we know we cater to a specific level of adventurousness within our readership, and we're grateful for their trust in us.
All of which is to say that sure, some Norwescon attendees commented that "I love your cover art** but I can't do horror, like, at all***", and then made the sign of the evil eye at us while backing away slowly; but plenty of others—our people, even if they didn't know it yet—would point at a cover, strike up a conversation, ask a question, or sometimes just do the worst possible thing and smile at me; and eventually they'd leave with seven new titles in hand. At one point I chatted for half an hour with a mother in her sixties as her three daughters thoroughly read the back cover copy of every single book, passing them back and forth, before making their selections. Those were our people.
TLDR: Norwescon was great. We sold beaucoup books and welcomed new converts into the Tenebrous Cult. We'll be back.
**Quite frankly, who doesn't like our cover art?! Our covers are incredible. They do not look like Big 5 covers. They are not trying to. That is very much by design. I'm perpetually a little stunned that more indie publishers don't go for broke, go for bold, rather than continuing to imitate the more conventional designs of the bigs. But that's a conversation for another day.
***Also, "I can't do horror at all" didn't stop me from finding a new home for copies of DEAR STUPID PENPAL and CASUAL and some of our titles where horror doesn't necessarily land in the first two or three genre descriptors. Because we are very good at talking about our books, if we do say so ourselves:)
And speaking of CASUAL! The reason we were at Norwescon in the first place was to cheer author Koji A. Dae on for her much-deserved Philip K. Dick Award nomination, and it was delightful to meet her and hang out a bit.
Koji and CASUAL
Have you read the Philip K. Dick nominated novel CASUAL yet? Because you really should.
Calling all bards and balladeers! SPLIT SCREAM: CURSED PLACES is out next week, let's hear your dulcet tones
Okay, we've got a creative challenge for all you musicians out there.
Ever since we launched our Book Club a few years ago, many of our authors have added in little bonus features exclusively for subscribers as a thank-you for their commitment to all things Weird. Some have written exclusive short stories; others have crafted in-universe poems or movie reviews or artwork or other various ephemera.
But this particular bonus feature seemed too fun to keep to ourselves, so we're throwing it out there to everyone! Matthew Pritt is the author of "Lash Egg", one half of the upcoming SPLIT SCREAM: CURSED PLACES (preorder it now!) and when we asked him if he had anything he'd like to contribute to Book Club subscribers, he crafted a piece of in-universe sheet music!
We wanna hear what YOU can do with this, in whatever style of music you fancy. We like both kinds of music around here—ska and goth, or skoth as it's more commonly known—but we're not picky! Send us your best jug-n-slide-whistle rendition; melt our faces with some 220bpm death metal; or beatbox your lil' heart out. Send your links to [email protected], or just respond to this newsletter, and let's make Tenebrous even more proggy, even more punk, and a whole lot more cacaphonous.
**We will assume that anything sent to us is cleared to be shared on our social media. But if that is not the case, please specify!
In the meantime, SPLIT SCREAM: CURSED PLACES is out April 21st and features novelettes by Pritt and Sonora Taylor:
Sonora Taylor - Passing Glance
Washington, D.C.’s sprawling and storied Moore Mansion is built upon intrigue and secrecy, playing host to both political elites and the merely curious alike. Its labyrinthine rooms and passageways, festooned in eclectic art and mysterious mirrors, captivate all who explore them.
Dylan arrives at the mansion for her friend’s 30th birthday party at a crossroads of her own: adrift, eager to reunite with old friends, and seeking to rekindle a long-held lust for one of the group. But tonight she will discover the true terrifying secrets of Moore Mansion: a house built to be a city, and one which unfolds like a trap.
Matthew Pritt - Lash Egg
The people of the Doe’s country walk in the Balance, attuned to the land and guided by their benevolent nature spirit. For Ben, a refugee who narrowly escaped the madness-infested Bear’s country to the south, the Doe remains a mystery. Ben has never heard the Doe speak, and marvels at his neighbors’ firsthand experiences with his new home’s Protector. Fortunately his ten-year-old daughter, Lydia, doesn’t share his struggles, and adapts to life in the Doe with ease.
But when a mysterious wasting plague attacks the local wildlife, Ben suspects he is the cause of it. As the plague spreads and threatens to collapse the Doe’s entire ecosystem, Ben must discover how he has offended the Doe, or risk losing the only safe place he and his daughter have ever known.
“A gorgeously unsettling treat…I can’t recommend this enough.”
- Michael Boulerice, FEEDING THE WHEEL
“Takes you to wrong places where the very ground under your feet threatens to betray you and there is really, truly, nowhere to run. If you imprinted on Silent Hill in the late 90's the way I did, these stories will remind you why.”
- M.Shaw, Wonderland-Award Winning author of ONE HAND TO HOLD, ONE HAND TO CARVE
Last item!
10% OFF SALE IN OUR WEBSTORE BECAUSE TAX DAY SUCKS
This one's pretty straightforward; yesterday was Tax Day here in the States. It sucks. So save a few bucks in our webstore. Good all day. Probably into tomorrow because I'm slow at pushing buttons.
Code at checkout: 10ebrous
We've got some more preorders up too—Santiago Eximeno's ALICIA IS IN THE BASEMENT as well as YOUR BODY IS A FEVER DREAM—but we'll dig into those more in the coming weeks.
For now, the Cult is CLOSED, and the School of Rock is OPEN. Show us your stuff.
Hail Indie Publishing.
Hail New Weird Horror (+ More!)
Hail the Tenebrous Cult.
Matt + Alex
