Happy Holidays, Booksellers!

While our feet our firmly entrenched in the Christmas-appropriate winter wonderland—okay, so, technically it's pea-soup fog in Romania and the usual steady drizzle of rain in Portland, OR, but you take our meaning—our minds can't help but be wrapped up in what is coming up next year.

Our first title of 2026 arrives in February, and it's a big one; literally, the biggest book Tenebrous has released yet!

KAYAK by Kristal Stittle is all rollicking creature-feature action, suspenseful cliffhangers and epic sci-fi horror, woven through with incredibly rich, deft character work; it's widescreen cinema with Lit-Fic marrow in its bones.

Author Stittle spends most of her time in the outdoors, and in kayaks of her own, and boy does it show; this book feels lived-in and authentic in a way that an alien invasion thriller simply shouldn't.

Read KAYAK in its entirety here.

About KAYAK:

For eighteen-year-old Keith—floating alone on a series of lakes and rivers, lost and without supplies—his kayak is his means of survival. Solid ground means certain death at the scissor-claws of vicious invading creatures.  

What he needs is to find more people; but terrible guilt anchors him in solitude. A year earlier, when the creatures first appeared, it was Keith's choices that brought disaster to the island community that took him in.

Now, it's time to take responsibility for his actions, heal his scars, and survive.

Told in two alternating timelines, Kayak is a story of family, the strength we draw from others, and the strength we learn to draw from ourselves.

Cover art by Kerisson Wemerson:

Release Date: February 17, 2026

$19.99, Trade Paperback, 336 pages

ISBN: 978-1-959790-57-0

Interior illustrations by Blacky Shepherd:

"Deceptively unsettling, smart survival horror…grips you by the throat and [doesn’t] let go."

• Max Booth III, We Need to Do Something,I Believe in Mister Bones

“A riveting, fast-paced, genre-blending story.”

• Laura Cranehill, Wife Shaped Bodies

"Hypnotically suffocating and immersive. I caught myself holding my breath.”

• J.Krawczyk, It Looks Like Dad

"Impressive and gripping."

• Sonora Taylor, Without Condition

“An original and surprising apocalyptic tale.”

• David Moody, Autumn, Hater

Read KAYAK in its entirety here.

Multiple shout-outs from Literary Hub this month:

REEF MIND was named one of LitHub's 100 Notable Small Press Books of 2025.

REEF MIND by Hazel Zorn

$13.99, Trade Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-959790-41-9

And CASUAL was named one of the best overlooked Sci-Fi/Fantasy books of 2025.

CASUAL by Koji A. Dae

$19.99, Trade Paperback

ISBN: 978-1-959790-29-7

We've updated our catalogue to include all of 2025; all of our titles are fully readable in eBook format, dating back to our very first anthologies.

ACCESS OUR FULL READABLE CATALOGUE HERE.

Tenebrous Press books are available through IngramSpark.

**A reminder that we also do direct wholesale distribution to bookstores. No minimum orders! Find out more here.

Be well, and thank you for all you do to support independent publishing. We wish you a wonderful holiday bookselling season!

Alex Woodroe, Editor-in-Chief, Tenebrous Press (she/her)

Matt Blairstone, Publisher, Tenebrous Press (he/him)