Trenchcoated thugs in neon-drenched alleyways and the finest illegal body modifications you can buy
May 12, 2026 1:31 pm
Hey Ho, Tenebrous Cult!
MIDWESTERN CHROME preorders are open now! The Future is here...and Weird...
...and kinda bleak too. But don't worry, there's just enough crackling electric blue light creeping in to keep hope alive. And the scenery is pretty goddamn cool.
Overlooking the rather glaring and very much of-its-time chauvinism of much of his work, Philip K. Dick may just be my favorite historical—i.e. unconnected to Tenebrous and dead—writer. He was brilliant and troubled and rarely properly recognized as an author of Weird fiction per se; but how could you classify the structural experimentation of Martian Timeslip or the sheer what-the-fuckery of UBIK or VALIS as anything but capital-W Weird?
He's one of ours, we claim him; and even though he's regarded as a legend in the sci-fi genre, I don't think he could be overappreciated.
Author Michael Bettendorf (TRVE CVLT) tugs on some very PKD-esque strands for his latest, MIDWESTERN CHROME, but he also digs into the hard-boiled noir leanings of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and the like to weave a brilliant cyberpunk n' crime tapestry that reads like no one else but...well, Michael Bettendorf, naturally.
This is a strain of Weird fiction we've been itching to have cross our illegally-installed ocular implants for a while now...
About MIDWESTERN CHROME:
A burned-out detective trapped in a cold case finds a curious lead—the severed head of an android who cries for help in the voice of his dead wife. It has her memories. It has her personality. But is it…Elsie?
Welcome to the frayed-wire-and-spare-parts autopsy of a near-future Nebraska, lit bright by neon promises and smoldering with broken dreams. Society is high on body augmentations and self-interest and low on moral reckonings.
Harlan's cold case takes center stage in the novella Our Bird Trills Mechanical, but desperate people willing to do whatever it takes fill the pages: people like Lucian Lucky, an augment-addicted prizefighter who must decide if the cost of winning is worth the size of the purse; or Javier, a love-struck henchman who’s fallen for the niece of his violent boss.
Freaks, fighters, fixers and f&%k-ups: fortune favors the corrupt in MIDWESTERN CHROME.
Cover art and interior illustrations by AriBo.
“Rips like a blast of fuzzy future glam rock out of the speakers of a souped-up speed machine. Jack in, bliss out, rock on.”
- Drew Broussard, The Lit Hub Podcast
“Punk and poignant. Break-neck and heartbreaking.”
- Koji A. Dae, Philip K. Dick Award-nominated author of Casual
MIDWESTERN CHROME fries circuits everywhere this August; preorder it now!
SPLIT SCREAM is loaded with all the curse words
We just received a fresh case of the latest from Sonora Taylor and Matthew Pritt; if you've never taken a spin on the SPLIT SCREAM-mobile, now's a perfect time!
Each volume of SPLIT SCREAM features two novelettes that are linked by a subtle theme. In the latest, we take you to a pair of CURSED PLACES...
“Passing Glance” by Sonora Taylor
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.
“Lash Egg” by Matthew Pritt
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.
In one month, ALICIA IS IN THE BASEMENT, and it will leave scars
When you've lost everything else, losing your humanity doesn't seem like an unreasonable next (final?) step. Such is the unthinkable, agonizing situation in which the protagonist of ALICIA IS IN THE BASEMENT, Santi, finds himself.
One summer afternoon, Santi and Maria's daughter disappears without a trace from a public park. A fruitless investigation passes, the agony only serving to tear Santi’s life and family further apart.
Months go by, and Santi finally stumbles upon a clue: it is hardly a name, barely a whisper, but it is enough to reveal a haunting legacy and unleash an entirely new kind of horror upon the despairing young father:
“He Who Does Not Speak With Children.”
Let's be clear: "Santi", the character, is decidedly not Santiago Eximeno, the author of ALICIA IS IN THE BASEMENT...but had a single, otherwise mundane day gone differently, who's to say?
When Santiago sent us this incredible manuscript, he warned us that it contained "a strong autobiographical component." Fortunately, his Alicia—also a different Alicia from Alicia L. Alonso, translator of the original text; confused yet? So were we!***—is safe and sound and not in the clutches of He Who Does Not Speak With Children. But that didn't stop Santiago-the-Author from chasing himself down the deepest darkest caverns of his psyche and seeing what potential horrors might shake loose; and to what lengths a desperate father with nothing else to lose might go in such an impossible situation.
The results are hideous and heartbreaking, abominable and electrifying. This prose is charged and it kept me up at night.
Cover art and interior illustrations by Jenna Cha.
Translated to English by Alicia L. Alonso.
ALICIA IS IN THE BASEMENT is out June 16th. Preorder it now.
***We've had the pleasure of video-chatting with both Santiago Eximeno and Alicia L. Alonso. Each of them were lovely and vibrant and most definitely not hellishly monstrous child-devourers.
WE ARE WHERE WE IS
Catch one or both halves of the Tenebrous brain trust spreading the New Weird Horror gospel at various locales throughout the summer! We've got more events tentatively planned later this year, but here's what's on the books the next few months:
BizarroCon - May 14-17 - Portland, OR (that's this weekend, fools!)
Books & Brews: Once Upon a Summer Market - June 13 - Lacey, WA
Ghosts of Summer - August 7-8 - Portland, OR
Printers Row Lit Fest - September 12-13 - Chicago, IL
AND IF YOU'RE STILL READING THIS...
Keep on reading til the end⬇️
See that little bit after the sign-off?
Well read that too, and then recommend this newsletter to your friends (you have 'em, don't even try to tell me otherwise you sexy devil) and you can score free e-copies of our New Weird Fiction magazine, THE SKULL & LAUREL!
Easy peasy lemon squeezie.
It's a brutal slog of a world and sometimes it feels like the body-blows just won't stop landing. So next week let's talk about some actionable change we can make together in the world, yeah? Let's talk about something positive.
Let's talk about a fever dream that we all share.
We'll see you next week. Heads up high, Weirdos.
Hail Indie Publishing.
Hail New Weird Horror (+ More!)
Hail the Tenebrous Cult.
Matt + Alex
