4 Terrifying New Releases from Indie and Small Presses This October

Strange things are afoot in the small town of Eston, Maine. Leo Bates thought she knew every nook and cranny of her hometown—she thought she knew it was safe. But when her girlfriend, Tate Mulder, goes missing, her familiar home becomes a place she doesn't recognize.

The prime suspect in Tate's disappearance, Leo must now wade through her grief and confront the truth about her late parents, Eston, and her relationship. Unfortunately for her, a pile of conspiracies and monstrosities is working against her. Tate was last seen in the woods and there is something waiting there amidst the trees…

This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on October 10th by Ghoulish Books!

Like a child going door to door collecting sweets, this October delivers an anthology that'll have you going page to page collecting chilling tales! Looking beyond the childish innocence of the holiday, If I Die Before I Wake features Halloween tales of bloody terror. Explore your darkest nightmares with stories from Richard Chizmar and W.H. Chizmar, Steven Pajak, R.E. Sargent, and more.

This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on October 16th by Sinister Smile Press!

Henry's daughter was only 14 years old when she disappeared. Ever since that fateful day, Henry has buried memories and mementos of her, hoping to lay to rest not only his all-consuming grief, but the guilt he feels for the role he might have played in her disappearance. A disappearance that is certainly a death by now.

Things take an unimaginable turn for Henry when a stranger arrives at his grief counseling group. The mysterious interloper asks a dark and tempting question: “Have you ever tried to make contact with your daughter, to see if she’s passed?”

What unfolds next is a hair-raising tale of twisted deception and gruesome possession.

This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on October 24th by Clash Books!

When her estranged father dies, artist Rita sinks into a spiral of mourning and regrets. She is drowning in all the things she never got to ask him about, from his childhood, to their family, to the Mi'kmaq culture which Rita feels so far away from. But she may get a chance to reconnect with parts of what she's lost—her girlfriend, Molly, submitted her to an artist's residency taking place where her father grew up, and Rita's been accepted to the week-long painting getaway.

Rita is awoken, her first night at this isolated cabin, by peculiar sounds. It's almost as if a body is being dragged through the woods… Later, she asks the locals about the cabin's history, but receives only suspicion in return.

As dark visions roll in from the forest, the lake, and its swamp Rita gives into the dark pull. She's filled with an energy she's never felt before, driving her to paint. But as the strange visions become more disturbing and uncontrollable, Rita soon finds that in the swamp, the end of life is merely the beginning of something new.

This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on October 31st by Stelliform Press!