Language of Knives: Stories

Description:

"Markov moves fluidly between pitch-black humor and deeply felt depictions of grief, and between the mythological and the viscerally embodied. They find in Slavic legend a rich vocabulary for queer desire, loss, and transformation. The result is a collection that refuses to look away from darkness while still, against the odds, reaching for hope. Readers who enjoy Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny and the folk horror of T. Kingfisher will find much to savor." -Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A perfect twilight read, this book will stick with readers as they devour story after story (just as some of Markov's characters devour their prey). A stunning, thrilling, and eerie collection of short stories that will delight readers of gothic fiction." -Kirkus

"Stylish, macabre, and startling as a cigarette burn . . . A haunting debut." -Angela Slatter, Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy Award winner

A murderous nine-headed monster from legend permits a podcast interview. The mall has opened its doors, and nothing, not even certain death, will keep the shoppers away. A dead man's curse drives his descendants to drown themselves, no matter how far from home they flee. An eerie haunted house attraction receives an even more unnerving guest. A grieving widower, knife in hand, undertakes a painstaking, gruesome ritual to appease the gods. If seeking a boon from Baba Yaga sounds nerve-shattering, imagine having to live under her roof.

These thirteen tales from Bulgarian author Haralambi Markov meld Slavic mythology, pitch-black humor, and moving explorations of queer identity with vistas rooted in body horror and nightmares, yielding results that are sometimes deeply disquieting, sometimes surprisingly hopeful, and always strikingly novel. As Hugo and World Fantasy award-winning editor Ann VanderMeer states in her introduction, Markov "writes with such power and intensity that you can't imagine where they get the courage to put such words on paper. Their work challenges us to face our fears, our insecurities, and not look away."

"Like being flayed on the inside of your eyelids, but in a good way. So weird. So queer. So nauseating. And so, so beautiful." -C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award winner

"Monsters abound, pain and pleasure intertwine, and bodies bloom in ever-surprising transformations in Haralambi Markov's fiction. A must-read for fans of Clive Barker, queer Weird lovers, and anyone with a taste for beautiful, creeping dread." -Nino Cipri, author of Dead Girls Don't Dream

Cover art and design by Diana Naneva

Review Quotes: "Themes of mythology, traditional stories, and fairy tales resonate across the collection, as do complex family relationships and the idea of wrestling with history and legacy ... Markov uses the tropes of legends, fairy tales, and speculative fiction to good effect throughout, showing how they can act as lenses to better understand ourselves and the human condition."

-A. C. Wise, Bram Stoker, Nebula, Shirley Jackson, and World Fantasy award-nominated author of The Ghost Sequences and Wendy, Darling

"Markov's precise prose paints a viscerally beautiful horror journey in this stunning collection."

-Chelsea Conradt, USA Today Bestselling author of The Farmhouse

"These haunting tales feel both ancient and utterly new. Bleak and beautiful, visceral and transcendent, Markov weaves folklore into a cosmos that whispers under your skin and into your bones. A stunning collection of lush nightmares."

-Michael Harris Cohen, author of Effects Vary

"Evocative, haunting, masterful. Markov's collection will reverberate in your marrow long after the last turned page."

-Natania Barron, author of The Queens of Fate series

"Dazzling and dark, The Language of Knives treads the line between beauty and terror."

-Craig Laurance Gidney, author of A Spectral Hue

"These terrifying tales speak truth in the language of hunger; the language of dirt, roots and seeds; the language of meat and bone; the language of knives. A haunting and harrowing debut by a rising star in horror."

-Carina Bissett, editor of Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas and author of Dead Girl, Driving & Other Devastations, a Shirley Jackson award nominee

"The Language of Knives is an impressive debut collection from one of the most compelling voices of modern horror fiction."

-Martin Cahill, author of the USA Today Bestseller Audition for the Fox