“Do not eat fish from these waters. Or oysters. Really, just stay inland. Except that, in The Deading, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re safe, either.”
—Stephen Graham Jones, bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, Don’t Fear the Reaper, Mongrels
Coming July ’24, Nicholas Belardes’s debut eco-horror novel The Deading, a Publisher’s Marketplace and NetGalley Summer 2024 Buzz Books Selection. Belardes pulls from his knowledge of birds, nature and horror to create an apocalyptic tale where every life is at stake, closed in from a spreading behavioral contagion that makes both people and animals act like they’re dead. There’s no escape. The cover, illustrated by Christina Mrozik, was recently revealed on Night Worms! Thank you, Night Wormsies!
Excerpt: Read the first four chapters by clicking on the Summer 2024 Buzz Books “free download.”
Pre-order:
From Erewhon: “A lyrical eco-horror novel, The Deading records the downward spiral of a small California town as the town’s environment and populace succumb to a strange phenomenon called “deading,” which irrevocably transforms their lives forever.”
The official book synopsis from Erewhon Books:
If you want to stay, you have to die.
In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.
Once infected, residents of Baywood start “deading”: collapsing and dying, only to rise again, changed in ways both fanatical and physical. As the government cuts the town off from the rest of the world, the uninfected, including the introverted bird-loving Blas and his jaded older brother Chango, realize their town could be ground zero for a fundamental shift in all living things.
Soon, disturbing beliefs and autocratic rituals emerge, overseen by the death-worshiping Risers. People must choose how to survive, how to find home, and whether or not to betray those closest to them. Stoked by paranoia and isolation, tensions escalate until Blas, Chango, and the survivors of Baywood must make their escape or become subsumed by this terrifying new normal.
At points claustrophobic and haunting, soulful and melancholic, The Deading lyrically explores the disintegration of society, the horror of survival and adaptation, and the unexpected solace found through connections in nature and between humans.
More at Erewhon.