Split Scream: Cursed Places

by Sonora Taylor, Alex Ebenstein (Editor), Matthew Pritt

This is not a place of honor. This place is Cursed. These New Weird Horror novelettes by Sonora Taylor and Matthew Pritt are a danger to the Body, and to the Mind, and they can Kill. Sonora Taylor's Passing 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 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 a house built to be a city, and one which unfolds like a trap. Matthew Pritt's Lash 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.

110 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication April 21, 2026

About the author

Sonora Taylor is the award-winning author of Little Paranoias: Stories, Without Condition, The Crow’s Gift and Other Tales, Please Give, and Wither and Other Stories. Her short stories have appeared in multiple publications, including Camden Park Press’s Quoth the Raven, Kandisha Press’s Women of Horror Vol. 2: Graveyard Smash, The Sirens Call, Frozen Wavelets, Mercurial Stories, Tales to Terrify, and the Ladies of Horror fiction podcast. Her latest book, Seeing Things, is now available on Amazon. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband.