Drug Use & Abuse – Page 30 – Trigger Warning Database

Hostile Ground by LA Witt and Aleksandr Voino

Hostile Ground by L.A. Witt & Aleksandr Voino

After the deaths of three undercover cops investigating a drug ring in a seedy strip club in Seattle, Detective Mahir Hussain has been sent to finish the job. He joins the club’s security team in the hopes of finding enough evidence to bust the operation before the men in charge find a reason to put him in a shallow grave. To protect the strippers, only gay men can work the club. Ridley, the cold and intimidating head of security, knows exactly how to test potential new hires-including Mahir. From the minute they meet, Mahir and Ridley engage in a dangerous dance of sex and mind games. Mahir needs to find his evidence before Ridley figures… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Homomisia
Human trafficking
Child abuse
Nonconsensual recreational drug use
Murder

After Sundown edited by Mark Morris

After Sundown edited by Mark Morris

This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window. It is the first of what will hopefully become an annual, non-themed horror anthology of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Rape & gang rape
Child abuse
Domestic abuse
Alcohol & drug abuse
Torture

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Coming out themes
Ableism & ableist language
Racism
Attempted sexual assault of a child by an uncle, on-page
Parental abandonment & neglect
Physical, verbal & emotional child abuse
Domestic violence recounted, off-page
Cheating mentioned
Nightmares
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Hospitalisation for attempted suicide recounted
Suicidal ideation
Graphic blood & gore depiction
Graphic body horror
Emesis
Murder & attempted murder
School shooting
Gun & knife violence
Car accident
Loss of autonomy (ghost possession)
Animal death (insects)
Animal abuse & torture (insects)
Bullying

Vacationland by John Hodgman

Although his career as a bestselling author and on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart was founded on fake news and invented facts, in 2016 that routine didn’t seem as funny to John Hodgman anymore. Everyone is doing it now. Disarmed of falsehood, he was left only with the awful truth: John Hodgman is an older white male monster with bad facial hair, wandering like a privileged Sasquatch through three wildernesses: the hills of Western Massachusetts where he spent much of his youth; the painful beaches of Maine that want to kill him (and some day will); and the metaphoric… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Recreational drug use
Death of a parent
Cancer
Animal death (rat)
Bullying

Deke by Eden Finley

Deke by Eden Finley

Ollie: Word of advice: don’t come out to random guys in public restrooms. Even if they’re charming and adorably nerdy and offer to help. My family believe I can’t be happy if I’m not out to the world. I have a bitter ex-boyfriend and an unstable NHL career to show for it. A fake boyfriend seems like an easy and quick solution to get my family off my back, and this guy is volunteering. I take him up on it without asking his name.I really should’ve asked for his name… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia & homomisic slurs
Forced outing
Alcohol consumption
Recreational drug use
Bullying mentioned

Invitation to the Blues by Roan Parrish

Eight months ago Jude Lucen fled his partner, his career, and a hospital in Boston after a suicide attempt. Now back in Philadelphia, he feels like a complete failure. Piano has always been his passion and his only escape. Without it, he has nothing. Well, nothing except a pathetic crush on the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen. Faron Locklear came to Philly looking for a fresh start and has thrown himself into tattooing at Small Change. He’s only met Jude a few times, but something about the red-haired man with the haunted eyes calls to him. Faron is blown away by Jude’s talent… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Internalised ableism
Abusive relationship
Attempted suicide
Depression & anxiety
Alcohol consumption & smoking

House of Agnes by Fiona Zedde

House of Agnes by Fiona Zedde

Agnes Noble is private, mysterious, and untouchable. She rules House of Agnes, the most exclusive escort agency on the East Coast, with a diamond fist. Crossing her is a mistake no one makes twice. Investigative reporter Lola Osbourne is not afraid. She’s gunning for the House and its so-called queen. She’ll make sure no other innocent gets dragged into Agnes’s alluring web, to be used and discarded the way Lola’s sister was. But her plan to get close to the elusive madam shatters the moment her eyes meet the Queen’s. One look and everything’s different. More complicated… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape mentioned
Forced sex work
Domestic abuse
Child abuse
Drug use

Hell Bay by Kate Rhodes

Hell Bay by Kate Rhodes

DI Ben Kitto needs a second chance. After ten years working for the murder squad in London, a traumatic event has left him grief-stricken. He’s tried to resign from his job, but his boss has persuaded him to take three months to reconsider. Ben plans to work in his uncle Ray’s boatyard, on the tiny Scilly island of Bryher where he was born, hoping to mend his shattered nerves. His plans go awry when the body of sixteen year old Laura Trescothick is found on the beach at Hell Bay. Her attacker must still be on the island because no ferries have sailed during a two-day storm.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Child abuse
Drug use & abuse
Overdose
Death of a child
Murder
Knife violence

The Castaways by Lucy Clarke

You wake on a beautiful, remote island. Sparkling blue seas, golden sunsets, barely a footprint in the sand. Yet this is no ordinary escape. Next to the wreck of a plane, a stranger paces. Another sharpens a knife, scoring a list of the dead onto a palm tree. Others watch from the shadows of a campfire – all with untold stories, and closely-guarded secrets. This is no ordinary holiday. This is no ordinary island. This is no ordinary beach read….

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Spousal & parental abandonment
Attempted rape (on-page)
Sexual assault (unwanted non-consensual kiss, on-page)
Spousal infidelity discussed
Suicidal ideation, including an on-page scene where the protagonist begins an attempt by jumping
Alcohol consumption & abuse
Drug use and abuse mentioned
Parent with alcoholism mentioned
Starvation and food scarcity
Infertility discussed
Blood & gore depiction including physical injuries and dead bodies
Death of a lover by shark attack (off-page)
Disappearance of a sibling (theme)
Murder by drowning in self-defence from attempted rape
Attempted murder by strangulation
Near-death of an infant from choking
Plane crash (theme)
Animal hunting & butchering (mostly fish)

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has immigrated to Britain with his wife and children to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient, but are all too aware that their family will need more than just hope to survive in their new country. At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London, escaping a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and his depressed hometown in the industrial Black Country. But once he arrives he finds… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Rape
Sex work
Drug use