The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of death and destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father’s kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran’s queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar’s wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire. But Akaran has its own secrets… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Sexual assault by coercion
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Arranged marriage
  • Forced attempted suicide
  • Stillbirth mentioned
  • Blood & genital mutilation mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a mother
  • Torture mentioned
  • Captivity
  • Bullying
  • War themes

The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove

The Ghost Machine by James Lovegrove

Mal and the crew take receipt of a sealed crate which they are being paid to transport to Badger, no questions asked. Yet once their cargo is safely stowed aboard, River insists Mal should “space” it out of the airlock, for it contains, she insists, ghosts. With supplies running low, the crew desperately need another pay day, but soon find themselves paralysed by hallucinations of their deepest hopes and desires, so vivid they cannot be distinguished from reality. River is the only one unaffected, and desperately tries to awaken her crew mates, while the fantasies turn sour, and the ship begins to spin out of control.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Human trafficking
  • Torture

Runebreaker by Alex Kahler

Runebreaker by Alex R. Kahler

Aidan desires only one thing: to rule. Arrogant, headstrong and driven by the element of Fire, he will stop at nothing to bring the evil Howls that destroyed Scotland to their knees. But Fire is a treacherous element, and the very magic that brought him to power could burn his world to ash. Especially with the blood of his fellow Hunters on his hands. Driven by a bloodlust he can’t control and dark whispers that may not be entirely in his head, he and his magic-eschewing friend Kianna will do whatever it takes to liberate their broken world. Even at the risk of confronting the… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Body horror
  • Torture
  • Mass murder
  • Gun violence

Runebinder by Alex Kahler

Runebinder by Alex R. Kahler

When magic returned to the world, it could have saved humanity, but greed and thirst for power caused mankind’s downfall instead. Now once-human monsters called Howls prowl abandoned streets, their hunger guided by corrupt necromancers and the all-powerful Kin. Only Hunters have the power to fight back in the unending war, using the same magic that ended civilization in the first place. But they are losing. Tenn is a Hunter, resigned to fight even though hope is nearly lost. When he is singled out by a seductive Kin named Tomás and the enigmatic Hunter Jarrett…. Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Homomisia
  • Dubious consent scenarios
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Death of a friend
  • Graphic murder
  • Torture
  • Animal death & hunting

Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry

Orpheus Girl by Brynne Rebele-Henry

Abandoned by a single mother she never knew, 16-year-old Raya—obsessed with ancient myths—lives with her grandmother in a small conservative Texas town. For years Raya has been forced to hide her feelings for her best friend and true love, Sarah. When the two are outed, they are sent to Friendly Saviors: a re-education camp meant to “fix” them and make them heterosexual. Upon arrival, Raya vows to assume the mythic role of Orpheus to escape Friendly Saviors, and to return to the world of the living with her love—only becoming more determined after she, Sarah, and Friendly Saviors’ other teen residents are subjected to abusive… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Transmisia
  • Deadnaming & misgendering
  • Lesbomisia & lesbomisic slurs
  • Homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Outing
  • Conversion therapy (theme)
  • Nonconsensual electroshock therapy of a minor
  • Nightmares
  • Attempted suicide
  • Self harm
  • Starvation
  • Torture
  • Car accident
  • Animal death
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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.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Rape & gang rape
  • Child abuse
  • Domestic abuse
  • Alcohol & drug abuse
  • Torture
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Into the Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer

Into the Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer

The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain. When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch’s wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and Seren’s quest to become human will lead them into an ancient war raging between the witch and the king… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Blood & injury depiction including broken bones, skinning, and secondary characters ripping out their own hearts
  • Murder & sword violence
  • Torture

Shadows and Dreams by Alexis Hall

Shadows & Dreams by Alexis Hall

The two parts of being a paranormal private investigator I could really do without are being forced to eat bananas by an animated statue with a potassium fixation, and being put on trial for murder by a self-appointed council of vampire oligarchs. To be fair, I did kind of do it (the murder, not the bananas). But I was kind of saving my girlfriend, who is kind of one of them. On top of this, I’ve also wound up with a primordial queen of the damned trying to strangle me in my dreams. And the conspiracy of undead… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableist language & Islamophobia
  • Slut-shaming
  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Attempted suicide mentioned
  • Alcoholism
  • Smoking
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture mentioned
  • Kidnapping

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

Jasper “Jazz” Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say. But he’s also the son of the world’s most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal’s point of view. And now bodies are piling up in Lobo’s Nod. In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Graphic dismemberment
  • Drugging
  • Hospitalisation of a friend
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Animal death
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Eighty Days by AC Esguerra

Eighty Days by A.C. Esguerra

A pilot wants nothing more than to fly. Or so he thought until he crosses paths with a mysterious thief whose tricks draw him into unchartered territory and new adventure. In a life where the truth changes as quickly as clouds in the sky, the pilot must decide for himself what freedom really means.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Torture
  • Death of a child
  • Bombing
  • War themes
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