I have a new article online, written with my 100 Fathoms Below co-author Steven L. Kent, over at CrimeReads. It’s called “The Monsters Among Us Are the Most Terrifying of All,” and it looks at six classic literary characters who could rightfully be called monsters in human skin. Is your favorite literary human monster among them? Click the excerpt below and find out!

Forget about Frankenstein’s Monster, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, or even Godzilla. The thrills we get from them may be indisputable, but it’s the knock on the door in the middle of the night, the silhouette of a man waiting at the far end of the alley, or the stranger who’s sitting in your living room when you get home that evokes real terror. It’s the monsters among us that we truly fear.

And don’t forget that 100 Fathoms Below is out in paperback now!

I’ve been sitting on this news for a few months, but now I can finally spill it! I have a brand new story titled “Spawning Season” out now in a very special anthology. Come Join Us by the Fire is an audio-only anthology of horror stories by an assortment of some of the best authors writing horror today. Edited by Theresa DeLucci and published by Nightfire, Tor’s new horror imprint, it includes 35 stories by such luminaries as China Miéville, Chuck Wendig, Richard Kadrey, Carmen Maria Machado, Victor LaValle, Paul Tremblay, John Langan, Nadia Bulkin, Livia Llewellyn, Joe R. Lansdale, and so many more.

The best news is that Come Join Us by the Fire is 100% free! You can download it from Google Play as a full anthology or as individual story audiobooks, or if you have Google Assistant or Google Home you can access it with a voice command by saying, “Hey Google, read me ‘Spawing Season’ by Nicholas Kaufmann.” (I don’t know how that works. Magic, I guess?) Click here for the table of contents and instructions on how to download.

Also, each story has its own cool cover art. Here’s mine:

“Spawning Season” is narrated beautifully by Ramón de Ocampo and features some truly chilling sound effects by the production team. I’m ecstatic about how well it turned out, and I’m thrilled to be a part of this exciting and unusual anthology for Nightfire!

Today’s the day! 100 Fathoms Below, the bestselling, Dragon Award-nominated deep-sea horror novel I co-wrote with Steven L. Kent, is now available in paperback wherever fine books are sold!

Read the novel Library Journal called, “A solid pick for readers who prefer their horror with acute tension and psychological thrills rather than intense gore,” and This Is Horror called, “An action-packed and exciting page-turner!”

Pick up your copy today at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your favorite local bookseller!

A Hawk in the Woods by Carrie Laben
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve been a big fan of Carrie Laben’s short fiction for years now and am pleased to discover her debut novel, A HAWK IN THE WOODS, is just as excellent. It’s chock full of dark magic, family feuds, and complicated characters with equally complicated relationships (which, come to think of it, sums up the idea of family pretty well). Laben’s prose is confident and adroit, and her narrative voice is strong and compassionate, even when her characters are being the opposite. Lurking just beneath the surface are some entertaining, surprising connections to H.P. Lovecraft’s classic story “The Thing on the Doorstep,” which adds an extra layer of depth to the novel, although familiarity with that tale isn’t necessary to enjoy and understand this one. A truly pleasurable and satisfying novel, featuring twin sisters you won’t soon forget, A HAWK IN THE WOODS, like so much of Laben’s fiction, is well worth seeking out.

View all my reviews