Cold Snap
Published on 15. October 2024
Book
Hardback
128 pages
978-1-83541-008-0 (ISBN)
Description
A grieving mother and son hope to survive Christmas in a remote mountain cabin in Pennsylvania, in this award-nominated chilling novella of dread, isolation and sinister spirits lurking in the frozen woods. Perfect for fans of The Only Good Indians, The Shining and The Babadook.
Two weeks ago, Christine Sinclaire's husband slipped off the roof while hanging Christmas lights and fell to his death on the front lawn.
Desperate to escape her guilt and her grief, Christine packs up her fifteen-year-old son and the family cat and flees to the cabin they'd reserved deep in the remote Pennsylvania Wilds to wait out the holidays.
It isn't long before Christine begins to hear strange noises coming from the forest. When she spots a horned figure watching from between frozen branches, Christine assumes it's just a forest animal-a moose, maybe, since the property manager warned her about them, said they'd stomp a body so deep into the snow nobody'd find it 'til spring.
But moose don't walk upright like the shadowy figure does.
They don't call Christine's name with her dead husband's voice.
Two weeks ago, Christine Sinclaire's husband slipped off the roof while hanging Christmas lights and fell to his death on the front lawn.
Desperate to escape her guilt and her grief, Christine packs up her fifteen-year-old son and the family cat and flees to the cabin they'd reserved deep in the remote Pennsylvania Wilds to wait out the holidays.
It isn't long before Christine begins to hear strange noises coming from the forest. When she spots a horned figure watching from between frozen branches, Christine assumes it's just a forest animal-a moose, maybe, since the property manager warned her about them, said they'd stomp a body so deep into the snow nobody'd find it 'til spring.
But moose don't walk upright like the shadowy figure does.
They don't call Christine's name with her dead husband's voice.
Reviews / Votes
"Lindy Ryan weaponizes the dread of grief suffered in isolation. Horrific and heartbreaking."Jamie Flanagan, screenwriter The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Fall of the House of Usher
"COLD SNAP is an intrusive thought, an open wound. It will consume you."
Stephanie M. Wytovich, Bram Stoker Award (R)-winning author of Brothel
Praise for Bless Your Heart
"Such a brilliant blend of banter and dread. Authored with the confidence of a storyteller who knows every inch, cadence, and beat of their tale. Instantly cinematic. And if you're anything like me, you're going to wish you were part of the Evans family, working at the Evans Funeral Home, just so you can spend more time with these people. Lindy Ryan is on fire with this book."
Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Daphne
"The Evans women have arrived and these southern belle slayers are carving out a spot in our undead hearts. Lindy Ryan has harnessed the charm and horror of a Romero-helmed Steel Magnolias, equal parts Carson McCullers and Bram Stoker. Bless her heart."
Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters
"Lindy Ryan is among the most electrifying voices in the horror genre today. Her writing is devastating, beautiful, and horrifying in all the best ways. With her new novel, she's created a group of characters you won't ever forget set in a world that's sure to get under your skin. Bless Your Heart is everything you could want in a horror novel and more. Highly recommended."
Gwendolyn Kiste, Three-time Bram Stoker Awards (R)-winning author of The Rust Maidens and Reluctant Immortals
"A flesh-ripping, heartfelt good time. Lindy Ryan has crafted a matriarchal line in keeping with Practical Magic but with the added gory fun of Dead Until Dark. I was utterly charmed and can only hope I haven't seen the end of the Evans women."
Kristi DeMeester, author of Such a Pretty Smile
"If you don't think a horror novel can somehow feel like Steel Magnolias meets Buffy with a dab of Straub's Ghost Story, well . . . Bless Your Heart. Lindy Ryan's debut novel is a bloodsoaked blast, packed with delightful characters and shockingly gruesome mayhem. And its ending seems to imply further adventures involving the Evans women, something I would welcome like a glass of sweet tea on a hot summer day."
Nat Cassidy, author of Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings
"A gloriously gruesome, compulsively readable debut that is as grizzly as it is clever and heartfelt, offering an inventive, poignant, and thoroughly entertaining exploration of legacy. Absolutely brilliant."
Rachel Harrison, national bestselling author of Cackle and Such Sharp Teeth
"Lindy Ryan's debut, Bless Your Heart, is a delight! Small-town, multi-generational horror about a family of monster-hunting women who make sure the dead can rest, it's a creepy romp that begs for sequels. Check it out!"
Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Road of Bones and All Hallows
"Gory, spine-chilling, and deeply Southern, Bless Your Heart is a women-led fight against the rising dead. An absolute must-read for anyone who likes their horror with bite."
Darcy Coates, USA Today best-selling author of THE HAUNTING OF ASHBURN HOUSE and GALLOWS HILL
"Sparkling with magic and Southern charm, Bless Your Heart is a witty and compulsively readable story about family, duty, and the power to protect the ones we love the most. I was delightfully charmed by the women of the Evans family!"
Maureen Kilmer, author of Suburban Hell and Hex Education
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 204 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
190 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83541-008-0 (9781835410080)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Lindy Miller Ryan is an award-winning and Bram Stoker Awards (R)-nominated author, editor, professor, and short-film director. She was recently named one of horror's six most masterful anthology curators and dubbed a "champion for women's voices in horror" by Shelf Awareness for her work in INTO THE FOREST: TALES OF THE BABA YAGA, which received a starred book review from BOOKLIST and been featured in BBC Culture, NPR, and others. A 2020 Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree and previous board member for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Lindy is a long-time advocate for women-in-horror and an active member of the HWA, ITW, and the Brothers Grimm Society of North America. The author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, Lindy's work has been adapted for film. Her debut horror-thriller novel, BLESS YOUR HEART, is forthcoming from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books. On social @LindyRyanWrites and at LindyRyanWrites.com.