The Sun Breaks Through!
Updates from and about the coming Rain Shadow :)
What up, ya’ll?
Clay here with another update and some great horror recommendations from my recent wanderings through the darkest realms of fiction. I have a couple of big announcements, so I’ll just focus on those and then get you pointed to some of my favorite recent works in the horror realm.
UPDATES
Sinister Soup: A New Imprint from Grendel Press
So, if you haven’t heard yet, I’ve teamed up with my friends at Grendel Press to create this brand new audio/online zine/imprint titled Sinister Soup! Here is a breakdown of the show and it’s mission:
At Grendel Press, we believe that great stories should never be forgotten. Sinister Soup is a celebration of dark fiction, offering a second life to reprints and oft-rejected yet polished tales that deserve to be heard.
Every month, we feature a chilling, thought-provoking, or spine-tingling story, presented in both written and audio format, followed by an in-depth interview with the author. Our unique structure ensures each tale gets the spotlight it deserves—first as a gripping read, then as a hauntingly immersive podcast experience.
What’s in the Soup?
🔹 Written Fiction – A monthly feature in our online e-zine.
🔹 Podcast Reading – An audio release of the story the following week.
🔹 Author Interviews – A chance to hear directly from the minds behind the madness.
Each episode is crafted to engage readers and listeners alike, giving authors a platform to showcase their work in a new and engaging way. Whether you’re here to rediscover forgotten gems or find your next nightmare fuel, Sinister Soup is your place for all things dark and delicious.
Created and hosted by Clay Vermulm, Sinister Soup brings the best of dark fiction straight to your ears, making sure no chilling tale is ever lost to the void.
☠️ New episodes drop every month!
So far, we have three amazing episodes posted, with a new one posted at the end of each month. Our next story is about creepy cosmic-horror snails who’s vacant shells allow people to speak to the dead… or at least, that’s what it seems like is happening…
We also have a story about a tattoo that possesses the person it’s inked upon, a woman who experiences the full sensation of death and life after being killed by a serial killer and buried in a flower garden, and the story of a daughter mourning the recent suicide of her estranged daughter.
If that sounds like your cup of tea, you can join me over on the Sinister Soup YouTube channel, or you can check out the show on Grendel’s website. If you prefer to read your fiction, you’ll see readable versions of each story on the Grendel site as well!
Enjoy and stay spooky, my friends :).
RAIN SHADOWS HAS GONE TO PRINT!
That’s right, folks, the long-awaited short story collection and companion to the Beneath the Rain Shadow podcast is off to the editor and formatted for the final stage in its journey before you can all get copies! This book came out incredible, and I CANNOT WAIT to share these stories with you. They truly are some of my favorite shorts I’ve ever written, and I think you’re all really going to enjoy them. Not to mention, Tamara’s stories in here are electric! She really knows how to scare a reader, and you’re all in for a true treat.
Plus, and this is the most exciting bit today, I can share the cover with you! Check this thing out, ya’ll! Isn’t it beautiful?!?!?!?!
Cover art courtesy of Matt Seff Barnes. Thanks for the awesome work Matt!
We are ironing out details for preorders and early-order discounts now, but the book will be live on April 25th with a release party and formal release happening at Two Fingers Social in Seattle on July 19th.
If you are in the area, save that date and come join us for the party! We plan to have some live music, local film screenings, live readings, signings, tarot readings, and other festivities!
Whoo… lots happening right now, but it’s awesome to get this all out into the world and to finally be nearing the finish line on this amazing project. More info to come as we solidify things for pre—orders and such! Talk to you all soon, about that :).
In the meantime, maybe this feedback from some other awesome authors will help get you excited:
What people are already saying about Rain Shadows:
“…A wild range of experiences, really exploring the full range of horror stories from classic to supernatural to psychological… You’ll get a little of everything in this collection… twists and turns, surprises around every darkened corner, things never quite what you thought they were.” — Bram Stoker/Shirley Jackson/Thriller Award finalist Richard Thomas, editor, and author of Incarnate
“Super fun and super creepy. Rain Shadows is full of stories set in places that feel familiar but smudged at the edges, featuring characters that feel genuine and relatable. Haunting, full of heart, and better yet, full of dread.” — Sam Rebelein, Bram Stoker-nominated author of Edenville and Galloway’s Gospel
“Rain Shadows offers a collection of deliciously unsettling tales set in Pacific Northwest forests, shores, byways…and in hearts and minds. The words of Tamara Sellman and Clay Vermulm will have you looking over your shoulder!” — Jendia Gammon, Nebula and BSFA finalist author of Doomflower and Atacama
“Tamara Kaye Sellman and Clay Vermulm will lead you down dark paths with unexpected turns and believable horrors in these richly layered stories. Clever and compelling, you just might allow yourself to wander off and get lost in the Rain Shadows.” — Robin Knabel, Inky Bones Press
“Far from your typical short story collection, Rain Shadows provides readers with a refreshing assortment of horror stories with new takes on classic tropes and creatures…
My favorite aspect of the collection is the variety of formatting throughout the book. From blog posts and letters to text messages and camera logs, the array of storytelling methods keeps you locked in. This variety makes each individual story unique while the overall prompts intertwine these tales into one cohesive book…
Between the present-day creepy situations and the descriptive Pacific Northwest locations, this collection is sure to grab your attention no matter what page you open it to and start reading.” – Brianna Malotke, author, Fashion Trends, Deadly Ends (2023)
“These tales are like a drive down a darkened Pacific mountain highway, you can’t see around the next turn, and you feel something reaching for you from the darkness. Read with the lights on!” — Jack Finn, author, Prey Upon the Lambs (2025)
Ok, let’s do some recommendations:
RECOMMENDATIONS
Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven
The vibes of Zombieland meet Lord of the Flies in this epistolary (you know I love me some epistolary horror) narrative about a flooded amusement park and the perils that face those trapped in a place that was supposed to be fun. Rather than a fun adventure, those trapped in this coastal-Florida amusement park in the wake of a devastating hurricane are faced with the most perilous period of their young lives.
Most members of the park evacuated, but for those employees and guests stuck in the park after the storm, help would not arrive for several weeks — over the course of that time, the park decends into darkness, division, and debauchery such as only human kind can conceive and divulge. At the same time, we also see an exploration of human desire, companionship, belonging and desire which can lead to brighter glimpses of our species potential.
Bockoven expertly weaves these competing views of humanity through a story told entirely via interview, as from the overarching POV of the investigating journalist covering the story for his publisher.
For any lovers of realistic, contemporary dark fiction and horror, I’d highly suggest this book. I rarely break from my predilection for the supernatural and paranormal sub-genres of horror, as you all know, but I’m glad I did for this one.
Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo
If you’ve been anywhere near the modern horror genre for the past few years, you’ve doubtless heard of Cynthia Pelayo. An accomplished author of poetry and prose alike, as well as an editor of such prestigious titles as Gamut Magazine, Cynthia was the first Latina woman to ever win a Bram Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection for her work in Crime Scene. The book I’m discussing here, Forgotten Sisters, is a neo-noir/supernatural horror story about two sisters navigating the outskirts of Chicago in the wake of a terrible family disaster.
Rife with mystery, poetic prose, intrigue, and gritty crime-drama tones, this book is sure to please fans of crime fiction and ghost stories with equal acumen — not an easy feat. Forgotten Sisters was also nominated for a Stoker award the year it was published and it’s easy to see why. This book splendidly blends genres, themes, and history into a seamless work of dark, historical fiction that perfectly captures the soul of Pelayo’s home city of Chicago from the oft-overlooked perspective of young immigrants and women alike.
Highly recommend this book! Especially to those who enjoy mystery, true crime, and ghost stories all at the same time. This even has a cool twist on mermaid lore, which ya’ll know from last newsletter (see my take on The Nanny or the story I published Bad Spirits, “Ygdrassil”) I am a huge fan of!
Presence from Neon Films
As ya’ll can see, I’m kinda breaking form my comfort zone with the recommendations this time around. I try to get a variety of horror fiction for ya’ll, but ultimately, you end up getting lots of recommendations for things I like. This movie, on the outset, feels right up my alley, but it did lots of things that I was not fully prepared for and, despite having plenty of flaws, I must say I’m a massive fan of what the creators of this film pulled off.
First and foremost, the first-person style of filmmaking was done in this movie in a way that I’ve never seen and it immediately became one of my favorite films from a storytelling perspective angle. If you haven’t heard of this movie yet, the basic summary is that this is a classic ghost/haunting story, but the entire film is shown from the perspective of the ghost.
Frankly, it’s incredible. We, as the audience, become an unseen observer in the lives of this family of four as they struggle through relatively normal family drama and trauma. With the acceptation of Chloe, the daughter, who is dealing with the recent death of a very close friend. Compared to the marital strife and financial issues of the parents and the typical high school boy drama of her older brother, Chloe’s inner strife is deep and profound and the performance of Callina Liang in this role really brings it home.
I’ve seen lots of complaints about this film, particularly from a narrative standpoint and while valid, I think most criticisms of plot holes, unresolved character arcs and tension, incomplete story-telling, etc. while valid, are missing the point. There are certainly unresolved plot points and character arcs, but that’s BECAUSE we, as the audience, are the ghost.
It’s stuck in the house. It doesn’t get to follow the husband and wife to court, or the son to school, or Chloe when she leaves the confines of her family home. That limitation of the POV is powerful and isolating, it plays into the plight of the MC which, though seeming like Chloe, is really our spirit in many ways and for me, it heightened the effectiveness of the format, even while showcasing a different method to tell a story all together. Highly recommend.
One of my favorite horror films of the year so far and a truly unique piece of filmmaking. Also has a lovely portrayal of the modern father, which warmed my heart and was nice to see.
That’s it for me this month, folks. I’ll be back with updates about pre-orders for Rain Shadows and a link so you can get your copy at a steeply discounted rate, but aside from that, I’ll be buckling down and finishing edits for Crevasse before entering convention season soon :).
As always, thanks for joining me on this journey. I’m profoundly grateful for you all.
Yours,
Clay
Incredibly exciting way to go Clay!