COVER REVEAL: Hometown Haunts, a YA horror anthology

If you've been following the blog for a while, you might remember that we've been busily working on Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA horror stories since October last year (how the time flies!).

We're so pleased to announce today that the collection will be published on October 31! We're even more excited to be able to reveal the stunning cover, designed by Liz Nicholson with the illustration by Adelaide TAFE Arts student Jessie Oates.
Read on to see the stunning cover in full, and to get a first taste of what to expect.

One bite of an apple from a family shrine unearths hungry ghosts. A poison garden unfurls a polite boy’s deepest, darkest desires. Interfering with an Indigenous burial site unleashes ancestral revenge, to a metal soundtrack. An underground dance party during Covid threatens to turn lethal. And on the edge of a coastal rainforest, a grieving sister waits to witness a mysterious ‘unravelling’.

This #LoveOzYA anthology – the first to focus entirely on horror – unites a stellar cast of Australia’s finest YA authors with talented new and emerging voices, including two graphic artists.

Contributors are Wai Chim, Sarah Epstein, Alison Evans, Lisa Fuller, Margot McGovern, Poppy Nwosu, Michelle O’Connell, Emma Osborne, Emma Preston, Marianna Shek, Holden Sheppard, Jared Thomas, Vikki Wakefield and Felix Wilkins.
The stories in this wide-ranging collection dig deep and go hard. While some are straight-up terrifying rollercoaster rides, others are psychologically rooted in our society’s deepest fears and concerns: acceptance and fitting in, love and loss, desire and temptation, and the terror of a world threatened by catastrophic change … and even collapse.

From body horror to the supernatural, hauntings to transformations, and the everyday evil of humans to menacing outside forces, Hometown Haunts will have you glued to your chair … until you leap out of it!

Hometown Haunts is due for release in October. If you'd like to be notified when it's available, please email maddy@wakefieldpress.com.au.
Are you a YA reviewer or blogger? We have a limited number of ARCs available for review – if you'd like to receive a copy, please email poppy@wakefieldpress.com.au.