March

The Hopeless Romantic's Guide to Enchantment, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

In February, there were not one, but three cover reveals for new anthologies coming this year from Marie & Paul. The first, in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, was for the hardback of The Hopeless Romantic’s Guide to Enchantment – their second Romantasy antho after The Secret Romantic’s Book of Magic (above and below).

Left: The Secret Romantic's Book of Magic, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. Right: The Hopeless Romantic's Guide to Enchantment, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

Out in September from Titan, it features the authors below…

image with pale pink background. Text reads Featuring Stories by: Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Kelley Armstrong, Rebecca Thorne, Alexis Hall, L.R> Lam, A.Y. Chao, Juliet Marillier, Chloe Neill, Olivia Atwater, Jen Williams, Greer Stothers, Vida Cruz-Borja

You can pre-order here and here.

image showing a green curtain tied back at the right of a banner image. Peeking out is the cover of Land of Oz, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. Text on the left reads: COVER REVEAL! What's this? A new anthology from Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane?

The British Fantasy Society revealed the next anthology from Marie & Paul – Land of Oz – also out in September from Titan (above and below). You can read more about that, including the full list of contributors, on the BFS site here.

Banner image showing a copy of Land of Oz, edited by Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane, against a pale green cloudy background

The book is of course the third of Marie & Paul’s ‘Land’ anthologies, following the Shirley Jackson Award-shortlisted Wonderland, and the #1 bestseller The Other Side of Never (below), both still available here and here.

banner image. L to R: Wonderland, edited by Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane, The Other Side of Never, edited by Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane, and Land of Oz, edited by Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane

And you can pre-order Land of Oz here and here.

banner image showing two copies of Beyond & Within: Best Served Cold, edited by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan, standing against a blue background

Finally, the third of Marie & Paul’s Beyond & Within anthologies, a crime one centred on revenge stories – Best Served Cold – had a cover and contents reveal, which you can take a look at here.

This was also shared by one of the contributors, Ronnie Turner, as a story on Instagram (below). More news in the months to come…

screenshot from @ronnieturner8702: screen shows cover of Best Served Cold, edited by Paul Kane & Marie O'Regan. Text reads: Delighted to say I have a short story publishing this July, in the upcoming Best Served Cold anthology!

But in the meantime you can also pre-order this one, out over the summer, here and here

PS announced the next batch of Absinthe books last month via their newsletter…

Maura McHugh

Maura McHugh (above) is no stranger to PS. Her book Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me about David Lynch's iconic film was nominated for a British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction and her short story ‘Raptor’ from Dan Coxon's Heartwood anthology won a World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction in 2025

House of Wyrd by Maura McHugh

Aly Wyrd, famous art provocateur and magician, is missing on the eve of the opening of her visionary project, the Path of Illumination. It falls to her estranged daughter, Pallas Trismegistus Morrigan Aylward, to navigate through dream, memory and arcane mystery to revisit her history with her mother in ’80s London and ’90s Ireland until Pallas catches up with present-day revelation by walking the road to enlightenment designed by her mother.

Helen Grant

Helen Grant (above) writes Gothic novels, the latest of which is Jump Cut (2023), and short supernatural fiction. Her new short story collection Atmospheric Disturbances was published late in 2024 by Dublin’s Swan River Press. Joyce Carol Oates has described her as ‘a brilliant chronicler of the uncanny as only those who dwell in places of dripping, graylit beauty can be.’

Steal Me by Helen Grant

Rowan Byrne hasn’t stolen anything for ages – not since she started to straighten her life out after a personal tragedy. But the volume she’s just picked up in the new bookshop in town seems to want her to steal it. The text is very persuasive. There’s a book for everyone in Legends – a book that will encourage their worst impulses. Steal. Fear. Burn. Kill. It’s not long before Rowan’s small town, isolated from the outside world, is descending into mayhem. Assailed by her own demons, Rowan could try to cut and run. Or she could make a stand, and try to save the community she loves…

Tom Mead

Tom Mead (above) is a mystery writer and aficionado of Golden Age crime fiction. His novels include Death and the Conjurer, The Murder Wheel, Cabaret Macabre and The House at the Devil’s Neck. He also recently published a collection of mystery stories, The Indian Rope Trick And Other Violent Entertainments. His books have been translated into twelve languages (and counting), nominated for various awards and named books of the year by The Guardian, The Telegraph, Publishers Weekly and CrimeReads.

 

The Lamp in the Window: A Victorian Ghost Story by Tom Mead

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin… Each Christmas Eve, academic and antiquarian Roland Spence invites a select group of students to his quarters to indulge in a glass or two of port, and to listen to a ghostly tale by the fireside. It seems like an innocent enough tradition – after all, who doesn't enjoy a wintry chill at Christmastime? Decades later, one of Spence's students must revisit those half-remembered stories as a long-buried secret threatens to resurface… Inspired by M.R. James, E.F. Benson, Algernon Blackwood et al, The Lamp in the Window is an eerie winter ghost story in the classic Victorian tradition.

Visions of Grace by Alison Littlewood

Alison Littlewood’s Visions of Grace was also reviewed by both Ginger Nuts of Horror, which you can read here and Happy Goat Horror here.

You can visit the Absinthe page and check out the whole range here.

screenshot from ccadams.Top: photo of CC Adams. Title: Game Talk - Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. Text reads: I'd first met both Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane years ago when they were heading up a newly-launched UK chapter of the HWA (Horror Writers Association). Having been a long-standing presence in the genre - whether it's as authors, editors, convention panellists, or helping to usher in the next generation of genre tealent, these two endure. And continue to demonstrate game. Underneath is a photo of a smiling Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

Finally, Marie & Paul were interviewed by CC Adams on his site recently. You can read that by visiting it here.

January/February

photograph of several copies of Beyond & Within: Witchcraft, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, inside a cardboard box

Happy New Year! January is of course the launch month for Marie and Paul’s new anthology, Beyond & Within:Witchcraft and publishers Flame Tree sent them a bundle of books to celebrate.

photograph showing a stack of copies of Beyond & Within: Witchcraft, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, showing the books' spines

photograph showing nine copies of Beyond & Within: Witchcraft, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, in three rows of three

They also included the antho in their newsletter for January (below), plus you can listen to one of the stories for free – ‘What Bones Remember’ by Buhlebethu Sukoluhle Mpofu – introduced by Marie & Paul, on their Myth & Fiction podcast here.

screenshot of Flame Tree's newsletter, heading Fantasy Fiction: Flame Tree. Original & Own Voices

screenshot from Flame Tree Newsletter. Image features Beyond & Within: Witchcraft, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. Text reads: Witch Craft: An impressive new anthology of horror stories exploring what it means to be 'witch', including the rediscovery and reclaiming of that power, its links to nature, and witchcraft mythology from around the world. Award-winnnig anthologists Marie O'Regan and Pual Kane have commissioned and chosen an outstanding selection of tales, with contributions from authors including Ally Wilkes, Eliza Chan, Angela Slatter, Gabriella Buba and Lisa L. Hannett. Five brand new stories have also been selected from a popular open submissions call. The full list of featured authors in this book is: Eugen Bacon, David Barnett, Melissa Bobe, Gabriella Buba, Mark Chadbourn, Eliza Chan, Aveline Fletcher, Helen Grant, Muriel Gray, Kay Hanifen, Lisa L. Hannett, Damien Kelly, Amanda Mason, Alison Moore, Buhlebethu Sukoluhle Mpofu, Angela Slatter and Ally Wilkes.

Visit the page for the book on the Flame Tree site here, and order yours here and here.

image showing a copy of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, against a pale blue and white background. The image has gold and red borders, with blood spatter depicted in the corners. Text reads #1 Best Seller. Eighteen festive stories!

While back in December, Death Comes at Christmas hit the coveted Number 1 bestseller spot on Amazon, across ebook, paperback and hardback editions (above and below).

screenshot from @amazon.co.uk. Showing the cover of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, with a #1 Best Seller sticker above it - in crime, thriller and mystery anthologies

screenshot from amazon - Kindle edition of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. Showing a Best Seller sticker

screenshot from amazon - text reads: Best Sellers Rank. 1 in Crime, Thriller & Mystery Anthologies. 1 in Crime, Thriller & Mystery Series. 8 in Crime, Mystery & Thriller Short Stories

photograph showing two copies of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, on a dark blue background. Sticker at the top left reads #1 Best Seller

There were also some more mentions and reviews. ‘A thoroughly enjoyable selection of Christmas stories to curl up and read on a wintery Christmas night, or a warm summer evening, depending on where you are in the world!’ said @fortheloveofbooks383 (below).

screenshot from @fortheloveofbooks383. Image shows a copy of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, standing against a black and white picture of a snowy pine forest

‘Perfect Christmas reading. Cratchits, bookshops, ghosts, and a wonderfully clever Joseph Spector story,’ was @j.s.savage_author’s take (below). 

screenshot from @j.s.savage_author. Image shows a copy of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, standing against a lit and decorated Christmas tree

@katies_cosy_reading_corner (below) said, ‘Each story is packed with imagination and flair… This book is one of those that you could easily curl up with… dip in and out of in-between the continuous prepping for Christmas.’

photograph showing a woman's hand holding a copy of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, up against a decorated Christmas tree

And @shesdefinitelyreading left the below picture reviews…

screenshot from @shesdefinitelyreading. Image shows a copy of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, superimposed over a faded image of a tablet with an image of Christmas trees on a black background, a red and green wreath and a decorative bread wreath decorated wit almonds. Text reads: From locked room mysteries on Christmas Eve to devilish whodunits and tales of simmering rivalries unfolding at the dinner table, these eighteen original seasonal tales will delight and shock at every twist and turn

screenshot of a five-star review of Death Comes at Christmas, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane. Text reads: A classic mix of dark, murdery Christmas tales - some hits, some misses, but plenty of festive mayhem. My favorites were: What She Left Me, The Red Angel, and Deadly Gift

For those of you who celebrate Christmas all year round, the book is still available here and here.

screenshot from @george_can_read. Heading reads Best Anthologies - featuring In These Hallowed Halls, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

Sticking with anthologies for a moment, and over on Insta @george_can_read chose Marie & Paul’s first Dark Academia book In These Hallowed Halls as one of his anthologies of the year.

You can pick up your hardback or paperback copies of that one here and here.

wraparound cover for Phantasmagoria Daleks Special

Marie wrote about her first encounters with the Daleks – on TV!! – for the latest Phantasmagoria Special (above) last month and received her contributor copy (below). Exterminate!

photograph of a man's hand holding up a copy of the Phantasmagoria Daleks Special. Text of subtitle reads: THE DALEKS IN THE MOVIES! 60th ANNIVERSARY

photograph showing a man's hand holding up the Phantasmagoria Daleks Special to show the back cover.

You can pick yours up here or here.

banner image showing a red portable TV showing static and the BFS logo in a garden filled with plants and red flowers

Interview time, and Marie & Paul were interviewed by Lauren McMenemy for the British Fantasy Society recently (above and below). You can see what they had to say here, and directly on YouTube here.

screenshot showing Lauren McMenemy of the BFS holding up a copy of Beyond & Within: Witchcraft, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

screenshot from BFS interview. L to R: A smiling Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane

Marie’s new collection Bleed for Me (below), which dropped from Demain in December as an ebook, is now out in paperback. You can get your hands on that here and here.

Cover of Bleed For Me, by Marie O'Regan. Cover shows a ruined church, with blood dripping down the book cover. Text reads: Bleed For Me, Marie O'Regan. 'I'm incredibly impressed...she's extraordinarily talented.' Clive Barker'

And a new review has appeared of Marie’s novella from last year, Resurrection Blues (below), written by Peter Tennant. He said: ‘Musician Marcus buys a beautiful harmonica that he sees in a shop window and thinks he has got himself a bargain, but when he performs with his band at a club that night he sees ghosts in the audience… In many ways this reminded me of A Nightmare on Elm Street, with its predator who is disposed of by a mob of his victims’ nearest and dearest, only to prove more of a problem dead than he was alive. Louis certainly haunts Marcus’ dreams, but that is only a part of his horror. O’Regan is her own woman and creates a truly memorable monster, one with a killing line in dialogue and even deadlier and inventive streak of violence. But the forces of good are nearly as strong, with Marcus’ mother Irene a towering presence, both in life and death, and Albert a steadfast friend, one with his own paranormal talent. Marcus himself is a strong character, driven by his love of music, but at the same time with a feeling of guilt over his decision to take this course in life and leave the family home…

The battle against Louis is gripping, with fights in an old house and a ferocious showdown in a cemetery, the sense that things could go either way, but before all of that we get a sound build up with appearances of the dead and a creeping sense of something gone very badly awry. There are magic rituals throughout the narrative and a strong element of the macabre, with hearts removed from bodies with extreme prejudice. At the book’s core is a story of good vs evil, and if the latter is to be defeated it is through the sacrifices of the good people, the ties that bind them together and hold true when all else fails.’

You can read the full thing here.

Plus pick up your copy of the book here, here, or here.

Finally, a couple of Marie’s Absinthe titles have been reviewed recently. Firstly, Alakazam by Mia Dalia (below) was reviewed by Happy Goat Horror here and by Lachlan’s Book reviews here.

Alakazam, by Mia Dalia

And Visions of Grace by Alison Littlewood (below) was reviewed by Runalong the Shelves here.

Visions of Grace, by Alison Littlewood

You can visit the Absinthe page and check out the entire range here.