2023 Philip K Dick Award (nominee)
A young boy's life is upended after the arrival of his grandfather, who is hiding a terrifying secret in this sweltering southern gothic horror, perfect for fans of Cassandra Khaw and T. Kingfisher.
An eleven-year-old boy lives an idyllic childhood exploring the remote coastal plains and wetlands of South Carolina alongside his parents and his dog Teach. But when the boy's eerie and estranged grandfather shows up one day with no warning, cracks begin to form as hidden secrets resurface that his parents refuse to explain.
The longer his grandfather outstays his welcome and the greater the tension between the adults grows, the more the boy feels something within him changing—physically—into something his grandfather welcomes and his mother fears. Something abyssal. Something monstrous.
Genre: Horror
An eleven-year-old boy lives an idyllic childhood exploring the remote coastal plains and wetlands of South Carolina alongside his parents and his dog Teach. But when the boy's eerie and estranged grandfather shows up one day with no warning, cracks begin to form as hidden secrets resurface that his parents refuse to explain.
The longer his grandfather outstays his welcome and the greater the tension between the adults grows, the more the boy feels something within him changing—physically—into something his grandfather welcomes and his mother fears. Something abyssal. Something monstrous.
Genre: Horror
Praise for this book
"Wildly imaginative and gorgeously written. I was hooked from the first word to the last." - Kelley Armstrong
"Monstrous and elegant. Sensual and transformative. Wild Spaces left me aching to know what infernal wonders might follow its final, dazzling image. Coney has the vision of a once-in-a-generation writer. This is how it's done, people!" - Laura Benedict
"A coming-of-age story, but the change in store for the boy is wonderfully unpredictable and so originally weird. Pacing is key to this piece, and the author is brilliant at it." - Jeffrey Ford
"Atmospheric, humming with menace, heartbreaking, beautifully written." - Glen Hirshberg
"Can a horror story be beautiful? Wild Spaces tells a terrible truth in the most achingly beautiful way." - Alma Katsu
"If you mix Flannery O'Connor's sense of Southern grotesquerie with Shirley Jackson's tales of every day horror, you get Shaw Coney. What a stellar debut." - Sara Paretsky
"Wild Spaces is a horrifying fever-dream that captures all the intensity and power of youth." - Kelly Robson
"S.L. Coney's innate understanding of both people and monsters makes Wild Spaces a sublime read." - Priya Sharma
"Wild Spaces is a visceral, haunting, original story that takes the best of cosmic horror and pairs it with familial love in a way that tugs at your heart strings as it continuously raises the levels of horror. It's Hereditary meets The Fisherman with a dash of The Dark Tower. One of my favorite authors writing today." - Richard Thomas
"Wild Spaces is an eldritch coming-of-age-story done right. It's lyrical, emotionally complex, creepy, and there's not a drop of poisonous nostalgia. I loved it and I can't stop thinking about it." - Paul Tremblay
"Wild Spaces is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury and Robert McCammon, full of equal parts wonder and horror. Tense, atmospheric and visceral." - A C Wise
"Monstrous and elegant. Sensual and transformative. Wild Spaces left me aching to know what infernal wonders might follow its final, dazzling image. Coney has the vision of a once-in-a-generation writer. This is how it's done, people!" - Laura Benedict
"A coming-of-age story, but the change in store for the boy is wonderfully unpredictable and so originally weird. Pacing is key to this piece, and the author is brilliant at it." - Jeffrey Ford
"Atmospheric, humming with menace, heartbreaking, beautifully written." - Glen Hirshberg
"Can a horror story be beautiful? Wild Spaces tells a terrible truth in the most achingly beautiful way." - Alma Katsu
"If you mix Flannery O'Connor's sense of Southern grotesquerie with Shirley Jackson's tales of every day horror, you get Shaw Coney. What a stellar debut." - Sara Paretsky
"Wild Spaces is a horrifying fever-dream that captures all the intensity and power of youth." - Kelly Robson
"S.L. Coney's innate understanding of both people and monsters makes Wild Spaces a sublime read." - Priya Sharma
"Wild Spaces is a visceral, haunting, original story that takes the best of cosmic horror and pairs it with familial love in a way that tugs at your heart strings as it continuously raises the levels of horror. It's Hereditary meets The Fisherman with a dash of The Dark Tower. One of my favorite authors writing today." - Richard Thomas
"Wild Spaces is an eldritch coming-of-age-story done right. It's lyrical, emotionally complex, creepy, and there's not a drop of poisonous nostalgia. I loved it and I can't stop thinking about it." - Paul Tremblay
"Wild Spaces is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury and Robert McCammon, full of equal parts wonder and horror. Tense, atmospheric and visceral." - A C Wise
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Used availability for S L Coney's Wild Spaces