Wild Spaces

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.

S.L. Coney's story 'Abandoned Places' was selected for 2017's Best American Mystery Stories and their story 'Prey' was listed as one of the strongest new works at Gamut Magazine by Ellen Datlow. They live in St. Louis where they subsist largely on white tea and Benadryl because they're allergic to everything--including themselves--possibly from that laboratory mouse bite. Currently, they're busy writing a novel and teaching Java and JavaScript.