Spring.

Even in the shadows of skyscrapers, spring sees an awakening in the concrete jungle that we call “the city.”
Spring in the City: A Collection of Dark Speculative Fiction is the next anthology in Ruadán Books’ “…In the City” series that takes place in the different metropolises around the world during the changeable, unpredictable return of life from its cold slumber.

But what awakens is not always beautiful.

• In Stockholm, the vengeful goddess of spring awakens, ready to begin her hunt once again…
• Faced with an impossible choice, Detroit teens must confront a malevolent entity to protect their urban neighborhood from the creature’s insatiable hunger…
• A journalist escapes to Cape Town to research folklore and only encounters terrifying creatures from local legends, blurring the lines between reality and nightmare…
• When mysterious fireballs devastate Tel Aviv, a young girl is gifted with extraordinary powers which she must embrace to confront a prophesied cosmic entity…

Hell hath no fury…

Up-and-coming young artist Jefferson Fontenot has everything going for him: The hot New Orleans art scene has noticed him, and he’s finally found his true love, Nevaeh Parker.

But Fontenot’s bright future hides a darkness known as Gemma Landry— the artist’s lover and art scene influencer. Gemma believes Jefferson’s talent holds the key to her seizing control of the popular Carondelet Street Gallery. But when Gemma discovers Jefferson’s infidelity, she enslaves the artist with a poison she acquired from swamp-dwelling witch Mirlande St. Pierre.

Now trapped in a rotting body and plagued by hellish visions, Jefferson finds himself reduced to a zombie-like servant for his unhinged ex, while Nevaeh is forced to embrace her past, hoping to save the man she loves. As the dark curse courses through Jefferson’s veins, everyone involved soon discovers—in the most brutal of fashions—the terror that awaits when you cross Gemma Landry.

A prisoner inside a ghoul-infested fortress, Erzelle must play her harp for the entertainment of the flesh-eating cult that murdered her parents.

Her nightmare’s upended in the space of a day by the arrival of Olyssa, a fellow musician, and so much more.

Erzelle joins the quest to find Olyssa’s missing sister, a journey across a mutated landscape that leads to an enemy responsible for the deaths of millions.

To end the slaughter, the pair has no choice but to draw on the deadly magic that reshaped the world … a power that’s consuming Erzelle even as she fights to control it.

BONUS: Order The Black Fire Concerto at a 33% discount and receive a PDF copy of an original Mike Allen tie-in story!

The city.

Noisy, crowded, ever in motion, the city can be more than a setting—it can be a character, as nuanced and as fickle as a human being, with as many traits and quirks as the best mapped out characters. The city can be the ever-present and constant companion (or foe) to the protagonist and antagonist alike.

Winter in the City: A Collection of Dark Speculative Fiction is an anthology of dark speculative fiction tales that takes place in 18 different cities around the world during the bleak—sometimes harsh—season of winter.

Whether thanks to an overnight college radio shift or cable pumping flickering videos into TVs across America, the music of the alternative era was the soundtrack to our lives, and sometimes our deaths.

BONUS: Pre-order 120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era at a 33% discount and receive a PDF copy of an original Nick Mamatas story!