Our first collection of short reads, the folk horror compilation Mistress of Geese by Antonija Mežnarić, is here! It’s available through Amazon, Kobo, Apple and elsewere.
From the blurb:
The undiscovered, occasionally almost uninhabited remote areas of the old European land of Croatia hold secrets only the bravest of women can find. The only question is, will they survive the discovery or be taken into darkness as the land demands?
Mistress of Geese is a collection of folk horror tales about isolation, loneliness, destructive powers of nature, magic and creatures lurking in the dark.
The five novelettes Antonija wrote, directly inspired by old Croatian folk tales (and even one family legend) offer a fresh, queer, folk-heavy take on slavic horror.
MISTRESS OF GEESE
Jela lives in complete, self-imposed isolation, but when a malevolent curse falls down on the neighbouring town of Lepoglava, she needs to—quite simply—follow the geese.
THE SOUND OF WIND
Bura lives in a remote village, hidden in the Velebit mountain range in the late 1950s, when she gets lost in the woods, which have suddenly gone unrecognizable.
MAKE A TOAST TO SPRING
Four friends visiting the Istrakon sci-fi convention in Pazin get into magical trouble when they drink something they shouldn’t have touched.
THE ROCK AT THE BOTTOM
Luka and Kate believed they had a perfect plan to trick strict village rules. Years later, Ema and Laura go on a perfect vacation in Dalmatia… except that the powers lurking in the depths of the sea have other plans for them, and so does the village itself.
THE LOTTERY
Augusta is caught in a fairy tale in the worst possible way—as a maiden sacrifice to the river dragon for the safety of her postapocalyptic village. But Lian, as it turns out, isn’t really a dragon and Augusta has something else to bargain with, other than her life—something much, much more dangerous.
If you’ve read Mistress already, don’t feel shy about letting us know what you thought on Goodreads!
ps. If you’re in love with the cover as much as we are, go give Pannonian Mermaid, the photographer, some love!
Shtriga Books 