Arcane Nights Press | Victorian Psycho: A Novel
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Victorian Psycho: A Novel
Virginia Feito
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SOON TO BE A FEATURE FILM FROM A24 STARRING MARGARET QUALLEY AND THOMASIN MCKENZIE
“This book will be the bloody belle of the 2025 literary ball.” (Oprah Daily)
Most Anticipated Books of 2025: Vulture, Oprah Daily, Polygon, Reader's Digest, Lit Hub, CrimeReads, The Stacks, LibraryReads, Paste
Best Books of the Month: Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, TIME, Goodreads, Gizmodo, Book Riot, The A.V. Club, Apple Books, Amazon
The American Booksellers Association's #1 Indie Next Great Read! (Feb 2025)
A Matty Maggiacomo Book Club Selection
“Simmering with rage, propulsive and laugh out loud funny, Victorian Psycho speaks profoundly of horror both within and without us.” —Catriona Ward
From the acclaimed author of Mrs. March comes the riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance. Virginia Feito’s Mrs. March was hailed as “a brilliant debut . . . [by] a writer who keeps pace with the grandees she invokes” (Sarah Ditum, Guardian) — from Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson to Patricia Highsmith.
Now, Feito returns with her “silver-polish sentences and her eerie psychological acumen” (Constance Grady, Vox) to unleash an entirely new antihero on us all.
Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess — she’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children.
But long, listless days spent within the estate’s dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family — Mr. Pounds can’t keep his eyes off Winifred’s chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband’s wandering gaze.
Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery . . . and creeping across the moonlit lawns . . . Patience.
Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor House.
Brimming with sardonic wit and culminating in a shocking conclusion, Victorian Psycho plunges readers into the chilling mind of an iconic new literary psychopath.
4 black-and-white illustrations
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Posts about this title from Arcane Nights Press
Arcane Nights Press\ \ Cassidy\ \ • Feb 9 2025
New Books Released February 4th
Some amazing books came out this past week! Check them out!
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Posts about this book from across Bindery
ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Oct 25 2025
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\ \ Hi everyone and welcome to the first author interview featured on my Bindery!\ \ Happy Halloween!\ \ I had a fantastic time talking with Stephanie. She's been a friend of mine for a long time and I knew she would be the best VICTIM--I mean candidate for my first interview.\ \ Before I dive into our interview, I just wanted to highlight a few things about Stephanie!\ \ She's the proud owner of an online indie bookstore that you've probably seen me rave about time and time again-- DeathByTBRBooks.com . I do a huge amount of my book shopping on there.\ \ \ \ She's also a published author! Hiding Lies was her debut book. A fast-paced cat and mouse horror/thriller following a forensic photographer and the serial killer she's hunting. Her next novel Small Town Slasher debuts in March of '26! Her press Death By TBR Press released a fun Halloween Horror Anthology: Twisted Tales To Tell In The Night that she edited along with William Sterling. She also has a huge year coming up in 2026, which we will talk about in our interview!\ \ \ \ Now, let's dive into this FANGtastic interview!\ \
Use this first question as an introduction! Tell us your name and a little bit about yourself, your bookstore, etc...\ \ Here's my bio. :)\ \ Stephanie Rose is a disabled, neurodivergent, and queer horror writer and editor who finds comfort in the dark corners of storytelling. She is the author of Hiding Lies, Small Town Slasher, and Plastic Fangs: Essays, and serves as editor of the Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night anthology series. A lifelong Halloween devotee and unapologetic house goblin, she thrives on horror, true crime, and the delicious unease of the macabre. Music, especially dance and karaoke, keeps her heart beating just long enough to write another story. She lives in Washington with her partner and four cats.\ \ 2026 looks like a huge year for you and your publishing company with Small Town Slasher, Twisted Tales To Tell In The Night (part 2), and Plastic Fangs. Not to mention you just announced Road Kill Revolution with TruBorn Press! Which book are you most excited to release?\ \ It really has been and I really can't believe all of this has happened. Last year at this time I was a debut author and expanding Death by TBR Books into a press as well as it being an indie bookshop for almost seven years is wild. I refuse to pick favorites. \ \ \ \ What I will say is that Small Town Slasher is the novel I've completed the longest ago so that makes it exciting to me because it feels the most tangible. I don't have a cover yet for TT2 and I haven't finished Roadkill Revolution Tour. \ \ What was your favorite short story from the Twisted Tales To Tell in the Night Halloween Horror Anthology? Mine was the Elvira inspired one Morgana Macabre's Halloween Special by Wendy Dalrymple.\ \ I loved the nostalgia of her story. Again I can't pick a favorite. I will say that I've had the most fun reading Booger Sugar by Clay McLeod Chapman aloud to my friends and family and my cats and Best Friends Forever b y Renee Thomasin has stayed with me the longest. Again though I love all of them for different reasons but if you threatened to take away Halloweens I'd say BFF is my favorite.\ \ Do you have a writing process? Any tips for any aspiring writers?\ \ I'm still figuring it out. I wrote Hiding Lies eight years ago and Small Town Slasher not even a year ago. Now that I write every day I'd say it depends on the project. I randomly outline some of the book and other times I write out scenes I definitely want in the book as I think of them. When I was writing STS I read and watched so many slashers because I wanted my writing to be cinematic. \ \ What or Who has been your biggest inspiration?\ \ Surviving my trauma. It wasn't one writer or person that inspired me. I was having a really rough time when I first moved to the PNW and no, not due to the rain. I actually have reverse seasonal affective disorder. It was all of the people and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I suffer from a number of disabilities and agoraphobia, social phobia, anxiety, and CPTSD are a few of them. I wanted to write a novel as a bucket list item. I submitted it to a lot of agents and after the rejections reached the 100s I pursued my second Master's Degree in Information and Library Sciences. After the election I was getting bad again and I channeled all of my intrusive thoughts and rage into murdering a lot of people on the page. It was then I realized I had to write to live. \ \ What can you tell us about Roadkill Revolution Tour?\ \ It's about a trio of pop icons combine a setlist of their club classics for an electrifying U.S. tour that doubles as an underground resistance dismantling a fascist regime one hard hitting mayhem filled performance at a time, think KPop Demonhunters meets Manhunt.There are three Easter eggs in the previous sentence to identify the three singers influenced the fictional characters in the book. I'm writing it now. A lot of the book is current and past research on the current administration and working in real events that have happened. I'm no Atwood but I'd like to hope this story will give people an idea of how bad things are and how bad they can or will get by the time this book is released.\ \ Are you working on any other projects at the moment?\ \ I'm currently doing my final round of edits on Small Town Slasher, editing and formatting TT2 and will be going through submissions for T wisted Tales to Tell in the Night: A Yuletide Horror Anthology by the end of December. After that it's getting back to a few projects. I have a lot of ideas but will also be working on essays for my first essay collection at that time. I have no idea which project I will pick back up or start fresh with in January. Also, working on a few flash fiction stories for one of my Patreon Vampire Tier.\ \ What is your favorite scary movie? What's a horror movie that scared you the most? Your go to Halloween movie?\ \ Scream or more like the Scream franchise will always be my favorite. When I first watched it I was babysitting home alone. By the end of the movie I had checked the locks of the doors and windows and had a butcher knife next to me. The horror movie that scared me the most was The Blair Witch Project because when I went to go see it I was part of the advanced screening group that didn't know all of the footage was filmed not found. More recently I'd say the film Civil War because we're living in it now and it's terrifying. My go to Halloween movie is probably a double feature of Halloween H20 and Hubie Halloween. I can't choose even two without also stating that I watch a Halloween film or themed episode every day of October. \ \ Do you have any fun Halloween traditions?\ \ I watch something Halloween themed every day of October. On the actual day I usually have mac and cheese or pizza and go trick-or-treating. I go for about an hour and then head home. I watch the Bob's Burgers "Full Bars" episode and either Halloween, Halloween H20, or Halloween Kills, and do a Samhain ritual.\ \ What is your favorite horror book? Scariest?\ \ SOME of my favorites are Maeve Fly by CJ Leede, So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison, Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw, and Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito. SOME of the scariest are Rest Stop by Nat Cassidy (gave me one of my only jump scares from a book), House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (after I read it I refused to own it for a few years), and Come Closer by Sara Gran.\ \ Any Halloween-themed books you want to recommend to our readers?\ \ Well obviously I have to recommend Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night: A Halloween Horror Anthology AND the next installment Twisted Tales to Tell in the Night: Another Halloween Horror Anthology. The Halloween Store by Ronald Kelly, The Haunted Mask by R.L. Stine, and We Bleed Orange and Black by Jeff C. Carter. \ \ Favorite Halloween song?\ \ Here's my Tidal playlist: https://tidal.com/playlist/0d5a5fa2-b946-43ae-80a5-fcb31df3196e \ \ And ending on an unlucky thirteen, what is your favorite Halloween candy?\ \ Unlucky? You mean my favorite number. ;) It really is my favorite. I am mostly doing "top" instead of "favorite" in general because it's too damn hard to choose. I'd say Snickers Peanut Butter, Almond Joy, and Butterfinger.\ \ Again I want to thank Stephanie for agreeing to do this interview!\ \ If anyone has questions they would like to ask Stephanie, drop them down below! I'll be sure she sees them!\ \ Remember, if you're needing a indie bookstore to support, Deathbytbrbooks.com is a fantastic option! Other ways to support Stephanie includes: \ \ -Choosing Death By Tbr Books on your Librofm account as your indie bookstore\ \ -Choosing Death By Tbr Books on your Bookshop.org as your indie bookstore\ \ -Supporting her Patreon.\ \ -Buying her books\ \ You can find/connect with Stephanie on Instagram and Tiktok\ \ Next week join me as we talk with author Julia Jackson!\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/EMN88bholRdSkeaTxyos/)
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Stephanie Rose
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Bookwyrm Ink\ \ Bookwyrm Ink\ \ • Oct 2 2025
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71 Books I totally recommend. 📚In song!
71 Books I totally recommend. 📚In song!
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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Sep 19 2025
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\ \ Join for free or login](https://boozhoo.binderybooks.com/item/AKNY4takZBrImNdu2ivY/)
Ultimate Spooky Season Shopping List
Spooky season is truly all year in this house but I’ll be dropping recs extra extra for the next couple of month!
Let me know which ones you've read and loved? Let me know which ones are on your TBR.
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Kurryreads\ \ Kerry\ \ • Jul 9 2025
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Q2 Honorable Mention Reads 📚📖 Books I rated 4.5-4.75 stars
Q2 Honorable Mention Reads 📚📖 Books I rated 4.5-4.75 stars #favoritebooks #favoritethrillerbooks #favoritehorrorbooks #booktok #booktoker #whatiread #bestbooks #thrillerbooks #horrorbooks #bookishopinions #bookish #bibliophile #kurryreads #bookworm #whattoread #bookrecommendations
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Bookwyrm Ink\ \ Bookwyrm Ink\ \ • Jun 22 2025
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\ \ Join for free or login](https://azthiabookwyrm.binderybooks.com/item/16nDq4CPE5O0OB3WS77T/)
Here is my summer audiobook list ✈️☀️!
Here is my summer audiobook list ✈️☀️
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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Jun 6 2025
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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • May 28 2025
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Bookwyrm Ink\ \ Bookwyrm Ink\ \ • May 24 2025
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\ \ Join for free or login](https://azthiabookwyrm.binderybooks.com/item/VkeWCawy960DScCmFtvY/)
Honestly the most depressed I've been in a bookstore.
Honestly the most depressed I've been in a bookstore. Due to the overall drama of the situation, I wasn't able to hit up any indie bookshops or even a B&N..So I grabbed what I could carry at the airport. My suitcases both came out to 50lbs. Between the books I got frome the festival and books I have for a friend who couldn't come. I'm exhausted, and glad to be back in Madrid.
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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • May 22 2025
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My favorite books of 2025 so far!
My favorite books of 2025 so far! #madisoncanread #horrorbooks #thrillerbooks #favoritebooks #bestbooks #bestbooks2025 #Inverted
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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • May 19 2025
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Women in Horror. Do our tastes align?
Women in Horror edition! Drop your score below! Did you know that my publishing imprint on Bindery has expanded? We are publishing books by Indigenous authors AND horror books written by women?! And you can help us, by showing up to support (even as a free follower!) I have almost 6,000 followers here and it would be everything if all of you would go and follow me right now! #womneinhorror #horrorbooks #bookrecs
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Boneyard Picnic\ \ Natalie Meagan\ \ • Apr 1 2025
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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Mar 24 2025
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It's A Beautiful Day To Treat Yourself
New Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3vFIXicm3o&t=1s Giveaways, Pitchfest, Weekly Update, Quiet Time Book Club
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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Mar 22 2025
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Giveaway, Paid Subscribers and Pango Books!
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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Mar 2 2025
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Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Feb 9 2025
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[Whoops! A little late, but read this instead of watching The Super Bowl.\ \ This Week in the Book World: \ \ Ooohhhhh let's talk smut, because I don't know if you saw the Quill and Flame "#sickofsmut" campaign, but y'all that had me angry for days.\ \ So, in case you missed it, an indie publishing house put out a campaign of posts talking about how they were sick of smut in their romance books and that they were committed to only publishing "clean" and "PG-13" romances. Which, is fine. Because, and I cannot say this loudly enough, no one is forcing anyone to read smut. If you don't want to read smut, don't read it. It's as simple as that.\ \ As a bookstore owner, I get asked constantly for closed-door romances and I am happy to help folks find the kind of content they're comfortable with, because I believe strongly that engaging with books that sexual content should come with informed consent. \ \ However, where this whole thing really started to go downhill and, well frankly, piss me off was with the brazen smut-shaming that came with it. In case you missed the sentence above where I said that no one is forcing anyone to read smut, these folks were out here acting like they were being held at gun point and forcing to read about "body part behavior"–yes that is a direct quote. Things started to fall apart more when they started throwing around words like "safe" and "good" and "darkness" when referring to sexual content, but it REALLY, REALLY, REALLY got me when I saw the words "YA" and "NA".\ \ clears throat ALLYOUNG ADULT BOOKS ARE NOT "CLOSED DOOR ROMANCE BOOKS" AND ALL "CLOSED DOOR ROMANCE BOOKS" ARE NOT YOUNG ADULT BOOKS. Young adult books are books written for young adults. End of story. Sometimes those books contain sexual content, because–and this might blow some mind–teens need a safe, healthy way to learn and talk about and process their feelings about sex.\ \ There are tons of authors who use their books to help teens learn about things like consent, healthy relationships, bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and so much more. This is important work. And describing books written by adults for adults as "YA" simply because they don't have sexual content amongst a political backdrop of nationwide book bans, mom's for liberty, and publishers printing age labels on book covers, is nothing but dangerous. \ \ I could stand on this soapbox for the rest of the evening, so clearly this should be topic I cover more in depth later.\ \ Moving on...\ \ This week's publishing news: \ \
- We finally got an announcement for Del Sandeen's second novel! Titled, Death is my Castle, this newest horror novel is about "two sisters who inherit a house in Savannah, Georgia, only to discover that it may be haunted by the man who built it in 1910."\ \
- Dinesh Thiru, author of Into the Sunken City, announced My Killer Family Reunion, which was pitched as "Knives Out meets Never Have I Ever". Also, excited about this one, because I do feel like true "mystery" and "whodunnit" books are a gap in the teen market. Not every teen wants to read an intense thriller/true crime book.\ \
- Tehlor Mejia's Marrow, which was described as "a dark academia fantasy in which a trans 16-year-old boy finds himself way in over his head when he joins a hyper-elite school with dark, potentially supernatural secrets"\ \
- AND! We got more news about Alix E. Harrows, The Everlasting, which according to her "rhymes" with her short story The Six Deaths of the Saint. She apparently wrote the story while plotting this newest novel, and I cannot contain my excitement!\ \ \ This week's new releases: \ \
- The Lamb by Lucy Rose (Adult, Horror)\ \
- Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito (Adult, Horror)\ \
- Capitana by Cassandra James (YA, Fantasy)\ \
- Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey (Adult, Literary)\ \
- Wings of Starlight by Allison Saft (YA, Fantasy)\ \
- All Better Now by Neal Shusterman (YA, Dystopian)\ \ \ What I read this week: \ \ Listen to Your Sister (Finished)\ \ I've talked about this book a lot and I'm going to continue to talk about it, because it deserves it. Holy hell this book was so good. I was not expecting to fall as in love with this one as I did, but it struck something deep in my core. As I wrote in my mini review, Listen to Your Sister is both a love letter to oldest sisters and Black women and a vicious rejection of the expectations the world puts on them to save us over themselves. It's so timely and so heartfelt. 5 out of 5 stars.\ \ Also, it definitely reads more speculative fiction that horror, so I think it's got great crossover appeal for those of you who might be wary of scary books.\ \ Gifted & Talented (Finished)\ \ I hinted at it last time, but I'm here to confirm that Gifted & Talented is Olivie Blake's best book yet. I feel like all of her standalones throughout the last few years have been leading up to this story. When I tell you that I full-on, audibly, gasped not once, but multiple times, while reading this last night. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me send out-of-context screenshots of highlighted paragraphs to my husband. I know that her prose style is not for everyone, but wow do I love it. \ \ This one also leans way more literary fiction than fantasy. It contains magical elements, but it is way more a Succession-esque family drama than anything. Also, I posted this on BlueSky last night, but the scene where the enemies become lovers in this one was... immaculate. \ \ A Burning in the Bones (17%)\ \ This is the third and final book in The Waxways series, and all I have to say is that I am so excited. I love this series. I can't wait to keep reading.\ \ What I bought/shelved \ \ Books I bought/received this week:\ \
- The Wayways series in hardcover\ \
- The Devils by Joe Abercrombie\ \
- The Library at Hellbore by Cassandra Khaw\ \ \ Here are some books I shelved this week:\ \
- Dream by the Shadows by Logan Karlie\ \
- The Balance of Fates by Raquel Raelynn\ \ \ Other musings: \ \ Our February book pick is in and I'm thrilled to be reading One for my Enemy by Olivie Blake, this is the only standalone of hers that I haven't read yet, and coming off the high of Gifted & Talented I'm especially excited. Join here.](https://notsowellread.binderybooks.com/item/9bIOc0mot3P1THEQMA7a/)
14 books
Arcane Nights Press\ \ Cassidy\ \ • Feb 9 2025
New Books Released February 4th
Some amazing books came out this past week! Check them out!
13 books
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