ash.reads.horror | This Wretched Valley

This Wretched Valley

JENNY KIEFER

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“A hallucinatory nightmare of a novel that blends adventure, horror and historical fiction, and isn’t shy about violence or strangeness.”—New York Times.

“If you love wilderness horror, This Wretched Valley is a must-read.”—Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger and The Fervor.

Take only pictures. Leave only bones. This trip is going to be Dylan’s big break. Her geologist friend Clay has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, Dylan is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing.

Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears, and fingers removed. But Dylan is still missing—and no trace of her, dead or alive, has been discovered.

Were the climbers murdered? Did they succumb to cannibalism? Or are their impossible bodies the work of an even more sinister force?

This dread-inducing debut builds to a bloodcurdling climax, and will leave you shocked by the final twist.

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Posts about this title from ash.reads.horror

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Jul 8

Are you feeling the heat? I know that where I live, Summer is here in full swing. I'm melting and wishing that fall weather was here already. \ \ While we're all withering under the sun's rays, I've put together a list of five different horror subgenres with some book recs in each that are perfect to read this time of year.\ \ So stay inside, pour yourself an ice-cold drink, and gulp down these books!\ \ Folk Horror \ \ \ \ Photo Credit\ \ Folk horror is perfect for almost any time of the year! With rituals and folklore a plenty, these books will suck you into their pages.\ \ Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss-- A family reenacts the Iron Age deep in the wilderness where the past begins to bleed into the present.\ \ Monumental by Adam L.G. Nevill-- A group of kayakers enter forbidden land and stumble upon an ancient sacrificial ritual.\ \ Withered Hill by David Barnett-- A woman wakes up in s small village with no memory of how she got there and finds out quickly that she can't leave.\ \ Double Walker by Michael W. Conrad-- A couple vacationing in Scotland experience a tragedy while on a hike in this chilling graphic novel. \ \ The Residents Of Honeysuckle Cottage by Elizabeth Davidson-- A couples fresh start to a remote cottage just outside a small village slowly turns into a nightmare.\ \ Slasher \ \ Photo Credits\ \ Is it truly summer if there isn't a slasher movie playing? Did you know that slasher horror books are so IN right now?\ \ My Heart Is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones-- A teenage girl obsessed with slashers believes one is starting up in her small town. \ \ Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley-- A wellness retreat turns into a deadly slasher.\ \ Under The Blade by Matt Serafini--A woman who survived a summer camp massacre finally returns home after two decades on the anniversary of the slaying, awakening true evil once more. \ \ Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning-- A canceled sitcom star goes to an adult summer camp and gets trapped in the middle of a slasher.\ \ You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron-- A scare camp where guests pay to be scared turns into a real life horror movie.\ \ Ocean \ \ Photo Credits\ \ The ocean will cool you down as the summer sun beats on. Just don't let it devour you like these novels...\ \ Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant-- A research crew investigating the last location of a ship discovers deadly sirens.\ \ The Deep by Nick Cutter-- A man travels to the bottom of the Marianas Trench to a research facility to check on the scientists investigating the possible cure of a worldwide disease.\ \ Whalefall by Daniel Kraus-- A man dives into the ocean to search for his father's bones and gets swallowed by a whale.\ \ The Sea Hides It's Dead by Megan Bontrager-- A group of academics in an ancient sea cult get trapped in an underwater cave.\ \ Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield-- A woman comes back changed after being trapped deep underwater in a submarine for months.\ \ Theme Park \ \ Photo Credits\ \ Take a trip to an amusement park this summer and have a chilling time. \ \ Hide by Kiersten White-- A completion for a sum of money playing the game of hide and seek turns deadly if found.\ \ FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven-- A theme park gets hit by a hurricane and the employees trapped in the park quickly turn on one another. \ \ Shock Waves by Matt Kurtz-- An explosion near a theme park releases monsters upon the park.\ \ Ride or Die by Delilah S. Dawson-- A girl trying to impress a popular group of girls winds up in the abandoned part of an amusement park where she might ride to her death.\ \ A Cold Night For Alligators by Viggy Parr Hampton-- A determined CDC epidemiologist goes rogue to tackle a mysterious outbreak in Savannah, only to find himself entangled with a pair of urban explorers.\ \ Survival \ \ Photo Credits\ \ Fight for your life on your trip/vacation.\ \ The Ruins by Scott Smith-- A group of friends get trapped on ancient ruins and must fight for their lives.\ \ This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer-- A woman and her team discover an untouched cliff face and make it their mission to be the first to climb it.\ \ The Anomaly by Michael Rutger-- A tv show that focuses on hidden mysteries try to find a hidden cavern only to find it and get trapped within it.\ \ The Hunger by Alma Katsu-- A retelling of the fateful Donner Party.\ \ The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn--A group of friends get trapped in a cabin by both a snow storm and deadly creatures.

Five Horror Subgenres to explore this Summer

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ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Feb 22

👻 some haunting tales to fill your tbr 👻 \ \ These tales will haunt you with haunted houses and ghos

👻 some haunting tales to fill your tbr 👻

These tales will haunt you with haunted houses and ghosts a plenty.

#horrorbooks horrorbooksta #horror

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Posts about this book from across Bindery

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Jul 8

Five Horror Subgenres to explore this Summer

25 books

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Feb 22

👻 some haunting tales to fill your tbr 👻

These tales will haunt you with haunted houses and ghosts a plenty.

#horrorbooks horrorbooksta #horror

18 books

Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Aug 16 2025

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[Hello My Friends,\ \ I've been working on so many thing but Return to Office has been kicking my butt, so I'm a bit behind on sharing!\ \ I'm so excited to be able to share our first WOMEN IN HORROR BOOK BINGO CARD!\ \ If you've been around for awhile, you are familiar with my Indigenous Book Bingo Cards (we currently have 3!) These are available in my Instagram Stories and in our Community Discord! (Join now if you haven't already!)\ \ I had so much difficulty limiting this to 25 books, so if you fear your favorite female author is missing, don't! There will definitely be more rounds of this game!\ \ I was STUNNED to see that with a total of 191 works being nominated for the Stoker Award best novel that only 26 WOMEN have been nominated since inception! (33 total as some were nominated more than once). That number is egregious. When Tananarive Due won in 2023 for The Reformatory, the last woman who won in the category was Caitlin R Kierman (who is problematic and not recommended) in .....2012!!! There have been times when every nominee in the category were men. There has NEVER been a time when every nominee was a woman.\ \ Women write incredible horror every year. Let's work together to help people read more women. I'll come up with some prize options and will post them in the Discord! There will be one more card coming this year, likely in December!\ \ Our Community Discord also hosts our Women in Horror book club. This month we are reading The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia and next month we are reading The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Canes (and I've partnered with Berkeley to do a giveaway, so stay tuned!) I've also been working on some upcoming chats! If you're an author who would like to participate in chats, please reach out directly.\ \ If you appreciate the work that I'm doing there are three ways to support!\ \

Go Shopping From This Post. I receive a small percentage from any purchase you make on Bookshop or Amazon from this post, including books not listed.\ \
Upgrade your membership to the $5 or $12 tier. This community is striving to make change in the publishing industry. We are dedicated to publishing YA and Adult fiction by Indigenous authors and horror books written by women. Voices that need amplifying! We are currently guaranteed publishing one book per year. My goal is to be able to publish 4. My current goal is to reach 10,000 total subscribers. If you cannot afford a paid tier right now, please refer your friends join as free or paid members! And if you're reading this and not subscribed, please do so now!\ \
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She's Heeeere! Women in Horror Book Bingo

24 books

Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Jul 17 2025

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Poll:\ \ Which one are you surviving? \ \ Can our main characters make it to the end of these in one piece? \ \ Surviving The Elements\ \ This Wretched Valley - Jenny Kiefer\ \ Briardark - S.A. Harian\ \ Dark Matter - Michelle Paver\ \ Surviving People\ \ The Cabin At The End Of The World - Paul Tremblay \ \ The Laws of The Skies - Gregoire Courtois\ \ Brother - Ania Ahlborn\ \ Surviving Creatures\ \ The Watchers - A.M. Shine\ \ The Only Good Indians - Stephen Graham Jones\ \ Pearl - Josh Malerman\ \ Surviving The Journey\ \ A Short Stay In Hell - Steven Peck \ \ The Hike - Drew Magary\ \ The Devil Takes You Home - Gabino Iglesias\ \ Surviving the Demonic Possession\ \ Goddess Of Filth - V Castro\ \ Pinata - Leopoldo Gout\ \ The Dark Becomes Her - Judy Lin

Survival Horror Recommendations

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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • May 22 2025

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Intense and Isolated Books to Read

My favorite kind of setting is an isolated one. THE TENSION, THE DREAD 👌🏻 🙌🏻#madisoncanread #horrorbooks #thrillerbookrecs #horrorbookstoread #darkfiction #literaryfiction #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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Boozhoo Books\ \ Naomi\ \ • Aug 20 2024

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Thanks to everyone who came to Quiet Book Club tonight! Next week we will meet at Monday at 5pm.\ \ BOOKS DISCUSSED TONIGHT\ \ Strange Beasts, Susan J Morris\ \ Far Sector, NK Jemison\ \ The Eyes Are The Best Part, Monika Kim\ \ Earth Divers, Stephen Graham Jones\ \ House of Bone and Rain, Gabino Iglesias\ \ The Unmothers, Leslie J Anderson\ \ This Wretched Valley, Jenny Kiefer\ \ Truly Devious, Maureen Johnson,\ \ And the Sky Bled, S Hati\ \ Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt\ \ Braiding Sweet Grass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

Quiet Time Book Club, Books Discussed and Next Meeting

Here is a list of the books we talked about tonight and next week's meeting date.

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