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Breathe In, Bleed Out

Brian McAuley

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“Brian McAuley keeps you guessing the whole gory, satisfying way through this one. Come to this retreat for the blood. Stay for the healing.” —Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of I Was a Teenage Slasher

It's a Midsommar night's Scream in this blood-soaked thriller set at a remote healing retreat from horror author Brian McAuley.

Hannah has been running from her demons ever since she emerged from a harrowing wilderness trip without her fiancé. No one knows exactly what happened the day Ben died, and Hannah would like to keep it that way... even if his ghost still haunts her with vivid waking nightmares that are ruining her life. So when her friend group gets an exclusive invitation to a restorative spiritual retreat in Joshua Tree, Hannah reluctantly agrees in search of a fresh start.

Despite her skepticism of the strange Guru Pax and his belief in the supernatural world, Hannah soon finds healing through all the yoga, sound baths, and hot springs offered at the tech-free haven. But this peaceful journey of self-discovery quickly descends into a violent fight for self-preservation when a mysterious killer starts picking off retreat attendees in increasingly gruesome ways.

As the body count rises and Hannah's sanity frays, she'll have to confront her dark past and uncover the true nature of a ruthless monster hellbent on killing her vibe for good.

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Madisoncanread\ \ Madison\ \ • Aug 31 2025

Poll:\ \ Do you prefer finding new releases like this or do you prefer the newsletter? \ \ September is looking like an amazing month for new book releases!\ \ September 1, 2025 \ \ The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano:\ \ Based on the true story of Margaret Jones, the first women to be found guilty of witchcraft. This wasn't on my radar at all, but it's going straight to my tbr.\ \ \ \ The Silenced by Diane Rodriguez Wallach\ \ Hazel begins researching the Oakwell Farms School for Girls when she realize this place may be seriously haunted.\ \ September 2, 2025 \ \ I Might Be In Trouble by Daniel Aleman\ \ An author, David had a stand out debut book release, and then his 2nd novel flopped. He was on top of the world and now feels like he has nothing. He ends up going on a date with his dream guy and wakes up the next morning finding him dead. Now he and his literary agent, Stacey are trying to get to the bottom of it.\ \ \ \ Discontent by Beatriz Serrano (Translated by Mara Faye Lethem)\ \ Marisa's life seems picture perfect. However, she's drowning in despair due to the pressures of corporate life. A company's annual retreat may end up exposing her.\ \ \ \ Happiness and Love by Zoe Dubno\ \ A woman has to suffer through an insufferable dinner party hosted for a newly famous actress who is very late. Once she arrives, the night seems to turn into chaos.\ \ \ \ Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley\ \ I already have this one preordered! "It's a Midsommar night's Scream in this blood-soaked thriller set at a remote healing treat." There's no way I don't love this book\ \ September 9 2025 \ \ Hot Wax by M.L. Rio\ \ At 10 years old Suzanne witness something traumatic while on tour with her fathers band and now as an adult she's trying to disappear but someone won't let her go.\ \ \ \ The Macabre by Kosoko Jackson\ \ A struggling painter is shocked when a museum shows interest in his art. He accepts the invitation to display his art in a show but he's asked something impossible while he's there.\ \ \ \ Play Nice by Rachel Harrison\ \ I CAN'T Wait for this!!! Clio seems to have the perfect life but she has a secret and that's she grew up in a possessed house. What does that mean? I'm ready to find out!\ \ \ \ The Belles by Lacey N Dunham\ \ I have a feeling this will be perfect for Bunny fans. Deena Williams is trying to fit in and ends up making friends with 5 other girls. The president's wife singles them out and names the group The Belles. Now Deena has secrets that she's trying to keep hidden.\ \ \ \ Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests by K.J. Whittle\ \ "Three courses. Seven guests. One card. It's a deadly evening they'll never forget."\ \ \ \ You Weren't Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White\ \ "Alien meets Midsommar" an alien invasion set in West Virginia\ \ \ \ We Are Always Tender With Our Dead by Eric LaRocca\ \ 3 faceless entities arrive on Christmas morning, changing the lives of the residents on Burnt Sparrow, New Hampshire.\ \ September 16 2025 \ \ The Whistler by Nick Medina\ \ Henry is a well loved ghost hunter, ends up getting hurt and is now in a wheelchair being taken care of my his grandparents. He's also now being haunted.\ \ \ \ Fiend by Alma Katsu\ \ The Berisha family runs the largest import-export companies in the world and it seems like all of their competitors have some sort of down fall. Never the Berisha family though. Things may take a turn for them in the end though.\ \ \ \ The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin\ \ Effie witnesses horrific violence at the hands of her parents and ends up escaping and living in the wilderness. When she realizes the only witness to a murder is a little girl who looks just like her. This forces Effie to go back to her childhood home.\ \ \ \ The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards\ \ "A dinner party in a beautiful Notting Hill townhouse turns into a sinister game, as six old friends are forced to spill their darkest secrets…or else."\ \ September 23 2025 \ \ We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad\ \ Ah!!! I can't wait for this! The sequel to Bunny!\ \ \ \ Spread Me by Sarah Gailey\ \ Kinsey works at a remote research facility and loves her job. She finds a specimen and then her life begins to spiral.\ \ September 30 2025 \ \ The Mean Ones by Tatianna Schlote-Bonne\ \ Sadie witnesses her best friends brutal murder and now, 17 years later she's dealing with some strange side effects. \ \ \ \ The Mad Wife by Meagan Church\ \ Lulu has strived to be the perfect 1950s housewife but when her new neighbor Bitsy moves in, her life begins to unravel.\ \ \ \ What Stalks The Deep by T. Kingfisher\ \ The third book in the Sworn Soldier series.

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ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Jul 8

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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.\ \ Join for free or login

Five Horror Subgenres to explore this Summer

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ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • May 22

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\ \ Hi everyone and welcome back to another author interview! This week I'm joined by the Hash Slinger Slasher... oops I mean the AMAZING Brian McAuley. McAuley is a super talented author who loves exploring horror through slashers. He's written Curse Of The Reaper, Candy Cain Kills, Candy Cain Kills Again, and Breathe In, Bleed Out.\ \ \ \ Let's dive in and AXE some questions. (Sorry, my slasher puns will be the death of me.)\ \ 1. I always like to use my first question as a chance for you to introduce yourself! Tell us as little or as much as you want.\ \

Oh hello! Brian McAuley here. I'm a USA Today Bestselling author of horror novels and a WGA screenwriter who has written everything from Lifetime movies to sitcom reboots. Born and raised in the Garden State, but now slowly melting in the Arizona desert, where I'm screenwriting professor at ASU.\ \ 2. You're the author of several books, i.e Curse Of The Reaper and Breathe In, Bleed Out, and I love that all your books are slashers in their own unique way. What keeps drawing you back to the slasher genre?\ \ There's something about the structure and tropes of a slasher that just feels like a warm blanket to me. As a writer, I have a lot of fun crafting those elaborate death set pieces where you know a character is about to die, but you're not quite sure how it's going to unfold.\ \ 3. To follow up question two, are there any other subgenres of horror that you want to dabble in one day? Or does the slasher genre forever hold your heart?\ \ So far, I've been most interested in exploring different subgenres through a slasher lens. CURSE OF THE REAPER is rooted in psychological horror, CANDY CAIN KILLS and its sequel are religious horror, BREATHE IN, BLEED OUT dips a toe into cults and folk legends, and my upcoming book FAIRLY BAD WAYS TO DIE plays with the fantasy genre by virtue of being set at a Renaissance Faire.\ \ 4. Out of all your books, do you have a favorite? What about one that was harder to write? \ \ CURSE OF THE REAPER was the hardest to write because it was my first attempt at writing a novel, ever. For that same reason, it remains my favorite. I lived with those characters for years in screenplay form before I adapted the story into a book, so I'll always be grateful to Howard Browning for helping me expand my artistic horizons.\ \ 5. I saw your most recent announcement about your newest work, Fairly Bad Ways to Die, which is a slasher involving a plague doctor at a renaissance festival (HELL YEAH! I absolutely love Plague Doctors so this makes my day). Care to tell us a little more about it? \ \ This book focuses on a band of college students who have been performing at their local Renaissance Faire for years, waiting for their big break. Unfortunately, that opportunity arrives the same year as a mysterious killer who's dispatching patrons with medieval brutality. It was incredibly fun to write because of the world building and large cast of colorful characters. One thing I can promise is that the title is no false promise.\ \ 6. Are you working on/plotting anything else at the moment?\ \ I'm presently doing a final polish on what I hope will be my first YA horror novel. You'll be shocked to hear that it's a slasher, but I can't say anything more at the moment, so stay tuned!\ \ 7. What have been some of your favorite horror reads from this year? \ \ Speaking of slashers, I loved FATALLY YOURS by Jessica Lacy. On the non-slasher front, BAT EATER AND OTHER NAMES FOR CORA ZENG by Kylie Lee Baker blew me away. I got a sneak peek at Hailey Piper's upcoming THIS MOVIE DOESN'T END THE WAY WE WANT and had such a fun time with it.\ \ 8. Any backlist titles you've been loving lately?\ \ I've been catching up on David Sodergren's catalog of absolute mayhem. GUILLOTINE by Delilah S. Dawson recently left me hungry to read more of her work.\ \ 9. Have you seen any good horror movies lately? I swear there are so many coming out soon that I'm dying to see (Obsession, Hokum, The Backrooms, Passenger)\ \ I'm still thinking about OBSESSION nearly a week later. That one really got under my skin in the best way. I just rewatched KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE for an upcoming Instagram Live with Point Horror Book Club. That movie only gets better with age.\ \ 10. Do you have any writing rituals or routines that help you get in the writing headspace?\ \ I'm primarily a morning writer, so a big pot of black coffee is absolutely necessary. If I've still got energy after my teaching day, I'll bring my laptop to my favorite local brewery, pop a movie soundtrack playlist into my ears, and have an IPA-fueled writing session in the evening.\ \ Use the below space to list any socials and author websites you would like to share.\ \ @BrianMcWriter / www.brianmcwriter.com\\ \ Thank you again, Brian, for your amazing answers and time!\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/LMaHGdzwXwJvJdBQ94uA/)

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