Chimera

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A powerful family’s terrible secrets threaten to consume them in Chimera, a visceral body horror novel from Gretchen Felker-Martin, the author of Manhunt and Cuckoo.

Centuries ago, in the dark of the woods, a pact was made. A gift was given. And the costs have echoed down the bloodlines.

The clans of skin dancers—humans able to shapeshift into the form of any animal they've eaten—rule the 1980s New England crime scene. A late-summer wedding between two families is meant to usher in a new era of peace between households and stifle the brewing tensions that threaten to boil over into war.

But something is lurking in the forest outside the family compound. Something ancient, angry...and starving.

Also by Gretchen Felker-Martin:

Manhunt

Cuckoo

Black Flame

Reviews

Praise for Gretchen Felker-Martin

"Cuckoo is, like Felker-Martin's previous novel Manhunt, absolutely masterful."

—Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of The Bad Feminist

"Manhunt is a modern horror masterpiece.”

—Carmen Maria Machado, National Book Award finalist

"With [Cuckoo], Felker-Martin appoints herself the new High Priestess of splatter....A story of love, hate, and sacrifice that spares no suffering, but takes no pity."

—Tony Tulathimutte, author of National Book Award finalist Rejection

“Disgustingly rendered and brilliantly imagined…. A fresh, stomach-turning take on gendered apocalypse.”

—NPR, on Manhunt

"Cuckoo is a breathtaking novel of body horror; a heartbreaking, angry, terrifying, unflinching indictment of Christian America's cruelty; and it's a soaring, boundless ode to queer survival. It's flat-out mesmerizing."

—Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie

“A grisly, gory, glorious work of splatterpunk social horror — and the perfect introduction to both subgenres.”

—Bustle, on Manhunt

“Tense and frighteningly visceral, Cuckoo is a masterwork of body horror thrumming with high octane viciousness.”

—Eric LaRocca, author of Wretch

“Felker-Martin can write: Manhunt expertly drops one political target after another, breaks your heart with nearly every character, and keeps up a relentless velocity— all while just being plain fun as hell.”

—Torrey Peters, PEN/Hemingway Award winning author of Stag Dance

About the Author

GRETCHEN FELKER-MARTIN is a Massachusetts-based bestselling horror author and film critic. Her debut novel, Manhunt, was named the #1 Best Book of 2022 by Vulture, and was one of the Best Horror Novels of 2022 by Esquire, Library Journal, and Paste. Her novels, Cuckoo and Black Flame, debuted on the USA Today bestseller list. You can read her fiction and film criticism on Patreon and in TIME, The Outline, Nylon, and more.