Bitters, by Kaaron Warren

About the Book:

The giant metal man has stood for hundreds of years, head tilted back, mouth open. All the dead of the town are disposed of this way, carried up the long, staircase that winds around him and tipped in. At his toe emerges the Bitters, the lifeblood of the town, keeping them healthy and prosperous as the sick and needy come to buy and drink.

McNubbin is a happy man with all he wants in life. He’s carried the bodies up since he was 14, a worthwhile, respected job. But when he notices broken girl after broken girl, he can’t stay quiet, and speaking up will change his perfect life.

Published as a trade paperback:
• Printed on 60# acid-free paper
• Featuring full color cover artwork
• Retail price $10.99

Shirley Jackson award-winner Kaaron Warren has lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Fiji and Canberra. She has five novels in print, including the The Grief Hole, Slights and Tide of Stone, and seven short story collections, including Cemetery Dance Selects, an eBook. She is a past Guest of Honor at Stokercon and the World Fantasy Convention.

"Well known in Australia for her critically acclaimed and compelling speculative fiction, Warren has written a must-read for fans of menacing, thought-provoking, horror-laced dystopias like Agustina Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh and Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves." - Library Journal Starred Review

“With Bitters, one of fiction’s greatest voices outdoes herself, proving again that when it comes to stories that make your skin crawl, which literally sear themselves into your mind, Kaaron Warren is unmatched. The Man with its lifeblood bitters casts one hell of a shadow over the town, as does its author over the literary field. A deliciously horrific read.” - Aaron Dries, author of Cut to Care and Dirty Heads.

"Deeply atmospheric and wholly original, this single-sitting novella is unnerving from the opening scene. Haunting, grisly and unsettling, it asks questions about desire and addiction, and the lengths we'll go for ourselves and others. Bitters is a triumph." - Alan Baxter, Award Winning Author of Sallow Bend.  

Warren has outdone herself in this dark, smart novella about a town that finds a unique way to thrive. The Man, a giant edifice that is both the master and lifeblood of all it surveys, is a gleefully horrific invention—part Moloch, part Wicker Man, part Big Banana—anchored to heartbreakingly human good and evil. You’ll read it in one sitting; you’ll remember it for life. - J.S. Breukelaar, author of The Bridge.