MIBA SpringCon 2023 Authors
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Start giftingThe Spite House
A Novel
Bookseller recommendation
“What happens when righteous anger putrefies, and becomes malignant? Sometimes you get a spite house. Sometimes you get a spirit so hell-bent on living, they come back, bringing a piece of hell back with them. What happens when others tell themselves the same little lies you tell yourself? In the shadows of Johnny Compton's Spite House, you will see your darkest self reflected.”
Jack,
Raven Book Store
Bookseller recommendation
“Rich character development and some interesting new concepts are the strengths of this striking horror novel - but our favorite part about it is that the ghosts aren't coy. There's no slow buildup to paranormal activity. It's not bogged down by old-fashioned ideas of trauma. There's good history here, and metaphor for historic conflicts in America. The dad and kids who face the crisis are dealing with a convergence of personalities, some living and some dead, and they are struggling with their own survival of the events in the story. That's what makes the ending so chilling: there is catharsis, there is redemption... but the haunting doesn't, can't, end.”
Nialle,
The Haunted Bookshop
"The plotting is intricate, following the points of view of many characters from the past and present, all of whom are expertly performed by Adam Lazarre-White." - Library Journal
"Adam Lazarre-White narrates this terrifying debut novel with a Southern drawl that puts the gothic into this gothic thriller."- AudioFile
A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father's love, Johnny Compton's The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making—The Babadook meets A Head Full of Ghosts in Texas Hill Country.
Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money—it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.
When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house’s horrors don’t drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.
The job calls to Eric, not just because there's a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it'll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.
Johnny Compton’s (he/him) short stories have appeared in Pseudopod, Strange Horizons, The No Sleep Podcast and many other markets. He is an HWA member and operates the podcast Healthy Fears, which covers how our fears are explored through horror fiction. The Spite House is his first novel.