POWDER & POISON

Out October 16

Marie Antoinette dreams of the decadent world that awaits her in France. Though stripped of her identity and all she knew from her life in Austria, Marie still carries the ominous warnings her missing sister left her, and an eerie voice that sings dark riddles to her from reflections.

Versailles draws her in with its glittering façade, but she immediately finds herself drowning in the suffocating rules of court, diseases running rampant in the palace, and a new husband who spends his time hunting and experimenting on corpses. Her fear of omens comes to light on her wedding night as she stumbles upon a body in the gardens, throat slit.

In a place where such things are to be covered up and swallowed down, this novel magnifies the atrocities against women throughout our repeated history of true horror, contorting to fit expectations, and facing the demons around and within us.

About Julia

After a near-fatal car accident, Julia turned to writing as part of recovery and now crafts chilling stories that strip away the masks women wear, revealing emotional depth and damage. Julia has had more surgeries than Frankenstein, is a creature of the night like Batman, and creates memorable heroes and monsters of her own. She studied English and Arts Management at the University of Toronto, is a member of the Horror Writers Association, and her writing is featured in various international horror anthologies. Julia teaches mindful writing at Kristin Dwyer’s Breaking the Story Retreat, as well as to the online writing community. When Julia is not writing, she works as a Communications Officer and watches an unhealthy amount of ghost hunting shows and horror movies.

Some of her writing influences are Rachel Harrison, Lucy Rose, Monika Kim, Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Eric Larocca, Joshua Hull, Nat Cassidy, Cassandra Khaw, Shannon Morgan, Shea Earnshaw, Kate Alice Marshall, and Courtney Summers.