Rapture Party again? Honestly, I really just wanted to have a chance to talk to Mitch and Chris again, so when Rapture announced a hefty double release for December, that was all I needed. For those who are not aware, Rapture Publishing has created (and therefore dominated) the market for premium chapbooks, and for the last year has put out some great books. They’re beautiful, they’re rare, and the stories are great. December Double Feature Mitch wanted to do something special for the end of the year, and so he tapped his first two authors to do a big crossover deal. Philip Fracassi provided SERVITOR, and Tyler Jones a story called AXUM. To make this pairing even more special, Mitch had them write intros for each other’s books and they each wrote a tie-in piece for the other, which appear at the end of the books. These stories are also special because unlike the average Rapture story - which clocks in at an average of 5,000 words, both of these books broke 10,000 - which is tiptoeing toward novella length! Check out the link above to read about the stories and get your order in. They’re limited to 260 copies, so waiting around isn’t recommended. Daytide Daytide Daytide I know we already talked about this in the previous Rapture episode, but this time we talked about the totally deranged decision by Mitch to create a second ARC of the book, which he limited to like 38 copies and made available only to his subscribers. This ARC has the full finished layout, and a bananas cover that incorporates Chris’ notes from when he was writing the book. It’s gorgeous, it’s rare, and it immediately punted me like 50 pages forward in my reading due to the additional illustrations, etc. As a reminder, Daytide is a limited release, and does not come in a turpentine can. Hit my preorder button above to order it while you can. See what I did there? Goodbye, 2025 That is going to wrap up 2025 for me. It feels like a hectic, bananas kind of year. Some firsts for me, such as talking to publishers as guests. The Alan Lastufka episode ended up being wildly popular, so if there are other publishers that you’d like to hear from feel free to let me know and I’ll see what can be done. 2026 seems like a year that will be populated less by the big go-to names in horror. This I’m excited for. What new exciting names will emerge? With less noise to overcome, who will shine? You can always go back one episode to see what my esteemed friends Becky Spratford and Emily Hughes are looking forward to. While you’re at it, be sure to watch Becky’s video about how readers and writers can get their favorite books on library shelves. Thanks for your support this year. Here’s to making 2026 bigger, better, and happier. For those of you who prefer watching the YouTubes: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thearcparty.com/subscribe
