The award-winning author of acclaimed horror collection The Devil Took Her is back with ten fresh tales.
Bloodalcohol
by Michael Botur
Genre: Horror Short Stories
The award-winning author of acclaimed horror collection The Devil Took Her is back with ten fresh tales.
– – A South Island road trip turns murderous as a dangerous drifter smells a secret in her co-dependent partner.
— Millionaire Kiwi conservationists learn too late how little Mother Earth cares for mankind.
— A Far North teen confronts the terrifying truth about why Mum separated from Dad years ago.
These stories address the challenges of life through the lens of horror: Struggling to bond with a savage stepchild, losing your son to a gang of ghostly boys, doing desperate things to get famous, battling bullies, surviving school, and getting good with God.
Bringing his award-winning narrative skill to the genre of horror, Botur delivers his most powerful stories yet.
1. Bloodalcohol
A South Island road trip turns murderous as alcoholic drifter Tracey bullies her lover, the giant Adam, into killing for the ultimate drink – child blood – while Adam fights to keep a secret: his young son.
2. We Created a Country
Millionaire business owners Ross and Jennifer fall in love while trying to restore Northland to its pristine natural state through conservation and cleanups – but after borrowing billions to ban development from the Far North, the nature lovers learn what Mother Nature really thinks about mankind.
3. Weeks in the Woodshed
AJ was a young South Auckland teacher trying to provide for his wife and baby. Now, he’s had his privilege taken away, convicted of a crime while working at school – a crime he’s struggling to admit, a crime for which he’s been sentenced to complete Community Service in a remote countryside barn – and a crime which comes with unending punishment.
4. Butterfly Tongue
Lonely Kaitaia 14-year-old Venus asks her separated parents for the same simple birthday present every year. Venus just wants her hardened biker mum Marija to talk to her Dad again – and for Dad, a smooth-talking reporter, to be more sensitive with the women he romances.
As Venus counts down towards 18 and the end of school, she tries to intervene against her dad devouring dates – and finally confronts the terrifying truth about why Mum left Dad in the first place.
5. The Beast Released
Lonely Whangarei computer technician Christopher takes the challenging 11-year-old son of a woman he’s trying to impress on a hiking expedition through Northland forest to visit an old plane crash site and bond with the boy. Christopher finds that deep in the forest, however, one of them has a dark side eager to emerge, and the other is trapped.
6. Lossboys
Busy Northland high school teacher Āwhina tries to stop her son Nick sneaking out at night to join a gang of suicidal schoolboys who have discovered the ultimate thrill: killing oneself and frolicking as a ‘Lossboy.’ However, once the Lossboys take everything from her – including her son – Āwhina starts standing up against her untouchable tormentors.
7. Starving
Twentysomething Auckland singer-songwriter Anna Shrupali is desperate to make it in the performing arts world and escape the K Road rat race. But when husband-and-wife patrons offer to make Anna and her twin brother rich and famous, the deal takes Anna far outside her comfort zone and turns her into something monstrous.
8. Influencer
13-year-old Christchurch vandals Richie and Sammy learn the limits of their friendship after they are influenced on weekend missions by the mysterious Jacob, who seems to never leave school. After Jacob takes a prank way too far, the boys part ways and Richard forgets what he did until years later Jacob reappears, reminding Richie if he doesn’t play, he’s going to pay.
9. Racing Hearts
We call it the Airing Cupboard: the chapel where I counsel former doctors suspended for breaking down on the job.
You see, I’m a screw-up just like them. I’m on probation from the hospital’s Review Board and I don’t know if I’ll ever be allowed to walk the wards as an anaesthesiologist again.
It’s because I raced too hard and I fell. Fell in love with a doctor as competitive as me. And we both fell in love with a deadly drug – until one of us fell in too deep.
10 . Luke’s Lesson
Life is hard for Hamilton brothers Luke and Danny, whose father is a reformed addict trying to go straight. After Luke and Danny are inspired by a charismatic carnival pastor who gives them Bible comics warning of eternal damnation, Luke tries to improve his community’s favour with God by brutally cleansing the sins of everyone he can reach – beginning with his family.
**Releasing soon!**
The Devil Took Her
by Michael Botur
Genre: Horror Short Stories
Melanie’s
increasingly disturbing journal entries have to be delusional
ravings—if they’re not, there’s something terrible out there,
snatching runaways in the night and spiriting them off to somewhere
unspeakable.
In
his debut collection of horror stories, The
Devil Took Her, short
fiction writer Michael Botur, recognized in his native New Zealand as
“one of the most original story writers of his generation,”
offers twelve terrifying and bizarre tales that take us to the dark
extremes of human imagination.
A woman trapped in a coal
cellar discovers that in order to live, part of her needs to die. A
teen prankster’s vicious joke against her tutor brings revenge
served cold. Cutting class turns terrifying for two high school
introverts. A powerful-yet-paranoid publisher turns a young man’s
magazine internship into a nightmare. And more . . .
Praise
for Michael Botur and The Devil Took Her
"Prolific,
dope-as-tits writer Michael Botur is back, with a new collection. His
writing in these twelve stories is pure, no-holds-barred revelry in
the weird and genuinely scary. Each story is highly imaginative and,
most importantly, fun to read.” —Jeremy Roberts,
GingerNutsofHorror.com
“Michael Botur’s work grabs you by
the throat and won’t let you go. His stories throb with what feel
like real people, real conversations, real moments of pain and hope,
misunderstanding and reconciliation, remorse and surprise.” —Maggie
Trapp, New
Zealand Listener
“Botur
is a superb practitioner with the ability to bring to life these
terrifying moments... It’s a little like a car crash, you don’t
want to look – but you just can’t help yourself.” —
Chris
Reed, NZ
Book Lovers
“Gritty,
unsettling, and utterly intoxicating.”—Steffanie
Holmes, USA
Today bestselling
and award-winning author
"Aside from the incredible
inventiveness of its plot, Botur’s writing sings at times with
fluency and vivacity. —Jenny Purchase, Kete
NZ Books
“Botur
is considered one of the most original story writers of his
generation in New Zealand." —Patricia
Prime, Takahē
86
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Michael Botur, born 1984, is a writer originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, who now lives in Whangarei with his wife and two kids.
Botur is author of four short story collections and published the novel 'Moneyland' in 2017.
Botur holds a Masters in Creative Writing from AUT University and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism Studies from Massey University, as well as degrees in arts and literacy.
Botur makes a living from writing as a columnist, corporate communications writer, blogger, advertising writer and journalist.
Botur has published creative writing in international literary journals Newfound (US), Weaponizer (UK), The Red Line (UK), Swamp (Aus) and most NZ literary journals including Landfall, Poetry New Zealand, 4th Floor, JAAM and Tākahe.
He has been making money from creative writing since the age of 21 and was in 2017 proud to be included in the University of Otago collection 'Manifesto Aotearoa: 101 political poems'.
Botur has published journalism in most major NZ newspapers including New Zealand Herald, Herald on Sunday, Sunday Star-Times, as well as many magazines.
Botur has a long history of volunteering, including working with Maori and Pasifika literacy, Youthline, ESOL refugee tutoring, and assisting stroke patients, and in Whangarei is involved in improv theatresports and performance poetry.
Botur’s books 'Moneyland,' 'LowLife,' 'Spitshine', 'Mean' and 'Hot Bible’ all available on Amazon.com.
In 2021 Botur was the first Kiwi winner of the Australasian Horror Writers Association Short Story Award for 'Test of Death.'
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All of the stories sound really good. Thanks for sharing.
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