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Quaint Folk

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What to expect

The Wicker Man meets The Twisted Ones in Bitter Karella’s Quaint Folk—a queer folk horror novel that peels back the idyllic veneer of a seemingly perfect island town to reveal the rot beneath.

"The folk horror I always wanted: queer, funny, bloody, and outrageous in the best way." —Laura Cranehill, author of Wife Shaped Bodies

From the outside, it looks like Jessica has the perfect life. She's a stay-at-home mom, married to a man with a respectable job, raising a son they adore. Her family is as wholesome as all-American pie. But deep down, Jessica knows there's something wrong with her; she knows she can't escape her past.

When her husband’s job has them move abroad, Jessica thinks this is her chance for a fresh start. On the remote island of Hasenhurst, the modern world can’t get in. The people there grow their own herbs, make their own jam, and mind their own business. They believe in folk tales and the power of dreams. They tell visitors, we’re a quaint, quiet people.The right sort of family would do well here.

Jessica is determined to be the right kind of person for a family—and a life—like this. But as she tries to befriend the townsfolk and learn their ways, she soon realizes that beneath the town’s cozy idyll, something sickly-sweet and rotten lays buried ...

"To experience Karella's cheerfully unhinged fiction is to surrender to a spectacularly fierce and uncompromising literary force. Quaint Folk astonished me with its charming, mythical weirdness threaded with genuine moments of pure tenderness. A bold, potent brew of all the best elements of folk and queer horror." —Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

Critics Review

"To experience Karella's cheerfully unhinged fiction is to surrender to a spectacularly fierce and uncompromising literary force. Quaint Folk astonished me with its charming, mythical weirdness threaded with genuine moments of pure tenderness. A bold, potent brew of all the best elements of folk and queer horror."—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
“A bizarre and fiercely original splatterpunk phantasmagoria of queerness, Moonflow is like a gay Jodorowsky film from Hell. Deranged and gleefully weird as fuck, this is an impressive debut from a singular literary talent.”—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke on Moonflow
"Both profound and profoundly strange, as mind-expanding as the most potent magic mushroom." —The Washington Post on Moonflow
"Weird, wild, and oh-so-wretched, Moonflow is the trans botanical horror we need in the world right now. Moonflow will sink its tendrils into you and infest you with its spores...and you'll enjoy it."—Drew Huff, author of The Divine Flesh and Free Burn on Moonflow
“I’ve never read a book like Moonflow before! It has the energy of a John Waters movie: crass, profane, populated with memorably bizarre and grotesque characters, packed with social commentary and bittersweet pathos—the type of art that is necessary for the current moment.”—Briar Ripley Page, author of Corrupted Vessels on Moonflow
"Is it legal to have this much fun reading a book? I'm in awe of Bitter Karella's incredible gift for creating biting satire without a shred of cruelty. Moonflow made me laugh out loud while genuinely caring about its wild cast of characters, from its all too relatable failed protagonist, to its mondo trash cinema meets Women Who Run With The Wolves villain. This is the queer splatterpunk salvation/dissolution comedic relief narrative we need in these dark times. I had a f*cking blast."—Joe Koch, author of The Wingspan of Severed Hands and Invaginies on Moonflow
"Luminous, trippy and an immensely satisfying read, Karella's Moonflow establishes her as a bona fide horror fiction maestro of the most accomplished order." —Gemma Amor, Bram Stoker and British Fantasy Award-nominated author of Itch! on Moonflow
"Moonflow is so much fun. Expert world-building, genuinely creepy situations, and characters that are easy to root for. Unique, funny, and frighteningly real. This is what horror is all about." —Sam Rebelein, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Edenville on Moonflow
“Moonflow is absolutely wonderful. As eldritch and grimy as the terrifying forest it’s set in, it takes the thorny interpersonal dynamics of a deranged free-love cult and drops them howling into a squirming mycelium hell of forest gods, nightmare visions and bloody murder. I loved this book!" —Trevor Henderson, author of Scarewaves on Moonflow
“A triumph of queer, horny, hippy horror that’ll make you cackle, gasp, and scream! With its cast of iconic characters, imaginative enchanted setting, gripping story, and mind-bending horrific imagery, Bitter Karella’s Moonflow is a trip to die for.” —Eve Harms, author of Transmuted on Moonflow
"Moonflow is a deranged horny dayglo escapade that is so utterly queer to its core. Beyond the delirious visions, there’s a profound exploration of community and belonging. I adored this weirdo book."
 —Jane Flett, author of Freakslaw on Moonflow
"Bitter Karella is a powerhouse of horror. Moonflow is equal parts ridiculous, revolting and charming. It rockets into your psyche with drug-fueled mommy milker cults at 200mph and I loved every second of it." —Lor Gislason, editor of Bound of Flesh and Little Guts on Moonflow
"Karella has crafted the queer shroom trip from hell you didn't know you wanted. Moonflow's dose of terror is potent, and unlike anything you've ever seen." —Emmett Nahil, author of From the Belly on Moonflow
"Moonflow is transgressive, menacing fun, nesting the grounded struggles of unique and richly-rendered characters in a world of overwhelming, relentless weirdness. Bitter Karella unfolds fungal revelations in newly-discovered colors, coining a language’s worth of fresh and horrifying imagery."
 —Naben Ruthnum, author of Helpmeet on Moonflow
“The book that will have everyone asking “Who let this woman cook?” Horrific, horny and hilarious; a cast at turns both freakish and endearing; destined to inspire cult adoration from its core audience of erudite sickos (complimentary)."—Aubrey Wood, author of Bang Bang Bodhisattva on Moonflow
"Wow—what a trip. Literally! The kind of book that you have to strap into, because it’s going to buck you off if you’re not prepared. There's genuinely no predicting what the hell awaits you around the next bend. This book is a prime example of why horror will literally always be timely and necessary; it finds beauty in the grotesque with some of the most stomach-turning description and heartfelt self-exploration I've ever read. I can honestly say that this is the first time that I’ve been genuinely scared by a book. Moonflow is simultaneously a Tarantino car chase sequence and an Ari Aster monster reveal; it’s fun, and it’s disgusting, and it’s just a damn good time. But at the heart of it all, it’s a bleeding, beating heart and an earnest heroine just trying to make it work." —Megan Bontrager, author of The Sea Hides Its Dead on Moonflow

“Quaint Folk is the folk horror I always wanted: queer, funny, bloody, and outrageous in the best way. I had an absolute blast!”

—Laura Cranehill, author of Wife Shaped Bodies

"Karella seamlessly blends dark humor, heist elements, and frightening bits of horror. Moonflow is an intensely entertaining novel that fans of mushroom horror will gobble up."


 

—Booklist on Moonflow
"A hilarious psychedelic orgy of a novel that drips with the kind of pulp nastiness that makes the cheap horror paperbacks of the past so memorable, but updates the aesthetic with a refreshing heroine and a powerful exploration of transmisogyny within queer spaces...The result is a strange, sublime truffle that will delight any discerning appetite."—Publishers Weekly on Moonflow
"Mushroom horror continues to be so very hot right now (hot enough to……grow mushrooms?!) and Karella’s debut novel is one of the best of the bunch. At times, it reads like a crime thriller and at other times it reads like a nature guide and at still other times it reads like Lynchian horror—but no matter the mode, it is a delight from start to finish."—Literary Hub on Moonflow
"As humorous and heartwarming as it is horrific. Fans of Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt and Alison Rumfit’s Brainwyrms will love this rollicking, trippy ride." —Library Journal on Moonflow
"Startlingly empathetic and deeply strange, Bitter Karella’s psychedelic horror novel Moonflow will fill the reader with both wonder and disgust on every page. Moonflow emerges as one of the most exciting horror debuts of the year...a story you won’t soon forget."
 
 —BookPage on Moonflow
"The insane psychedelic trans mushroom cult Mythago Wood we didn’t know we desperately needed. Full of striking and disturbing imagery, and is underpinned by a hallucinogenic energy. Everyone writing mushroom-punk better watch out – there’s a new chaos gremlin in town, and they’re taking the crown." —Fantasy Hive on Moonflow
Author Bitter Karella
Narrator Eva Kaminsky
Duration 11 hours
Release Date
ISBN 9781668658680
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hachette Audio
Genre Fiction: general and literary
Availability US

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