The Twisted Ones

Winner of the RUSA Award for Best Horror

When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods in this chilling novel that reads like The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show.

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher, The Twisted Ones is a gripping, terrifying tale bound to keep you up all night—from both fear and anticipation of what happens next.

T. Kingfisher, also known as Ursula Vernon, is the author and illustrator of many projects, including the webcomic “Digger,” which won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story and the Mythopoeic Award. Her novelette “The Tomato Thief” won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, and her short story “Jackalope Wives” won the Nebula Award for Best Story. She is also the author of the bestselling Dragonbreath, and the Hamster Princess series of books for children. Find her online at RedWombatStudio.com.

ISBN: 9781534429567
Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: October 01, 2019

A Library Journal Best Horror Book of 2019“Reads so fast and so effortless that you don’t realize how in thrall you are to it. It’s the sensation of being a little kid who stayed out too long past dinner and sure, you were having fun, but now it’s a moonless night and the forest is dark and you are hopelessly lost. This is righteous, folkloric horror, and the devil is waiting in between these pages.”"Innovative, unexpected, and absolutely chilling, T. Kingfisher isn't just breaking into the horror scene, she's breaking it down. With a hammer.""A deliciously horrifying read. I adored it. In turns deeply human and uncanny, The Twisted Ones reads like the world's most terrifying episode of Hoarders. Don't sleep on it. In fact, be prepared to never sleep again.""The Twisted Ones is a weird, shimmering story told with sharpness and grace - somehow both wild fairy tale and quiet, personal horror in equal measure. It's a strange and lovely balance, expertly crafted for daytime laughter or nighttime trembles.""By turns warm, witty, and frightening, with a charming protagonist, a diverse and vibrant supporting cast, and -- best of all -- a noble, dimwitted dog. Fair warning: there is a razor in the center of this confection, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I won't be forgetting grandmother's house anytime soon.""A dark fairy tale adventure for contemporary readers. Mouse is a great character and the journey is enchanting in the best way – full of terror and humor and friendship.”"...has [Peter S.] Beagle’s knack for creating colorful, instantly memorable characters, and inhuman creatures capable of inspiring awe and wonder."“She knows her genre and audience well enough to perfectly walk the line between comfortingly familiar and delightfully fresh and subversive.”"The writing. It is superb. Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher, where have you been all my life?""Righteous, folkloric horror. The devil is waiting in between these pages.""This occult thriller with heart boasts genuine scares."Laden with cosmic fright, The Twisted Ones connects the foreboding of ancient folklore with the horrors of modern life. But it does so with a sharp, witty voice and a compelling first-person protagonist who finds herself precariously straddling worlds she never knew existed.My favourite thing about the novel…is the unpredictability of how the story progresses, the subversion of the most common horror tropes. Fear not, we know from early on, given the framing narrative, that the dog survives."A fresh spin on traditional [southern] gothic elements.”