Elderfly Press

Beautiful and Terrifying releases today: Step into the uncanny!

Mandy Webster

It’s here—and it’s been a long time coming. Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny officially releases today, and I couldn’t be more excited (or a little unsettled) to finally share it with you.

Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny is available for purchase today!

This anthology brings together a collection of short fiction, poetry, and black-and-white art that all live in that uneasy space where beauty and horror overlap. These are stories that don’t just aim to scare—they linger. They follow you. They ask you to look a little closer than you’re comfortable with.

Inside, you’ll find glimpses of the uncanny in all its forms: bodies that refuse to stay buried, woods that don’t behave the way they should, memories that twist into something unrecognizable, and moments where the ordinary cracks just enough to reveal something waiting underneath. Some pieces are quiet and creeping. Others are immediate and visceral. All of them explore what it means to stand at the edge of something you don’t fully understand—and step forward anyway.

This book would not exist without the incredibly talented contributors who trusted me with their work and helped shape this collection into what it is.

Contributors

My stories and writing guidance exist because of readers like you. If my work has inspired or encouraged you, please consider sending a gift—whether it’s $1 or $1000, it brings me closer to writing full-time and keeps this creative community alive.

Give a gift today via Venmo or PayPal!

If you’re drawn to fiction that blurs genres, unsettles expectations, and leaves you thinking long after you’ve turned the last page, this one is for you.

You can grab your copy of Beautiful and Terrifying on Amazon today, and if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, it’s available to download for free.

If you do pick it up, I’d love to hear what you think—your favorite pieces, the ones that stayed with you, the ones that maybe kept you up a little longer than you planned. Let me know in the comments.

Now available in print and on Kindle!

Check out my latest novel, It Had to Happen, now available in print and on Kindle!

Book Summary

When Jack Utley loses his daughter just as his business is about to soar, it seems he’s traded financial gain for Callie’s life. After an encounter with a mysterious woman on the eve of Callie’s funeral, Jack wakes up to find that time has somehow rewound to the morning of Callie’s accident. Jack gets an opportunity that most grieving parents can only dream of – he saves his daughter’s life.

Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.

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Published by Mandy Webster

Amanda L. Webster is the author of If You Didn't See It Coming, One Bad Cat, Demons of the Night, DIY High, Valley of the Bees, and F-ing Freddy Fisher. She is also a writing teacher who lives part-time in a sorority house.

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