What Moves the Dead

An Instant USA Today & Indie Bestseller
A Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Finalist
A Goodreads Best Horror Choice Award Nominee

A gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" from Hugo, Locus, & Nebula award-winning author T. Kingfisher

A very special hardcover edition, featuring foil stamp on the casing and custom endpapers illustrated by the author.

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

Also by T. Kingfisher
What Feasts at Night
A House with Good Bones
Nettle & Bone
Thornhedge
A Sorceress Comes to Call

Short-listed for Hugo Award (Novella) 2023

“" What Moves the Dead is everything a classic horror novel should be. T. Kingfisher spins biting wit, charm and terror into a tale that will make your skin crawl. Poe would be proud!"--Brom "A deeply, unsettling examination of what sometimes goes on behind polite smiles and courteous speech."--Cassandra Khaw, author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth "T. Kingfisher dissects the heart of Poe's most famous tale and finds a wholly new mythology beating inside it. Written with a lush, Gothic flare, What Moves the Dead chills and delights like the trippiest of Hammer productions. Pure fun."--Andy Davidson, author of The Boatman's Daughter "T. Kingfisher proves once again to be a rising star of the literary horror genre with no signs of having any plans to fall back into the gravity of our mundane ball of dirt any time soon. . . What Moves the Dead is a must-read, period."--Jordan Shiveley, author of the upcoming Hot Singles In Your Area "A gothic delight!"--Lucy A. Snyder, author of Sister, Maiden, Monster "The distilled terror of T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead insinuates itself into the reader's nervous system from the very first sentence and quickly overtakes their sense of self control. I was powerless against this novella's pestilential pull and had to finish it in one sitting... or maybe it finished me. Now it's under my skin and I can't trust the touch of anything anymore."--Clay McLeod Chapman”

"While the events of the book are strange and sinister, the style and characters are warm and wry. . . . The scares are effective, but you know you're in safe hands."--The New York Times

"A grotesque romp! It takes up residence beneath your skin and refuses to leave."--Caitlin Starling, USA Today bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence

"Creepy, claustrophobic, and completely entertaining, What Moves the Dead left me delightfully repulsed. I adored this book!"--Erin A. Craig, New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows

"This gothic retelling is a hair-raising, enthralling read."--Buzzfeed

"The distilled terror of T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead insinuates itself into the reader's nervous system from the very first sentence and quickly overtakes their sense of self control. I was powerless against this novella's pestilential pull and had to finish it in one sitting . . . or maybe it finished me."--Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost Eaters

"Thoroughly creepy and utterly enjoyable."--Publishers Weekly

"T. Kingfisher spins biting wit, charm and terror into a tale that will make your skin crawl. Poe would be proud!"--Brom, author of Slewfoot

"Dissects the heart of Poe's most famous tale and finds a wholly new mythology beating inside it . . . Pure fun."--Andy Davidson, author of The Boatman's Daughter

"An infectious new spin on classic Gothic horror."--Booklist

"What Moves the Dead is a must-read, period."--Jordan Shiveley, author of Hot Singles In Your Area

"A gothic delight!"--Lucy A. Snyder, author of Sister, Maiden, Monster

"A fluid technicolor reimagining of Poe's "House of Usher" that takes no prisoners . . . Not to be missed."--Brian Evenson, author of Last Days

"Perfectly hair-raising in all the right ways."--Premee Mohamed, author of Beneath the Rising

"Readers will be rapt as the tension builds to near bursting levels and the true meaning of the title comes into full, skin-crawling view."--Library Journal

T. KINGFISHER writes fantasy, horror, and occasional oddities, including Nettle & Bone and A House with Good Bones. Under a pen name, she also writes bestselling children's books. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, cats, and a large garden full of suspicious mushrooms.

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