Roots of My Fears: Terrifying Stories of Ancestral Horror

British Fantasy and Bram Stoker-nominated author Gemma Amor brings together a unique line-up of 13 authors to explore heritage and horror, featuring stories from Gabino Iglesias, Erika T. Wurth and many more

It's a bedtime story, ancient family lore, a secret passed down from generation to generation. Stories that have deep dark roots, ever-growing, ever-creeping.

This anthology explores stories of heritage and horror. The tales we grew up on, hometown rumours and legends.

The things we pass down through our bloodlines.

Featuring stories from:
Erika Wurth
Ai Jiang
Usman T Malik
Adam Nevill
Nuzo Onoh
Premee Mohamed
Gabino Iglesias
Nadia El-Fassi
Ramsey Campbell
V Castro
Hailey Piper
Elena Sichrovsky
Caleb Weinhardt
Sarah Deacon

Gabino Iglesias is a writer, journalist, professor, and literary critic living in Austin, TX. He is the author of the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award-winning THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME, as well as ZERO SAINTS and COYOTE SONGS and he’s the editor of BOTH SIDES and HALLDARK HOLIDAYS. His work has been nominated multiple times for the Bram Stoker Award as well as the Locus Award and won the Wonderland Book Award for Best Novel in 2019. His nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Electric Literature, and LitReactor. He also writes regular reviews for The New York Times, NPR, Publishers Weekly, the San Francisco Chronicle, Criminal Element, Mystery Tribune, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and other venues.


Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, A Light Most Hateful, The Worm and His Kings, No Gods for Drowning, and other books of horror. She is an active member of the Horror Writers Association, with over 100 short stories appearing in various publications. She lives with her wife in Maryland, where their occult rituals are secret. Find her at www.haileypiper.com.
Premee Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She is the author of speculative fiction novels 'Beneath the Rising' (2020), 'A Broken Darkness' (2021), and novellas 'These Lifeless Things' (2021), 'And What Can We Offer You Tonight' (2021), and 'The Annual Migration of Clouds' (2021). Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of venues and she can be found on Twitter at @premeesaurus
Ramsey Campbell has won multiple British Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards and several Bram Stokers and International Horror Guild Awards. He is the author of such classic works of horror and dark fantasy as Obsession, The Face Must Die, The Nameless, Incarnate and The Influence, and more recently The Darkest Part of the Woods, The Overnight and The Grin of the Dark.
Nuzo Onoh is an award-winning Nigerian-British writer of Igbo descent. She is a pioneer of the African horror literary genre. Hailed as the "Queen of African Horror”, Nuzo’s writing showcases both the beautiful and horrific in the African culture within fictitious narratives. Nuzo’s works have featured in numerous magazines and anthologies. She has given talks and lectures about African Horror, including at the prestigious Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, London. She has also appeared on many radio shows and podcasts, including BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Her works have appeared in academic studies and been longlisted and shortlisted. She is a Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Nuzo holds a Law degree and Masters degree in Writing, both from Warwick University, England. She is a certified Civil Funeral Celebrant, licensed to conduct non-religious burial services. An avid musician with an addiction to Jungyup and K-indie, Nuzo plays both the guitar and piano, and holds an NVQ in Digital Music Production. She resides in the West Midlands, United Kingdom.

V. Castro is a two-time Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Aliens: Vasquez, The Haunting of Alejandra, The Queen of The Cicadas, Goddess of Filth, Hairspray and Switchblades, and Out of Atzlan. She is a Mexican American expat living in the UK. As a full-time mother, she dedicates her time to her family and writing. Her official site is vcastrostories.com.
Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, winner of the Bram Stoker®, Nebula and Ignyte Awards, and Hugo, Astounding, Locus, and BSFA Award finalist, and an immigrant from Changle, Fujian currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, Uncanny, The Masters Review, among others. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop’s 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of Linghun and I AM AI. The first book of her novella duology, A Palace Near the Wind, is forthcoming 2025 with Titan Books. Find her on most social media platforms and for more information go to aijiang.ca.
A Bram Stoker Award nominated author, voice actor, illustrator and budding screenwriter based in Bristol. Co-creator of horror-comedy podcast Calling Darkness, starring Kate Siegel. Her stories feature many times on hugely popular horror anthology shows The NoSleep Podcast, Shadows at the Door, Creepy, and more. Appears in a number of print anthologies and numerous podcast appearances to date. Short film Hidden Mother now showing in festivals. Gemma illustrates her own works, hand-paints book covers and narrates audiobooks, including The Possession of Natalie Glasgow by Hailey Piper.