Blood Garlands
Blood Garlands by Travis D. Johnson
trade paper
April 21, 2026
ISBN: 979-8-9944387-4-9
124 pages
list price: $14
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In these eight stories, the world reveals itself as stranger and more attentive than we allow. A girl boards a bus whose driver has no fingernails. Star-snails guide a traveler through mountains where musical instruments have teeth. A cottage offers warmth but demands silence. A man staples papers endlessly while his shadow refuses to move.
From North Florida's wounded pineywoods to nameless gothic houses to suburban cul-de-sacs, these tales insist that sacrifice and witness matter. Here, June Moore walks with a knife wrapped in hair.
"Beautiful collection of original fables, folklore, fairy tales. It's amazing what horrifying worlds are portrayed here with the most lovely, precise prose. In each story, I loved watching these eerie worlds build, from the narrow gap between porch boards to "the cold shape of a stone" to a shimmering snail shell. Each story is filled with varying mixtures of light and darkness, and the visceral enjoyments of storytelling (terror and joy)."—Ivy Grimes, author of Glass Stories and The Cellar Below the Cellar
"This varied collection is unified by beautiful prose and lasting images. I'm still struck by the final lines and images of my favorite stories..."— Suzy Eynon, author of Terrestrial
"Whether they are set in the so-called 'real world' of the US South or in fairytale times, the stories in this collection buzz with life and a strange sense of disquiet..."— Renée Zachariou, author of Mœdium
cover illustration by James Hutton
ebook
$3