Releasing January 28th, 2022, cover art by Francois Vaillancourt!

SYNOPSIS:

17 years ago, Tyler Barton was born in the Rocky Mountains, while his parents were on a hike.

On that day, his mother disappeared, never to be seen again.

Now, history repeats itself.

On the 17^th anniversary of her disappearance, Tyler’s father is flying home when the plane he’s on disappears – in the same area where his mother was last seen.

Undeterred by officials, Tyler decides to hike into the area in search of his father, hoping to find him alive and bring him back to safety.

But there’s a reason that area is prohibited to enter and even though Tyler doesn’t care, he’ll soon find out that the wilderness can hide some of the deepest, darkest fears known to man.

From the author of ‘Incarnate,’ ‘The Window In the Ground’ and ‘Ritual’ comes a new novel that’ll make you rethink your Summer hiking trip.

Advance Praise;

“An old-school creature thriller told with crisp pacing and kick-ass set pieces, Steve Stred’s Mastodon is a monster-in-the-woods tale with some choice surprises and plenty of rampaging fun.”
– Andrew Pyper, author of The Residence, The Damned and The Demonologist

“Steve Stred’s Mastodon reads like a cross between Gary Paulson’s Hatchet and Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy: a big-hearted adventure yarn with a dark and compelling mystery at its core.”
– Shaun Hamill, author of A Cosmology of Monsters

“Mysterious. Gripping. High-octane. Mastodon is not the typical creature feature.”
– Eddie Generous, author of Rawr and Behemoth Risen

“Mastodon is a jaw-dropping trek into a heart of darkness. Full of emotion, yet rife with grotesque imagery that only Stred can deliver.”
– David Sodergren, author of The Forgotten Island and Maggie’s Grave

“Mastodon is another tour de force from Canada’s master of dread. The journey into a forbidden wilderness cordoned off by the military is reminiscent of Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, but as bleak, daring, and darkly comic as Harlan Ellison. The pace of the story never relents, its emotional highs are spectacular, and its lows will rip your guts out: a voyage and return epic with the balls-to-the-wall horror shows of S. C. Mendes’s The City thrown in. Stred should be held in the same regard as Straub and King.”
– Joseph Sale, author of Save Game and Gods of the Black Gate

“Mastodon is a compelling read that will leave you blistered and broken as you join a young man’s rescue mission into the Canadian wilderness inhabited by unspeakable horrors. Steve Stred masterfully delivers a story exploring the physical and emotional limits we push through in order to save the people we hold most dear.”
– J. A. Sullivan, horror writer and contributor to Kendall Reviews.

About writing the novel:

In April of 2020, I, like many people in the world, was temporarily laid off from my work place as the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic restrictions came into place. At the time, here in Edmonton, where I worked was deemed non-essential and for eight weeks I was sent home, before slowly returning to modified hours and eventually full time. I work in the medical field, so I was happy to return to work and be able to see my patients again and help them remain active and pain free.
While I was stressed over not working, at the same time it offered me a rare opportunity to spend more time with my wife, son and our dog. I mentioned almost immediately to my wife that I’d need to figure out a way to keep working on my current WIP’s and she suggested that each day, I still take that hour I normally write at work and do that at home. I was also able to find other open spaces where I wrote and it was during those eight weeks I cranked out the first draft of this book. Draft one sat at a little over 42K words.
As I usually do, I let the novel sit for a month before I opened the file again and worked on draft two. Sadly, this coincided with my father-in-law unexpectedly passing away in June. An incredibly emotional time, which we’re still trying to navigate, I knew I could utilize some of those emotions I was working with and my wife was sharing, to add into Tyler’s journey here.
The cover art on this release is done by the fantastic François Vaillancourt. I’ve long been a fan of his creations and it was one day where I spotted this come across one of his posts that I knew this had been specifically made for this book. It was fate (or Ka, for you constant readers). François was so easy to work with and I can’t thank him enough or recommend him enough.

I know I’ll be taking some flack from folks because of the cover blurb. That’s ok. Andrew played a very prominent role in this novel getting to completion. I’m still blown away that my favorite author knows my name and that he calls me a friend. I attended an online workshop of his which helped to iron out some issues I was having with this book, but also two other novels. His input was amazing. I was hesitant on reaching out to see if he’d offer a blurb if he enjoyed this, but when I mentioned it to my wife, she said I absolutely needed to ask. That I was raving about this book and that I’d kick myself if I didn’t. To think that he read this and enjoyed it AND offered a blurb! Blown away.

I also want to thank Shaun Hamill, Eddie Generous, Joseph Sale, Jennifer Sullivan (TOC BUDDIES!) and David Sodergren for giving this one an early read and offering some kind words. If you’ve not read their works, do fix that!

So, I hope this one brings you some thrills!

Goodreads link:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59764101-mastodon

You can preorder it here;

mybook.to/mastodon

or at Amazon US Link;