The Worm and His Kings

New York, 1990. Monique is homeless and sleeps in the subway tunnels. Her girlfriend, Donna, has vanished without a trace, and Monique has no one to help her look.

One night a monstrous figure with silver claws passes through the dark. Monique senses that it has something to do with Donna's disappearance, so she follows it down. Below the tracks she finds a subterranean world of impossible creatures.

There she also meets a cult of the forgotten, people the city above has discarded. They labor to bring back their god, the Worm, and Monique has to move among them if she wants to find Donna.

This is a cosmic horror novella with a queer heroine at its centre. It turns the genre's usual viewpoint around: Monique is the outsider, and the real threats often wear familiar faces. Worship and devotion run through the story, and Monique's love for Donna is what keeps pulling her deeper.

The tone is tender and grotesque by turns, and it is unsettling throughout. The descent is literal, from the tunnels into something older and darker beneath New York.