Pay the Piper (preorder)

(preorder—to be published in August/September)

Dust jacket and interior illustrations by Dirk Berger.

Published by SST Publications. 

Note: Only those who ordered The Living Dead and received an invitation to preorder Pay the Piper may preorder the latter at this time.

First Hardcover Edition

“Not only is this deliciously gruesome book teeming with classic Southern gothic trappings, it also resonates with a socially conscious message.... For fans of both Kraus's novels and Romero's films, this bloody Southern story highlights the strengths of both auteurs.”

—Library Journal

A terrifying tale of supernatural horror set in a cursed Louisiana bayou, from the minds of legendary director George A. Romero and New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Daniel Kraus.

In 2019, while sifting through University of Pittsburgh Library System’s George A. Romero Archival Collection, novelist Daniel Kraus turned up a surprise: a half-finished novel called Pay the Piper, a project few had ever heard of. In the years since, Kraus has worked with Romero’s estate to bring this unfinished masterwork to light.

Alligator Point, Louisiana, population 141: Young Renée Pontiac has heard stories of “the Piper”—a murderous swamp entity haunting the bayou—her entire life. But now the legend feels horrifically real: children are being taken and gruesomely slain. To resist, Pontiac and the town’s desperate denizens will need to acknowledge the sins of their ancestors—the infamous slave traders, the Pirates Lafitte. If they don’t...it’s time to pay the piper.

Signed Limited Hardcover Edition:

• Limited to only 500 signed and hand-numbered copies
• Signed by Daniel Kraus and Dirk Berger on a specially designed illustrated signature page
• 6.14” x 9.21” trim size
• 448 pages
• Offset printed on 100gsm Munken Print Cream
• Bound in Brillianta cloth
• Head and tail bands
• Featuring seven interior illustrations printed in full colour on a special silk art stock & tipped into the book
• Hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Full-colour endpapers
• Sewn binding
• Ribbon page marker
• Dust jacket and interior artwork by Dirk Berger
• Naked artwork on main dust jacket
• Featuring text on reverse dust jacket
• Housed in a custom handmade slipcase
• Covered in an imitation leather with a matte leather look
• Hot foil stamping on the front and spine
• Includes a hand-numbered limited edition bookmark

Please note: the slipcase is a mock-up and may be subject to change.

Praise for Pay the Piper

“A captivating triumph for horror fans.”
—Tananarive Due, author of The Reformatory

“A great action-packed horror novel...for fans of waterlogged southern gothic with monsters that prey off the complicated history of a land and its people.”
—Booklist

“Not only is this deliciously gruesome book teeming with classic Southern gothic trappings, it also resonates with a socially conscious message.... For fans of both Kraus's novels and Romero's films, this bloody Southern story highlights the strengths of both auteurs.”
—Library Journal

“Pay the Piper features many of Romero's creative hallmarks—creepy creatures, icky deaths, and under-the-surface social commentary...The novel demonstrates a knack for the kind of patient, expansive storytelling Romero couldn't always squeeze into his big-screen efforts.... To those who celebrated (or perhaps derided) Romero as the dean of the dead, the completed novel offers a chance to reconsider his legacy.”
—New York Times

“Romero and Kraus start with a fun monster-fighting book set in the swamp. While they have us looking over our shoulders, they end with us looking within.... Accountability, with destruction as the consequence should we not fulfill it, is the cautionary tale with the possibility of a hopeful resolution we crave.”
—Southern Review of Books