Here are the new releases from Crossroad Press for January, February, and March 2026. Unless noted otherwise, you can purchase any of them at Amazon, B&N, Apple, Google Play, Smashwords, or Kobo.
(Release date – 1/1/2026)
Jason Hylden thinks life is perfect, but at age fifteen things are about to change.
First he falls for Jewel, a pretty redhead with arms marred by mysterious bruises. Then the gang of friends he runs with begins to experiment with witchcraft, blood oaths and revenge.
Soon, Jewel is the only good thing standing between Jason and the gang, but when he finds out she’s one of his mother’s mental health clients, he worries doctor-patient confidentiality will forever mask the truth behind Jewel’s bruises. Is someone out to destroy her, or is she destroying herself? In the end, the truth behind her secrets is beyond his worst imaginings and, as their two worlds draw closer to collision, all hell—quite literally—is about to break loose.
Samsara & Dreams the Ragman: Novella Double-Shot #4
(Release date – 1/7/2026)
SAMSARA
A mortally wounded soldier, amidst the bloody chaos and brutal mayhem of combat, slowly dies on the battlefield, his final thoughts centered on his beloved wife back home, the wonderful life they shared together, and a terrible mistake he can never forgive himself for…
In an eerie desert town, a new sheriff arrives, struggling to understand how and why he has come to this strange place. Charged with finding a young boy who has gone missing, he is unaware that the answers he seeks are hidden beneath the hot sands and in the twisted mind of a hideous desert witch, answers that will reveal the truth behind the town’s inhabitants, the missing boy, and ultimately, the sheriff himself…
Set in the 1940s, at the height of World War II, SAMSARA is the story of a small town cop that makes a fatal error on the job and runs off to war because of it. Leaving behind the woman who makes his life worth living in the first place, it follows his time in this world, the next, and the ominous, haunted town of lost souls that bridge the two…
DREAMS THE RAGMAN
As a young boy Derrick listened to his grandfather’s spooky tales of “The Ragman,” an old junk dealer and boogieman of sorts to the children in the neighborhood who he claimed had followed him throughout his entire life and stalked him from the depths of his own worst nightmares. But as an alcoholic ravaged with senility, his grandfather’s stories were dismissed as delusions.
When years later, murder comes to Derrick’s small hometown, he and his best friend Caleb—both teenage outcasts—discover that the killer is a hobo dressed in rags who rides the rails in and out of town when committing his crimes. They dub him “The Ragman” unaware of just how accurate that nickname may be, but the murders are never solved. As time passes, Derrick weds and settles into a troubled marriage while Caleb moves to New York City and spirals into drug addiction and madness.
Thirty years later, in a dying seaside resort town, the killings have begun again. Has The Ragman returned, or is something even more sinister taking place? As Derrick and Caleb meet at the scene of the latest grisly murders, they soon find themselves confronted with an unsolved mystery that has haunted them for decades and an eternal evil they may never be able to escape. The rain falls, darkness descends, a train’s whistle blows, and the Ragman begins to dream…
by Hans Holzer
(Release date – 1/10/2026)
Life After Death—Fantasy or Reality?
The number of cases involving near-death experiences, reports from people who were clinically dead for varying lengths of time and who then recovered and remembered what they experienced while unconscious, is considerable… Why then are some people allowed to glimpse that which lies ahead for them in the next dimension, without actually entering that dimension at the time of the experience?” — Dr. Hans Holzer
In this carefully documented, researched, and enlightening book, the author presents a thoughtful analysis of the statements of countless individuals who have themselves stood at the threshold of another dimension, or have had experiences with others who have passed over. From their sometimes similar, sometimes varying accounts, one factor remains constant: though the body ceases to live at the moment of “death,” there may well be another form of life, a spiritual survival, afterwards.
by Alison Scott
(Release date – 1/12/2026)
And so we say farewell. . .
Gil, Janetta, Sir Palamedes and Floki Magnusson sail the Atlantic aboard the South Bay Cat, Jack of the Beach. Reading their course in the passage of sea birds and fish shoals, seeking the endless sun and pale stars of Arctic summer, they skirt the coasts of Canada and Greenland and reach Iceland and its formidable Crossing to 9th century Orkney.
Two winters have passed since their defeat at Merlin’s Tower. Emboldened, Jocelyn Guidbairn proclaims himself the islands’ overlord, even as his mercenaries raid, burn and kill.
On Hrolf’s Isle, Magnus Redbeard takes the High Seat of Floki’s Hall, and with his council of grey-headed chieftains, condemns his returning son and companions to separation and exile.
But rescue comes from an unexpected quarter, and they escape to the summer pasture shielings where Gil’s deposed heir, Ciarnan, and the young warriors who followed Gil Broadaxe to Caledon, hold a rebellious earldom.
Reunited with his friends, his father, and his pony Lionheart, Gil rejoices in days on the hill with Janetta, and nights of song and story in a cloth-roofed shieling hall, But as summer passes, Guidbairn’s raiders strike.
The island is divided: old men argue caution, while their sons chafe for battle. But it is the wise counsel of his father Lance’lot, that sets Gil on the dangerous course of disguise and duplicity that will take him to the heart of Camelot, and seat him at Guidbairn’s High Table, as Helmsman to the King, sworn to defeat Floki Magnusson in the Northlands seas.
Set sail with the Warriors of Tir nan Og
Set sail across the Sea of Time
Set sail to the end of the Quest
(Release date – 1/20/2026)
As a climate catastrophe swallows south Florida and the Keys, psychic Mira Morales watches the obliteration of her past on live TV. She is losing her former bookstore and home where she lived for decades. Tango Key itself disappears as she witnesses the catastrophe in stunned disbelief. But when she’s recruited by the FBI to go undercover at a government-controlled animal rescue facility, she’s drawn into an even darker storm.
She discovers the facility actually weaponizes animals. Dogs, cats, even wild animals are enhanced in ways that defy science. Their intelligence has been heightened and they can communicate – through Scrabble tiles. What begins as an investigation becomes a mission of survival for Mira, her family, her community and the extraordinary animals she helps to escape the facility.
Political corruption deepens and government surveillance closes in. When violence escalates, Mira must decide how much she’s willing to risk. Will exposing the truth cost her the lives of her husband and daughter? Can she save these animals she has grown to love?
(Release date – 1/12/2026)
DREAM MACHINE: Selected Poems collects 115 of Steve Rasnic Tem’s poems from throughout his career, spanning the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, as well as several examples of his early nature poetry, which illuminate the same themes he explores in his fiction. These poems originally appeared in a wide range of venues including Weirdbook, Puerto del Sol, Portland Review, Once Upon a Midnight, The Devil’s Wine, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Star*Line, Dreams & Nightmares, Amazing Science Fiction Stories, Kayak, and The Bennington Review. Several previously unpublished pieces are also included.
Steve Rasnic Tem is a past winner of the Bram Stoker, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. In his 40+ year career, he has published over 500 short stories, 20 collections, and numerous poems, plays, and nonfiction. In 2024 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association.
(Release date – 1/21/2026)
In the second book in the Bruised series, Tracey Peralta and Jason Hylden are back, ten years older and wiser. Well, older anyway.
Still living within the clutches of the blood oath from her youth, Tracey now helps the cops investigate strange homicides—those involving the supernatural. So, when a psychology student, who calls herself Wednesday, spouts gibberish about a devil in the church stealing her unborn baby, Tracey knows her brand of help might be needed. The next day, the student is found butchered inside a pentagram, insides missing, and Tracey must determine if the murder is garden-variety or if the town’s demonic forces have returned.
When a second psychology student, who calls herself Thursday, disappears and is feared dead, Tracey calls on the only person left alive who shares her traumatic past. Soon, Tracey and Jason become collateral targets of a flesh-and-blood killer with an aptitude for making deals with the dead. Now they have to solve the ritualistic murders or Tracey and Jason might just become the next sacrifice.
(Release date – 1/24/2026)
Tracey, Jason, and the kids are back in the third book in the BRUISED series. For this case, they travel to the pine-shrouded northwoods of Minnesota for what they think will be a routine funeral. But in The Gullies, dead things live on while alive things die.
When Tracey’s cousin is found dead, apparently by his own hand, she and the family head to The Gullies to mourn and help out. But when they arrive, a rash of ritualistic murders break out, people found skinned and mutilated, and Tracey soon learns that her cousin’s death may not be what it seems.
Then, when Janey is abducted, Tracey fears the cult behind the attacks will try to exploit her clairvoyance for evil. With the help of detective Clausen, Tracey must rescue Janey and put an end to the brutal murders before the cult weaves their most dangerous ritual, and she loses yet another family member to the beast of the northwoods Gullies.
(Release date – 1/26/2026)
The land along the shore of Black Stone Bay is filled with sharp, dark granite teeth for which the area gets its name. From its cliff walk along the black sand to the mansions and manors that date back hundreds of years, the town has all the charm anyone could hope for and all the wealth anyone could ever need. For the most part, the people of Black Stone Bay are happy with their lots in life.
Halloween in Black Stone Bay is usually a celebration. This Halloween, however, there’s a chill in the air that has nothing to do with the coming of autumn and the death of the year. This year, the children dressed as monsters, clowns, and cowboys will be fighting for their lives and hiding wherever they can. This year, the beaches of Black Stone Bay will be washed in the blood of its people and the streets will be strewn with their mortal remains.
Night after night, the people of Black Stone Bay will learn the meaning of fear, and grow to dread the setting sun…
by M. J. Neary
(Release date – 2/6/2026)
Dr. Sheila O’Neill is a young English Lit professor at a mediocre college, ostracized for her unfashionably right-wing views and crude jokes. Lacking allies in the workplace, she vents to an online friend Jake, a reclusive autopsy technician who shares her cynical worldview. A sinister bond forms out of their virtual banter.
With Jake’s encouragement, Sheila starts writing a historical novel about a disfigured Anglo-Irish noblewoman trying to survive in 17th-century Paris amidst religious paranoia. The novel is intended to boost Sheila’s career and set her apart from her vindictive colleagues. Plunging into the world of her suffering heroine, Sheila becomes enchanted by the idea of victimhood and the hidden perks that come with it. As lines between fiction and reality blur, she discovers that deformity can take you farther than conventional beauty.
(Release date – 2/6/2026)
Some projects take time.
Five years ago, Jason Soulis experimented on the town of Black Stone Bay, creating an army of vampires for the sole purpose of seeing which ones would survive and if the creatures could evolve. Five years later, his experiments are bearing dark, bloody fruit. A new breed of monster has come from the ashes of the old, a deadlier predator with a far greater ability to kill and destroy whatever it touches. Black Stone Bay was wounded before, but the infection left behind has festered and the darkness is spreading faster than anyone has noticed, because this time the evil is better at hiding.
Maggie Preston was one of Soulis’s victims, a college-aged girl who has become something far darker. She’s fed her urges and kept her secrets with the aid of her lover and protector, but that relationship is fraying, and the hungers she’s suppressed are growing stronger and the family she has protected in the past has fallen victim to the new evil that Soulis unwittingly unleashed.
Five years have passed, and the town of BlackStone Bay has recovered from the horrors of the past, just in time to get caught in the crossfire of the undead and a new, virulent darkness.
Sometimes the devil you know is your only hope of salvation.