Johnny Compton is the Stoker Award–nominated author of The Spite House and Devils Kill Devils. His short stories have appeared in PseudoPod, Strange Horizons, The NoSleep Podcast, and several other publications. His fascination with frightening fiction started when he was introduced to the ghost story “The Golden Arm” as a child.
Johnny is joining the Book Festival to discuss his latest book, Dead First.
When private investigator Shyla Sinclair is invited to the looming mansion of eccentric billionaire Saxton Braith, she’s more than a little suspicious. The last thing she expects to see that night is Braith’s assistant driving an iron rod straight through the back of his skull. Scratch that—the last thing she expects to see is Braith’s resurrection afterward.
Braith can’t die, it turns out, but he has no explanation for his immortality, and very few intact memories of his past. Which is why he wants to pay Shyla millions to investigate him, and bring his long-buried history to light.
Shyla can’t help but be intrigued, but she’s also trapped by the offer. Braith has made it clear that he knows she’s the only person he can trust with his secret, because he knows all about hers.
Bold, atmospheric, and utterly frightening, Johnny Compton’s "Dead First" is spine-chilling supernatural horror about the pursuit of power and the undying need for reckoning.
