Empty Heaven

In this creepy and darkly funny folk horror novel, after a scarecrow deity inhabits their friend, a group of queer teens must outmaneuver townspeople under the thrall of otherworldly magic as they try to reverse the possession.

You are safe, my child. You are loved, my child. You are one with the good earth.

Darian Sabine Arden is haunted by a monster who claims to love her. Her only respite is the New England village where she spends summers with her three best friends. Kesuquosh is serene and idyllic, and the townsfolk’s odd worship of a godlike scarecrow only adds to the charming local color. But when Darian pays a surprise Halloween visit to her summer crush—a beautiful, unreadable girl named KJ—just in time to see her swept up in a bizarre harvest ritual, she’s forced to admit that Good Arcturus is more than a quaint superstition. He’s terrifyingly real.

Something ancient and sinister lurks behind the dying sunflower fields and glowing windows of Kesuquosh … and in the hearts of the people who live there. Something that doesn’t take kindly to its paradise being threatened. To save KJ—and themselves—Darian and her friends must question everything they thought they knew about their home. And Darian will have to tell the awful truth about the monster that’s been with her all along.

Empty Heaven is a propulsive and original love story, a darkly funny tribute to the power of queer found family, and a haunting exploration of the hidden horrors of beautiful places.