Megan Bontrager is an author of SFF and horror currently based in Yorkshire. She received her MA from Johns Hopkins and BFA from the University of Central Florida. Her short fiction has previously been published with Quill & Crow Publishing House, Cypress Dome Literary Magazine, Frontier Poetry, Little Ghosts Books, Greykin Press, and 30 North Literary Magazine.
When she isn’t frantically scribbling down her next big idea, Megan enjoys playing TTRPGs and volunteering with animal rescues. She is responsible for two furry children, and hopes to support their lavish lifestyles with her books.
Megan is represented by Clara Chuiton at The Rights Factory.
Eye of the Ouroboros
The National Parks Service Search and Rescue Team knows better than anyone that the woods surrounding the insular town of Mill Creek, West Virginia have a habit of taking people and refusing to give them back. They also know that when you find a door in the woods, you don’t go through it for fear of never coming back again. But Theo’s tenacity, and her proclivity for sticking her crooked nose where it doesn’t belong, has caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Reality: those who stand sentinel at the gates of the Infinite Corridor, where endless hostile realities converge. When Theo steps boldly through a door in the woods, she learns just how far they’re willing to go in order to keep all its secrets locked tight – even if that means silencing those who stumble upon them permanently.
The Sea Hides Its Dead
Beck assembles a team of academics and professionals to study the ancient sea-based Cult of the Leviathan, and the expedition descends into the sea caves where the cult are said to have dwelt. But when the cave entrance collapses, trapping them inside, the expedition will find they are not alone in the darkness. Surrounded by strange artefacts and scattered bones, an ancient trial has been set in motion. One by one, the members of the expedition will be tested and forced to atone for their greatest sin… or die.
Where Dead Things Grow
Evangeline Faust is no stranger to Death. He’s always been a silent companion, watching her through the bond they share: her ability to sense when he will come for anyone she touches. Death has followed her to Thrasher House, where she cares for twins with similarly strange and deathly magic, and to the edge of the ever-growing swamp that creeps north from the teeming wetlands of south Georgia.
When people begin to whisper about a cult at the heart of the swamp that promises folks eternal life, Evangeline is inclined to ignore it. She knows better than most that Death comes for everyone. And besides – she’s got children to care for, and little space to entertain the idea that the Fountain of Youth is what gives the swamp life.
But when the twins are kidnapped and taken south, Evangeline doesn’t think twice about following. And for the very first time, Death speaks to her. A delicate balance has been broken somewhere at the heart of the swamp, he says, and it’s only they who can fix it. Together, they journey deep into the overgrowth, a world full of undead creatures and sentient, necrotic flora. The deeper they go, the clearer it becomes that the cult’s power is not the stuff of rumor. Rescuing the twins will require great sacrifice, but nothing will stop Evangeline from saving her children.