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The Ship of Death

A cosmic horror novel about a haunted board game, a twisted take on The Blair Witch Project
Brief Description
Cole and Lorraine playtest board games for some extra cash as they save up to buy a home. But after a series of bizarre coincidences, and signing a strange NDA, the couple finds on their porch a mysterious indie developer's tabletop role-playing game called The Ship... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3199
Elsewhere:
$3799
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Releases 29th September 2026 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "The Ship of Death" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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A supernatural chokehold of an epistolary novel told entirely through found documents. The most original horror title of the year.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Cole and Lorraine playtest board games for some extra cash as they save up to buy a home. But after a series of bizarre coincidences, and signing a strange NDA, the couple finds on their porch a mysterious indie developer's tabletop role-playing game called The Ship of Death.

The game relies heavily on the players' imaginations and takes up an ever-growing amount of space: in their kitchen, and in their minds.

As its true sinister nature becomes clearer, and its forces capture more in its web, the boundary between the game and reality begins to dissolve... and the pair are instructed to possess a stranger's soul.

Told entirely through game reports, emails, game forum posts, personal journals, and police reports, reading The Ship of Death feels like a dangerous dice roll. It's a sleep-stealing, possession-inducing work of intense, intelligent found cosmic horror that announces Kyle Winkler as a spectacular voice in the genre.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781399767354

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 29 September 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton

Illustration: B&W drawings (taking files from the US offset)

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 135.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 256

About the Author

Kyle Winkler is an Associate Professor of English at Kent State University at Tuscarawas. He received a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. His stories have appeared in Conjunctions and Electric Literature. His previous books include The Nothing That Is, Grasshands, Tone-Bone, Enter the Peerless, and Boris Says the Words.

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