LAUNCH PARTY: These Familiar Walls by C. J. Dotson

We're thrilled to welcome CJ to the shop on April 7, 2026 at 6:00 PM for the launch of her newewst novel!

CJ will be joined in conversation by author Clay McLeod Chapman(DEVIL INSIDE).

About THESE FAMILIAR WALLS:

A spine-chilling, heart-pounding suburban horror novel at the heart of the genre, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, Cassandra Khaw, and Catriona Ward.
In 1998, desperate loneliness pushes preteen Amber to ignore the misgivings of her family, particularly her younger sister, when she befriends the troubled new kid in the neighborhood—a boy with dead eyes, a fascination with fire, and no remorse. Their turbulent relationship is brief but creates lasting consequences.
Twenty-two years later, in 2020, he resurfaces to K*ll Amber’s parents, and is in turn betrayed by his accomplice and killed in Amber's childhood home.
After the deaths, Amber inherits the house and, in an effort to save money, moves in with her husband and two children, hoping to reclaim some sense of stability in the grief and chaos surrounding her. Instead, she finds that the familiar walls are haunted by more than just bitter memories and lockdown stress. She shifts in and out of dreamlike trances, her reflection won’t blink, and a menacing voice whispers to her from the gathering shadows. Although she tried to brush off the strange happenings as stress-fueled hallucinations, Amber is soon forced to admit that something much more real—and more dangerous—haunts her family. But Amber has deadly secrets of her own, and she must resolve these long-buried truths or lose the life she’s contrived for herself.

About the Authors:

C. J. Dotson possesses the statistically average number of body parts for a human being to have. She and her husband, stepson, and children (all of whom also appear human) share a cabin in the woods with more bugs than she would ever like to see. In her limited spare time she enjoys reading, video games, painting, baking and decorating cakes (with…questionable success), and petting her dog and six cats.

Clay McLeod Chapman is the author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, K*ll Your Darling, Stay on the Line, What Kind of Mother, Ghost Eaters, Whisper Down the Lane, The Remaking, and miss corpus, story collections nothing untoward, commencement and rest area, as well as The Tribe middlegrade series: Homeroom Headhunters, Camp Cannibal and Academic Assassins.

Event Guidelines:

Each ticket includes either a copy ofTHESE FAMILIAR WALLS or a $15 Twisted Spine gift card.

Additional copies of the books will be available for purchase at the event.

A signing will follow the discussion.

If you have any questions about the guidelines or need to request accessibility accommodations, please contact [email protected].

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