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Heretical Talk

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Pub Date Sep 13 2026 | Archive Date Sep 17 2026


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Description

They lost their faith. They found something else.

Across six decades, the entangled legacy of six victims will reveal the mystery of a cursed serial killer called Needless.

The killer's heretical talk leaves their minds forever scarred and seeking a path back to the light.

But when the victims go searching for God, they instead find the void and the monsters that await them in this cosmic horror novel about faith, loss, and connection.

1984. A retired trucker- and his estranged teen son on a country road trip must fight for survival against an ancient species of demons living on the seemingly peaceful, isolated Umbra Island.

2004. After becoming an astronaut aboard a satellite station to feel closer to Heaven, a traumatized survivor of one of Needless’ attacks bears witness to Armageddon when a nuclear holocaust sets the Earth ablaze.

1994. Another surviving victim of a Needless attack, now a quantum physicist with PTSD- discovers the mathematical equation for a dark dimension older than the universe, and opens it, unleashing chaos at his research facility.

1974. A former drug addict turned nun-in-training finds her newfound faith tested when Needless comes to her for confession and reveals dark truths of the world she thought she knew.

1964. A biker gang of outcasts called The Needless are the only ones standing in the way of a shapeshifting, human-skin-wearing demon preying on their town.

1984. A young orphaned mental patient teams up with an imprisoned Needless to stop both a demon in the asylum, and a mad doctor with ties to both the demons and Needless’ past.

They lost their faith. They found something else.

Across six decades, the entangled legacy of six victims will reveal the mystery of a cursed serial killer called Needless.

The killer's heretical talk...


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ISBN 9798256114558
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Average rating from 8 members


Featured Reviews

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There is something seriously unsettling about Heretical Talk. I went into this expecting cosmic horror, but I wasn't prepared for how strange, dark, and completely unhinged this story gets.

I really liked the way the different stories connect across decades. Each one feels like its own little nightmare, but they slowly start fitting together into something much bigger. The combination of religion, demons, strange dimensions, apocalypse-level horror, and the mystery surrounding Needless made this a really fun read for me.

What I enjoyed most was that the horror isn't just about monsters. There is this constant feeling that the characters are trying to understand something that is so far beyond human comprehension that understanding it might actually be the worst thing they could do. That is exactly the kind of cosmic horror I love.

Some of this book is seriously messed up, and there were definitely moments where I had to sit back and think, “Okay… what the hell did I just read?” 😂

As someone who reads a LOT of horror, I appreciated how weird this one was. It doesn't feel like a standard supernatural horror story, and I loved that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy. This was a wild cosmic-horror ride, and definitely one I'll be thinking about for a while.

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Heretical Talk is a haunting, clever, and structurally unique addition to modern cosmic horror. It is ideal for readers who love complex timeline puzzles, bleak philosophical horror, and stories that combine cosmic mystery with deeply human tragedy

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