Kill Me with Fire

Published by Shortwave
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

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About the Book

Two women fall victim to a dormant curse, transforming them into feral witches. One resists, the other... doesn't.

Alice is a solitary accountant with no life and one friend. Jennet is a damn-the-consequences enigma. The two are nothing alike. Until a chance encounter at a foraging outing gives them something in common: an onslaught of rapid aging and a hunger for infants.

Having gone their separate ways, Alice copes by finding a number of questionable, but less morally objectionable approaches to stave off the witch growing within. Jennet's methods are decidedly more...self-serving.

Despite Alice's best efforts, her path keeps crossing with Jennet's, before coming to a head in "this decade's most visceral examination of the witch" (Wendy N. Wagner), from Esquire's Best Horror of 2024 honoree Chris Panatier.

About the Author

Chris Panatier is an artist and writer living in Dallas, Texas, with his wife, daughter and a fluctuating herd of dog-like creatures (one is almost certainly a goat). He writes short stories and novels, including The Phlebotomist, Stringers, and The Redemption of Morgan Bright.

Chris has also been a trial attorney in environmental cases for two decades. He represents people who have been injured, poisoned, or killed due to the conduct of others.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Shortwave (April 27, 2027)
  • Length: 384 pages
  • ISBN13: 9798897320530

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Raves and Reviews

"Fresh and exciting... Transformative and empowering... This is exactly the kind of story seasoned horror fans are ravenous for. A new, all-time favorite book."

– Sadie Hartmann, Bram Stoker Award winning author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered

"This book ripped me to shreds. I don’t know how this man writes woman so damn well. He seems to be sensitive enough to really know what goes on in our hormone-riddled brains, and especially with women of a certain age. Absolutely disgusting body horror accompanied by some of the funniest dialogue, with an ending I needed weeks to recover from. This man always gives me a book hangover, but this one takes the cake. Kill Me with Fire is Panatier’s best yet. It will live in my head (and heart) forever."

– Marguerite Turley, Bookseller

"Deliciously diabolical. Panatier sinks into the world of witchcraft with an unsettling calm and an unwavering exploration of the bound and bewitched. Kill Me with Fire is a debaucherous feast, preying on fears and loyalties, and weaving a spell that is at once monstrous and terrifyingly all-consuming."

– Noelle Salazar, author of The Lies We Leave Behind and USA Today Bestseller

"Love them or fear them, witches are the ultimate symbol of women who don’t conform to society’s expectations. In Kill Me with Fire, Chris Panatier has written this decade’s most visceral examination of the witch—as well as a searing interrogation of the trad-wife movement and its narrow definitions of femininity. Gripping, believable, and very, very scary: I couldn’t put it down!"

– Wendy N. Wagner, author of GIRL IN THE CREEK

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