Rowan Prose Publishing will release Forlorn Harbor, a young adult horror novel, in 2026. This page has everything you want to know about it.
- Do you like scary stories that ups the creep factor instead of mindless violence and quick thrills?
- Do you like a main character you can root for who makes logical decisions instead of the poor ones most horror novel characters do?
- Do you like a conflict where the antagonist shifts strategies based on the hero they’re facing (think Pennywise in It)?
I do, too. This is why I wrote Forlorn Harbor. Below is a brief blurb about the novel.
Blurb
Squeaky-clean Martina Ramirez is about to commit her first crime with a group of six schoolmates—breaking and entering into an abandoned movie theater. The trespassers soon find themselves trapped inside, and while trying to discover a way out, they are startled by a projector playing a film on its own. It shows a vintage episode of a horror series, and one of the group is trapped within the film. The only method of escape is to survive the episode, but the story doesn’t play fair. As the night wears on, the projector displays more episodes, ensnaring the others one by one. Martina tries to help her classmates, hoping that they’ll trust her. However, the events onscreen continue to work against her. And when Martina’s turn arrives, she must face her own ominous trial…alone.
Forlorn Harbor the Serial
Forlorn Harbor was a serial in the 1940s that showed a 20-minute episode before the main picture. Each standalone segment was designed to thrill the audience in that time period. As it wasn’t a movie, these films were forgotten over time. A small community discussed them online, transcribing memories from the audience that saw it back then.
Forlorn Harbor had eighteen episodes, two that never aired. The series became known for its creatures. Most of the plots centered on a hero battling or avoiding a monster. The online chatter mostly discusses the supernatural beings.
Below is an incomplete listing and summary of Forlorn Harbor’s individual episodes.
Episode 2: Thunder’s Rattle
In the Roaring 20s, a mob boss’s wife hires a private detective, Quent Stirling, to help her escape from her husband’s clutches. The mob chases the wife and Quent and eventually catches them at an airport. In a small room, Quent removes a hidden knife. When the mob boss enters, he slashes the villain across the face. But then, the gangster grows a scorpion’s tale, and everything Quent thought he knew is upended.
(Ed. Note: Episode 2 does not appear in the Forlorn Harbor novel.)
Episode 10: A Changeling of Scenery
A zookeeper family ensure a diverse crowd of cryptids are imprisoned in a nearby forest. However, a changeling—a creature that can appear like anyone—escapes and disguises itself as a mother of a family. Teenage Joy figures this out before her mother sucks the life out of her, but keeps it to herself. She has to protect her invalid younger sister upstairs, keeping the monster away until her mother arrives. Will she be successful, or will the Changeling catch onto her cat-and-mouse game and attack?
The poster below is the original from the Forlorn Harbor series.
(Ed. Note: Episode 10 will be included in the Forlorn Harbor novel.)
More episodes coming soon
Forlorn Harbor the Novel
The novel is set in modern times. After the introduction to the serial of Forlorn Harbor, one of the trespassers in an old theater is transferred into the episode. Fortunately, one boy has read about Forlorn Harbor the serial and instructs the others about each episode’s ending. Yet, discussions between the real world and the film world are limited, and the plot may veer off the original. Once the episode diverges, the characters may find the episode unforgiving.
Check out more terrifying offerings by Rowan Press in their Sapphire Imprint.
Forlorn Harbor’s Author
Though this is my first published novel, I have written over ten published horror short stories. Among the horror (and other genre) novelists you have heard of, I certainly have read a lot of Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Richard Matheson, and Tim Powers. And I also read horror from people you may not have heard of, but you should check out: Christopher Robertson, Deborah Smith, Christine D’Arc, and Dorlana Vann.