NAT CASSIDY writes horror for the page, stage, and screen. His critically-acclaimed, award-winning horror plays have been produced across the United States, as well as Off- and Off-Off-Broadway. He won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for his one-man show about H. P. Lovecraft and was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to write the libretto for a short opera (about the end of the world, of course). An established actor on stage and television (usually playing monsters and villains on shows such as Blue Bloods, Bull, Quantico, FBI, and Law & Order: SVU), Nat also authored the novelization of the hit podcast Steal the Stars, which was published by Tor Books and named one of the best books of 2017 by NPR. Mary: An Awakening of Terror is Nat's Nightfire debut. He lives in New York with his wife.
Praise for Mary "Mary is a book unlike any other: a serial killer
thriller that's half ghost story and half possession horror,
featuring a labyrinthine mansion and a desert-dwelling cult... Mary
is a late-life coming-of-age horror that shines a necessary light
on a neglected character type through black humor and scenes of
gloriously gross carnage."--Esquire
"Genius ... Intense ... No two readers will experience [Mary] quite
the same. The reading discoveries are exciting and thrilling.
Cassidy has a skilled storytelling voice capable of intense,
graphic imagery and scary scenes as well as laugh-out-loud
humor."--Sadie Hartmann, aka "Mother Horror," author of 101 Horror
Books to Read Before You're Murdered "Heads up, Nat Cassidy's debut
novel is not for the faint of heart. It's gory and horrific, but
underneath the blood-soaked pages is a commentary on society's view
of older women and their place in the world."--The Seattle Times
"Nat Cassidy's Mary: An Awakening of Terror reads like a riposte to
King's Carrie; Cassidy has the audacity (and the skill) to write
convincingly about perimenopause."--Esquire "Leading with one of
the most unforgettable first chapters in recent horror history, Nat
Cassidy . . . will rattle your nervous system from the very first
page, and basically never stop. . . . One of those horror novels
that will make your skin crawl while also seducing you into never
putting it down."--Paste Magazine
"Nat Cassidy's Mary was truly dark and creepy, and a novel that
clearly and unequivocally announced the arrival of a superb new
voice in horror."--Locus "One of the best horror novels of the
year, and destined to become a cult classic, Mary, like its
heroine, is not to be sidelined."--CrimeReads "Razor-sharp horror
debut.... Cassidy expertly twists the invisibility and
disposability of society's most vulnerable into qualities ideally
suited to a terrifying avenging angel. It's as scary as it is
smart."--Publishers Weekly "This tale of horror is a good
read-alike for Stephen King's Carrie and Paul Tremblay's A Head
Full of Ghosts."--Booklist "[An] emerging genre star . .
."--Library Journal
"[An] outstanding debut horror novel. ... [T]he kind of debut that
will surely help establish its author as one of the best new voices
in horror. Mary is a fun, creepy, strange read. ... Nat Cassidy has
written an impressive debut in which supernatural horror collides
with real horrors, and that makes Mary the kind of novel you keep
thinking about long after you've turned the last page."--Locus
"Searing imagery. Immediate chills. Also, you see this
cover?"--Rachel Harrison, author of Cackle
"Gripping from the start. What begins in a bloodbath leads us
through decades into a nightmare of cults, ghosts, and self-hatred,
where great and terrible expectations await. Mary is a devastating
threat made manifest."--Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning
author of Queen of Teeth "Operatic and tremendously unsettling,
there's a dangerous current churning beneath the pages . . . a
current that will carry you far away and forever change you the way
all excellent books do. This is first class horror."--Eric LaRocca,
author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke "Genius...
Intense... No two readers will experience [MARY] quite the same.
The reading discoveries are exciting and thrilling. Cassidy has a
skilled storytelling voice capable of intense, graphic imagery and
scary scenes as well as laugh-out-loud humor."--Sadie "Mother
Horror" Hartmann, author of 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're
Murdered "Who doesn't want to read the book equivalent of vampire
Kathy Bates killing some hipsters in the fifth season of American
Horror Story? Middle-aged women's rage is in this year, and I
couldn't be happier."--CrimeReads "Cassidy's character-building is
so incredibly complex that I can't help but . . . make a comparison
to Stephen King. . . . An extraordinary metaphor for women's
struggles, Mary is edgy as hell. A chilling compilation of horror
with masterful storytelling."--Cemetery Dance
"One of the scariest, freaky, and mind bending horror novels of
2022 and you should absolutely pick this one up!"--Horror Reads
"All I can say is, it has haunted me since I read it, and I may
have to re-read it again soon."--Horrorble Books "There's something
here to scare even the most jaded horror lover... this book also
makes a fascinating bookend to Stephen King's Carrie as a character
study of a woman at a very different stage of life."--The
Lineup
"Cassidy has given us a classic horror novel of a middle-aged woman
tormented by all the little-town horrors of her past--those she can
remember and those she is forced to remember. Who is Mary, or
better yet, what is Mary? She has been called home to find out. A
fine read."--Elizabeth Engstrom, author of When Darkness Loves Us
"A collision of supernatural and real-life horrors, Nat Cassidy's
Mary throbs with a relentlessly sinister energy. Packed with
visceral shocks and quiet menace, breakneck storytelling and
profound character work, Mary is absolutely riveting. I can't
recommend it highly enough."--Jonathan Janz, author of The Siren
and the Specter and The Raven "Mary, Mary, quite extraordinary...
How does your novel grow? With pillow cases hiding sliced off
faces, and porcelain dolls all in a row. With an acidic sense of
humor more barbed than any cactus, Nat Cassidy's fast-paced Mary is
a perfect blend of Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne and Frank De
Felitta's Audrey Rose. This book goes out to all those bad seeds
who have gone beyond their bloom and entered the twilight of their
murderous lives."--Clay McLeod Chapman, author of The Remaking "Oh
my god so Nat Cassidy's Mary is one of the most engaging, most
cathartic, and above all most fundamentally *satisfying* books I've
read in a while. If you like scary stories you really really really
need to read this one. [T]his is up there with Dolores Claiborne
for me and that's really saying something. Many cis men suck at
writing women. Nat does not. Nat does NOT."--Sunny Moraine, author
of Singing with All My Skin and Bone "[E]very bit as brilliant as
everyone's saying: a gory, body horror-soaked exploration of
menopause, cults, self-worth, & true crime junkies. I can't
recommend this book enough--even the afterword is
revelatory."--Ally Wilkes, author of All the White Spaces "Just
finished Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy & WOW! The
horror arrives like a monsoon thunderstorm: ominous page 1 rumbles
that build to a frenzied, spectacular conclusion that'll leave you
awestruck & trembling. Smart, scary & full of heart, Mary is a
force of nature!"--KC Jones, author of Black Tide "Genuinely scary,
and at times both heartfelt and heartbreaking, Mary is a powerhouse
of a horror novel, with something important to say. We need more
like this. Standing ovation!"--Brian Keene "Nat Cassidy's Mary is a
bravura journey into horror, cults, and the estrangement of middle
age. It's one BANANAS ride, by a very talented writer."--Sarah
Langan "Congrats on a loud and bloody Mary. She's going to make
herself heard and then some."--Kathe Koja
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