Coralesque and Other Tales To Disturb and Distract

A surfer who becomes horrifyingly one with the sea. A new mother’s devastating search for belonging.  A stone gargoyle with a violent history.  A fisher boy who discovers the real cost of forbidden love. A farmer whose delight at drought-breaking rain quickly turns to terror. A hedonistic rock star who manifests double trouble. A robotic housemaid with a sinister agenda. A dirty ex-cop with a dirtier secret. An unscrupulous mayor’s solution to rid his city of the homeless …

These are just some of the characters you’ll meet in Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract, a collection of dark offerings comprising short stories alongside a smattering of flash and poetry.

Introduced by multi-award-winning author, Steven Paulsen, Rebecca Fraser’s collection brings together an eclectic mix of new work, along with previously published, award-nominated, and prize-winning fiction, embracing a diversity of styles from gothic to cyberpunk, to contemporary horror, fantasy, dystopia…and every dark cranny in between.

From the harsh terrain of the Outback, to the depths of the Pacific Ocean, the wilds of Tasmania,  dystopian futures, enchanted lands, and the familiarity of suburbia, Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract takes readers on a journey into unsettling, unforgiving, and unforgettable territory.

Coralesque and Other Tales to Disturb and Distract (IFWG Publishing Australia) is available April 15 through all good bricks and mortar and digital bookstores.




Praise for Coralesque

“This collection makes me want to pick up more work by Fraser. There are so many stories that are short, yet provide some spine tingling, thought-provoking horror. Highly recommended for anyone wanting to read international horror.”
Lizzy Walker, The Monster Librarian

This collection of dark and weird tales firmly establishes Rebecca Fraser as a captivating storyteller and a gifted, poetic writer. Her stories and poems are impelled by powerful narratives, and no matter where they take you—the past, present or future; the street around the corner; foreign countries; or magical lands—her deft world building has you living, breathing and tasting her creations, and her characters populate these fictions with believable authenticity so we are drawn into the stories hardly realising their artifice.
Steven Paulsen, Award-winning author of Shadows on the Wall