STORMRAVEN, Kelsea’s DEBUT horror novel, WILL BE PUBLISHED BY GALLERY BOOKS / Simon & Schuster (US) & TITAN BOOKS (UK) in SUMMER 2026!
Content Warnings
anti-Chinese sentiment & actions, violence (including reference to sexual assault, not explicit), supernatural possession, body horror
About the book
Mexican Gothic meets Get Out with this Rebecca-inspired gothic horror rooted in Chinese American history, as a gifted artist uncovers a haunted mansion’s chilling secrets that threaten to make her dream life a living nightmare.
Mixed media fine art photographer Lydia Chen dreams of gaining fame and fortune, even as she’s forced to do odd jobs to pay the bills—like running a gothic portrait photo booth for Seattle’s elite during a lavish charity event. But fate intervenes when she wins the event raffle for a once-in-a-lifetime retreat to Stormraven, a 19th-century estate owned by the Vandermeer family on a private island off Washington’s coast. There, she meets Henry Vandermeer, the enigmatic young scion of his clan. Charmed by Henry and drawn to his beautiful estate, Lydia joins his mysterious family and moves into Stormraven.
With her sudden change in fortune, Lydia leaves behind the daily grind to chase her artistic aspirations, settling into seemingly idyllic surroundings. But with each passing day, ominous nightmares come to the fore, as Lydia catches glimpses throughout the property of a ghostly woman who eerily resembles herself. The more she investigates the mansion’s chilling secrets, the more she feels her sanity slipping under the weight of its emerging terrors. For Lydia soon discovers she is not the first to be trapped in Stormraven’s hallowed halls—and if she fails to unearth its rotten truth, her new home may soon become her eternal prison….
From STORMRAVEN’s announcement in Publishers Marketplace:
Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author Kelsea Yu’s STORMRAVEN, pitched as a Rebecca-inspired gothic horror rooted in Chinese American history, in which an ambitious artist uncovers the chilling secrets of a haunted mansion on a private Pacific Northwest island with a whitewashed past—secrets that threaten to turn her dream life into a nightmare, to Ed Schlesinger at Gallery, at auction, for publication in 2026, by Jennifer Azantian at Azantian Literary Agency (NA).
Rights also to Daniel Carpenter at Titan Books (UK).
Film/TV: film@azantianlitagency.com
Translation: alba@mushens-entertainment.com
From STORMRAVEN’s announcement in Publishers WEEKLY:
Ed Schlesinger at Gallery won North American rights, at auction, to Stormraven by Kelsea Yu from Jennifer Azantian, who has an eponymous shingle, with Daniel Carpenter at Titan picking up U.K. rights. The publisher called the book a “Rebecca-inspired modern gothic horror rooted in Chinese American history, in which an ambitious artist uncovers the chilling secrets of a haunted mansion on a private Pacific Northwest island with a whitewashed past.” Publication is set for 2026.
And Stormraven’s announcement was one of the featured deals in the Publishers Lunch newsletter!
