A COLLECTION  by Neil Williamson
CATEGORY  Horror
PUBLICATION DATE  June 2026
COVER ART  Vince Haig
PAGES 320
ISBN  978-1-80394-584-2

EDITION
Trade Paperback

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

"HAND-ME-DOWNS was planned as a themed collection almost from the start. I'd written a story, "Thirty-Two Tumbling Teeth", only in retrospect, realising that what I'd been writing about was a sort of reversed inheritance. It was a neat notion and I wanted to explore it more. How ideas get passed on along with objects bequeathed by the dead to the living. The transference of personality traits and emotional baggage between parents and children, spouses, siblings and friends along with the tangibles of inheritance. I found myself taking a particular interest in the traits of toxic masculinity. And, like I say, found that horror was exactly the right medium to be telling those sorts of tales. The right kind of light to shine to expose those sorts of truths." —Neil Williamson

Publishing History

• “Thirty-Two Tumbling Teeth” first published in Black Static (2022)
• “The Family Axe” first published in BOREAL: An Anthology of Taiga Horror (2025)
• “Bunting” first published in UNCANNY BODIES (2018)
• “The Death Trap” first published in NOT ONE OF US (2024)
• “A Little Seasoning” first published in Interzone Digital (2023)
• “An Antique Puzzle Chest Of Unknown Provenance” first published in WEIRD HORROR (2023)
• “A Folded Letter” first published in CHTHONIC MATTER (2024)
• “Down To The Roots” first published in SHADOWS & TALL TREES (2019)
• “The Cold Case” first published in ABSOLUTE ZERO (2025)
• “Her Little Ray Of Sunshine” first published in REMAINS (2025)
• “The Salted Bones” first published in Black Static (2023)
• “The Sea Gate”, “The Truckle”, “Die Hässlichen Blumen” and “Five Vapes In A Shoebox” are original to this collection.