Novella: The Rampant

The fabulous Aqueduct Press has just released my 140 page novella, The Rampant, as a paperback and ebook.

Release date: September 15, 2019.

Paperback: Amazon | Publisher
eBook: Amazon | Publisher

What others are saying

“Equal parts playful and heartbreaking, this apocalyptic novella offers one-of-a-kind answers about the end of the world….This clever and surprisingly fun take on the rapture is the perfect theological horror story.”
— Publishers Weekly, Review

“Day perfectly balances dark and light in The Rampant, and offers up a fresh take on apocalyptic fiction that draws on ancient mythology and literature to create something that feels completely original and new. “
— The Book Smugglers Women to Read, Novella Review

“The Rampant was so much fun to read! Is that the right way to blurb a horror novel? I don’t know, but it’s the truth. Julie Day’s novel is smart, playful, sly and, yes, horrifying too. A short gem of a book.”
— Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling. Winner of the World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, and British Fantasy awards.

“THE RAMPANT is one of the most original Apocalypse tales I’ve read in ages. Julie C. Day avoids cliché and gives the reader the end-times by way of Sumerian myth — except this particular end-of-the-world stalls when one of its principal players decides not to show up. What unfolds is a journey into the underworld filled with joy and horror, hope and loss. It’s a wise and lovely story — exactly what I’ve come to expect from Day.”
— Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award.

“I loved the epic journey of our two teenaged queer heroes, Gillian and Emelia, through the sprawling horrors of the Sumerian afterworld. The clash of their modern feminist sensibilities with the cruel and rigid theocracy of the very oldest gods out-weirds much of the New Weird. In The Rampant, Julie Day calls us to visit a fantastical landscape in a voice that is hers alone.”
— James Patrick Kelly, winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards.

“The girl-powered post-apocalyptic Sumerian underworld quest I didn’t know I needed.”
— Sarah Pinsker, winner of the Nebula and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.

What is the book about?

The Rampant is a queer-girls-in-love, coming-of-age short novel that is harrowing, heartbreaking, and darkly funny.

Christianity it turns out got a whole lot of things wrong. It’s ten years since the hordes of old-world Sumerian gods arrived in Southern Indiana ready to kick off the end of the world. Massive tornadoes, tsunamis, government collapse: it all started out so strong, but the Rampant, the final herald of the apocalypse, failed to show. Both people and gods have had to adjust.

Sixteen-year-old Emelia Bareilles and Gillian Halkey have spent most of their childhood stuck in this seemingly never-ending apocalypse. Now the two friends are resolute: they will travel into the lands of the dead and force a change.

Riffing on fragments of historical text, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, The Rampant uses and refutes the known details and rules of the Sumerian underworld. As they travel through the lands of the dead, Emelia and Gillian meet loved ones and strangers trapped in a system they didn’t create. Each step makes them more determined to help create a better, godless world. In the end this is a story about the inequities of power, human self-determination, and the various ways in which we love each other.

Featured Free Short Stories

How many stitches do human lips require to hold the soul inside? Alicia tries to help her sister finally discover the truth.
“Re-stitched”
Split Lip Magazine (2018)
Fiction of the Week at Longform Fiction
Ellen Datlow’s full recommended list for 2019 (from Best Horror of the Year volume Eleven)

There isn’t a city in the world that generates more prayers per capita than the city of Farsdale, Massachusetts.
“The Thirteen Tuesdays of Saint Anthony”
Farrago’s Wainscot (2015)

A secret family history, a unique farm, and a daughter who can’t find her place in this particular world.
“The Rocket Farmer”
Interzone 271 (2017)
Podcastle ( 2018 Reprint)

Elijah was the younger brother, and Callie was the older sister who sent handwritten notes to the dead.
“One Thousand Paper Cranes”
Kaleidotrope (2017)

Two brothers compete to create the first portal to the stars.
“Holes in Heaven”
Isthmus No.4 (2016)
Eunoia Review (2016 reprint)
5-star rating in the The Review Review