Heretical Talk
By Beau Lemmerman
Publisher: Baal House Books
Release Date: September 13, 2026
ISBN: 9798256114558
Genre: Horror
They lost their faith. They found something else.
Across six decades, the entangled legacy of six victims will reveal the mystery of a cursed serial killer called Needless.
The killer’s heretical talk leaves their minds forever scarred and seeking a path back to the light.
But when the victims go searching for God, they instead find the void and the monsters that await them in this cosmic horror novel about faith, loss, and connection.
1984. A retired trucker- and his estranged teen son on a country road trip must fight for survival against an ancient species of demons living on the seemingly peaceful, isolated Umbra Island.
2004. After becoming an astronaut aboard a satellite station to feel closer to Heaven, a traumatized survivor of one of Needless’ attacks bears witness to Armageddon when a nuclear holocaust sets the Earth ablaze.
1994. Another surviving victim of a Needless attack, now a quantum physicist with PTSD- discovers the mathematical equation for a dark dimension older than the universe, and opens it, unleashing chaos at his research facility.
1974. A former drug addict turned nun-in-training finds her newfound faith tested when Needless comes to her for confession and reveals dark truths of the world she thought she knew.
1964. A biker gang of outcasts called The Needless are the only ones standing in the way of a shapeshifting, human-skin-wearing demon preying on their town.
1984. A young orphaned mental patient teams up with an imprisoned Needless to stop both a demon in the asylum, and a mad doctor with ties to both the demons and Needless’ past.
About the Author
Author. Stranger.
After saving up enough money to buy a “How to Draw Dragon Ball Z Characters” drawing book from the scholastic book fair, I wrote and sold my first few fan-fiction comics at 9 years old. I made my first forty bucks on the school bus that day.
Since then, I have honed my skills in all manner of storytelling.
My experience is what you would call homegrown— Born and raised in the middle-of-nowhere Upstate New York; I became a freelance writer, editor and photographer fresh out of high school for the local Sentinel & Dispatch, and the County Public Market Newsletter.
My heroes in life: Earnest Hemmingway, Steve McQueen, and Hunter Thompson, all taught me not just to write about an adventure, but to live one.
And so, as a young man, I packed up my Chevy and hit the road overnight with nothing but the clothes on my back.
My journeys across the country have led me through the bizarre life of a bounty hunter and occasional ghostwriter to make ends meet.
Today, I am a fulltime veterinary biomed tech helping animals in the Puget Sound.
It’s been over 12 years since I hit the road, but I still bring with me that familiar east coast energy into my stories, and in my strong characters who were built from a lifetime of experience.
Baal House Books has become my own personal writer’s workshop and Independent Press for dark and strange fiction.
The operation is small, but the ambition huge. One day we will expand into offering freelance writing and publishing services for all those who dabble in the dark.
Looking forward to the future.
