Published 26th October 2026 by Ferakeye Media.
From the cover of the book:
In this feral feminist vampire novel, cats-and cat ladies-are out for blood.
It's 2005, and Vera Valcourt is an aimless goth waitress in New York City, desperate for something to sink her teeth into. Caged by her Catholic upbringing, her dead-end job, and her deadbeat boyfriend, Vera's only solace is her rescue cat, Sammy. But when Sammy disappears, Vera is forced to claw her way out of the domestic life she's been trapped inside.
The frantic search for her missing cat drives Vera into the dark underbelly of cat lore. Following a blood-soaked trail blazed by a medieval abbess and a roaring twenties witch, Vera is cast into a world of ancient myths and ancestral magic, ruthless cults and cutthroat cat ladies. If she and her beloved Sammy are to survive, Vera must uncover the secrets of a deadly feline species with more than nine lives.
A suspenseful mix of occult horror and urban fantasy drenched in dark humour, Nightcats explores the unbreakable bonds between women and their cats, and what we sacrifice to keep our teeth sharp in a world that wants us defanged.
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New York City, 2005. Goth girl, Vera Valcourt feels like her life is in the doldrums. Her boyfriend Evan is getting to be more of a deadbeat by the day, and she feels like she is carrying a heavy burden keeping their heads above water in her low-paying job as a waitress. Her only solace is her rescue cat, Sammy.
One night, after a tough shift, Vera gets back to the apartment she shares with Evan to find Sammy has gone missing. Desolate, and annoyed by Evan's lack of concern for the situation he has created, Vera sets about searching for Sammy on the streets... and she discovers a lot more than stray cats.
This twisty debut horror novel weaves between three inter-connected timelines in 2005, 1925, and 1232 that delve into the glorious world of vampire cats. Vera's part in the wider tale drives the story, as her search for Sammy burgeons into a quest to get to the bottom of an outbreak of murders on the streets of NYC, which seem to be happening in the vicinity of some very unusual cats. Almost by accident, Vera is soon way over her head with a group of women obsessed with an ancient cat goddess - a group she eventually finds out was connected to the aunt that left her the ankh necklace she now wears.
In the process, Sollée fills fills in a complex backstory that goes all the way back to spooky goings on in 1232 at a German abbey, through the diary its Abbess - gradually revealing what happened to the nuns there when their devotions took a cultish turn. And she links this bloody history to Vera's timeline through the secretive acts of Cassandra Blackmayne in 1925, whose tinkering with black magic gave rise to a sisterhood dedicated to keeping a powerful force in check.
Classic horror themes of dark magic, mysticism, folklore, the sacred feminine clash deliciously with modern popular culture (especially horror films), the goth lifestyle, and religion - and there are some original twists on vampire lore that make the most of atmospheric gothic settings and Egyptian mythology. A steel core of female rage runs through the whole novel too, which takes a while to get into full swing, but once it gets going the story flies along, steeped in bloodletting and revenge filled mayhem - all the way to a climax that is every bit as spectacularly cinematic as I hoped.
If you like your Halloween reads to be full of all things cats, buckets of blood, a charismatic female cast, and storylines that leap headlong into the realms of the unhinged than this is for you. It brings whole new meaning to the term 'cat lady', and I was here for it all. More please!
Nightcats by Kristen J. Sollée is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Kristen for sending me a review copy of this book, and Black Crow PR for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Kristen J. Sollée is the author of three books on the legacy of the witch. A writer, curator, and educator exploring the intersections of art, gender, and the occult, Kristen has lectured at George Washington University, the University of Southern California, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and across the United States and Europe. Her 2017 book, Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive was described by The Guardian as “a whirlwind history of the witch in America” and a “must-read” by BUST. Kristen’s work has also been featured in NYLON, Hazlitt, the Times Literary Supplement, and on Viceland, Huffington Post Live, and NPR. She currently teaches at The New School in New York City.
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