The Gift of Words: The Killing Holiday  – Kindra M. Austin

As you finish up your holiday shopping, the Editors recommend adding one (or more!) of our fabulous titles to your list.

Kindra M. Austin’s neo-noir novella, The Killing Holiday, is filled with sex, cigarettes, and whiskey, leaving the reader wanting more.

“Austin’s dark, disquieting ability to provoke unease, is the exact right tempo for an addictive noir novella. You’ll be looking over your shoulder for weeks afterward… think you know psychological thrillers? Think again.”

-Candice Louisa Daquin

“The Killing Holiday digs beneath the human psyche and begs the question, what will you do for love? Or better yet, what are you willing to do for revenge? The dark and honest truth comes out in Austin’s characters, who become more animalistic and primal as the story progresses. The reader is forced to confront their own despicable and basest aspect of humanity: we are all killers. Killers of the spirit, of the heart and of course, the body”

—Rhiannon Marie, author of SHIFT

“The Killing Holiday will have you hooked, unable to put it down until the whole story unravels itself. Like an epic poet of old, Austin plunges in media res straight to the heart of the tale. . . The Killing Holiday is a must-read masterfully told tale by a novelist with the soul of a poet, who leaves us wondering how much of herself was left in the ink on the page.”

—John Leys, author of Whispers of a One-Eyed Raven

“In The Killing Holiday, author Kindra M. Austin thrusts readers into a world that is sexy, dangerous, and full of deceit. This is not just a tale about betrayal; this is a book that, at its core, is about love, and “love is madness.”

In a cast of femme fatales, dames, and anti-heroes, Austin smashes readers’ expectations and brings classic noir into the modern age. Her characters are a direct reflection of our society that invoke feelings of empathy and disgust. What started as a slow burn quickly turned into a fast-paced ride.

Moreover, this neo-noir novella taught me that dark fiction cannot, and will not, wait for permission to be literary vehicles of change. I personally appreciated how this book explores transgressive themes, like sexuality, to create a space of introspection for readers.”

—Grace R. Reynolds, author of Lady of The House

The Killing Holiday is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, IndieBound, Waterstones, Book Depository, and from other major online retailers.

ISBN-13: 978-1951724122

About the Author

Kindra M. Austin is an author from Michigan, USA, and the co-founder of Indie Blu(e) Publishing. She is an advocate for mental health awareness, sexual trauma survivors, and for the LGBTQ+ community. Her debut novel was released in 2017; she has since written and published two other novels, as well as four poetry collections. A neo-noir novella, The Killing Holiday was released in October, 2021. Other written and editorial publications include contributions to We Will Not Be Silenced, SMITTEN, As the World Burns, Through the Looking Glass, and But You Don’t Look Sick. Austin has also written for The Mansfield Pride magazine, an annual periodical out of Ohio. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble online, and other major online retailers.