The Cherale: Author Lance Marwood Previews His Debut Horror Novel [Book Excerpt]

On March 1, 2025, a chilling new voice emerges from the shadows of V13: The Cherale, the debut horror novel from our own Lance Marwood. Drawing from the same raw intensity that defined his work in Toronto’s hardcore scene, Marwood crafts a tale of parental dread and ancestral horror that will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt watched in their own home—or questioned what might be listening when their child cries out in the night.

In The Cherale, readers meet Michael Abney, a struggling writer and exhausted father whose ordinary life fractures when his son’s nighttime terrors signal something far more sinister than typical childhood fears. As ancient family secrets bleed through the walls of Michael’s home, a malevolent presence awakens—one that has waited generations to claim what it believes is rightfully its own. Below is an exclusive preview that offers just a glimpse of the nightmare threatening to consume Michael’s family.

Lance Marwood, press shot courtesy of author

Michael was on the phone with his mother, Cheri. They hadn’t spoken in months, despite his grandfather David’s passing. Speaking with her now, they discovered it was the same day Gordon began his regression, which had spurred the need for Michael to reconnect with his mum in the first place.

“I just don’t understand it,” he said. “He’s been great for the past year, we’ve had zero issues since we went into sleep training with him.”

“Maybe it’s the training that did this,” she said. Michael bit the inside of his bottom lip again. He could feel the shelf protruding when he wasn’t actively biting it by this point, so much was he doing it these days.

“And what makes you say that?” he asked in a dangerous tone. He wasn’t about to have any more judgement from her on this topic.

“Oh, don’t be so sensitive,” she said.

Michael laughed, bitterness frothing in his throat. 
“Hard not to be when I’ve got a baby who seems to be regressing by the day,” he said.

“And what does Rose think about this?” Cheri asked.

“She-,” he began, when he heard the rasp of the monitor. He clicked the button, the video feed coming into view. Gordon was mercifully asleep, the feed showing him lying in his crib.

“Sorry,” he said, distracted.

“It’s okay,” his mother said. The care and concern in her voice was enough to soften Michael’s exasperation. She was, for all intents and purposes, his mother, and she was concerned for his and his son’s wellbeing.

“There’s something else-,” he started.

“You’ve seen something,” she said. 
Michael’s heart skipped a beat.

“How did you know that?”

She shrugged on the video call. “I used to see things every now and then. I still do,” she said. The way she spoke, she may as well have been talking about a meal or television episode for all the casualness she said it.

“But, those were just ghost stories, right?” Michael asked.

“Yes, but they were true, Michael,” she said.

“Oh come on, mum,” he said, instantly exasperated.

“When your father told me about living in India-,” she began.

Michael sighed inwardly. Everything always came back to his father, and his upbringing in India. Raised there as a young boy, he moved with his family when he was in his teens to North America, moving around until they had settled in Hamilton.

“When I was younger,” she continued, “your father used to tell me about his own father’s experiences. And let me tell you, in a country as old as India, it’s no small thing to see apparitions.”

“Great-grandpa Stephen, I know,” he said.

“You know as much as he told you, and that was only so much,” her voice soft now.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

There was a silence.

“I mean, I told your dad not to tell you the stories about him that had to do with his family messing around with all that black magic stuff,” she said.

Michael’s eyes furrowed into a deep frown. “What black magic? What are you talking about?” he asked.

Cheri lit a cigarette, her face contemplative. Her phone was leaned up against a surface so as to keep her hands free, so it was that Michael was able to see the motions of her hands taking the cigarette out of its pack, the match out of its book, the sputter of the flame as it jumped into life and then snuffed out as Cheri shook it with practiced indifference.

Exhaling smoke, she continued.

“I mean, when he was a boy, he saw something he shouldn’t have,” she began.

Michael listened breathlessly as his mother described the story concerning his great grandfather, Stephen Abney, his grandfather, David Abney, and Michael’s late father, Joseph Abney.

Lance Marwood ‘The Cherale’ book cover

Mark your calendars for March 1, 2025—the day Michael Abney’s dark inheritance becomes yours to discover.

Ready to step into a world where family secrets have teeth? Don’t miss your chance:

• Preorder Now: Secure your copy today at all major online retailers and be among the first to experience The Cherale when it launches.
• Join the Community: Join us on Discord, follow us on social media, and sign up to our newsletters for exclusive content, insights, and special giveaways.
• Spread the Word: Share with your horror-loving circle and help build our community of Cherale readers—after all, some terrors are better faced together.

What begins as a child’s cry in the night ends as a reckoning generations in the making. The Cherale is coming—and the darkness it brings will feel unnervingly like home.