Publication Date: September 29, 2026
The dice roll. Darkness answers.
House of Leaves meets Jumanji in this brilliantly original and twisted novel composed entirely of found documents, following an unwitting couple ensnared by a sinister tabletop role-playing game
Cole and Lorraine playtest board games for some extra cash as they save up to buy a home. But after a series of bizarre coincidences, and signing a strange NDA, the couple finds on their porch a mysterious indie developer’s tabletop role-playing game called The Ship of Death. The game relies heavily on the players’ imaginations, and takes up an ever-growing amount of space: in their kitchen, and in their minds. As its true sinister nature becomes clearer, and its forces capture more in its web, the boundary between the game and reality begins to dissolve. . . and the pair are instructed to possess a stranger’s soul.
Told entirely through game reports, emails, game forum posts, personal journals, and police reports, reading The Ship of Death feels like a dangerous dice roll. It’s a sleep-stealing, possession-inducing work of intense, intelligent found cosmic horror that announces Kyle Winkler as a spectacular voice in the genre.
When Cole is invited to test a new tabletop game and provide feedback in exchange for compensation, he’s more than willing to give it a shot—and he brings his wife along as a second player.
Author Kyle Winkler delivers a fresh take on horror in The Ship of Death. Told through found documents including game reports, personal journals, emails, and police reports, the story slowly takes shape.
Although I am not a gamer, the author effectively incorporates enough description to depict a role-playing game unlike anything on the market. As Lorraine and Cole start testing the game, the sheer magnitude of pieces is daunting.
What seems like an interesting premise for a game soon turns into something sinister, especially as the lines between fantasy and reality start to blur.
The Ship of Death offers an intricately designed story illustrating how a tabletop game evolves into a mind-twisting catalyst for horror.
Kyle Winkler lives in northeast Ohio and teaches (mostly) writing and rhetoric at Kent State University – Tuscarawas. He also teaches/has taught Shakespeare, Science Fiction, and Literary Theory. His stories and essays have appeared in Conjunctions, The Rupture, The Rumpus, The Millions, and elsewhere.
He’s working on a new novel set in the rural Midwest.
Originally from southwest Indiana, Kyle has also lived in St. Louis and Pittsburgh, where he earned an MFA and a PhD, respectively. Some of his earliest memories include watching John Carpenter’s BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA with his mother; breaking into the old neighbor lady’s house for iced tea; and running around pretending to be Batman but then getting stuffed into a trash can and rolled down the street by bullies.
He would go to the mat for Barbara Comyns.
