The Blood of Before by Scott Hale is an anthology of six interconnected horror stories that take place before The Bones of the Earth series. A mother, called across the Victorian countryside, to return to her family estate and the violent lineage she left behind. The writings of a supernatural investigator sent to explore a village where people die day by day, and the dead refuse to stay buried. A college graduate, recently fired and drowning in debt, who agrees to babysit her former professor's child-unaware she might become the boy's new favorite plaything. The egotistical writer of a self-published, self-indulgent horror magazine who follows a lead to a house where a family was murdered, and the murderer who still resides there. In the depths of a swamp, children are seen carrying body parts to an island covered in satin, and the woman who lies at its center, gorging herself on their fleshy tributes. A family fractured by hate and distrust come to discover that the grandfather clock they've purchased is chiming out madness at the midnight hour, causing their love and hate to come together in one hideous, parasitic union. From the darkest violence to the blackest humor, The Blood of Before is a glimpse into the horrors that led up to the Trauma and continue to affect the world of The Bones of the Earth. If The Blood of Before doesn't make your heart stop... you're already dead.