Garth Marenghi returns with the final book in TerrorTome trilogy, This Bursted Earth
The books of Dream Weaver and shaman Garth Marenghi are essentially about what-ifs. What if a rat could drive a bus? And what if that rat and its brethren took over and ate Parliament? Marenghi answers that in Black Fang. With his upcoming new novel, Marenghi asks the most prescient what-if of our time: What if the Earth bursted? Returning to teach those cowards a thing or two about subtext, Marenghi, the pop-horror-author and alter ego of Matthew Holness, is returning to bookstores this fall with a new book, This Bursted Earth. Holness announced the novel and subsequent tour earlier today, promising a book that “will crease your spine.”
Here’s the synopsis:
“Horror author Nick Steen is having visions… A sinister Black Steeple; eerie lights in the sky that look like a Catherine wheel but are not remotely a Catherine wheel… Plus a giant skeleton with a moustache. Are they omens? Auguries? Portenderings of things to come? (Spoiler – yes, they are.) For Nick Steen’s imagination is bursting out of his brain and threatening to burst in turn the entirety of Stalkford.
Can Nick stop the aforesaid bursting? Or have things already slightly burst regardless? And will there ultimately be a grand finale to this three-book series (aka a trilogy) or a more open-ended conclusion in order to leave potential room for further sequels? (That, btw, will ultimately be Garth’s decision.)”
In addition to a new book, Holness will be touring This Bursted Earth across the bursted pond, performing throughout the U.K. later this year and into 2026.
“If you possess a brain, you will want to fill that brain with my visions. Specifically, my visions of a Bursted Earth. Said visions can be witnessed via the act of reading my related tome Garth Marenghi’s This Bursted Earth,” Marenghi said in a statement. “This book follows my 2022 novel Garth Marenghi’s TerrorTome, which was an instant Sunday Times bestseller and Garth Marenghi’s Incarcerat in 2023, both now followed in turn by the aforesaid volume Garth Marenghi’s This Bursted Earth. The full title, by the way, is Garth Marenghi’s This Bursted Earth. Not Garth Marenghi’s Bursted Earth or Garth Marenghi’s Earth That Was Bursted. It’s Garth Marenghi’s This Bursted Earth.”
The book launches on October 30, but those looking to enter the TerrorTome as quickly as possible can find pre-orders, tour dates, and tickets here.