Krackle’s Last Movie
a novella
Published February 10, 2026!
A novella
When underground documentarian Minerva Krackle mysteriously disappears after an interview with the “Modern-Day Mummy of San Bernardino County,” her assistant Harper is left with a mess of footage and a tight deadline. During her review of thirty years of interviews Krackle conducted with real-life monsters—werewolves, vampires, invisible dancers, mermaids, sea monsters in the desert—Harper pieces together their links with Krackle’s disappearance and also with the tragic on-stage death of pop-magician The Great Merlan. With the help of Krackle’s former bodyguard Dr. Danger and small-town diner waitress Liz, Harper must decide whether to expose her own hidden history to finish the film, or to let Krackle's legacy disappear right along with her.
As you’re preparing for the release of Krackle’s Last Movie, Read TWO STORIES that live in the Krackle Universe: The Great Merlan Dies in Agony - Live On Stage! in F(r)iction and The Belly and the Trees in Bourbon Penn!
Krackle’s Last Movie is available Now
For booksellers, Krackle is available on Asterism and will soon be on Ingram, but you can also purchase from the press at a discount.
For book buyers, you can purchase straight from the press right now or at the links below. You can also order from your favorite local independent book seller!
Krackle in the Press:
“Dipped in glittery melancholy, incisive, and indulgent in its aesthetic, this novella is an accomplished debut which interrogates the experience of being marginalized...there’s a stylistic splash of theatrical excess and circus showiness which clashes productively with the shaky quality of a cheap handheld camera...
Sutton’s writing shares a lineage with emotionally intense, female-centered, compact storytelling, which is clear from her choice of short story writers she lists as her influences: Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, and Aimee Bender. Like them, she excels in compressed, high-impact scenes that are then open to interpretation—striking bursts followed by slow-spreading reflections...
[Sutton] brings formal control and conceptual ambition into alignment. The result is an assured and distinctive debut: a reflection on the horror and the glory of otherness refracted through a distorted, carnival mirror.”
—Hana Carolina, Strange Horizons | Read More
“Krackle’s Last Movie is a romp...this macabre and often silly novella captures isolation and alienation…[and] reveals a reality in which anyone could be labeled a monster just for deviating from the established norm.”
—Amy Armstrong, Masters Review | Read More
"A smart, weird, big-hearted little nightmare . . . it’s funny as hell and strangely tender. . .The voice is sharp, the structure is inventive, and the emotional gut-punch lands even when it’s wearing clown makeup and dripping ectoplasm…”
—Blog Without a Face | Read More
“Monsters, magic, and a missing person case collide in this riveting novella...Fans of horror, mystery, and literary thrillers will find themselves wishing they could spend more time in Krackle’s remarkable world.”
—Tessa Wegert, Independent Book Review | Read More
“Krackle’s Last Movie satiates the childhood desire for bigness on the page….the cast of the book shimmer with vulnerability and wit…Sutton uses a light hand to maintain an undercurrent of relief and hope throughout the book, despite its bounciness, suspense, weaving clues, intuitive characters, and interrogation of the slipperiness of time.”
–Hana Wisnuardi, dogyard mag | Read More
“Weird, grotesque, absurd and emotional, Krackle’s Last Movie is a quirky mystery with plenty of heart…packed to the brim with evocative writing, strange characters and a completely bonkers idea that somehow works.”
—Bones, Books & Buffy | Read More
“Krackle’s Last Movie offers a delightfully weird exploration of the promise and peril lurking within every documentary. The result is a deeply original.”
–Adam M. Rosen, Heavy Feather Review | Read More
Interview with Vol. 1 Brooklyn: Author Chelsea Sutton’s Krackle’s Last Movie, out now from Split/Lip Press, is one monster of a novella – a post-modern Prometheus, if you will (you don’t have to).
Interview with X-Ray Lit: The mythology of horror icons meets the world of the film documentarian, in a whimsical ride full of frisky humour and spooky glamour. At its ghoulish heart the tale is a quest—a resolution residing somewhere within old videotapes and archived audio cassettes.
Advanced Praise for Krackle's Last Movie:
"What a great story! Full of humor and wisdom and weirdness and pathos and wonder and lots of other stuff, too. Chelsea Sutton delivers the magic!" —Karen Joy Fowler, author of Booth and the New York Times bestseller We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
"Chelsea Sutton pulls off a kind of magic trick with her novella, Krackle's Last Movie. Never have I read a story that so seamlessly and enjoyably wove so much mythology and monster lore together. Sutton manages to bring to her world not just monsters, but humor, pathos, humanity, and heart-wrench. Reading this novella is a pure delight."—Manuel Gonzales, author of The Regional Office is Under Attack! and The Miniature Wife
"Part mystery, part monster movie, part searing look into the shadowy corners of the soul, Krackle’s Last Movie manages to be simultaneously sensational and insightful. Chelsea Sutton’s novella packs more surprise twists and turns than a novel five times its length, every one of them delightful and wrapped, mummy-like, in her gorgeous language. Like all the best books, as soon as I finished it I wanted to read it again."—Anjali Sachdeva, author of All the Names They Used for God
"Krackle's Last Movie is a lightning bolt invitation to travel through the surreal, intimate landscapes occupied by monsters, time loss, and memory stretching. From angels with clipped wings, to mermaids, and mummies stuck in time, these characters and their relationships will weave themselves into the crevices of your heart so it will be impossible to let them go when the story ends."—Shingai Njeri Kagunda, author of & This is How to Stay Alive
"A dark, clever story about the narratives we build around ourselves, that dazzles with its love for the strange and uncanny. In a novella’s amount of Time and with sharp, precise prose, Chelsea Sutton manages to weave the language of cinema, theater, magic, religious trauma, and Time together to create a story so, so deeply sincere. Chelsea Sutton understands monsters—their pulpiness and the innate tragedy of them. Krackle’s Last Movie is for those who have ever been made to feel ashamed of who they are.”—M. M. Olivas, author of Sundown in San Ojuela
"There is no other writer like Chelsea Sutton. Krackle's Last Movie is heartfelt, graceful, and astoundingly well-crafted. You'll be aching to reread it the moment you finish."—Sam Asher, founder and editor of The Cosmic Background