Thank you to Everyone who came out to the virtual cover review for Profane Beasts! I am so happy to be able to share the cover with you below!
Profane Beasts releases on September 25th, 2025. The pre-order is now live at the link below!
https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=tJ8DX5HETKhsRwTt2xvbc4FTWgFKFzVT49NnHbr2q2r
If you are still uncertain of whether or not Profane Beasts is for you, check out the second excerpt from the book below, chronicling the final message between the troubled Kelly and her therapist Alice.
(The following voicemail was left on Alice Crenshaw’s phone by Kelly Harden on August 7th at 3:30 PM. The voicemail left on Alice Crenshaw’s phone at the time of recovery for this investigative report indicating that it was not deleted. The voicemail mentions a photo that was also sent to Alice Crenshaw at 3:35 PM via text. The photograph was saved in Alice Crenshaw’s photos.)
(Voicemail begins)
Alice, I’m not surprised you aren’t picking up. Probably fair given all the times I let you go to voicemail. I know now that you were trying to help. I said some cruel things in the email I sent you. The more I thought about it, the worse I felt, especially after all you did for me. If I’m being honest Alice, you’re the first person who seemed to genuinely want to help me. Typical of me to drive you away, it’s a pattern, probably something I should talk to a therapist about.
But I didn’t call you to talk about those emails, or that night. I called because I think, for the first time in years, I’m getting some answers. Answers about what happened at camp, answers about what happened at Calvary Baptist, answers about this whole fucking city. I can’t tell you over the phone, they could be listening, but I’ve gotten to the root and I feel better than I have in a long time.
Answers are what I hoped to get talking to you. Tactics and strategies to help me be less anxious, less worried just living my life, more functional whatever that means. I know you did your best, but that wasn’t enough for me, wasn’t what I really needed. What I needed was to understand why, how sending me to camp, all of that poison they put in my mind was connected. Putting together the bigger picture you know? Because only once you understand why something awful happened to you can you do something about it. Now I know things. Things the people here wouldn’t want to get out, wouldn’t want to go public.
And that’s the thing about it isn’t it? Now that the hateful, dangerous center is exposed I can stop it from hurting anyone ever again. That would make my suffering meaningful.
Do you remember the testimonies that people used to give during church? Some Sunday morning where a random member of the church would talk about the “dark times” that they suffered through? I remember one time that Ms. Shelly, I guess just Shelly now that we are whole ass adults, stood up there and talked about how Jesus was the reason she had been able to leave her boyfriend. She talked about him selling pot and all the other “sins” she fell into with him. But at the end of the talk, after detailing the long list of wrongs she thought she did, she said it was all worth it because it showed her how much she needed Jesus.
Maybe it’s the same for me. Maybe I was paranoid and anxious for a reason. Now I’ve gathered the facts and best believe me, when I’m finally ready to tell everyone what has been happening here, I’ll absolutely be in the news.
I’m going to send you a photo of what happened to my door. Don’t worry, I think it’s good that they are trying to scare me, it means I’m getting closer to the truth. Call me back when you can so we can talk about when you are coming down to help. Make what happened to both of us mean something.
Talk to you soon!
(The message sent to Alice Crenshaw held a single photo taken in midday light outside of Kelly Harden’s residence. The residence was a two story town house made out of brick nestled between two other units. In the center of the photograph is a closed blue door beside a bay window. The door bears extensive burns and gouges some over two inches wide and an inch deep.
The gouges have neat edges and are too symmetrical to be considered accidental damage. Two large gouges between two and three feet long sit around four feet apart in the center of the door. These cuts seem to bloom upwards suggesting the figure of some large tree. Shallower lines of damage appear towards the top of the door giving the appearance of limbs or branches.
Burn damage is evident in the center of the door between the two deep slashes in the door. Seven circles are placed in seemingly random order between the long cuts. These circles are blackened as if they were placed with a brand or other superheated object. At the center of each of these circles is a small point. The circles are not similarly sized with larger circles appearing at the top of the door and smaller circles appearing at the bottom of the door.
Near the top of the door are a pair of painted white clouds that are unmarked by the damage. Another set of clouds have been destroyed by the brands and cuts. Before the vandalism, the door seemed to be a pastel depiction of a sunny day one could find in a child’s coloring book.)
Nathan Buchholz 
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