Meat Bees
Interested in listening to a playlist that helped inspire the author while writing Meat Bees? Pick your platform!
This summer, tourists aren't the only ones swarming the Smoky Mountains...
By the time Scarlett Sutton arrives at her dad’s cabin in the Smoky Mountains, two locals have already been eaten alive by wasps. Of course, she doesn’t know this yet. All Scarlett knows is her mom finally checked herself into a hospital to take care of her mental health, leaving Scarlett alone with her dad all summer.
After he insists that she get a job, Scarlett accepts a position at nearby Stovetop Outfitters, hoping to spend as much time away from him as possible. She doesn’t expect to trip over a skeletonized corpse beneath the zip-line during one of her shifts—and definitely doesn’t expect to be thrown into a Netflix-style true crime investigation.
The local sheriff’s department is so overwhelmed by these unsolved deaths that when one of the Stovetop Outfitters employees disappears next, Scarlett and her co-workers set out to find him on their own. They discover something much more horrifying: a swarm of yellow jackets stripping the meat off his body. Scarlett never signed up to solve a disgusting mystery, but in order to protect her friends and family, she must defeat the mountain’s darkness and all these godforsaken wasps.
Published by Clash Books on August 4, 2026
Adult Fiction | Horror, Coming-of-Age
Podcast Appearances for Meat Bees...
#291: Dane Erbach - Author of Meat Bees | July 22, 2026
#116: Two-fer Spotlight! Dane Erbach And Joshua Millican Bring The Summer Sizzle! | July 23, 2026
Horrifically Well-,Read, Bled, and Said
Meat Bees w/ Dane Erbach | August 6, 2026
Praise for Meat Bees...
“With the wit and verve of a more established author, Erbach carefully constructs a story whose plot would be perfectly at home in a late-night, B-movie masterpiece but that also has pleasantly surprising depth and heart, with artfully crafted and inclusive characters.”
- LIBRARY JOURNAL (Starred Review)
“Grotesque and brilliant. A bloody small-town romp, Meat Bees, is as self-aware and complex as it is utterly and unashamedly ridiculous.”
- FANFIADDICT
“Erbach mixes true crime, mystery, horror and the supernatural to craft a terrifying tale that was hard to put down. Exactly the campy horror story I was hoping for.”
- CAPES & TIGHTS
“Everyone who loathes those notorious yellow-and-black insects that delight in ruining picnics will find Dane Erbach's Meat Bees to be a nasty, delightful, frightening, and psychologically insightful piece of work.”
- NICK CUTTER
AUTHOR OF THE TROOP
AND THE QUEEN
"Meat Bees brings all the nasty thrills of a classic 80's creature feature, but strengthens the killer bite (and sting!) of horror with wry humor and real heart. A wonderful sense of place and a great story about growing up that also just happens to feature a horde of flesh-eating wasps. Come for the bloody carnage and skeletonized corpses, but stay for the characters you'll love too much to want to see devoured!"
- TREVOR HENDERSON
AUTHOR OF SCAREWAVES
"Meat Bees offers readers the fun of your favorite B movie creature features with a side order of heart. A buzzy, meaty summer horror read!"
- WENDY DALRYMPLE
AUTHOR OF BED ROT BABY
AND KILLER SUMMER
“Meat Bees gets its stinger in right off the bat and refuses to let go. Erbach sticks the landing on every front, from voice to vibe to sheer imagination. This is one of those books you don’t want to miss!”
- V.S. LAWRENCE
AUTHOR OF 80S GHOSTS
AND WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE