KILLRIDE: GUNGNIR Publishing Unleashes a 666-Foot Sentient Roller Coaster Nightmare from Jeff Spry

Arms down. Head back. Pray hard. The ride from hell launches in 2027.

You ever look at a roller coaster and think, “Yeah, that thing definitely wants me dead”? Well, GUNGNIR Publishing said bet. The publisher has officially signed award-winning screenwriter and veteran pop culture journalist Jeff Spry to develop and write KILLRIDE, a sci-fi horror graphic novel built around one beautifully twisted idea: what happens when the ultimate thrill ride develops a mind of its own, and that mind is straight-up evil?

Launching in 2027, KILLRIDE follows Michael Wylde, once celebrated as the Godfather of Roller Coaster Design, a cocky engineering superstar whose career and life collapse after one of his rides suffers a catastrophic accident that kills a dozen people, including his fiancée, Robin. A decade later, Wylde has disappeared from the spotlight, carrying enough guilt to crush steel, until an eccentric billionaire pulls him back into the game with the kind of offer only a madman would accept.

The assignment? Design the tallest, fastest, shape-shifting exa coaster on Earth for Pandemonia, an ultra-exclusive theme park built around attractions considered too dangerous for everybody else. Because apparently regular death-defying rides weren’t enough. Wylde creates the SoulSteeler, a monstrous 666-foot tower of steel fueled by engineering genius, obsession, rage and unresolved trauma. Then the thing starts fighting back.

According to GUNGNIR Founder and Publisher Matthew Medney, KILLRIDE takes the excitement people associate with amusement parks and cranks it straight into nightmare territory. “Killride is a haunting collision of supernatural horror that takes the familiar thrills of the amusement park and twisting them into something deeply unsettling with pure terror,” Medney said. “For fans of nightmare fuel and cinematic thrillers, this graphic novel combines a high-concept premise with pulse-pounding suspense.”

SoulSteeler isn’t simply malfunctioning either. The coaster begins exhibiting malevolent behavior, psychologically tormenting riders and leaving death in its wake. When Wylde raises concerns, gets thrown off the project and suddenly finds his own life in danger, he realizes the monster he built has become something far worse than bad engineering. His only shot is breaking into Pandemonia during its massive Halloween Night grand opening and shutting SoulSteeler down before the ride claims even more souls.

Spry has been carrying this idea around for nearly twenty years, and you can feel that long-simmering obsession baked into the concept. “I’ve loved roller coasters since my first ride on the Matterhorn and Space Mountain at Disneyland as a California kid,” Spry shared. “Killride has been marinating in my mind for nearly two decades and now it’s time to unleash the beast. It’s my cautionary tale about love, redemption, runaway obsessions, our insatiable appetite for external stimulation, and technology pushed too far.”

Spry also points to the almost religious devotion surrounding modern coaster culture, where steel giants become travel destinations and riders cross the globe chasing the next bigger, faster and crazier experience. “Digital Age roller coasters have become genuine architectural wonders with their steep swooping trackwork worshipped like steel cathedrals, as daring acolytes make pilgrimages to destinations around the globe to survive these fear-feeding monuments.” He sees today’s coaster industry locked in a full-blown thrill ride arms race, with giga coasters, strata coasters, tilt coasters, wing coasters, dive coasters and spinning coasters all battling to break the next record.

Real-world beasts including Falcon’s Flight, Siren’s Curse, Tormenta, Hollywood Drift and Bakunawa all get name-checked as examples of where modern coaster engineering is heading. Spry has one warning for all of them though: “SoulSteeler will swallow them all!” Yo, if your fictional roller coaster is already talking that spicy before the book even drops, we might have a problem. 😂

The creative squad behind KILLRIDE is bringing some serious horsepower to the track. Canadian artist Scott B. Henderson delivers the vertigo-inducing artwork, Brazilian illustrator Jao Canola handles colors, and the project is being overseen by Eisner-nominated executive editor Steve Orlando alongside publisher Matt Medney. Put all that together and KILLRIDE is shaping up like somebody threw supernatural horror, psychological trauma, high-speed engineering and a slasher movie into the same coaster car and forgot to install the brakes.

For readers who like their horror big, cinematic and just a little insane, this one already sounds like a ride worth watching. A haunted house is creepy. A possessed doll is bad news. But a 666-foot sentient roller coaster that actively wants to break your mind before it breaks your body? Fam, I’m taking the exit through the gift shop.

KILLRIDE launches in 2027 from GUNGNIR Publishing.

For more information, visit GUNGNIR Publishing.

About GUNGNIR Publishing

GUNGNIR Publishing is dedicated to bold, genre-defying storytelling across graphic novels and prose. Inspired by Odin’s legendary spear, the company champions visionary creators and ambitious stories that challenge convention and push the boundaries of genre fiction.