Tag Archives: beneath

THE HORROR BUNDLE FROM WORD HORDE

Word Horde is proud to present a collaboration with StoryBundle, curated by Molly Tanzer. Here’s Molly:

We are fortunate enough to be witnessing a lush flowering of horror. From New Weird to throwback splatterpunk, the modes and expressions of the genre these days are as diverse as its writers. Whether you’re intimately familiar with the contemporary horror field, or just looking to dip your toe in a very deep—and monster-infested—pond, this bundle of horror novels and collections from sensational independent publisher Word Horde is not to be missed. You’re sure to find something strange, something scary, something transgressive, something that jumps out at you and demands to be reckoned with.

Word Horde’s list is eclectic, in the best way. Readers will find plenty of cosmic horror here, such as Brian Hauser’s Memento Mori, nestled alongside literary works such as John Langan’s The Fisherman, and lighter fare such as my own weird western Vermilion. You’ll also find a lot of music-inspired horror such as David Peak’s Corpsepaint, Tony McMillen’s An Augmented Fourth, and Carrie Laben’s A Hawk in the Woods. If you like your horror shorter, if not necessarily sweeter, we have a few stand-out collections, too. Orrin Grey’s Guignol & Other Sardonic Tales will dazzle you, Nadia Bulkin’s She Said Destroy will rebuke you, and Livia Llewellyn’s Furnace will incinerate you from within. As you can see, every book in this bundle has been selected because it’s essential reading for the up-to-date reader of modern horror fiction.

Like all speculative fiction, horror serves as a lens; as a mirror, really. When we read horror, we read about ourselves. That’s why it makes us shiver and squirm. So, enjoy seeing yourself reflected throughout the Horror Bundle from Word Horde. Only you’ll know if you’re seeing yourself in the heroes—or the monsters.

–Molly Tanzer

For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of five books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.
• Corpsepaint by David Peak
• A Sick Gray Laugh by Nicole Cushing
• A Hawk in the Woods by Carrie Laben
• The Fisherman by John Langan
• She Said Destroy by Nadia Bulkin

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $15, you get all five of the regular books, plus TEN more books, for a total of fifteen!
• Beneath by Kristi DeMeester
• An Augmented Fourth by Tony McMillen
• Memento Mori – The Fathomless Shadows by Brian Hauser
• Stonefish by Scott R. Jones
• Furnace by Livia Llewellyn
• Guignol & Other Sardonic Tales by Orrin Grey
• The Human Alchemy by Michael Griffin
• The Raven’s Table by Christine Morgan
• The Unnamed Country by Jeffrey Thomas
• Vermilion by Molly Tanzer

This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com

2017 Last Minute Xmas Coupon

It’s been a busy year. So busy that it’s quite possible you just realized (like us) that the holiday season is in full swing, and that you’ve got less than two weeks to get your Xmas shopping done. So, we decided to run a last minute year-end coupon. Just use coupon code word2017, and save 30% on all Word Horde books (excluding Scratch-and-Dent titles). Here’s where to order:

https://www.wordhorde.com

This year, we published five books: The Raven’s Table, by Christine Morgan; Beneath, by Kristi DeMeester; An Augmented Fourth, by Tony McMillen, She Said Destroy, by Nadia Bulkin; and Tales from a Talking Board, edited by Ross E. Lockhart, featuring fourteen all-new stories of the strange and supernatural by Matthew M. Bartlett, Nadia Bulkin, Nathan Carson, Kristi DeMeester, Orrin Grey, Scott R Jones, David James Keaton, Anya Martin, J. M. McDermott, S.P. Miskowski, Amber-Rose Reed, Tiffany Scandal, David Templeton, and Wendy N. Wagner.

We also picked up a few awards, with Word Horde selected as Publisher of the Year 2016, Livia Llewellyn’s Furnace receiving Short Story Collection of the Year 2016, and John Langan’s The Fisherman landing Novel of the Year 2016 in the This Is Horror Awards, and John Langan’s The Fisherman capturing the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel. Don’t forget to nominate your favorite 2017 Word Horde titles in your favorite genre awards!

Here’s just some of the critical acclaim our 2017 titles have received (so far):

“These works have the sure, solid feel of a talented author deeply engaged with her source material and genre. They’re an excellent read for those who enjoy myths and legends of all kinds.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Raven’s Table

The Raven’s Table is a must-have for anyone with an interest in stories based on Nordic mythology and lore.” —GreyDogTales on The Raven’s Table

“This novel is going to propel DeMeester onto that list of authors you’ll want to follow.” —John Boden, Ginger Nuts of Horror on Beneath

“…one of the most upsetting and horrifying tomes of dark fiction in recent memory.” —This Is Horror on Beneath

“Tony McMillen’s An Augmented Fourth (2017) is heavy metal rock and roll horror at its wailing-guitar best. Set in 1980, the point of transition from heavy metal to punk, An Augmented Fourth blends inter-dimensional eldritch horror, David-Cronenberg-movie grotesquerie, and psychedelia in a thrash-metal twenty-minute-guitar-solo of a story.” —Fantasy Literature

“This is a wildly entertaining novel that is both a hilarious deconstruction and a tender love letter to rock and roll. McMillen has a knack for dialogue and that helps the action and the story move forward at breackneck speed. […] If you think you’d dig watching a psychedelia-infused version of The Thing while blasting awesome tunes and having a great acid trip, then you need to pick this one up.” —LitReactor on An Augmented Fourth

“Weird fiction has been stuck in the era of new-fangled radio sets and fifteen-cent pulp magazines for ninety years. Finally, Nadia Bulkin has come to drag us kicking and screaming into the horrors of The Endless Now with a collection of hip, ultracontemporary, politically astute, and chilling stories.” —Nick Mamatas, author of I Am Providence on She Said Destroy

“Bulkin delivers a dose of delicious darkness with her debut collection.” —World Fantasy Award-winning editor Silvia Moreno-Garcia on She Said Destroy

“Striking debut collection” —The New York Times on She Said Destroy

Tales from a Talking Board (Word Horde) is a brilliant collection of 14 short stories by some of today’s greatest authors, centered around the theme of the Ouija board, in its various forms and incarnations […] It’s an eerie compilation of tales that belongs in the personal libraries and/or Kindles of everyone who loves the macabre.” —Douglas Cobb, What’s New in Book Reviews

Tales from a Talking Board is a seasonal treat meant for crackling fires in the fireplace and dark spooky evenings. Enjoy.” —Marion Deeds, Fantasy Literature

“A blast to read.” —TheShadesofOrange on Tales from a Talking Board

Remember: Use coupon code word2017, and save 30% on all Word Horde books (excluding Scratch-and-Dent titles). Here’s where to order:

https://www.wordhorde.com

Awards Eligibility

As we come to the end of another year, it is traditional to look back through the last 365 days and take stock of one’s accomplishments. In 2017, Word Horde published five books: The Raven’s Table, by Christine Morgan; Beneath, by Kristi DeMeester; An Augmented Fourth, by Tony McMillen, She Said Destroy, by Nadia Bulkin; and Tales from a Talking Board, edited by Ross E. Lockhart.

If you read and enjoyed any (or all) of these Word Horde books in 2017, we ask that you consider nominating those books in their respective categories in the Hugos, Locus Awards, Nebulas, Bram Stoker Awards, This Is Horror Awards, or similar awards. Likewise, the Novellas, Novelettes, and Short Stories we published this year that are eligible for your awards consideration. Plus, we’ve included a list of Related Works you may have otherwise missed. Thanks for your consideration, it means the world to us!

Best Collection:
The Raven’s Table, by Christine Morgan
She Said Destroy, by Nadia Bulkin

Best Novel:
Beneath, by Kristi DeMeester
An Augmented Fourth, by Tony McMillen

Best First Novel:
Beneath, by Kristi DeMeester

Best Anthology:
Tales from a Talking Board, edited by Ross E. Lockhart

Best Short Story:
“Deep Into the Skin” by Matthew M. Bartlett (5215 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“May You Live In Interesting Times” by Nadia Bulkin (5431 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“When the Evil Days Come Not” by Nathan Carson (5229 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“YesNoGoodbye” by Kristi DeMeester (3013 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“Harupscate or Scry” by Orrin Grey (5300 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“Worse than Demons” by Scott R Jones (4170 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“Spin the Throttle” by David James Keaton (4900 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“Weegee Weegee, Tell Me Do” by Anya Martin (6664 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“The Devil and the Bugle Boys” by J. M. McDermott (3784 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“Pins” by S.P. Miskowski (2618 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“The Empress and the Three of Swords” by Amber-Rose Reed (2200 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“Grief” by Tiffany Scandal (3259 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“Questions and Answers” by David Templeton (5000 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“The Burnt Sugar Stench” by Wendy N. Wagner (4100 words, Tales from a Talking Board)
“The Seven Ravens” by Christine Morgan (5010 words, The Raven’s Table)

Best Novelette
“Brynja’s Beacon” by Christine Morgan (9600 words, The Raven’s Table)

Best Novella
“No Gods, No Masters” by Nadia Bulkin (11900 words, She Said Destroy)

Best Poem
“The Shield-Wall” by Christine Morgan (480 words, The Raven’s Table)
“As We Drown and Die” by Christine Morgan (2070 words, The Raven’s Table)

Best Publisher:
Word Horde

Best Editor, Short Form:
Ross E. Lockhart

Best Editor, Long Form:
Ross E. Lockhart

Best Original Cover Art:
An Augmented Fourth, Alan M. Clark
Tales from a Talking Board, Yves Tourigny

Related Works:
Music from the Novel An Augmented Fourth: “Beyond This Sleepless Dream”/”Frivilous Black” by Frivilous Black/Tony McMillen

Kristi DeMeester’s Beneath Now Available / John Langan’s The Fisherman Wins the Stoker

Happy Book Birthday to Kristi DeMeester, whose debut novel Beneath hits the streets today. If your Walpurgisnacht weekend reading includes Beneath, please help us spread the word by posting a photo on your social media feed, and posting a review at Goodreads and/or Amazon once you’ve finished the book. Here’s just a bit of the critical acclaim Beneath has received so far:

“This novel is going to propel DeMeester onto that list of authors you’ll want to follow.” —John Boden, Ginger Nuts of Horror

“…one of the most upsetting and horrifying tomes of dark fiction in recent memory.” —This Is Horror

Beneath by Kristi DeMeester

“…genuinely shudderworthy […], and the sweaty, gritty Appalachian setting is full of religious fervor and salacious secrets…” —Publishers Weekly

Order your copy of Beneath from Word Horde today, or ask for it by name wherever better books are sold.

And congratulations to John Langan, whose novel The Fisherman took the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel at last night’s StokerCon awards ceremony. It was an amazing pack of nominees this year, and an incredible honor just to see The Fisherman nominated. Thank you to everyone who recommended the book. Thank you to everyone who voted.

The Fisherman by John Langan

An Interview with Kristi DeMeester, author of BENEATH

Kristi DeMeester’s debut novel, Beneath, writhes its way to the surface at the end of this month, so our intrepid Sean M. Thompson set out to ask Kristi a few questions in this exclusive Word Horde interview…

How do you think growing up in the South has influenced your work?

Everything runs a bit slower, a bit hotter and more confused in this Southern humidity. That oppressiveness leaked into my fiction. It was around me in the stories my aunt told me about alligators that rose up from the South Georgia swamps to chomp off the meaty legs of small children. Jesus is pervasive in the South, and my childhood was “Christ-haunted.” The devil and evil were real, tangible things during those tender, formative years. It seems like a natural progression to have had both a fascination and aversion to the darker things that lurk in the world and then have that become such an integral part of my writing.

What are the themes you think you come back to the most in your work? Why do you think certain themes resonate with you?

I consistently come back to the relationships between mother and daughters. The idea that it can be predatory. I constantly come back to the idea that loss is something that cannot be explained or healed fully. Here lately, I’ve been writing more and more about things that scare me in real life and that is completely wrapped up in the nonsensical nature of loss.

Do you have any writing rituals you stick to?

Minimum of 500 words per day. Every day. No matter what. Lull or Cities Last Broadcast on repeat.

How do you manage your time between being a mother, working, and writing?

People ask me this a lot, and the honest answer has nothing to do with time management or finding any kind of time I can, but everything to do with how I let things slip through the cracks. My kid probably watches too much television while I’m writing. My house is nowhere near as clean as it could be. I should probably grade essays faster. I forget things a lot. But it’s a weird balance that works for me. I also took a lot of pressure off of myself this year by lowering my daily word count from 1,000 words to only 500.

Is there anything you’d love to write you haven’t done yet?

I’d love to do something more literary, but I cannot bring myself to carve the spooky out of my writing.

Beneath by Kristi DeMeester

How do you feel about snakes?

Terrified of them. TERRIFIED.

Would you say writing a novel takes a lot of faith?

100%. There’s so much time in sitting with that stack of words alone. So much time to self-doubt and wonder if the whole thing isn’t working. It’s one thing to scrap a 5,000 short story. It’s another to have the sudden realization that 50,000 aren’t working. It takes a lot of faith in your belief that you can come to the page, every day, and do the work. It takes a lot of faith to know that’s enough.

Do you like to outline, make it up as you go, or a bit of both?

I don’t usually outline, and the time I tried, the novel died after 7,000 words. I like it best when I can discover as I go, but that also leads to a lot of staring at walls and wishing I was a trust fund baby.

What writers lately have really inspired you? What writers over your life have had the most impact on your work?

Writers lately include Helen Marshall, Kelly Link, Livia Llewellyn, Amelia Gray, Damien Angelica Walters, Lysley Tenorio, Stephen Graham Jones, Paul Tremblay, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Wehunt, Ramsey Campbell. This list is longer, but I’ll stop there because there are only so many pages in the world.

Over my life is a much more eclectic list. C.S. Lewis, Beverly Cleary, Frances Hodgson Burnett, L.M. Montgomery, R.L. Stine, Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Christopher Pike, Anne Rice, John Irving, Pat Conroy, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, Vladimir Nabokov, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Ray Bradbury.

What’s your favorite swear?

It’s a tie between the old standard “fuck” and “goddammit.”

What’s the hardest part about being a commercial artist?

As in creating content for sale? The constant worry and anxiety that people are going to hate everything I do. The fear of being called a fraud or a hack. You know. The typical.

Do you think being completely complacent is the death knell of progression in art?

I think being uncomfortable or at least uneasy with your work is what keeps you moving forward. It’s like a musician who puts out album after album of songs that sound exactly the same. Eventually, people stop paying attention. It’s the same for fiction.

KRISTI DeMEESTER writes pretty, spooky things in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has appeared in publications such as Black Static, Apex Magazine, The Dark, and several others. Her work has been reprinted in Year’s Best Weird Fiction Volumes 1 and 3. Her debut short fiction collection, Everything That’s Underneath, is forthcoming this year from Apex Publications. In her spare time, she alternates between telling people how to pronounce her last name and how to spell her first. Beneath is her first novel.

Preorder Beneath today!

Coming in 2017 from Word Horde

We’ve got some great books on tap for you in 2017, starting with Christine Morgan’s The Raven’s Table, a collection of Viking-themed stories that Publishers Weekly calls “an excellent read for those who enjoy myths and legends of all kinds.”

The Raven's Table by Christine Morgan

The Raven’s Table is available for pre-order now, and will be shipping later this month, but here’s a preview of what else is coming this year:

Coming April 2017

Beneath, by Kristi DeMeester

When reporter Cora Mayburn is assigned to cover a story about a snake-handling cult in rural Appalachia, she is dismayed, for the world of cruel fundamentalist stricture, repression, glossolalia, and abuse is something she has long since put behind her in favor of a more tolerant urban existence. But she accepts the assignment, dredging up long-buried memories as she seeks the truth.

As Cora begins to uncover the secrets concealed by a veneer of faith and tradition, something ancient and long concealed begins to awaken. What secrets do the townsfolk know? What might the handsome young pastor be hiding? What will happen when occulted horrors writhe to the surface, when pallid and forgotten things rise to reclaim the Earth?

Will Cora—and the earth—survive? The answers—and pure terror—can only be found in one place: Beneath.

Coming June 2017

An Augmented Fourth, by Tony McMillen

Black Sabbath meets John Carpenter’s The Thing in An Augmented Fourth, the new novel from Tony McMillen (Nefarious Twit).

Coming August 2017

She Said Destroy, by Nadia Bulkin

Word Horde presents the debut collection from critically-acclaimed Weird Fiction author Nadia Bulkin. Dreamlike, poignant, and unabashedly socio-political, She Said Destroy includes three stories nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award, four included in Year’s Best anthologies, and one original tale.

Coming October 2017

Tales from a Talking Board, edited by Ross E. Lockhart

Can we speak with the spirits of the dead? Is it possible to know the future? What effect do auspicious omens and cautionary portents have upon our lives?

Tales from a Talking Board examines these questions with stories of divination and fortune telling, through devices like Ouija boards, tarot cards, and stranger things.

Watch for cover reveals and pre-order information coming soon!

Cthulhu FhtAugust! A Brutal Chill at the Printer. Welcome to the Horde!

It’s August, and we’ve arrived at the one year anniversary of one of our most popular titles, Cthulhu Fhtagn! To celebrate, we’ve lowered the price on the Cthulhu Fhtagn! ebook to just $2.99, and we’ve re-christened the month Cthulhu FhtAugust! But grab it quick, you don’t want to miss out on these savings! Here are your download links:

Kindle
Kobo
Nook

In his house at R’lyeh, Cthulhu waits dreaming…

What are the dreams that monsters dream? When will the stars grow right? Where are the sunken temples in which the dreamers dwell? How will it all change when they come home?

Within these pages lie the answers, and more, in all-new stories by many of the brightest lights in dark fiction. Gathered together by Ross E. Lockhart, the editor who brought you The Book of Cthulhu, The Children of Old Leech, and Giallo Fantastique, Cthulhu Fhtagn! features nineteen weird tales inspired by H. P. Lovecraft.

2015-09-03 266

Speaking of August, Alan M. Clark’s novel A Brutal Chill in August is off to the printer and will be shipping well before the end of the month. A Brutal Chill in August is the terrifying true story of Polly Nichols, the first victim of Jack the Ripper. There’s still time to pre-order A Brutal Chill in August, either directly from Word Horde, or for e-readers like the Amazon Kindle. Order yours today!

A Brutal Chill in August by Alan M. Clark

Finally, we’d like to welcome two authors to the Word Horde: Christine Morgan, whose tale “Aerkheim’s Horror” appeared in Cthulhu Fhtagn!, will have her full-length Word Horde debut in February 2017 with The Raven’s Table, a collection of Viking-themed horror stories, and Kristi DeMeester, whose “The Beautiful Thing We Will Become” will be appearing this Halloween in Eternal Frankenstein, with her debut novel Beneath, to be published in April 2017. We’ll be announcing pre-orders for these titles in the relatively near future, so stay tuned. And in the meantime, check out these awesome authors’ short fiction in our anthologies. You won’t be disappointed.