Max Booth III said the following of Carrie Laben’s A Hawk in the Woods, “Consider this book the Geek Love of witchcraft. […] This is the best debut novel you’ll read all year.” And Max also names Carrie Laben’s A Hawk in the Woods one of the best weird and dark books of 2019 for the San Antonio Current, saying, “Laben’s novel is a gloomy celebration of black magic and everything that comes with it.”

NPR and Vernacular Books both picked Craig Laurance Gidney’s A Spectral Hue as one of the best books of 2019, as did Rosanne Rabinowitz and Bogi Takács.

LitReactor called Nicole Cushing’s A Sick Gray Laugh and John Langan’s The Fisherman two of the best books of the decade!

Signal Horizon‘s Carson Winter picked Nicole Cushing’s A Sick Gray Laugh and Brian Hauser’s Memento Mori: The Fathomless Shadows as two of the best books of 2019

TBN Weekly recommended Jeffrey Thomas’ The Unnamed Country, as did Paul StJohn Mackintosh of Grey Dog Tales, who writes, ““This is a modern classic of writing about another country or culture on the level of Lafcadio Hearn or ltalo Calvino.”

And we had a nice write-up in the Petaluma Argus-Courier, too!

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Thank you to all of the unboxers and Nocturnal Reader’s Box subscribers, we hope they enjoy the books.

Here’s hoping you got to unbox some cool stuff this holiday season. And if you didn’t find the Word Horde books you wanted under your tree, do keep in mind that our last minute year-end coupon. Just use coupon code word2017, and save 30% on all Word Horde books! And thanks for helping make 2017 a year to remember!

What we’re looking for: Intelligent, adult-oriented fantasy and horror novels, not necessarily in the Lovecraftian tradition, where the writing is excellent and the ideas are fresh. We are not currently looking for Young Adult, superhero, or anthology pitches. Short fiction pitches for in-progress anthologies will be considered.

Over the past decade, Laird Barron has become one of the most lauded and influential names in horror fiction. His short stories, two novels, and three collections have garnered numerous nominations and awards, including three Shirley Jackson Awards and a Bram Stoker Award. Recognizing Barron’s meteoric rise, Lockhart and Steele sought to assemble an original tribute anthology unlike any other, focusing on atmosphere and affect, rather than simple pastiche.

“Barron’s fiction has long been an inspiration to his peers,” says co-editor Justin Steele. “The interwoven stories and novels create a rich tapestry of noir-infused cosmic horror. This mythology makes for an excellent backdrop for the weird tales within.” Offered this unique opportunity to play in what Publishers Weekly calls Barron’s “worm-riddled literary playground,” these children of Old Leech—Barron’s fans, peers, friends—conjured an anthology “with a coherent feeling of dread, without feeling derivative of the source.”

On Tuesday, July 15, 2014, Word Horde will commemorate the book’s official release with a virtual toast to Old Leech himself. Throughout social media, authors and readers alike are encouraged to share their thoughts about the anthology and its inspiration, Laird Barron, using the hashtag #TCoOL.

The Children of Old Leech is distributed by Ingram, and will be available in Hardcover and eBook formats through most online retailers and better independent bookstores everywhere in July 2014. For more information about Word Horde or to request an electronic review copy, please email publicity[at]wordhorde[dot]com.

The anthology Tales of Jack the Ripper was published August 31, 2013, and is comprised of seventeen stories, two poems, and an introduction. Of those seventeen stories, three are reprints, as are the two poems, and fourteen stories are original to the anthology. Tales of Jack the Ripper is a professional market, paying .05/word for original stories and .02/word for reprints. The anthology as a whole should be eligible for consideration in most industry awards’ Anthology categories. The book is 75,859 words total; 60,134 original [79.27%]; 15,723 reprint [20.72%].

The following original stories should be eligible for consideration in most Novelette/Novella/Mid-Length Fiction categories:
Barron, Laird: “Termination Dust” 10101 words
Kurtz, Ed: “Hell Broke Loose” 9796 words
Sargent, Stanley C.: “When the Means Just Defy the End” 12226 words

The following original stories should be eligible for consideration in most Short Fiction categories:
Drake, Ennis: “The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker” 4300 words
Grau, T.E.: “The Truffle Pig” 2840 words
Greatshell, Walter: “Ripping” 2302 words
Grey, Orrin: “Ripperology” 2800 words
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia: “Abandon All Flesh” 2200 words
Morris, Edward: “Where Have You Been All My Life?” 1900 words
Pulver, Joseph S.: “Juliette’s New Toy” 861 words
Rawlik, Pete: “Villains by Necessity” 2149 words
Tobler, E. Catherine: “Once November” 2400 words
Tumblety, Patrick: “Something About Dr. Tumblety” 4114 words
Yardley, Mercedes M.: “A Pretty for Polly” 1600 words

Editor Ross E. Lockhart is eligible to be nominated as Best Editor (Short Form) for Tales of Jack the Ripper, and as Best Editor (Long Form) for works published in 2013 (all of which are also worthy of your consideration), including Blind Gods Bluff, by Richard Lee Byers; Earth Thirst, by Mark Teppo; No Return, by Zachary Jernigan; Binding, by Carol Wolf; The Beautiful Thing that Awaits Us All, by Laird Barron, The Daedalus Incident, by Michael J. Martinez, and Reanimators, by Pete Rawlik.

Publisher Word Horde is eligible to be nominated (where applicable) as Best Publisher.

On behalf of Word Horde and the authors included in Tales of Jack the Ripper, thank you for your consideration and support during this year’s oh-so-competitive awards season.

Sincerely,

Ross E. Lockhart
Word Horde

It was just past midnight on Saturday, September 8, 1888. Annie shared a beer in the kitchen at Crossingham’s Lodging House with Frederick Stevens, then chatted with William Stevens, both fellow lodgers at Crossingham’s. She left for her room, but changed her mind and went out into the night. Around one-forty-five, Annie returned, eating a baked potato. She explained to lodging house deputy Tim Donovan and night watchman John Evans that she didn’t have her rent money, and asked that they hold her bed until she could earn enough on the street.

At five-thirty, Elizabeth Long, a cart-minder, was walking down Hanbury Street toward Spitalfields Market. The clock at the Black Eagle Brewery chimed as she passed No. 29 Hanbury Street, briefly making eye contact with Dark Annie, chatting up a dark, “shabby genteel” fellow in a deerstalker hat. Mrs. Long overhears their conversation as she passes, the man’s ardent “Will you?” Annie, in reply, whispered “yes.”

Elizabeth Long is the penultimate person to see Dark Annie alive.

Annie Chapman’s murder was particularly violent. Her throat had been cut from left to right. She’d been disemboweled, her intestines thrown over her shoulders. Her uterus had been cut out and removed from the scene. At the September 10 police inquest, Dr George Bagster Phillips described the murder weapon: “The instrument used at the throat and abdomen was the same. It must have been a very sharp knife with a thin narrow blade, and must have been at least 6 to 8 inches in length, probably longer. He should say that the injuries could not have been inflicted by a bayonet or a sword bayonet. They could have been done by such an instrument as a medical man used for post-mortem purposes, but the ordinary surgical cases might not contain such an instrument. Those used by the slaughtermen, well ground down, might have caused them. He thought the knives used by those in the leather trade would not be long enough in the blade. There were indications of anatomical knowledge…”

Police made several arrests following Annie’s murder, suspects included a cook, a butcher, and a hairdresser. But none of these panned out. The press, still reeling from the murder of Mary Ann Nichols, continued to sound an accusatory drum for Leather Apron, but within a few weeks, a new name would come to the forefront in the case, a named signed to a series of letters taunting the police. That name? Jack the Ripper.

This post is brought to you by Tales of Jack the Ripper, an anthology of seventeen stories and two poems examining the bloody legacy of the most famous serial murderer of all time. Ask for Tales of Jack the Ripper by name at a bookseller near you, or order the Saucy Jack Deluxe Pack from Word Horde.

PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA—Word Horde will release its debut title Tales of Jack the Ripper on August 31, 2013, 125 years after Jack the Ripper first stalked Whitechapel’s streets. The anthology contains seventeen stories and two poems from many of the most distinct voices in dark fantasy and horror, including Laird Barron, Ramsey Campbell, Ennis Drake, Orrin Grey, Joe R. Lansdale, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, E. Catherine Tobler, and Mercedes M. Yardley.

Word Horde founder Ross E. Lockhart is a veteran of small press publishing, having edited scores of well-regarded novels of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, as well as the critically acclaimed anthologies The Book of Cthulhu I and II. “One of the clichés of the book business is that you publish the books you’d want to read, the books you’d want to put on your own shelves,” says Lockhart. “It’s true. From an early age I’ve been fascinated with the horrifying tale of Jack the Ripper and his era. With Tales of Jack the Ripper, we engage in a dialogue with not only the past, but the future.”

The story of Jack the Ripper captured lurid headlines and the public’s imagination, prompting the first fictionalization mere weeks after the first murder. Since then, hundreds of stories have been written about Bloody Jack, his victims, and his legacy. Tales of Jack the Ripper offers a unique contemporary exploration of this legacy, filtered through the authors’ lives and locales, visions and voices. However, “it’s not a glorification of Jack the Ripper,” explains Blu Gilliand, a reviewer for FEARnet. “Lockhart has not put together the print equivalent of the Friday the 13th film series, in which the murderer becomes the hero. This is not an ode to a killer of women. This is, instead, a look at the power that Jack the Ripper holds over us, even today.”

Tales of Jack the Ripper is distributed by Ingram, and available in Trade Paperback and eBook formats through most online retailers and better independent bookstores everywhere. For more information about Word Horde or to request a review copy, please email publicity[at]wordhorde[dot]com.

“…a truly spellbinding collection…”

“A must have for all Ripper scholars.”

“…what this anthology truly has going for it is its relentlessness.”

“Blood starts to seep from the pages (yes, even on the Kindle), and pools around the words.”

“The ‘Must-Read’ Jack the Ripper Anthology”

“Jack the Ripper stories that will keep you up at night reading (or hiding beneath your covers).”

“These stories will have you feverously flipping pages in a hungry suspense–each holding that ‘one more page’ grip that established readers search for.”

“I suggest cutting into a copy as soon as possible…”

What can we say but, “Wow!”

Even though our official street date isn’t until August 31, Tales of Jack the Ripper is now available to order in Trade Paperback from Amazon, B&N, IndieBound, Powells, and The Book Depository. A Saucy Jack Deluxe Pack is available directly from Word Horde. Tales of Jack the Ripper is also available as an ebook for Kindle and Nook.

Thanks for reading. And if you enjoy the book, please tell your friends.

Now, you can put Tales of Jack the Ripper on your own bookshelf. Tales of Jack the Ripper is now available to order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and is coming soon to an independent bookstore near you (ask for Jack by name!). Or you can preorder The Saucy Jack Deluxe Pack direct from Word Horde. The Saucy Jack Deluxe Pack includes one signed Trade Paperback of Tales of Jack the Ripper, one eBook in the format of your choice, and a bloody good selection of Jack schwag. The eBook will be emailed to you when your order is processed, so you can start reading as soon as possible.

Details at: http://wordhorde.com/product/jtr-deluxe/

And if you haven’t had a chance to check out the Tales of Jack the Ripper trailer author Patrick Tumblety made, do yourself a favor and hit play.