Super excited to see that John Langan’s Word Horde collection Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection. Congratulations, John!

Thanks to all the HWA members and Stoker jurors who recommended it and congratulations to all the other Stoker nominees! It’s an outstanding ballot this year.

It takes a village to make a book, so we’d also like to take this opportunity to give shout-outs to cover artist Matthew Jaffe, cover designer Scott R. Jones, and copyeditor Shannon Page.

Preorder today from Word Horde, and you’ll also receive a bookplate signed by John Langan, and a free eBook.

Here’s just some of the advance praise for Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions…

“This is an author at the height of his powers.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“John Langan’s enviable range encompasses the whole panorama of horror, from the psychological to the cosmic, the monstrous to the deeply and movingly human, the insidiously disturbing to the thoroughly nightmarish. His imagination never falters or flinches, and his flavoursome prose is a literate pleasure to read.” —WHC Grand Master Ramsey Campbell

“There are certain writers who go straight to the top of my reading list, and John Langan is in that company. One of the finest and most surprising writers working in the tradition of the uncanny.” —Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love

“John Langan is your guide on a grand tour of the dark corners of the world. A riveting, soul-chilling collection of horror.” —Barbara Cottrell, author of Darkness Below

Cover Art by Matthew Jaffe
Cover Design by Scott R. Jones

Pub Date: August 5, 2025

Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1-956252-10-1

Format: eBook
ISBN-13: 978-1-939905-79-6

Preorder your copies today from Word Horde, and you’ll also receive signed bookplates from John Langan, and free eBooks in your preferred format.

It’s been a fantastic year for Word Horde books (and their striking covers) so far—from Christine Morgan’s Vikings to Molly Tanzer’s Decadents—but we’re just getting started!

We’ve also got a pair of collections from John Langan coming late summer/early fall. A reissue of John’s long out-of-print first collection, Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters will be released in August, and a brand new collection, Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies will wrap up our production year in October. Both will feature more amazing art from Children of the Fang cover artist Matthew Jaffe. Keep watching this space for cover reveals and preorders!

And now… (drumroll please)

We’re super excited to tell you about our first two titles acquired for 2022!

First up is a new collection from World Fantasy Award-winning author Scott Nicolay. Dropping in February (2.22.22!), And at My Back I Always Hear is a sizeable collection of stories and novellas from the always erudite and provocative Nicolay.

Following in April will be the debut novel from S. L. Edwards, In the Devil’s Cradle, a captivating haunted house novel where the house is an entire country, a nation coming apart due to influences both internal and external, both natural and supernatural.

Why follow the herd? Join the Horde!

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

An aspiring actress goes to an audition with a mysterious director. An editor receives the last manuscript of his murdered friend. A young lawyer learns the terrible connection between her grandfather and an ancient race of creatures. A bodyguard drives her employer across a frozen road toward an immense hole in the earth. In these stories and others, John Langan maps the branches of his literary family tree, tracing his connections to the writers whose dark fictions have inspired his own.

Introduction by Stephen Graham Jones

Cover Art by Matthew Jaffe
Cover Design by Scott R. Jones

Pub Date: August 18, 2020

Preorder your copy today!

“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

“…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.

THIS IS HORROR PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR 2016

Word Horde

“Thank you for selecting Word Horde as This is Horror’s Publisher of the Year for the second year in a row. We are honored by your recognition of our hard work and commitment to publishing awesome authors. We plan to celebrate by continuing to publish books that challenge the status quo and tell irresistible, human stories.”
—Ross E. Lockhart, Word Horde Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

THIS IS HORROR NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2016

The Fisherman, by John Langan

“I’m thrilled and humbled that the voters have selected The Fisherman as Novel of the Year. To have been nominated alongside the other novels in this category was already an honor, and the ballot as a whole is a reminder of the talent flourishing in the horror field. I’m grateful to everyone who sat down with my book and gave it a chance, and I’m thankful to everyone who cast a vote for it. The Fisherman owes its publication to Ross Lockhart, for which, many, many thanks. It owes its composition to my lovely wife, Fiona, for which all, all of my love.”
—John Langan, author of The Fisherman

THIS IS HORROR SHORT STORY COLLECTION OF THE YEAR 2016

Furnace, by Livia Llewellyn

“In twelve years of writing, this is the first award I’ve ever won—I am absolutely thrilled! Thank you to This is Horror and to everyone who voted for me, and to Word Horde Press for publishing the collection. I promise I won’t go mad with my new award powers—or I can, if that’s what everyone wants. Either way works for me.”
—Livia Llewellyn, author of Furnace

Congratulations to all the winners! Check out the full list of winners and their statements at this link.

Experience The Fisherman for yourself! Order today!

Listen…

The furious clangor of battle. The harrowing singing of steel. The desperate cries of wounded animals. The gasps of bleeding, dying men. The slow, deep breathing of terrible things–trolls, giants, draugr–waiting in the darkness. The wolf’s wind howling, stalking like death itself. The carrion-crows, avaricious and impatient, circling the battle-ground, the Raven’s Table.

Listen…

The skald’s voice, low, canting, weaving tales of fate and heroism, battle and revelry. Of gods and monsters, and of the women and men that stand against them. Of stormy Scandinavian skies and settlements upon strange continents. Of mead-hall victories, funeral pyres, dragon-prowed ships, and gold-laden tombs. Of Ragnarok. Of Valhalla.

For a decade, author Christine Morgan’s Viking stories have delighted readers and critics alike, standing apart from the anthologies they appeared in. Now, Word Horde brings you The Raven’s Table, the first-ever collection of Christine Morgan’s Vikings, from “The Barrow-Maid” to “Aerkheim’s Horror” and beyond. These tales of adventure, fantasy, and horror will rouse your inner Viking.

Preorder The Raven’s Table today!

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In other news, we are quite pleased to see John Langan’s The Fisherman and Livia Llewellyn’s Furnace on the Locus Recommended Reading List, alongside a bunch of other great books. Check out the full list at this link.

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And we also note that author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley died on this day in 1851. Check out our tribute to her: Eternal Frankenstein.