Horror Comics and Religion

Essays on Framing the Monstrous and the Divine

While many genres offer the potential for theological reflection and exploration of religious issues, the nature of horror provides unique ways to wrestle with these questions. Since EC Comics of the 1950s, horror comics have performed theological work in ways that are sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle, but frequently surprising and provocative.

This collection brings together essays covering the history of horror comics, from the 1950s to the present, with a focus on their engagement with religious and theological issues. Essays explore topics such as the morality of EC Comics, cosmic indifference in the works of Junji Ito, the reincarnated demons of the web-comic The Devil is a Handsome Man, religion and racial horror in comic voodoo, and much more.

Foreword: The Spirit Hidden Within the Grid—Clay McLeod Chapman

DreadPop Magazine #1

A Magazine for horror lovers. Sign up to get a brand new fiction from today’s best horror authors delivered to your inbox every week. Follow our YouTube channel for news, reviews, and interviews from a team of passionate horror fanatics.

Issue #1 features the short story “dispense,” written by Clay McLeod Chapman, published on February 3, 2025.

WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES

A new novel on shelves January 7, 2025

“Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite horror storytellers working today.”—Jordan Peele

“Surreal, hypnotic, unrelenting, profoundly claustrophobic, and an absolutely scathing sendup of the pitfalls of American divisiveness.”—Keith Rosson, author of Fever House

From Vulture‘s “master of horror” Clay McLeod Chapman, a relentless and emotionally charged social horror novel about a family on the run from a demonic possession epidemic that spreads through media, for fans of The Last of Us and When Evil Lurks

Noah Fairchild has been losing his formerly polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reawakening” is here, he assumes it’s related to one of the many conspiracy theories she believes in. But when his own phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the long drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles, a fridge full of spoiled food, and his parents locked in a terrifying trance-like state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it and get medical help.

Then Noah’s mother brutally attacks him.

But Noah isn’t the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart-–literally-–as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend watching particular channels, using certain apps, or visiting certain websites. In Noah’s Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn–-but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes?

This ambitious, searing novel from “one of horror’s modern masters” holds a mirror to our divided nation, and will shake readers to the core.

Wake Up And Open Your Eyes (UK Edition)

Noah Fairchild has been losing his formerly polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reckoning” is here, he assumes it’s related to one of the many conspiracy theories she believes in. But when his own phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the long drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles, a fridge full of spoiled food, and his parents locked in a terrifying trance-like state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it and get medical help.

Then Noah’s mother brutally attacks him.

But Noah isn’t the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart-–literally-–as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend watching particular channels, using certain apps, or visiting certain websites. In Noah’s Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn–-but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes?

This ambitious, searing novel from “one of horror’s modern masters” holds a mirror to our divided nation, and will shake readers to the core.

UK Edition from Titan Books, available January 7, 2025.

Weird Tales Magazine

The Monster Issue

A Menagerie of Monsters lurk inside this mighty mag! These are not your traditional monsters. These are things never before seen or written about. Prepare to have your mind chewed upon.

Edited by Jonathan Maberry. Cover and interior art by Jeff Wong.

“What Mike Saw” by Isaac Marion
“Charakakon” by Johnny Compton
“Gorgeous” by Delilah S. Dawson
“Kolchak: Bruises on the Flesh of God” by Charles R. Rutledge
“Riddle” by Gwendolyn Kiste
“Straw Man” by Peter Clines
“Lagniappe” by Dennis K. Crosby
“Soft Shells” by Clay McLeod Chapman
“Termination Agreement” by Wayne Brady
“My Hideous Secret Garden” by Maxwell I. Gold
“Death Carries a Peculiar Perfume” by Ellen Hopkins
“Dinner with Mom” by Ray Porter
“Putting the Hell in Hell Week” by Jenn Rose
“Born in the Bayou: Swamp Monsters Great and Small” by Chris Ryall

Bookworms Horror Zine #6

Halloween 2024 Issue: Witch Theme

Embrace the spooky season with this enchanting brew of established horror writers, including Grady Hendrix, whose new witch-themed novel will be released early next year, and Clay McLeod Chapman’s new story. Discover some talented novices of the dark literary arts. So, join our coven as we delve into these captivating tales of witchery and whimsy and cast a spell for a thrilling Halloween experience. Order your copy here.

Fear of Clowns

A Horror Anthology: Coulrophobia Stories

ALL-NEW stories of coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns) from some of the most talented horror writers alive.

Featuring Graham Masterton & Karolina Mogielska, Aron Beauregard, V. Castro, Adam Cesare, Clay McLeod Chapman, Rachel Harrison, Jonathan Janz, Gwendolyn Kiste, Red Lagoe, Hailey Piper, Duncan Ralston, Hunter Shea, Thomas Tessier, Tim Waggoner, AC Wise, Dex Bryant, S.B. Caves, Douglas Ford, Bitter Karella, Lisa Kroger, Jonathan Lees, Carissa Ann Lynch, Michael Reed, Mel Reynes, Craig E. Sawyer, Em Starr, Bev Vincent and Daniel Willcocks.

Read these stories to find out why your FEAR is justified.

The Rack

Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks

t’s 1980 and you have three crisp dollar bills in your pocket. You run to the drugstore, or maybe the supermarket, because you know THE RACK will be there, waiting… that black wire rack, tempting you with the latest and best horror paperbacks and their lurid covers.

You spin it slowly, ignoring the grating squeaks that try to warn you of the dangers THE RACK holds. You shiver as you take in the glossy covers: gothic mansions cloaked in fog, bulging eyes on blood-soaked faces, and all the creepy dolls you could ever wish for. You weigh the possibilities, pondering which nightmare to select, the vengeful vampire, the werewolf, demonic children, or perhaps parasitic insects? It doesn’t matter because THE RACK will beckon to you long after the last page is turned. THE RACK always contains new tales of terror by today’s masters of horror. And THE RACK is never done with you.

The twenty stories you’re holding are throwbacks to those golden years of horror, presented to you by today’s brightest stars in the genre. Giant spiders, haunted books, swarms of cicadas, killer bears, chemical spills, and so many more chronicles of carnage and camp await you. And did we mention the creepy dolls?

So go ahead…spin THE RACK, if you dare.

But don’t say we didn’t warn you.

***

Edited by Bram Stoker Award Winning Author, Tom Deady
Introduction by Will Errickson, co-writer of Paperbacks From Hell
With stories by:
Cynthia Pelayo “Black Pages”
Ronald Malfi “Other Things Have Happened”
Jeff Strand “Fuzzy Slippers”
Stephen King “The Raft”
Larry Hinkle “That Chemical Glow”
Mercedes Yardley “I Am a House Demanding to be Haunted”
Kristin Dearborn “Ursa Diruo”
Johnny Compton “A Devil We Used to Know”
Bridgett Nelson “Irish Eyes”
Candace Nola “They Look Back”
Christa Carmen “Blood of my Blood”
Errick Nunnally “The Keeper of Aswomet”
Gwendolyn Kiste “The Last Call of the Cicada”
Laurel Hightower “Mightier Than Bullets”
Max Booth III “Loud and Clear”
Rebecca Rowland “Better by You, Better than Me”
Richard Chizmar “A Nightmare on Elm Lane”
Philip Fracassi “The Visitor”
Steve Van Samson “Lips Like a Scythe”
Clay McLeod Chapman “White Pages”

Cover art by Lynne Hansen

The Darkest Night

22 Winter Horror Stories

Kill Your Darling

A new novella from Bad Hand Books

The body of Glenn Partridge’s 15-year-old son was discovered in a vacant lot nearly forty years ago. The police are still no closer to finding the murderer decades later.

Glenn refuses to let the memory of his son fade—or let anyone else within this small working-class community forget. His long-suffering wife signs him up for an amateur fiction-writing workshop at the local library, just to get him out of the house and out of his own head.

Rule number one: Write what you know—so Glenn decides to share his son’s story. The class offers him a chance to make sense of a senseless crime and find the fictional closure life never provided. But as Glenn’s story takes on a life of its own, someone from the past is compelled to come out of hiding before he reaches… The End.

On shelves September 2024. Available for preorder here.

Long Division anthology

Stories of Social Decay, Societal Collapse, and Bad Manners

Edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey. Featuring authors Zoje Stage, Chuck Palahniuk and Clay McLeod Chapman. From Bad Hand Books.

Que Clase de Madre (Spanish edition)

Translated by Cristina Macía, from Runas Books

Madi Price se ve obligada a regresar su ciudad natal en Virginia con su hija de diecisiete años. Se gana la vida leyendo manos en un mercadillo local, donde retoma el contacto con su antiguo novio Henry McCabe, un introvertido pescador, cuyo hijo, Skyler, desapareció hace cinco años. Todo el mundo cree que Skyler está muerto, pero después de leerle la mano, a Madi la persiguen extrañas visiones que parecen indicar lo contrario. Siguiendo el hilo de esas visiones, descubre un monstruo aterrador que viene por todo lo que ella ama. Esta visceral exploración del dolor parental, que combina el horror sobrenatural con el suspense doméstico, consolida la reputación de McLeod Chapman como “el Richard Matheson del siglo XXI”. Elegido uno de los 10 mejores libros de horror de 2023 por The New York Times.

Ghost Eaters (Czech edition)

Duch, to je nová droga, která umožňuje spatřit mrtvé.

Druhý den poté, co se Silas dostane ven z protidrogové léčebny v Richmondu, ho jeho přítelkyně Erin nalezne v jejich domě mrtvého na podlaze. Předávkoval se a Erin se hroutí svět.

„Chceš ho znovu vidět?“ Truchlící a zoufalá Erin, souhlasí s drogovou spiritistickou seancí. Látka má ale nedozírné vedlejší účinky, a jakmile ji jednou užijete, nenajdete cestu zpět.

What Kind of Mother (UK Edition)

After striking out on her own as a teen mother, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmer’s market.

It’s at the market that she reconnects with her high school boyfriend Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying monster waiting at the centre of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.

Shadows in the Stacks

A Spirited Giving Charity Anthology

Shadows in the Stacks is a new horror anthology, published in cooperation with Spirited Giving to benefit the San Diego Library Foundation. 50% of proceeds from pre-orders will go to pay authors, while the other 50% will go to the Library Foundation, after release day, 100% of proceeds from sales go to the Library Foundation. Shadows in the Stacks features a special foreword by Laurel Hightower and 21 all-new horror stories from a wide range of authors. Features the short story “nathan ballingrud’s haunting horror recs.”

Stay On The Line

A novelette featuring art by Trevor Henderson

After a small coastal town is devastated by a hurricane, the survivors gravitate toward a long out-of-service payphone in hopes of talking out their grief and saying goodbye to loved ones, only for it to begin ringing on its own. As more townspeople answer the call, friends and family believed to have been lost to the storm begin searching for a way back home.

This novelette features several new illustrations by Trevor Henderson.

Fangoria Vol 2 #22

The World’s Best Horror and Cult Film Magazine Since 1979. Features the short story “Hermit” by Clay McLeod Chapman, on shelves January 2024.

Knockoffs

Book #3 in the Chapman Chapbooks series from Shortwave Books

“Knockoffs” are popping up everywhere. Online, on vacation, and—soon—on your block!

This is the third issue of the Chapman Chapbooks series. Each issue features a complete, standalone short story by Clay McLeod Chapman. The first 100 copies of each issue are hand-signed and numbered by the author. “Knockoffs” was previously unpublished.

WHAT KIND OF MOTHER: A Novel

Nicholas Sparks meets The Empty Man in this modern Southern Gothic horror about a palm reader swept up in a disturbing missing-child case with a twist you won’t see coming.

After striking out on her own as a teen mom, Madi Price is forced to return to her hometown of Brandywine, Virginia, with her seventeen-year-old daughter. With nothing to her name, she scrapes together a living as a palm reader at the local farmers market.

It’s there that she connects with old high school flame Henry McCabe, now a reclusive local fisherman whose infant son, Skyler, went missing five years ago. Everyone in town is sure Skyler is dead, but when Madi reads Henry’s palm, she’s haunted by strange and disturbing visions that suggest otherwise. As she follows the thread of these visions, Madi discovers a terrifying nightmare waiting at the center of the labyrinth—and it’s coming for everyone she holds dear.

Combining supernatural horror with domestic suspense into a visceral exploration of parental grief, What Kind of Mother cements Clay McLeod Chapman’s reputation as a “star” (Vulture) and “the twenty-first century’s Richard Matheson” (Richard Chizmar, Chasing the Boogeyman.)

Daily Lurker

The Official Program of the 28th Annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & Cthulhucon, featuring the short story “swallowbox” written by Clay McLeod Chapman.

Makeout Creek #8

Only A Witch Can Close A Door

Cover art by Nick Kuszyk

W/ FICTION BY Michael Agresta, X.C. Atkins, Tom Batten, Andrew Blossom, Clay McLeod Chapman, Jesse Donaldson, Green Dragonetti, Nicole Efford, Leena El-Mohandes, Phil Ford, Katy Resch George, Tina Gibbard, Shelby Hurd, Brooke Miller, Nathaniel Rappole, Anna Steinmetz, Eddie Vega + Nate Waggoner

W/ NONFICTION BY Quinn Arnone, Lindley Burnam, Jack Dean, Julia DeKorte, Lydia Dolvin, Kylee Gilman, Amira Pierce, Hermine Pinson, Patricia Smith, Sahil Verma + Woojin Yoon

W/ POETRY BY A Bad Birch, Jung Hae Chae, Jackie Crady, Noah Falck, Meg Freitag, Logan Fry, Shamala Gallagher, Greg Koehler, Jessica Laser, Claire Lewis, Cynthia Grier Lotze, Margaret Mitchell, Matthew Moore, J.W. Morison, Glenn North, Evan Craig Reardon, Felix Valentino De la Luz Salmoran, Luke Sholer, S.E. Smith, Melissa Stephenson, Christine Stroud + Eddie Vega

W/ COMICS FROM Mark Hitz + Erin Russell, Dan Rhett, Ian E. Sampson + Mandy Dunn Sampson

W/ ARTWORK + PHOTOGRAPHY FROM George Allen, Nicky Arscott, Jory Berkley, Ford Burdett, Mark Burdett, James Callahan, Jackie Clark, Emma Cusumano, Ioan Dearling, Santa Sergio De Haven, Jen Dunlap, Chris Fisher, Meg Frietag, Tina Gibbard, Joe Howl, Nick Kuszyk, B. Lightning, Reveley Lee, sTo Len, Ryan McLennan, Tricia Burdett Meyer, Andy Miller, Amanda Case Millis, Julianne Nash, Daniel Morgan Owen, Liz Roberts, Domenica Ruta, Ezekiel Ruta-Smith, Frederick Stivers + Em White

Features the short story “pick of the litter” by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves October 10, 2023.

Shadows Over Main Vol 3

Edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward

This is the end… but it’s also just another Friday night in small-town America.

High school football teams vie for glory atop green fields while eldritch rot burbles underneath. Mom-and-pop shops shutter their storefronts while moms and dads lock their front doors…unaware that the real threats aren’t of this Earth and already surround them, waiting until the stars are right. The Sun is about to set on Main Street once and for all.

In Shadows Over Main Street Volume 3, Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward bring you the final, apocalyptic word in their groundbreaking series of small-town Lovecraftian terror. This is how it ends—not with a whimper, but a rising chorus in worship of the unthinkable along the back roads of America. We knew you’d come back. You’re home.

Featuring new fiction from S.A. Cosby, Ramsey Campbell, Kristi DeMeester, Eric LaRocca, Clay McLeod Chapman, Laird Barron, and more!

October Screams

Edited by Kenneth W. Caine

​Featuring Gemma Amor, Jeremy Bates, Kealan Patrick Burke, Clay McLeod Chapman, Philip Fracassi, Brian Keene & Richard Chizmar, Todd Keisling, Gwendolyn Kiste, Red Lagoe, Ronald Malfi, Bridgett Nelson, Rebecca Rowland, Steve Rasnic Tem, T.J. Cimfel, Cassandra Daucus, Ryan Van Ells, Patrick Flanagan, Brennan Fredricks, Larry Hinkle, Larry Hodges, Kevin Kangas, Evans Light, Gregory L. Norris, Frank Oreto, Robert Stahl, Cat Voleur and Jacqueline West.

On shelves September 2023. Features the story “sweet meat” by Clay McLeod Chapman.

House of Haunts

Edited by Heather Daughrity

In 1823, Josiah Hale built his family a grand home in the sultry heat and blinding glare of the Deep South. It wasn’t long before the shadows crept in. Now, two hundred years later, this grand home stands forlorn, abandoned, blank windows reflecting only darkness.

Some houses carry lasting impressions of those who have lived and died there. Some places still bear the scars of past tragedies. Some buildings are heavy with the spirits of the dead.

Hale House outweighs them all. The front gate is creaking slowly open, welcoming, beckoning, luring you in… You have been invited. Come tour the most haunted location in the world. Come visit our House of Haunts. 24 rooms. 24 ghosts. 24 stories. Will you survive them all?

Features the story “rug burns” by Clay McLeod Chapman. Published September 2023.

Dark Corners of the Old Dominion

A Virginia Charity Anthology for Scares That Scare

What’s so scary about Virginia? From the blood-soaked battlegrounds of the Civil War to the solitary paths of the Appalachian Trail, we’ve got four hundred years’ worth of ghost stories, folk horror, urban legends, and southern gothic tales. Edgar Allan Poe grew up in Richmond. William Faulkner was UVA’s first writer-in-residence. V.C. Andrews was a native of Portsmouth. Virginia authors have penned tales that spanned from the political arena of the D.C. Beltway to the mythic-sounding Blue Mountains, across the state to the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads, and farther. Now, today’s authors continue to pen new stories for the future generations.

Features the short story “keep it civil” by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves September 2023.

Literally Dead: Tales of Holiday Hauntings

Ghosts of Victorian Christmases past. A witch’s winter solstice ritual gone wrong. A psychic mall Santa who sees dead children. A spirit trapped inside a club bathroom on New Years’ Eve. The perfect wintertime ghost anthology to follow up its predecessor, LITERALLY DEAD: Tales of Halloween Hauntings.

Edited by Gaby Triana, this 2nd-volume anthology of 21 short stories by some of the most terrifying names in horror is the perfect collection for a dark and snowy December night. Featuring tales to make you shiver by the Christmas tree by: Ramsey Campbell, Cina Pelayo, Lisa Morton, Stephanie Wytovich, Jonathan Janz, Hailey Piper, Clay McLeod Chapman, Chet Wiliamson, Zin E. Rocklin, V. Castro, John Palisano, and more.

Features the short story “psychic santa” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves September 14, 2023.

Ghoulish Tales #1

Issue #1 Spring 2023

FICTION

“Tonight’s Guest Is!” by Robert Nazar Arjoyan
“Legerdemain” by Barbara Castro-Rojas
“Who Brings a Baby?” by Clay McLeod Chapman
“Heartbeat” by Chloé Harper Gold
“John List Would Like to Cancel His Subscription to Omaha Steaks” by Rae Knowles
“The Koji Show” by Angela Liu
“Saturn Devouring His Son” by Nina Maar
“Life in the Demon’s Gizzard” by Betty Rocksteady

NON-FICTION
“The Werewolf’s Guide to New York Criminal Law” by Nicholas A. Battaglia
“The Ins and Outs of Shunting” by Lor Gislason

Obsolescence

A Dark Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Anthology

21 stories by 21 authors. OBSOLESCENCE is a new collection of short stories about horrifying or fantastical interactions with technology.

All leaps in technology are scary. Mysterious. Misunderstood. Until they slowly creep into our daily lives and become impossible to get rid of. Like an evolving parasite.

The broken cell phone that can only text with your dead husband. The backyard tire swing that becomes a portal to another world. The Radio Shack Walkie-Talkies that pick up an alien GPS…

In OBSOLESCENCE, technology gets repurposed, subverted, and redefined.

Features the story “pump and dump” by Clay McLeod Chapman. Available February 2023.

American Cannibal

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to (rep)eat it.

A mother and daughter negotiate the Oregon Trail with grisly results; an elementary teacher watches the carnage of The Challenger explosion spill over into her own classroom. A possible prospector traveling west is drawn to an isolated inn where no one walks away hungry; a 1950s housewife shares the gruesome repertoire of behavior expected of a proper lady. Prohibition and women’s suffrage, the Civil War and the Vietnam War, the JFK assassination conspiracy and the Y2K hysteria: the annals of American history are reimagined with a side order of cannibalism by twenty of the biggest names writing horror fiction today.

Forget what you read in the textbooks. Everything you were taught about the Land of Liberty is about to be history.

Features the story “all ears” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. In digital, print, and audio March 7, 2023

Baby Carrots

Book #2 in the Chapman Chapbooks series from Shortwave Books

“Baby Carrots” is the story of a man haunted by a bad batch of produce.

This is the second issue of the Chapman Chapbooks series. Each issue features a complete, standalone short story by Clay McLeod Chapman.

The first 100 copies of each issue are hand-signed and numbered by the author!
“Baby Carrots” is previously unpublished.

GHOST EATERS: A Novel

For fans of Riley Sager and Paul Tremblay, a terrifying supernatural page-turner that explores ghosts, grief, and god complexes.

Ever since their on-again, off-again college romance, Erin hasn’t been able to set a single boundary with charismatic but reckless Silas, who’s been chasing the next big high since graduation. When he texts her to spring him out of rehab, she knows enough is enough. She’s ready to start a career, make new friends, and meet a great guy—even if that means cutting Silas off. But when Silas turns up dead from an overdose, Erin’s world falls apart.

When Erin learns that Silas discovered a drug that allowed him to see the dead, she doesn’t believe it’s real but agrees to a pill-popping “séance” to ease her guilt and pain. When she steps back into the real world, she starts to see ghosts from her Southern hometown’s bloody and brutal past everywhere. Are the effects pharmacological or something more sinister? And will Erin be able to shut the Pandora’s box of horrors she’s opened?

With propulsive momentum, bone-chilling scares, and dark meditations on the weight of history, this Southern horror will make you think twice about opening doors to the unknown.

Mama Bird

Book #1 in the Chapman Chapbooks series from Shortwave Books

“Mama Bird” is the dark and unsettling tale of a young picky eater and the mother willing to do anything to feed her child. This is the first issue of the Chapman Chapbooks series. Each issue features a complete, standalone short story by author Clay McLeod Chapman. The first 100 copies of each issue are hand-signed and numbered by the author.

Releases December 6, 2022 from Shortwave Publishing. For more information, click here.

Weird House Magazine #2

Merging the proud tradition of the pulp periodicals with rock n’ roll-style journalism, Weird House Magazine aims to present fiction and poetry from some of the best authors in the field, along with gorgeous art, thoughtful interviews, and intriguing articles on all aspects of horror culture, and beyond! Featuring “nail on the head” written by Clay McLeod Chapman.

FOUND

An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories, edited by Andrew Cull and Gabino Iglesias

Eighteen stories of found footage horror.

Featuring stories by: Bev Vincent, Ali Seay, Holly Rae Garcia, Clay McLeod Chapman, Nick Kolakowski, Ally Wilkes, Alan Baxter, Tim McGregor, Jeremy Hepler, Angela Sylvaine, Josh Rountree, Donna Lynch, Kurt Fawver, Robert Levy, Joe Butler, Fred Fischer, Georgia Cook, and Aristo Couvaras. An anthology edited by Andrew Cull and Gabino Iglesias.

Includes the short story “the spew of news” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. Available October 8, 2022.

Campfire Macabre: Volume 2

Edited by John Brhel and Joe Sullivan

40+ more short horror stories under five different themes: Trick-or-Treating, Body Horror, Malevolent Alien Visitors, Fields and Forests, Youth Drug Culture.

Also featuring stories from Eric J. Guignard, Eddie Generous, Ai Jiang, J.A.W. McCarthy, Michael Harris Cohen, Mark Allen Gunnells, Tyler Jones, John Lynch, Corey Farrenkopf, Laura Keating, P.L. Watts, Bob Ford, JG Faherty, Marisca Pichette, Tiffany Michelle Brown, Eric Raglin, Joe Koch, S.H. Cooper, K.S. Walker, Patrick Barb, LP Hernandez, Scott Cole, Anthony J. Rapino, Jeff Provine, Angela Sylvaine, Jessica Ann York, Ali Seay, John Boden, Christi Nogle, Jonathan Duckworth, Joshua Marsella, Die Booth, and Brennan LaFaro.

Includes the story “scratch ‘n sniff” by Clay McLeod Chapman. Available October 11, 2022.

Nail on the Head

Limited edition chapbook from Theurgical Studies

“Where did the hammer come from? Good question…”

Risograph zine printed by Lucky Risograph. Story by Clay McLeod Chapman. Illustrated by Erik Waterkotte. First Edition. 100 printed. Released 10/22. Purchase your very own copy here.

Worth Writing About

Ghost/Industrial double issue June 2022 Vol 10

​Worth Writing About is a monthly flash fiction zine, with a different theme/genre every month. For June 2022, we have a double issue with the themes of Industry and Ghosts. Each month we vote on a different charity to donate all proceeds to. For the entire month of June, all funds will go directly to The Trevor Project.

Features the story “crosshairs” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. To read this issue, click here.

Le Remake (French edition)

The Remaking, translated by Thibaud Eliroff, from Pygmalion Books

Années trente. Ella Louise Ford est la paria du petit village de Pilot’s Creek. En privé pourtant, tous les habitants viennent lui demander de soigner leurs maux à la lisière de la forêt où elle vit avec sa fille, Jessica. Jusqu’au jour où un drame advient. Qui blâmer ? La sorcière, évidemment. Au milieu de la nuit, Ella Louise et son enfant sont brûlées vives.

Cette tragédie se transforme en légende urbaine que chacun raconte autour du feu de camp, hantant les natifs de la région au point de devenir, dans les années soixante-dix, le sujet principal d’un film d’horreur rendu culte par les événements étranges qui se sont produits au cours du tournage.
Vingt ans plus tard, un remake se prépare…
N’étaient-ils pas prévenus ? Tu ne marcheras pas sur la tombe de Jessica.
Inspiré d’un fait réel, ce thriller fantastique prouve que certaines histoires refusent de mourir.

9 Tales from Beyond the Pale

For lovers of horror fiction, script writing, radio plays, or anyone who might want to put on a show… Glass Eye Pix presents 9 chilling scripts written by genre stalwarts Larry Fessenden and Glenn McQuaid for their award-winning series Tales from Beyond the Pale: “Radio Plays for a Digital Age.”

In the tradition of short horror scripts penned for The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, these 9 startling yarns feature demons, ghosts, war criminals, a haunted vineyard, a mysterious hole, two car wrecks, a drunk ventriloquist and his wicked dummy, vampires, film critics, and Jesus on a dinosaur.

This substantial volume offers the scripts as originally formatted and includes commentary on the work and the genre by essayists (and collaborators) Michael Gingold (Fangoria Magazine), April Snellings (Rue Morgue Magazine), Kim Newman (“Ano Dracula”) and Clay McLeod Chapman (“Whisper Down the Lane”); The book includes full color posters by Gary Pullin, Trevor Denham, Brian Level and Ashley Thorpe as well as a gallery of stills from the productions.

Since 2010, Tales from Beyond the Pale has been serving up lavishly produced half-hour audio dramas ranging in tone from the gently macabre to the genuinely gruesome. Produced and curated by filmmakers Fessenden (Depraved, The Last Winter, Habit) and McQuaid (I Sell the Dead, V/H/S), Tales has hosted numerous guest writers, directors and performers from the horror community.

Nearly 50 episodes are available at talesfrombeyondthepale.com or wherever you get your podcasts, with more on the way.

Southwest Review

Volume 106, Number 3: Halloween issue guest edited by Andy Davidson

Founded in 1915 and housed on the campus of Southern Methodist University, Southwest Review is the third-longest-running literary quarterly in the United States. Featuring the short story “stowaway” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves. October 2021. Click here for info.

Whisper Down the Lane: A Novel

From the author of The Remaking, a true crime-inspired horror novel about a young boy whose little white lies about his elementary school teachers contributed to the Satanic Panic of the 80s, forcing him to hide his identity into adulthood until someone recreates his past lies at his own child’s school.

Richard doesn’t have a past. For him, there is only the present: a new marriage to Tamara, a first chance at fatherhood to her son Elijah, a quiet but pleasant life as an art teacher at Elijah’s elementary school, and the dream of becoming a real artist some day. Then the body of a rabbit, ritualistically murdered, appears on the school playground with a birthday card for Richard tucked beneath it. Richard is shocked; he doesn’t have a birthday…but Sean does.

Sean is a six-year-old boy in 1980s Virginia. His father has just walked out and his mother is juggling multiple jobs on food stamps. Meanwhile, all the grown-ups in his life seem worried. Cult leaders, serial killers, and stranger danger is on the rise, with moral crusaders and televangelists stoking the fires of panic. In this pressure cooker environment, Sean’s school sends a note to parents alerting them that a teacher is under investigation. Sean likes Mr. Woodhouse, but when his mother asks if the bruises caused by the school bully were really caused by Mr. Woodhouse, a few small lies spiral into a terrible tragedy.

Now, thirty years later, those lies are coming back to haunt Richard, because someone knows who he really is—and they’re out for revenge. Inspired by the McMartin preschool trial and the Satanic Panic of the ‘80s, the critically praised author of The Remaking delivers a nuanced portrait of parenthood and mass hysteria.

On shelves April 6, 2021.

Black Telephone Magazine

Issue 1 Fall/Winter 2020

What would you say if you stepped into the phone booth and pulled the curtain closed behind you? Think of Black Telephone Magazine as the astral phone booth where you deliver your dark transmissions into the ether. Between these covers you will find haunting unconventional narratives that push the boundaries of genre & form in poetry, fiction & essays. This is our first transmission. Welcome to Black Telephone Magazine. Features the short story “room with a boo,” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves February 2021. For more info click here.

34 Orchard: Issue 2, Autumn 2020

Darkness is just across the street

Welcome to 34 Orchard, the literary journal that delights in exploring what haunts us all. In our biannual issues, we will bring you tales of terror, tales of unrest, tales of sadness. If you enjoy dark stories with a subtext, then you’ve reached your destination. All you’ve left to do is walk up the rickety porch steps and knock on the door. Features the short story “fairy ring” written by Clay McLeod Chapman, available online on November 10, 2020.

The Dread Machine

The Dread Machine is an online magazine and podcast specializing in dread-inspiring works of fiction. Features the short story TAKE ME, written by Clay McLeod Chapman. Both print or audiobook versions are now available for free at The Dread Machine.

Fangoria Vol 2 #9

The World’s Best Horror and Cult Film Magazine Since 1979. Features the short story “debridement” by Clay McLeod Chapman, on shelves October 2020.

Come Join Us By The Fire

Audio horror anthology featuring stories from 27 terrifyingly talented authors

Come Join Us By The Fire showcases a wide collection of horror stories from emerging voices in the genre as well as longtime fan favorites. Horror has always taken many shapes, and season 2 focuses on the endless and complex ways it manifests itself in stories – whether through inexplicable holes in reality, creatures that go bump (and worse) in the night, or the sinister ways our own minds can twist against us.

Features the story “the fireplace” written and performed by Clay McLeod Chapman. Available on October 15, 2020.

Black Telephone Magazine #3

​Black Telephone Magazine #3 features new work by Lisa Grgas, Maria Greer, Elliot Harper, Michael Chang, Cynthia Pelayo, Jacques Debrot, Emelia Steenekamp, and Clay McLeod Chapman. Includes the new short story “room with a boo,” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves September 1, 2020. For more info, click here.

Blood & Blasphemy

30 Sacrilegious Tales to Chill the Soul

If you enjoy your horror dipped in buckets of blood and sprinkled with generous amounts of blasphemy, then you’ve come to the right place! Blood and Blasphemy is a collection of over thirty of the most sacrilegious horror stories ever written. Within these irreverent pages, you will encounter a priest that keeps his deformed spawn chained in a root cellar, a convent where a poisonous species of salamander is worshiped, a demonic altar boy, possessed religious relics that kill, blood-drinking clergymen, a Son of God who feeds on sin, an unsuspecting couple who run afoul of religious lunatics in a small town, the divine (and deadly) turd of Christ, and other terrifying tales guaranteed to make church ladies faint and nuns clutch their rosaries.

Featuring stories by: Aron Beauregard, George Alan Bradley, Cardigan Broadmoor, Scot M. Carpenter, Myna Chang, Clay McLeod Chapman, Nick Dinicola, Jude M. Eriksen, Michael Martin Garrett, Gerri R. Gray, Christopher Hamel, Carlton Herzog, B.T. Joy, A.L. King, Daryl Marcus, Jeremy Megargee, Donna J.W. Munro, Hari Navarro, Trevor Newton, Drew Nicks, C.C. Parker, Wolfgang Potterhouse, J.L. Shioshita, J.J. Smith, Henry Snider, J.B. Toner, and Sheldon Woodbury.

Features the short story “sisterhood of the salamander” written by Clay McLeod Chapman.

The Remaking: A Novel

A new supernatural thriller for fans of horror and true crime.

Inspired by a true story, this supernatural thriller for fans of horror and true crime follows a tale as it evolves every twenty years—with terrifying results.

The Ring meets Scream in this terrifying, wickedly fun, and totally meta supernatural thriller about a true-crime tale that takes on a life of its own every 20 years. The story is told around a campfire in the ‘50s, adapted into a movie in the ‘70s, re-booted in the ‘90s, and investigated on a Serial-like podcast in the present day.

Ella Louise has lived in the woods surrounding Pilot’s Creek, Virginia, for nearly a decade. Publicly, she and her daughter Jessica are shunned by their upper-crust family and the Pilot’s Creek residents. Privately, desperate townspeople visit her apothecary for a cure to what ails them—until Ella Louise is blamed for the death of a prominent customer. Accused of witchcraft, both mother and daughter are burned at the stake in the middle of the night. Ella Louise’s burial site is never found, but the little girl has the most famous grave in the South: a steel-reinforced coffin surrounded by a fence of interconnected white crosses.

Their story will take the shape of an urban legend as it’s told around a campfire by a man forever marked by his boyhood encounters with Jessica. Decades later, a boy at that campfire will cast Amber Pendleton as Jessica in a ’70s horror movie inspired by the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek. Amber’s experiences on that set and its meta-remake in the ’90s will ripple through pop culture, ruining her life and career after she becomes the target of a witch hunt. Amber’s best chance to break the cycle of horror comes when a true-crime investigator tracks her down to interview her for his popular podcast. But will this final act of storytelling redeem her—or will it bring the story full circle, ready to be told once again? And again. And again . . .

Teacher Representations in Dramatic Text and Performance

Portraying the Teacher Onstage, 1st edition, edited by Melanie Shoffner & Richard St. Peter

This book examines representations of the teacher on stage - in both theatrical performances and dramatic text - in order to demonstrate how these representations have shaped society’s perceptions of educators in and out of the classroom.

At the heart of this book is the interaction between theatre and teacher education. By considering how dramatic portrayals reimagine, reinforce and/or undermine our understanding of the teacher’s personal and professional roles, this volume bridges the gap between truth in dramatic literature and truth in the classroom. Chapters critically explore the personas embodied by fictional teachers in well-known works such as Educating Rita, School of Rock and The History Boys and illustrate how educators might use dramatic literature and performance to interrogate entrenched ideas about the student-teacher dynamic. By bringing together a diverse set of contributors from the fields of teacher education and theatre, this book takes a critical look at performance, text, and culture to promote a new understanding of teaching and learning.

This unique book will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, academics and researchers in the fields of teacher education, drama and theatre education.

Includes foreword written by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves September 19, 2019.

Buzz Books 2019: Fall/Winter

Excerpts from Next Season's Best New Titles

Buzz Books gives you 45 chances to find your next great reads, providing exclusive early looks at new work from favorite authors and hot discoveries. Enjoy the first pre-publication samples of new work from bestselling authors Tracy Chevalier, Jojo Moyes, Kevin Wilson, Jeanette Winterson, and Eoin Colfer, known for his Artemis Fowl YA series. Buzz Books collections are meant to be shared, so spread your enthusiasm and “to be read” picks online.

Features an excerpt from the upcoming novel The Remaking, written by Clay McLeod Chapman, from Quirk Books. Available May 14, 2019.

Dark Moon Digest #34

The Horror Fiction Quarterly

In the 34th issue of Dark Moon Digest, the gods of the sky take their vengeance; a little girl and her brother see too much; sisters talk to civil war ghosts; a fairy tale has a different idea of happily ever after; a peeping tom gets more than an eyeful; a gangster isn’t so tough after all; and an animal social worker discovers more than she expected. Fiction by Donna J.W. Munro, Anne Gresham, Clay McLeod Chapman, George Cotronis, W.P. Johnson, Joe Quenell, and Betty Rocksteady, alongside non-fiction by Jay Wilburn and George Daniel Lea.

Features the short story “battlefield séances” written by Clay McLeod Chapman.

Transcendent: An Anthology

Literary horror anthology, edited by Anthony S. Buoni & Alisha Costanzo

A parallel dimension exists below the surface of reality. Its doors swing open every time we sleep, allowing us passage into the land of DREAMS, a plane rich with exotic fantasy and limitless bliss. Within this wonder world, however, lurk dark corridors and terrible creatures—some unfortunate travelers never escape the NIGHTMARES waiting in the shadows. Many have tried bridging our worlds. Seekers and wise men have meditated for VISIONS and ingested intoxicants for HALLUCINATIONS in hopes that the veil between our realms will thin, allowing access to all the thrills, joys, and horrors beyond our senses. TRANSCENDENT is an open gate, a gangway linking our realm to the sphere where nothing is certain and anything is possible.

Features the story 'coatroom' written by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves November 2018.

Strange Aeons Magazine

Amazing Stories. Bizarre Adventures. Weird Tales.

Strange Aeons has been described as the illegitimate love-child between Heavy Metal and Weird Tales! 64 pages of gorgeous B&W and Color Comics by Rob Corless, Eric York, and SA alumns John Fulton and K.L. Young! FOUR fantastic Fiction Stories by John C. Foster, Alan Baxter, Clay McLeod Chapman, and Brian Evenson! Articles, Columns, Reviews and so much more can also be found waiting inside! Our amazing cover is by our Head Art Creep, the one and only Nick “The Hat” Gucker! And as an added bonus we've included another collectible Art Card!

Features the short story “HOCUS FLOTUS” by Clay McLeod Chapman. Click here to purchase.

This Book Is Cursed

New horror anthology edited by Howard Rachen

The curse is as old as folklore itself. They are the malediction of gods and witches, protections of the pharoh’s tombs, the warnings for would-be thieves. Before the days of Hollywood, the werewolf was the victim of a curse. Today they linger with sports teams and in the theatre.

Features the short story “stump speeches,” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. Out Fall 2018.

Ink Stains Anthology: volume 9

A Dark Fiction Literary Anthology

Ink Stains Anthology is a literary journal filled with dark tales of fiction from Dark Alley Press, under the direction of Senior Managing Editor N. Apythia Morges. Featuring the short story “cyan, magenta, yellow and key,” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves July 2018.

Nothing Untoward

Stories from the Pumpkin Pie Show

In Rest Area, Clay McLeod Chapman offered a view into the lives of Southern Gothic monstrosities. Now, the 40 tales of Nothing Untoward delve into the depraved minds of those madmen and women who drift along the periphery of humankind. Sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes strangely heartbreaking, these stories explore the domestic horrors of the everyday, finding terror within our own households.

Haunting and hilarious, these sharply tuned diatribes are more than simple horror stories in the traditional sense. These offbeat psychological portraits are presented from the perspectives of the very monsters themselves. The heroes of these tales are murderers, loners, and drifters.

Spanning over 20 years of the rigorous storytelling session “The Pumpkin Pie Show,” the tales collected here are to be read out loud – or to yourself, if you're brave enough. The oral tradition is alive and well with these stories, captured on the page for you to share around the campfire, or flip through in bed late at night. These are ghost stories for people who don't believe in ghosts, haunted by their own crumbling minds and wounded hearts.

A perfect mixture of tongue-and-cheek gallows humor, psychological terror, and character-based storytelling, Nothing Untoward focuses on the darker side of domesticity and won't let go.

On shelves March 7, 2017. From Applause Books.

Hello Horror

Winter 2017 Volume 5, Issue 27

Hello Horror is an online literary magazine dedicated to finding true fear. The Winter 2017 edition features the story “The Fireplace” by Clay McLeod Chapman. Read it for free here.

The Evil One: An Anthology

Inspired by Roky Erickson's 'The Evil One,' edited by Andrew Blossom

Roky Erickson is a musician best known for his work with psychedelic rock pioneers The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. In the late 1960s, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Shortly thereafter he was arrested on a trumped-up drug charge and remanded to a maximum security mental institution. After his release in the 70s he began writing songs inspired by horror movies he'd seen as a child. The result was The Evil One—an album both emotionally devastating and incredibly fun, upbeat and ponderous, monster-movie geeky and deadly serious.

The Evil One is a literary cover version. Fiction from X.C. Atkins, Tom Batten, John Beckman, Andrew Blossom, Belle Boggs, Brian Castleberry, Clay McLeod Chapman, Taryn Chesshire, Matthew C. Crady, Dennis Danvers, Tom De Haven, Phillip Feger, Katy Resch George, David Gordon, Smith Henderson, Julie Karr, Greg Koehler, Chad Luibl, Lauren Maas, Tyler Magill, Muki Mahan, Lauren Sullivan McCarty, J.W. Morison, Shannon O'Neill, Howard Owen, Conrad Ashley Persons, Amira Pierce, Hermine Pinson, Mike Powell, Sarah Elaine Smith, April Sopkin, Matthew Stuart, Rebecca Taylor, Merve Thomas, Rebecca Wadlinger & Nate Waggoner.

Featuring the story 'B-Side' written by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves February 2017.

Audience (R)Evolution: Dispatches from the Field

Essay anthology edited by Caridad Svich

A collection of thoughtful and provocative reflections on how theatre practitioners think about and engage with audiences, as well as define and explore sites for performance. Through shared experience and ritual, live performance functions as a catalytic medium for progress and evolution. In the hands of artists and audience, the stage is set for the re-makings of commonwealth, or necessary revolution.

Includes the essay “I'll Be Your One-Way Mirror: Crossing the 4th Wall” by Clay McLeod Chapman. On shelves September 13, 2016.

The Tribe: Academic Assassins

Part three of the Tribe trilogy

Once the Tribe laid siege to Camp New Leaf, Spencer was left with no choice but to call in the reinforcements: their parents. But when he sees that his own mom and dad have left him high and dry, Spencer runs into the woods and never looks back. After months of hiding away, he is found and sentenced to spend time at the Kesey Reclamation Center, where kids are placed under strict surveillance. He knows he has to escape, but where can he go? If Spencer isn’t careful he might be punished and sent to the “Black Hole,” and it only takes one visit to change you—for better, or worse.

To learn more about Academic Assassins, check out the Tribe's own website here: http://thetribebooks.com/

Release date: November 24, 2015

Makeout Creek #7

The Lonesome Foghorn Blows

featuring Tom Batten, Clay McLeod Chapman, Adam Day, Brad Dukes, Harriet Hayward, Julie Karr, Tony Mancus, Carson Mell, Noah Scalin & more.

Featuring “any jane” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. Out April 2015.

The Best American Short Plays 2013-2014

Edited by William W. Demastes

For 70 years, The Best American Short Plays has been the standard of excellence for one-act plays in America. From its inception, it has identified cutting-edge playwrights – Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and others – who have gone on to establish award-winning careers. The Best American Short Plays 2013-2014 takes a look at our changing times. “Uncertain” seems to be the watchword of today's world, full of surprises, shocks, and even a few delights. Uncertainty brings with it fear and insecurity, as well as nostalgic longing for the good old days, but for some, uncertainty means opportunity and along with it the prospect of change for the better. This volume includes short plays by Neil LaBute, John Guare, Laura Shaine Cunningham, Daniel F. Levin, Quincy Long, Halley Feiffer, Caridad Svich, and Clay McLeod Chapman.

Featuring “the wet echo” written by Clay McLeod Chapman. Out October 2015.

Best Monologues from the Best American Short Plays: Volume Two

Edited by William W. Demastes

This second volume of the best monologues from the Best American Short Plays series features a diverse selection drawn from the outstanding works from many of today's best American playwrights. In these monologues, the playwrights capture much of the flavors, feelings, and thoughts of American culture over the past several decades. The result is a collection of taught, engaging monologues offering fascinating perspectives. They are written with an eye toward the stage that makes them excellent source material for actors young and old alike. And they offer a freshness and directness that make them excellent companions for readers attracted to good, often quirky, and always engaging contemporary literature.

Included in this volume are monologues by Billy Aronson, Bruce Bonafede, Victor Bumbalo, Clay McLeod Chapman, Yussef El Guindi, Steve Feffer, Catherine Filloux, Daniel Gallant, Madeleine George, Willy Holtzman, Paul Kuritz, Neil LaBute, Dano Madden, Theodore Mann, Donald Margulies, Susan Miller, Lavonne Mueller, Joyce Carol Oates, Carey Pepper, Joe Pintauro, Michael Roderick, Murray Schisgal, Paul Selig, and Nicky Silver.

Featuring the story “undertow,” originally published in Best American Short Plays 2009-2010.

The Tribe: Camp Cannibal

Part two of the Tribe trilogy

Since being expelled for giving the Greenfield Middle School student body an “explosive” case of food poisoning and sent to live with his father, Spencer Pendleton hasn't exactly been doing his best to put the past behind him and settle into his new life. What with losing the girl-of-his-dreams, Sully, and gaining a there-but-still-absentee father, his life still has a few kinks to work out. And when his single-minded quest to track down the Tribe and reunite with Sully lands him at Camp New Leaf, Spencer is convinced things can't get much worse. WRONG!

Not only is Camp New Leaf no ordinary camp, but it appears that the Tribe hasn't laid the past to rest, either. And what better place to catch up with an old member-or recruit a few new ones-than a secluded camp for “troubled” boys. With rebellion in the air, Spencer must find a way to stop the Tribe's plans to put down roots and expand its ranks before someone gets seriously hurt-or worse.

To learn more about Camp Cannibal, check out The Tribe's own website here: http://thetribebooks.com/

Release date: April 22, 2014

Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays

Volume One, Edited by WIlliam W. Demastes

Best Monologues from Best American Short Plays, Volume One is a must for actors of all ages beginners as well as seasoned veterans and belongs in the libraries of all theater teachers looking for new and exciting material for their students. The monologues in this volume are excerpted from the outstanding series Best American Short Plays, an archive of works from many of the best playwrights active today, presenting taut, engaging single-character pieces that range from zany comedy to poignant tales of love and loss. Each monologue includes a short introduction and a reference identifying where to locate the entire play, should anyone choose to pursue production beyond the monologue. Long or short, serious or not, this collection is must-have material for anyone interested in acting. The monologues also succeed as excellent companions for the casual reader.

Featuring the story “birdfeeder,” originally published in Best American Short Plays 2007-2008

The Tribe: Homeroom Headhunters

Part one of the Tribe trilogy

School is in session, and today's lesson is how to stay alive. Spencer Pendleton better take notes. He'll have to learn the Law of Claw and Fang to survive not just the bullies, but those who bully the bullies: the Tribe, a group of academic headhunters who don't play by anyone's rules except their own. They live off cafeteria food and wield weapons made out of everyday school supplies. They've made Greenfield Middle their hunting ground… and they're looking for new blood.

With a darkly candid sense of humor, author Clay McLeod Chapman reveals the wilder side of middle school, where students embrace their inner animal and go native.

To learn more about Homeroom Headhunters, check out The Tribe's own website here: http://thetribebooks.com/

Release date: May 7, 2013

Breakfast on Mars and 37 Other Delectable Essays

Edited by Rebecca Stern and Brad Wolfe

Your favorite authors take a stab at the dreaded essay assignment!

This book came directly out of one teacher's experience in the classroom. Rebecca Stern’s fifth grade students were bored to death with essay writing, and the one thing Rebecca needed to inspire them—great examples appropriate for kids—was nowhere to be found. Inspired by a challenge, Rebecca joined forces with her friend, social entrepreneur Brad Wolfe, and the two came up with a terrific proposal—gather together a collection of essays that don’t suck by some of the best writers around, many of whom kids already love reading.

Essays by NICK ABADZIS, STEVE ALMOND, GIGI AMATEAU, KHALID BIRDSONG, STEVE BREZENOFF, CECIL CASTELLUCCI, CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN, LISE CLAVEL, JOE CRAIG, SLOANE CROSLEY, CHRIS EPTING, ALANE FERGUSON, ALAN GRATZ, MICHAEL HEARST, CHRIS HIGGINS, CRAIG KIELBURGER, SARAH DARER LITTMAN, JENNIFER LOU, MICHAEL DAVID LUKAS, WENDY MASS, MAILE MELOY, KIRSTEN MILLER, JOSHUA MOHR, MARY-ANN OCHOTA, SARAH PRINEAS, RANSON RIGGS, LENA ROY, MARIE RUTKOSKI, CASEY SCIESZKA AND STEVE WEINBERG, APRIL SINCLAIR, LAUREL SNYDER, ELLEN SUSSMAN, NED VIZZINI, SCOTT WESTERFLED, DAISY WHITNEY, RITA WILLIAMS-GARCIA, ELIZABETH WINTHROP

Featuring "Showering with Spiders" by Clay McLeod Chapman. Release date: June 2013.

15-Second Plays

Curated by The Debate Society

The Debate Society asked a group of fellow playwrights and friends to contribute to a chapbook. The stipulation: Write a play intended to last 15 seconds.

Contributors include: Annie Baker, Mike Batistick, Adam Bock, Joshua Conkel, Jason Craig, Lisa D’Amour, Ann Marie Healy, Kyle Jarrow, Lally Katz, Kristen Kosmas, Kirk Lynn, Clay McLeod Chapman, Itamar Moses, Donna di Novelli, Sylvan Oswald, Reggie Watts

Featuring "A Priest Remembers His Grandmother" by Clay McLeod Chapman.

Published by Ugly Duckling Presse. For more info, click here: http://bit.ly/TBwIF2

The Best American Short Plays, 2009-2010

Edited by Barbara Parisi

Applause is proud to continue the series that for over 70 years has been the standard of excellence for one-act plays in America. This volume of the new millennium includes "Seven Card Draw," by Clay McLeod Chapman, John Guare, Neil LaBute, among others, tackling complex human issues through diverse theatrical styles and a wide range of character perspectives.

Features the short story "undertow" by Clay McLeod Chapman.

Commencement

One actress plays three women drawn together in the grim aftermath of a high school shooting—the mother of the shooter (staph infection), one of the shooter's victims (early release), and the mother of that victim (keynote speaker). It is a deep exploration of the lives of three women that, according to SEE Magazine “... will leave you wringing your hands in helpless empathy.”

For production rights and a copy of the script, go to Orginal Works here.

Awkward Two: Brevity

The villains at Awkward Press are at it again with Awkward Two, a collection of tales so inventive they can barely be contained by the boundaries of their wood-pulp prison. The experience begins with the cover, a charming take on the theme of "Brevity" that has been lovingly hand penciled by illustrious illustrator Baarbarian. Peel back the cover and find yourself transported to an unexpected world in which pirates hold court over human resources departments, house painters become religious leaders, and ants show up in the most unlikely of places.

Awkward Two features thirty-three original short works by twenty-five of the modern world's finest scribes in a package that is at once sophisticated and refreshingly humble. Awkward Two is brimming with stories guaranteed to shock and amaze.

Features the short story "grand marshal" by Clay McLeod Chapman.

Richmond Noir

Edited by Andrew Blossom, Brian Castleberry & Tom De Haven

Launched by the summer ’04 award-winning, best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.

The River City emerges as a hot spot for unseemly noir…

With a forward by Tom Robbins. Brand new stories by Dean King, Laura Browder, Howard Owen, Yazmina Beverly, Tom De Haven, X.C. Atkins, Meagan J. Saunders, Anne Thomas Soffee, Clint McCown, Conard Ashley Persons, Clay McLeod Chapman, Pir Rothenberg, David L. Robbins, Hermine Pinson, and Dennis Danvers.

Features the short story "the battle of belle isle" by Clay McLeod Chapman.

The Best American Short Plays 2007-2008

Edited by Barbara Parisi

Applause is proud to continue the series that for over 60 years has been the standard of excellence for one-act plays in America. Our editor Barbara Parisi has selected fourteen playwrights Daniel Gallant, John Guare, Neil LaBute, Quincy Long, Laura Shaine Cunningham, Clay McLeod Chapman, and Daniel Frederick Levin.

Features the short story "birdfeeder" by Clay McLeod Chapman.

Awkward One

Who let the WORDS out? Who indeed! This gorgeous collection of five imaginative fiction pieces makes an elegant conversation starter whether you're riding the rails or immersed in your morning bath. Each piece has been lovingly handprinted and -crafted by machines at G & H Soho Inc., in the United States of America. The highly-framable cover of Awkward One features an eye-catching illustration from the pen of universally-beloved artist James Moore, printed in vibrant red ink on a bone-white background. Designed by the internationally-exalted New York graphic-artistry firm Rumors, the book has been precisely engineered to withstand years of the repeat readings that you're certain to crave once you've sampled the arresting fiction contained within.

Be prepared to tumble headfirst into five unique and engrossing new worlds from the minds of Clay McLeod Chapman, Jeffrey Dinsmore, Kyle Jarrow, Honor Rovai, and Michael Cipra.

Features the short story "staph infection" by Clay McLeod Chapman.

Selected Yiddish Plays: Vol. I

Works by Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch, I.D. Berkowitz and Peretz Hirshbein

The book contains modern English adaptations of six plays by turn-of-the-century Yiddish playwrights that have never before been available in English.

Translated by Ellen Perecman. Adapted by Perecman and Clay McLeod Chapman.

At the Sign of the Snowman’s Skull

2006 Rolling Darkness Revue anthology

Tales from the 2006 Rolling Darkness Revue tour. Includes first-time-in-print stories by Peter Atkins, Clay McLeod Chapman, Dennis Etchison, Glen Hirshberg, Lisa Morton, and Norman Partridge. Published by Earthling Publications.

Perfectbound softcover containing stories from authors who toured with Rolling Darkness Revue in October 2006: Original tales from Peter Atkins, Glen Hirshberg, Clay McLeod Chapman, Lisa Morton, and Norman Partridge, and the first print appearance of a story from RDR alumnus Dennis Etchison. The bulk of the 250-copy print run was made available for sale at stops during the ROLLING DARKNESS REVUE tour; for those people who couldn’t attend the shows, approximately 50 were available for sale directly through Earthling. The copies sold through Earthling were signed by as many of the contributors as possible; at a minimum by Rolling Darkness Revue co-founders Hirshberg and Atkins.

Features the short story "late bloomer" by Clay McLeod Chapman.

As Smart As We Are

One Ring Zero's "Author Project" album

Eighteen of North America's most significant contemporary writers, including many bestselling authors, have written lyrics specially for The Author Project, a CD of songs composed and performed by the NYC-based band One Ring Zero. Imagine the finest anthology of writing possible including winners of the Booker Prize, National Book Award, the Pulitzer, the National Book Critics Circle Award; authors with real cult followings - Neil Gaiman, Denis Johnston, Paul Auster, and then imagine that writing put to music and expect an onslaught of media attention.

Features Clay McLeod Chapman's "Half and Half," sung by Pumpkin Pie Show's Hanna Cheek!

Hunger Mountain

The Vermont College Journal of Arts & Letters (Spring 2006 #8)

Hunger Mountain is a print journal of the arts that publishes fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, visual art, young adult and children’s writing, writing for stage and screen, interviews, reviews, and craft essays. Hunger Mountain was started in 2002 by founding editor Caroline Mercurio through a generous donation from a Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing alumnus. The journal has thrived since then with the assistance of MFA in writing faculty and ongoing support from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, VCFA alums, and friends of Hunger Mountain.

Featuring the short story "the suitors' ward" by Clay McLeod Chapman.

volume of smoke

Original play published at Blackbird Journal

Volume of Smoke was an original play commissioned for The Firehouse Theater (Carol Piersol, Artistic Director) in Richmond, Virginia. Premiere: February 2005. Directed by Isaac Butler and Chapman. Original music by Erik Sanko. Sections adapted from John F. Watson's “Calamity at Richmond, Being a Narrative of the Affecting Circumstances Attending the Awful Conflagration of the Theatre in the City of Richmond, on the Night of Thursday, the 26th of December, 1811.”

The original text for Volume of Smoke is available online at Blackbird Journal: http://bit.ly/H2FB2s

Streamside Day Follies

Pierre Huyghe: Streamside Day Follies

Pierre Huyghe is known for smudging the line between reality and fiction, intervening in familiar narrative structures to investigate the construction of collective and individual identities. His 2006 exhibition at Tate Modern in London included a film of his puppet musical on Le Corbusier's struggles with a commission from Harvard (and Huyghe's similar troubles at the same institution), and premiered work shot on location in Antartica and Central Park.

For the Dia-commissioned Streamside Day Follies, the basis of this publication, Huyghe invited the public to celebrate the founding of a new community, Streamside Knolls, in Fishkill, New York, with a parade, costumes, music, hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, pumpkin pies, ice cream, lemonade and green cotton candy. The resulting murals and short, fictional film refer back to a dizzying whorl of references including nineteenth-century utopian social projects, Hollywood films, Disney animation, contemporary writing and romantic landscape painting.

This book documents the project, and includes contributions by Tacita Dean, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Clay McLeod Chapman and Huyghe. Born in Paris in 1962, Pierre Huyghe has had solo exhibits at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, among others. In 2001, he was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Biennale.

Miss Corpus

This hugely imaginative first novel that traces the road trips of two complete strangers on a dramatic collision course with fate.

Will has just returned home from sea to find his wife lying dead on the kitchen floor. Four states away, Phil has been waiting for his son to return home, only to discover his body decomposing at the bottom of a nearby swamp. Will’s wife always wanted a highway-bound honeymoon. Phil’s son always wanted to see the country. In an attempt to pick up the pieces of their lives, both Will and Phil load up their cars and hit the road. An imaginative first novel tracing the fateful collision of two complete strangers, miss corpus floors the accelerator from the first page and never brakes. At once poignant, horrifying, clever and unnerving, miss corpus is a feat of literary acrobatics from an astoundingly gifted new voice in fiction.

Rest Area

An edgy, darkly humorous debut collection of chilling stories that will take hold of your imagination without letting go.

Clay McLeod Chapman’s characters don’t turn heads or perform dramatic feats of heroism. They aren’t highly educated or well-traveled. Their backgrounds and circumstances are unexceptional. Their stories, however, are anything but. Originating as a series of enthusiastically received monologues that this twenty-four-year-old author has performed around the country and abroad, Rest Area leads us into the minds of characters as real as they are original, and through a series of domestic horror stories that will leave readers breathless with amazement.

A man waits for his daughter outside the bathroom of a highway rest stop where she disappeared—months ago. A deaf teenager reveals the hidden drama of her daily bus ride to school. A lonely old woman romances a rabid fox with tales of her past. The owner of a traveling carnival takes colorful revenge on a group of ten-year-olds. A ventriloquist and his dummy “discuss” their growing dissatisfaction with their relationship.

Surprisingly comic and wonderfully tender, shockingly brutal and cleverly twisted, these are tales of ordinary people caught up in more-than-ordinary events. They herald the arrival of a unique talent—and of an arsenal of powerfully authentic voices that will echo long after the last page is turned.