Most Popular Books by Laird Barron

Strange things exist on the periphery of our existence, haunting us from the darkness looming beyond our firelight. Black magic, weird cults and worse things loom in the shadows. The Children of Old Leech have been with us from time immemorial. And they love us... Donald Miller, geologist and academic, has walked along the edge of a chasm for most of his nearly eighty years, leading a charmed life between endearing absent-mindedness and sanity-shattering realization. Now, all things must converge. Donald will discover the dark secrets along the edges, unearthing savage truths about his wife Michelle, their adult twins, and all he knows and trusts. For Donald is about to stumble on the secret... ...of The Croning. From Laird Barron, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of The Imago Sequence and Occultation, comes The Croning, a debut novel of cosmic horror.

The title story of this collection — a devilishly ironic riff on H. P. Lovecraft’s “Pickman’s model” — was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, while “Probiscus” was nominated for an International Horror Guild award and reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 19. In addition to his previously published work, this collection contains an original story.

Over the course of two award-winning collections and a critically acclaimed novel, The Croning, Laird Barron has arisen as one of the strongest and most original literary voices in modern horror and the dark fantastic. Melding supernatural horror with hardboiled noir, espionage, and a scientific backbone, Barron’s stories have garnered critical acclaim and have been reprinted in numerous year’s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards. Barron returns with his third collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Collecting interlinking tales of sublime cosmic horror, including “Blackwood’s Baby,” “The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven,” and “The Men from Porlock,” The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All delivers enough spine-chilling horror to satisfy even the most jaded reader.

Laird Barron has emerged as one of the strongest voices in modern horror and dark fantasy fiction, building on the eldritch tradition pioneered by writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, and Thomas Ligotti. His stories have garnered critical acclaim and been reprinted in numerous year''s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards. His debut collection, The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, was the inaugural winner of the Shirley Jackson Award. He returns with his second collection, Occultation. Pitting ordinary men and women against a carnivorous, chaotic cosmos, Occultation''s eight tales of terror (two never before published) include the Theodore Sturgeon and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated story "The Forest" and Shirley Jackson Award nominee "The Lagerstatte." Featuring an introduction by Michael Shea, Occultation brings more of the spine-chillingly sublime cosmic horror Laird Barron''s fans have come to expect.

Introduction by Paul Tremblay Publishers Weekly top ten list for most anticipated horror/Scifi Fall 2016 releases. Laird Barron’s fourth collection gathers a dozen stories set against the backdrops of the Alaskan wilderness, far-future dystopias, and giallo-fueled nightmare vistas. All hell breaks loose in a massive apartment complex when a modern day Jack the Ripper strikes under cover of a blizzard; a woman, famous for surviving a massacre, hits the road to flee the limelight and finds her misadventures have only begun; while tracking a missing B-movie actor, a team of man hunters crashes in the Yukon Delta and soon realize the Arctic is another name for hell; an atomic-powered cyborg war dog loyally assists his master in the overthrow of a far-future dystopian empire; following an occult initiation ritual, a man is stalked by a psychopathic sorority girl and her team of horrifically disfigured henchmen; a rich lunatic invites several high school classmates to his mansion for a night of sex, drugs, and CIA-funded black ops experiments; and other glimpses into occulted realities a razor’s slice beyond our own. Combining hardboiled noir, psychological horror, and the occult, Swift to Chase continues three-time Shirley Jackson Award winner Barron’s harrowing inquiry into the darkness of the human heart.

Capturing the electric short fiction energy that led Robert E. Howard to be one of the top fantasy writers of the century, with exclusive serialized eBook stories starring Conan, Solomon Kane, and more by many of today’s top writers in fantasy and sword-and-sorcery. After killing his latest employer, a bored Conan wanders Stygia. His wanderlust is brought to an end when he is bitten by an asp. Though he attempts to extract the venom, it’s no use. At death’s door, the Cimmerian is saved by an otherworldly woman and a skull-headed tarantula. Conan awakens being attended to by the merchant Khal, an acolyte of the strange goddess who saved his life. Khal came to Conan’s aid because Conan has been blessed by The Lady of the Desert; the Cimmerian is fated for something extraordinary. As it happens, fate is a seductive priestess with a legend to tell and coin to offer. Will Conan answer her call to adventure?

Ex-Mob enforcer Isaiah Coledrige has hung out a shingle as a private eye in New York''s Hudson Valley, and in his newest case, a seemingly simple murder investigation leads him to the most terrifying enemy he has ever faced. When a small-time criminal named Harold Lee turns up in the Ashokan reservoir--sans a heartbeat, head, or hands--the local Mafia capo hires Isaiah Coleridge to look into the matter. The Mob likes crime, but only the crime it controls...and as it turns out, Lee is the second independent contractor to meet a bad end on the business side of a serrated knife. One such death can be overlooked. Two makes a man wonder. A guy in Harold Lee''s business would make his fair share of enemies, and it seems a likely case of pure revenge. But as Coledrige turns over more stones, he finds himself dragged into something deeper and more insidious than he could have imagined, in a labyrinthine case spanning decades. At the center are an heiress moonlighting as a cabaret dancer, a powerful corporation with high-placed connections, and a serial killer who may have been honing his skills since the Vietnam War...

Ex-mob enforcer-turned-private investigator Isaiah Coleridge pits himself against a rich and powerful foe when he digs into a possible murder and a sketchy real-estate deal worth billions. Ex-majordomo and bodyguard to an industrial tycoon-cum-U.S. senator, Badja Adeyemi is in hiding and shortly on his way to either a jail cell or a grave, depending on who finds him first. In his final days as a free man, he hires Isaiah Coleridge to tie up a loose end: the suspicious death of his nephew four years earlier. At the time police declared it an accident, and Adeyemi isn''t sure it wasn''t, but one final look may bring his sister peace. So it is that Coleridge and his investigative partner, Lionel Robard, find themselves in the upper reaches of New York State, in a tiny town that is home to outsized secrets and an unnerving cabal of locals who are protecting them. At the epicenter of it all is the site of a stalled supercollider project, an immense subterranean construction that may have an even deeper, more insidious purpose. . . .

Laird Barron has emerged as one of the strongest voices in modern horror and dark fantasy fiction, building on the eldritch tradition pioneered by writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Peter Straub, and Thomas Ligotti. His stories have garnered critical acclaim and been reprinted in numerous year''s best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards. His debut collection, The Imago Sequence and Other Stories, was the inaugural winner of the Shirley Jackson Award. He returns with his second collection, Occultation. Pitting ordinary men and women against a carnivorous, chaotic cosmos, Occultation''s eight tales of terror (two never before published) include the Theodore Sturgeon and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated story "The Forest" and Shirley Jackson Award nominee "The Lagerstatte." Featuring an introduction by Michael Shea, Occultation brings more of the spine-chillingly sublime cosmic horror Laird Barron''s fans have come to expect. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

The stories are legendary, the characters unforgettable, the world horrible and disturbing. Howard Phillips Lovecraft may have been a writer for only a short time, but the creations he left behind after his death in 1937 have shaped modern horror more than any other author in the last two centuries: the shambling god Cthulhu, and the other deities of the Elder Things, the Outer Gods, and the Great Old Ones, and Herbert West, Reanimator, a doctor who unlocked the secrets of life and death at a terrible cost. In Lovecraft Unbound, more than twenty of today''s most prominent writers of literature and dark fantasy tell stories set in or inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft.

A pair of sisters are hired to find--and if necessary, dispose of--whatever is killing neighborhood pets in a dying town. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Inspired by the Lovecraft''s more optimistic writings, this unique collection spotlights the weird works of nine current horror and fantasy authors, including the award-winning Michael Cisco and Livia Llewellyn. Also includes Clark Ashton Smith''s 1931 "The City of the Singing Flame" and Lovecraft''s own "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

The eighth book in Little Book Series II is by one of the best writers of his generation—Laird Barron, and A Little Brown Book of Burials is a great intro to his work if you’ve never read him. Stories included in this collection: "Gamma" "Man with No Name" "D T" "Babes in the Wilderness" **NOTE** This digital edition has been re-edited and all content missing from the original print publication has been included.

Often disturbing, occasionally delightful, let The Year''s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror be your annual guide through the mysteries and wonders of dark fiction.

Laird Barron''s acclaimed crime saga makes a triumphant return in The Wind Began to Howl, an all-new story set after the events of Worse Angels. A seemingly benign case gradually pulls mob enforcer-turned-P.I. Isaiah Coleridge into a chilling mix of music, movie magic, mayhem, and madness. This time, Coleridge''s dark journey forces him to confront a brutal truth: For some who try to escape the past, there is no way out.

***TOP TEN SELECTION FOR BOOKLIST BEST OF HORROR 2016*** The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft: a brand new anthology that collects the twelve principal deities of the Lovecraftian Mythos and sets them loose within its pages. Featuring the biggest names in horror and dark fantasy, including many NY Times bestsellers, full of original fiction and artwork, and individual commentary on each of the deities by Donald Tyson. About the book: Lovecraft''s bestiary of gods has had a major influence on the horror scene from the time these sacred names were first evoked. Cthulhu, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth--this pantheon of the horrific calls to mind the very worst of cosmic nightmares and the very darkest signs of human nature. The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft brings together twelve all-new Mythos tales from: Cthulhu (Adam Nevill) - Yog-Sothoth (Martha Wells) - Azathoth (Laird Barron) - Nyarlathotep (Bentley Little) - Shub-Niggurath (David Liss) - Tsathoggua (Brett Talley) - The Mi-Go (Christopher Golden & James A. Moore) - Night-gaunts (Jonathan Maberry) - Elder Things (Joe Lansdale) - Great Race (Rachel Caine) - Yig (Douglas Wynne) - The Deep Ones (Seanan McGuire)

Paul Tremblay, Ramsey Campbell, and other modern masters of horror explore just how scary it is to be alone in this horror anthology featuring 20 horror short stories! Lost in the wilderness, or alone in the dark, isolation remains one of our deepest held fears. This horror anthology from Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy Award finalist Dan Coxon calls on leading horror writers to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss. Featuring short horror stories by: • Nina Allan • Laird Barron • Ramsey Campbell • M.R. Carey • Chịkọdịlị Emelumadu • Brian Evenson • Owl Goingback • Gwendolyn Kiste • Joe R. Lansdale • Tim Lebbon • Alison Littlewood • Ken Liu • Jonathan Maberry • Michael Marshall Smith • Mark Morris • Lynda E. Rucker • A.G. Slatter • Paul Tremblay • Lisa Tuttle • Marian Womack Experience the chilling terrors of isolation!

Weird Tales 359 presents interviews with Laird Barron and Richard Kirk, features on books and weird music, and short stories by Stephen Graham Jones, Evan J. Peterson, Tom Underberg, Leena Likitalo, Joel Lane, and Conrad Williams -- plus poetry and the usual features.

Issue No19 features: A curated collection of short fiction including stories by Laird Barron, Lawrence Block, Joseph S. Walker, Ahreeda Ryter, Thomas Belton, S.E Bailey, Edward Musto, Russell W. Johnson, Karen Harrington, and Matt Burgess. Essays, Interviews and Reviews by J.B. Stevens, Mark Westmoreland, and Nev March. Art and Photography by Szymon Jędrzejewski and Dimitri Bourriau. This issue also features a preview of the new graphic novel Wynd by James Tynion IV. NY Times Bestselling author Reed Farrel Coleman has called Mystery Tribune “a cut above” and mystery grand masters Lawrence Block and Max Allan Collins have praised it for its “solid fiction” and “the most elegant design”. An elegantly crafted quarterly issue, printed on uncoated paper and with a beautiful layout designed for optimal reading experience, our Issue No19 issue will make a perfect companion or gift for avid mystery readers and fans of literary crime fiction.

Unlucky thieves invade a house where Home Alone seems like a playground romp. An antique bookseller and a mob enforcer join forces to retrieve the Atlas of Hell. Postapocalyptic survivors cannot decide which is worse: demon women haunting the skies or maddened extremists patrolling the earth. In this chilling twenty-first-century companion to the cult classic Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, Ellen Datlow again proves herself the most masterful editor of the genre. She has mined the breadth and depth of ten years of terror, collecting superlative works of established masters and scene-stealing newcomers alike.

A blockbuster anthology of original, blood-curdling vampire fiction from New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors, including Charlaine Harris, whose novels were adapted into HBO’s hit show True Blood, and Scott Smith, publishing his first work since The Ruins. Before being transformed into romantic heroes and soft, emotional antiheroes, vampires were figures of overwhelming terror. Now, from some of the biggest names in horror and dark fiction, comes this stellar collection of short stories that make vampires frightening once again. Edited by New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden and featuring all-new stories from such contributors as Charlaine Harris, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Scott Smith, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Michael Kortya, Kelley Armstrong, Brian Keene, David Wellington, Seanan McGuire, and Tim Lebbon, Seize the Night is old-school vampire fiction at its finest.

The first volume in the ground-breaking, genre-bending, boundary-pushing Clockwork Phoenix anthology series, newly available in digital format. Includes critically-acclaimed and award-nominated stories by Catherynne M. Valente, David Sandner, John Grant, Cat Rambo, Leah Bobet, Michael J. DeLuca, Laird Barron, Ekaterina Sedia, Cat Sparks, Tanith Lee, Marie Brennan, Jennifer Crow, Vandana Singh, John C. Wright, C.S. MacCath, Joanna Galbraith, Deborah Biancotti and Erin Hoffman. With a whimsical introduction and new afterword by Nebula Award-nominated editor Mike Allen. CONTENTS The City of Blind Delight • Catherynne M. Valente Old Foss Is the Name of His Cat • David Sandner All the Little Gods We Are • John Grant The Dew Drop Coffee Lounge • Cat Rambo Bell, Book and Candle • Leah Bobet The Tarrying Messenger • Michael J. DeLuca The Occultation • Laird Barron There Is a Monster Under Helen''s Bed • Ekaterina Sedia Palisade • Cat Sparks The Woman • Tanith Lee A Mask of Flesh • Marie Brennan Seven Scenes from Harrai''s ''Sacred Mountain'' • Jennifer Crow Oblivion: A Journey • Vandana Singh Choosers of the Slain • John C. Wright Akhila, Divided • C. S. MacCath The Moon-Keeper''s Friend • Joanna Galbraith The Tailor of Time • Deborah Biancotti Root and Vein • Erin Hoffman Praise for CLOCKWORK PHOENIX . . . . Selected for the Locus Magazine 2008 Recommended Reading List Author and editor Allen (Mythic) has compiled a neatly packaged set of short stories that flow cleverly and seamlessly from one inspiration to another. In “The City of Blind Delight” by Catherynne M. Valente, a man inadvertently ends up on a train that takes him to an inescapable city of extraordinary wonders. In “All the Little Gods We Are,” Hugo winner John Grant takes a mind trip to possible parallel universes. Modern topics make an appearance among the whimsy and strangeness: Ekaterina Sedia delves into the misunderstandings that occur between cultures and languages in “There Is a Monster Under Helen’s Bed,” while Tanith Lee gleefully skewers gender politics with “The Woman,” giving the reader a glimpse of what might happen if there was only one fertile woman left in a world of men. Lush descriptions and exotic imagery startle, engross, chill and electrify the reader, and all 19 stories have a strong and delicious taste of weird. — Publishers Weekly, May 12, 2008 A very strong first volume … Established writers and new names all are in good form here … A series of great promise. Prospects on the anthology front look ever better. — Locus, July 2008 I would have bought this book for its mysteriously gorgeous cover art alone, but the stellar lineup of contributing writers sold me completely … CLOCKWORK PHOENIX editor Mike Allen describes the anthology as “a home for stories that sidestep expectations in beautiful and unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings and startle with the ways they cross genre boundaries, that aren’t afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques.” His choices here don’t disappoint. — PhillyBurbs.com Even if you’re not into the genre, this is a welcome read that’ll hopefully strike an emotional chord in you. — Bibliophile Stalker Another “new weird” collection, perhaps? A slipstream opus? Whatever — set somewhere between fantasy, SF, and something else, the stories selected by editor Mike Allen have an unique property: they are never tedious … I highly recommend the book to anyone looking for top-notch fiction irrespective of genre labels. — The Harrow

"Some stories are more explicitly Lovecraftian than others, but all demonstrate how Lovecraft''s dark mythology continues to inspire outstanding tales of modern horror." - Publisher''s Weekly Many of the best weird fiction writers (and creators in most other media) have been profoundly influenced by the genre and the mythos H.P. Lovecraft created eight decades ago. Lovecraft''s themes of cosmic indifference, minds invaded by the alien, and the horrors of history - written with a pervasive atmosphere of unexplainable dread - are more relevant than ever as we explore the mysteries of a universe in which our planet is infinitesimal and climatic change is overwhelming it. A few years ago, New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird presented some of the best of this new Lovecraftian fiction from the first decade of the twenty-first century. Now, New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird brings you more eldritch tales and even fresher fiction inspired by Lovecraft.

Conrad Navarro is a champion of the Pageant, a modern day gladiatorial exhibition held in secret arenas across the globe. He becomes indentured by a cabal of ultra-rich patrons, and his sister vanishes while traveling in Mexico. Imogene is a special agent for the FBI following on the trail of a scientist whose eugenics experiments landed him on a most-wanted list. Imogene left behind clues that indicate she uncovered evidence of an occult conspiracy against civilization itself. Now, Conrad is searching for his missing sister while these malign forces seek to destroy him. He becomes enmeshed within a web of primordial evil that stretches back to prehistory.

Brothers Macbeth and Drederick Tooms should have it made as fair-haired scions of an impossibly rich and powerful family of industrialists. Alas, life is complicated in mid-1950s USA when you''re child heirs to the throne of Sword Enterprises, a corporation that has enshrined Machiavelli''s The Prince as its operating manual and whose patriarch believes, Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds, would be a swell company logo. Consider also those long, cruel winters at the Mountain Leopard boarding school for assassins in the Himalayas, or that Dad may be a supervillain, while an uncle occasionally slaughters his nephews and nieces for sport; and the space flight research division of Sword Enterprises "accidentally" sent a probe through a wormhole into outer darkness and contacted an alien god. Now a bloodthirsty cult and an equally vicious rival firm suspect the Tooms boys know something and will spare no expense, nor innocent life, to get their claws on them. Between the machinations of the disciples of black gods and good old corporate skullduggery, it''s winding up to be of a hell of a summer vacation for the lads.

"Nanashi was born into a life of violence. Delivered from the mean streets by the Heron Clan, he mastered the way of the gun and knife and swiftly ascended through yakuza ranks to become a dreaded enforcer. His latest task? He and an entourage of expert killers are commanded to kidnap Muzaki, a retired world-renowned wrestler under protection of the rival Dragon Syndicate. It should be business as bloody usual for Nanashi and his ruthless brothers in arms, except for the detail that Muzaki possesses a terrifying secret. A secret that will spawn a no-holds barred gang war and send Nanashi on a personal odyssey into immortal darkness."--Page 4 of cover.

It''s about to get very dark. Bram Stoker Award-winning author Laird Barron returns to the dark and dreadful with his fifth horror collection, which weaves sixteen weird tales into a mosaic of the bloody and the macabre. Bring a flashlight and a book of matches. Where we''re going, there''s not a speck of light.

For one retiree, the past can never be packed away. "Joren Falls" by Laird Barron is one of 27 short horror stories in Nightfire''s audio anthology. Come Join Us by the Fire S2 is the second installment of Nightfire''s audio-only horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. The collection showcases the breadth of talent writing in the horror genre today, with contributions from a wide range of genre luminaries including Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Shaun Hamill, Daniel M. Lavery, Matthew Lyons, T. Kingfisher, Seanan McGuire, Nibedita Sen, and Nightfire’s own Cassandra Khaw and Silvia Moreno-Garcia. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

All new Fiction by: Darren Speegle, Gene O''Neill, Mercedes M. Yardley, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Nicholas Kaufmann and Gary Raisor Interviews with: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, S. P. Somtow, Ken Hite and Justin Achilli Articles on: "Stephen King''s IT: A Conjuration of Childhood Fears" by Aaron J. French, "A Tribute to Tom Reamy and "The Vampires of New England" by K.H. Vaughn and "Dark Poetry" by Linda Addison Columns from Mike Davis, Laird Barron, Robert Morrish, Donald Tyson and Richard Dansky!

"The Collector is the 1963 debut novel by English author John Fowles...The novel is about a lonely young man, Frederick Clegg, who works as a clerk in a city hall and collects butterflies in his spare time. The first part of the novel tells the story from his point of view. Clegg is obsessed with Miranda Grey, a middle-class art student at the Slade School of Fine Art. He admires her from a distance but is unable to make any contact with her because he lacks social skills. One day, he wins a large prize in the football pools. He quits his job and buys an isolated house in the countryside. He feels lonely, however, and wants to be with Miranda. Unable to make any normal contact, Clegg decides to add her to his collection of pretty, petrified objects, in the hope that if he keeps her captive long enough, she will grow to love him"-- http://www.centipedepress.com/horror/collector.html (as viewed on January 19, 2017).

"The editor''s claim that the first season of True Detective was a big inspiration for this anthology is evident: Ashes and Entropy sports a finely balanced mixture of grit, crime and blood along with the irrational, occult and weird."–Rue MorgueStand on the precipice and prepare to dive down through the event horizon into the bleak and mind-shattering void of both the cosmos and of humanity.Nightscape Press is proud to present ASHES AND ENTROPY edited by Robert S. Wilson, an anthology of cosmic horror and noir/neo-noir. ASHES AND ENTROPY is beautifully illustrated by Luke Spooner and includes brand new stories by Laird Barron, Damien Angelica Walters, John Langan, Kristi DeMeester, Jon Padgett, Nadia Bulkin, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy, Lucy A. Snyder, Tim Waggoner, Jessica McHugh, Paul Michael Anderson, Max Booth III, Lynne Jamneck, Greg Sisco, Lisa Mannetti, Nate Southard, Erinn L. Kemper, Matthew M. Bartlett, Autumn Christian, and more.

A magazine of dark fantasy and sword and sorcery, including short fiction from Laird Barron, John Langan, and others.