Congratulations, also, to Dark Arts Books’ Co-Publisher John Everson, for having his tale “The Mouth” from THE DEATH PANEL (Comet Press) also receive an Honorable Mention!

This is Dark Arts Books’ sixth release since Candy in the Dumpster debuted at the World Horror Convention in 2006. When The Night Comes Down features 16 short stories by Joseph D’Lacey, Bev Vincent, Robert E. Weinberg and Nate Kenyon, and the book will be celebrated with a launch party at the 2010 World Horror Convention in Brighton, England on March 26th.

Within the pages of When The Night Comes Down, you’ll find shapeshifters and gravediggers, but also supernatural private detectives and — perhaps most terrifying of all — beautiful creatures that prey on… horror writers. Murder, death — and things worse than death — are all waiting for you inside.

Joseph D’Lacey, author of the critically acclaimed novel MEAT, writes in the vein of the Clive Barker of the 1980s in stories like “The Unwrapping of Alastair Perry” and “Introscopy.”

Bev Vincent, already renowned for his non-fiction guides to the work of Stephen King, shows off some impressive range in his fiction — from hard-edged horror (”Silvery Moon”) to Bradbury-esque whimsical (”Something in Store”) to knowing humor (”Knock ‘em Dead”).

Horror and Dark Fantasy legend Robert E. Weinberg, author of The Black Lodge and 16 other novels (and an equal number of non-fiction books), delivers perhaps the all-time greatest behind-the-scenes send-up of genre convention weekends with “Elevator Girls.” 

And rising young gun Nate Kenyon, in gritty stories like “Gravedigger” and “The Buzz of A Thousand Wings,” showcases why he has earned all those raves for his novels The Reach and The Bone Factory.

Read more about this amazing collection here.

Pre-order

Featuring 16 short stories by Joseph D’Lacey, Bev Vincent, Robert E. Weinberg and Nate Kenyon, this amazing collection will debut at the 2010 World Horror Convention in Brighton, England at the end of March.

The book is at press now, and will be shipping in about three weeks.  Order a copy today and you’ll be one of the first to receive the dark magic of When The Night Comes Down.

See the full description and table of contents here.

First off, a hearty congratulations to Mort Castle, whose excellent story “Dreaming Robot Monster” from MIGHTY UNCLEAN received a nomination for a Bram Stoker Award in the Long Fiction category!

Also, there is another fantastic review of MIGHTY UNCLEAN up at Dark Discoveries. They say a bunch of awfully nice things about each authors’ work, and finish up with “…a great collection and highly recommended.” You can order MIGHTY UNCLEAN right now in the Dark Arts Books online  store.

We are busy at work making sure everything is set for the launch of our newest title WHEN THE NIGHT COMES DOWN, at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, UK next month. WHEN THE NIGHT COMES DOWN features sixteen awesome tales from Joseph D’Lacey, Bev Vincent, Robert Weinberg and Nate Kenyon.   Pre-ordering information will be available soon.

Best to everyone and look forward to seeing you in Brighton!

You can find ordering information for the  horror/dark fantasy anthology When the Night Comes Down from Dark Arts Books in the  Dark Arts Books Store!

You’ll notice the Dark Chicago banner now on all of our web site pages; give one a click and check out all of the dark stuff seeping out of the Windy City. There’s an impressive lot of dark culture here!

Spearheaded by Chicago horror artist Chad Savage, the Dark Chicago portal of sites offers news feeds from sites like Chicago Horror, Chicago Zombie, Chicago Vampire, Chicago Horror Film Festival, The Horror Society, Zombie Army Productions, Zombie Pinups and many more. For those that need their horror feeds 24/7, there’s also a cool DarkChicago.com toolbar available to add to your web browser, so you’re always in touch with what creepy happenings are going on in the area.

As a Chicago-based small press focused on the best in horror fiction, we’re proud to be part of the network!

We will be releasing our SIXTH book of strange stories at the World Horror Convention in Brighton, UK in March. Like our previous anthologies, this one will feature an eclectic mix of four amazingly talented writers and their unique styles. Watch this space for more news soon on the lineup of authors and contents.

As well, in 2010 Dark Arts Books will also debut its first-ever single author collection! We’ll have an announcement with all the details coming soon, but for now we can say this is going to be one of the best books of the year!

Lastly, to everyone who supported Dark Arts Books, or who took the time to check out our little corner of the web, we thank you dearly. It is because of you and folks like you that we are able to keep publishing the interesting and wonderful writers we do. From all of us here at Dark Arts, we wish you and yours the best this holiday season and peace and happiness in 2010!

Horrorbles, a horror memorabilia shop in Berwyn, IL now carries our complete line of books, as does Eerie Books down in Wylie, TX. 

We’re also pleased to welcome the new chain of Books for Less, down in Columbia Place Mall in Columbia, SC who have added the Dark Arts line to their shelves.

And last but not least, we now have an official UK distribution outlet — Jeff ‘N’ Joys Quality Books.  If you’re in the UK, we encourage you to order directly through Jeff ‘N’ Joy’s, who currently list our Waiting for October anthology on their site as their book of the month!

Please support these stores and all of our partner bookstores. You see see the full list of stores that carry Dark Arts Books on our Links  page.

Dark Arts Books’ fifth anthology since 2006, Mighty Unclean debuted in a preview edition at the 2009 Bram Stoker Awards Weekend last month in Burbank, CA. The full print run began shipping in July and like our previous anthologies, Mighty Unclean features several stories each from four groundbreaking authors of the dark and macabre. This time around, you’ll get a sampling of the amazing fiction of  Gary A. Braunbeck, Mort Castle, Gemma Files and Cody Goodfellow.

Unwell… Cody Goodfellow wants to introduce you to a goddess who offers unsurpassed pleasure – at  an unspeakable price.

Unwise… Gemma Files wants you to see what
happens when you look too closely into places and things better left unknown.

Unquiet… Mort Castle wants to play some unfamiliar music for you… the tunes of the lost and the damned.

Undone… Gary A. Braunbeck wants to take you to the edge of madness and perversity… and push you over.

To see the full Table of Contents or to order, see the Mighty Unclean  page or visit the Store.

The Bram Stoker Awards are awarded every year by the Horror Writers Association for superior achievement in horror.  This year, the awards will be handed out during the Stoker Awards Weekend, June 12-14 in Burbank, CA. Dark Arts Books will be in attendance, and will be hosting a table in the dealer’s room during the Stoker Weekend.

We congratulate all the nominees, and especially the authors from LIKE A CHINESE TATTOO – Cullen Bunn, JA Konrath, David Thomas Lord and Rick R. Reed.

Here is a complete list of this year’s Bram Stoker Award Nominees:

Superior Achievement in a Novel
Coffin Country by Gary Braunbeck (Leisure Books)
The Reach by Nate Kenyon (Leisure Books)
Duma Key by Stephen King (Scribner)
Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson (Bad Moon Books/Medallion Press)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel
Midnight on Mourn Street by Christopher Conlon (Earthling Publications)
The Gentling Box by Lisa Mannetti (Dark Hart Press)
Monster Behind the Wheel by Michael McCarty and Mark McLaughlin (Delirium Books)
The Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard (St. Martin’s Press)
Frozen Blood by Joel A. Sutherland (Lachesis Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
The Shallow End of the Pool by Adam-Troy Castro (Creeping Hemlock Press)
Miranda by John R. Little (Bad Moon Books)
Redemption Roadshow by Weston Ochse (Burning Effigy Press)
The Confessions of St. Zach by Gene O’Neill (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
“Petrified” by Scott Edelman (Desolate Souls)
“The Lost” by Sarah Langan (Cemetery Dance Publications)
“The Dude Who Collected Lovecraft” by Nick Mamatas and Tim Pratt (Chizine)
“Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment” by M. Rickert (Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
“Turtle” by Lee Thomas (Doorways)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Like a Chinese Tattoo , edited by Bill Breedlove (Dark Arts Books)
Horror Library, Vol. 3, edited by R.J. Cavender (Cutting Block Press)
Beneath the Surface, edited by Tim Deal (Shroud Publishing)
Unspeakable Horror, edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder (Dark Scribe Press)

Superior Achievement in a Collection
The Number 121 to Pennsylvania by Kealan Patrick Burke (Cemetery Dance Publications)
Mama’s Boy and Other Dark Tales by Fran Friel (Apex Publications)
Just After Sunset by Stephen King (Scribner)
Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters by John Langan (Prime Books)
Gleefully Macabre Tales by Jeff Strand (Delirium Books)

Superior Achievement in Nonfiction
Cheap Scares by Gregory Lamberson (McFarland)
Zombie CSU by Jonathan Maberry (Citadel Press)
A Hallowe’en Anthology by Lisa Morton (McFarland)
The Book of Lists: Horror by Amy Wallace, Del Howison and Scott Bradley (HarperCollins)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection
The Nightmare Collection by Bruce Boston (Dark Regions Press)
The Phantom World by Gary William Crawford (Sam’s Dot Publishing)
Virgin of the Apocalypse by Corrine De Winter (Sam’s Dot Publishing)
Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty (Skullvines Press)

Mighty Unclean

They’re all “Mighty Unclean!”

Dark Arts Books is proud to announce that its fifth title—the anthology Mighty Unclean—is set to be released at the 2009 Bram Stoker Awards Weekend, June 12-14, in Burbank, CA, and will feature stories from authors Gary A. Braunbeck, Mort Castle, Gemma Files and Cody Goodfellow.

“We are very excited about this book,” said Dark Arts Co-Publisher John Everson, “once again we have an unbelievable lineup and some really incredible stories.”

As usual, Mighty Unclean will follow Dark Arts’ template of combining the best new fiction along with uncovering outstanding reprinted material from each of the four authors, and will be edited by Dark Arts Co-Publisher Bill Breedlove.

One of the new story highlights is sure to be Gemma Files’ “The Speed of Pain,”—a sequel to her earlier work, “The Emperor’s Old Bones,” which won an International Horror Guild Award for best short story.

Cody Goodfellow, whose novel “Jake’s Wake” (with John Skipp) was recently published, has a story that Everson thinks will be garnering quite a bit of attention.

I think a lot of people are going to be talking about ‘Venus of Santa Cruz,’” said Everson. “it’s one of the most bizarre and extreme stories we ever published—and we have published some really bizarre and extreme stuff!”

Add in the contributions from multiple-Stoker Award winner Gary A. Braunbeck and living legend Mort Castle, and this release looks to be Dark Arts’ most compelling book yet.

Mighty Unclean is available for preorder now.

We’re happy to announce that Maria Alexander’s story, “The Last Word,” from Sins of the Sirens,  received enough recommendations to make the 2008 Preliminary Stoker Ballot in the Short Fiction Category.

Our latest anthology, Like A Chinese Tattoo,  also made the 2008 Preliminary Stoker Ballot - the book as a whole was recommended in the Anthology Category.

We’d like to congratulate Maria Alexander, J.A. Konrath, Rick R. Reed, David Thomas Lord and Cullen Bunn on this achievement and wish them luck in the next round of voting (the cutoff for preliminary ballot voting for the Stoker Awards is in March, and then Active HWA Members will vote on the resulting Final Ballot).

The Bram Stoker Awards will be presented in Burbank, CA in June.

Like A Chinese Tattoo

Like A Chinese Tattoo, Dark Arts’ April 2008 release featuring stories from Cullen Bunn, Rick R. Reed, David Thomas Lord and JA Konrath, has been garnering some great thumbs-up press this summer!

Hellnotes heralded the launch in early April noting, “In typically atypical fashion, Dark Arts Books launched its fourth title, the obliquely named Like A Chinese Tattoo last week at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City by staging … what else? A late night Pajama Party. The book follows the press’ unconventional approach, melding extremely dark fiction with over-the-top humorous horror.

Horrorview Review wrote, “Like a Chinese Tattoo is not for the squeamish. There’s plenty of creepy, crawly dead things (and dead parts, in some cases). The subject matter may shift from the macabre to the manic, but each story is delivered with gripping detail and devilish glee. For fans of the sick and twisted, this collection is a winner.“ To read the review in its entirety, click here.

The June 2008 edition of Horror Fiction Review described Like a Chinese Tattoo as “another interesting collection…nicely blending horror and humor…” while the June 2008 issue of Rue Morgue Magazine called it “a brilliant collection of work from four talented authors, all of whom bring something sick and dripping to the table.”

Sins of the Sirens

Sins of the Sirens, Dark Arts’ January 2008 release featuring erotic horror and dark fantasy tales from Loren Rhoads, Maria Alexander, Mehitobel Wilson and Christa Faust, has been reviewed in several genre magazines this spring and summer!

The July issue of Rue Morgue Magazine said the collection is “infused with passion, blood and magic, and its stories are seductive, powerful and terrifying.”

Pretty-Scary.net ran a lengthy Sirens review on April 21, 2008. Here’s a teaser from the review: “So what does this anthology want us to know? Not that it is a horror-anthology; we have plenty of those. And not that it’s a book by women. (Though it most certainly is that). It’s a collection of stories about desire; desire for touch, for love, for ropes, for a lost person, for a lost child, for life… the list is virtually endless. It’s a collection about how desire can turn evil, and usually does if unchecked, but how it can also allow us to overcome great evil. Desire, in and of itself, is what pushes us to try strange new sex and interesting toys that can hurt us. It’s the danger that we desire more so than the thing itself. These four women have done a great job of exhibiting, through their art, engaging and fun stories of desire and its resultant pain and ecstasy while managing to express themselves in the bargain.”
Read the full review here:  http://www.pretty-scary.net/?q=node/1504.

Dark Scribe Magazine gave the book a nod, stating:  “Overall, Sins of the Sirens is a worthy anthology that acquaints readers with four notable genre voices. It’s yet another solid addition to the growing catalog of Dark Arts Books and a fine example of the positive contributions of the horror small press. Sins’ subject matter is a perfect fit for the small press, and Everson does an excellent job catering to the specific tastes of those who like their horror on the sensual side - with just a hint of the nasty.”

David Niall Wilson posted a series of interviews with all four of the “Sirens.” You can read them on his site at www.macabreink.com site. Wilson also reviewed the book itself, with an in-depth story-by-story synopsis. Check it out in the reviews section of his site. Here’s an excerpt from his review: “My first thought in reviewing this book is that there is a level of deeply honest eroticism and fantasy to these stories that you seldom see in fiction. These aren’t stories for the faint of heart. They are also not stories men should read if they have to stand up in public. They ARE stories that will stick with you…. this is a very strong, very intense and emotionally charged collection from some of the most talented ladies of darkness working in the horror and speculative fiction fields today.”

The party was a phenomenal success and lasted most of the night, but we closed the doors around 4:30 a.m. so the room could be clean by 6 a.m.!

Special thanks to  our bartenders Martel Sardina, Dark Arts co-publisher Bill Breedlove and Whitney Lakin,  who kept everybody in their cups.

The party lasted most of the night, but we closed the doors around 4:30 a.m. so the room could be clean by 6 a.m.! Below are some of the pictures we took from the evening, which celebrated the debut of the Dark Arts anthologies Sins of the Sirens and Like a Chinese Tattoo. We can’t tag every photo in the collection (OK, we could, but I’m not going to!), but the first row spotlights our bartenders Martel Sardina, Dark Arts co-publisher Bill Breedlove and Whitney Lakin, with Dark Arts author Adam Pepper. Dark Arts co-publisher John Everson roamed the party with silk robe and camera, (and consequently turns up in way too many photos!)

Also in attendance were Dark Arts authors Loren Rhoads, Maria Alexander and Cullen Bunn. Scores of people turned up for the bash, which started right after the Bram Stoker Awards, including some of these pictured below: Mort Castle, Larry Roberts, Edward Bryant, Alexandra Sokoloff, Sarah Langan, Gerard Houarner, Linda Addison, Bailey Hunter, Eunice Magill, Cody Goodfellow, Jimmy Z, Jeremy Lassen, Alan Beatts, Jude Feldman, Christopher Treagus, Kelly Laymon, Wrath James White, Weston Ochse, Bill Gagliani, Dave Benton, John Palisano, Gord Rollo, Monica Kuebler, Lynne Hansen and many, many more.

And a few more photos, courtesy of Loren Rhoads and occasional guest photographer Jude Feldman:

Sleepwear Strongly Encouraged

Loren Rhoads, Christa Faust, Maria Alexander at Dark Delicacies Bookstore (click photo for larger version)

Some of the authors of Sins of the Sirens held two California book signings to celebrate the launch of the new anthology:

JAN. 19 2008, 2 PM
Maria Alexander, Christa Faust and Loren Rhoads did a special signing to launch Sins of the Sirens at Dark Delicacies at 4213 W. Burbank Blvd. Burbank, CA. You can read about the event in Loren Rhoads‘ and Maria Alexander’s blogs.

FEB. 23, 2008, 3 PM
Maria Alexander and Loren Rhoads performed live readings from Sins of the Sirens (and, of course, signed books) at Borderlands Books in San Francisco. Read about the Reading Redux in Loren’s and Maria’s blogs.

Candy in the Dumpster

JANUARY 14, 2008:
Candy in the Dumpster authors Bill Breedlove, John Everson and Martin Mundt will be doing a reading at Twilight Tales in Chicago.

The show starts at 7:30 and is hosted at Mix: The Lincoln Park Lounge, 2843 N. Halsted.

January 24, 2008:
John Everson and Martin Mundt will perform fiction readings at 7:30 p.m. at Cafe Ennui, 6981 N. Sheridan Rd., in Chicago.

Dark Arts publishers Bill Breedlove and John Everson bookend Waiting For October Authors Sarah Pinborough and Jeff Strand at the Bram Stoker Awards during World Horror Con 2007 in Toronto.

Dark Arts Books lauched its 2nd anthology, Waiting For October at  World Horror Convention 2007 in Toronto at the end of March, 2007. 

Dark Arts authors Bill Breedlove, Mort Castle, John Everson, Adam Pepper, Sarah Pinborough and Jeff Strand  all attended the convention, and Adam, Sarah and Jeff performed readings from Waiting for October at the book’s midnight release party!

For photos from that con, visit Everson’s travelogue.

Bill Breedlove and John Everson consider their responses carefully while on a bookstore author panel in Wisconsin.

Bill Breedlove and John Everson were part of a horror/thriller author panel at the Wauwatosa, WI Barnes & Noble on Oct. 20, along with five other authors.

Bad Moon Books’ Roy Robbins displays a copy of Candy in the Dumpster at the World Horror Convention, flanked by John Everson, Martin Mundt and Bill Breedlove.

• See a gallery of WHC pix on John Everson’s site.