Far ahead down this strange and winding road await fourteen visions of alternate realities. Worlds of the distant past and the far future. Worlds where people forget they possess the power to fly, where artists’ creations overtake their creators, and where the bond of human and machine defines existence. Worlds where magic changed history, reality runs fluid, and planets imprison terrible secrets. Worlds within worlds where technology makes people into ghosts who possess bodies, where refugees from another dimension shatter everyday life, and where answers to the mysteries of existence lie on the far side of an all-encompassing darkness.
From a forgotten sitcom about walruses to the truth behind an interplanetary war, from the steampunk streets of New Alexandria to an enigmatic flood world where people surrender themselves to things that live beneath the water, each of these stories marks a single stop….on the Hierophant Road. Featuring the all-new novella, “Long the Night and Low the Flame.”
“Chambers enthralls with this disquieting and eclectic collection of bizarro tales which span the galaxy, the ages, and the human psyche, On the Hierophant Road reasserting his role as a veritable master of new pulp.”—Lee Murray, two-time Bram Stoker Award®-Winner and author of Grotesque: Monster Stories
“…the work really sings when its weirdness is married to narrative tropes readers know well. Readers searching for something unexpected will find a lot to admire in this ambitious, inventive collection.” —Library Journal
“These tales are united by their slightly askew proximity to reality with just enough detail to immerse readers in the well-built worlds and sympathetic protagonists, both of which drive each story. All are satisfyingly unsettling, with tones ranging from existential terror to an uneasy sense of awe. For fans of the new breed of dark-speculative-fiction writers who actively play with genre confines to create reads that are inventive, thought-provoking, and creepily fun…” —Booklist starred review, Becky Spratford
I’m pleased to share the latest review for On the Night Border from book blogger, Bark at the Ghouls:”Do yourself a favor and read this one if you need some fiction that’ll transport you to another world for a little bit. I don’t think you’ll regret it.” Read the full review here.
In case you missed, back in April, reader extraordinaire, S.D. Vassallo (https://twitter.com/diovassallo) read an excerpt from my story “What’s in the Bag, Dad?” in On the Night Border and posted a video over on Twitter. It’s an awesome treat to hear my work read by others, especially when it sounds so good. Much gratitude to S.D.! You should follow him on Twitter for excellent reviews and recs for authors and books.
I’m honored and thrilled to see that On the Night Border, published by Raw Dog Screaming Press, appears on the Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot! It’s wonderful to see this collection continue to receive such a positive response from readers and the horror community! Congratulations to all those whose work appears on the ballot. This is a pretty amazing list, which I’ve posted here in full, and if you’re looking for some great horror you will certainly find it here.
The 2019 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot
The
Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to release the Preliminary
Ballot for the 2019 Bram Stoker Awards®. The HWA (see http://www.horror.org/) is
the premier writersorganization in the horror and dark fiction genre, with
over 1,600 members. We have presented the Bram Stoker Awards®in various
categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/).
Works
on this ballot are not referred to as “nominees” or “finalists”. Only works
appearing on the Final Ballot may be referred to as “nominated works” and their
authors as “finalists”.
The
HWA Board of Trustees and the Bram Stoker Awards®Committee
congratulate all those appearing on the Preliminary Ballot. Notes about the
voting process will appear after the ballot listing.
Tanabe, Gou – H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains
of Madness Volume 1 (Dark Horse Manga)
Superior Achievement in Long Fiction
Breukelaar,
J.S. – Like Ripples on a Blank Shore (Collision: Stories)
(Meerkat Press, LLC)
Cluley,
Ray – Adrenaline Junkies (The Porcupine Boy and
Other Anthological Oddities) (Crossroad Press)
Jones, Pam – Ivy
Day (Spaceboy Books LLC)
LaValle, Victor – Up
from Slavery (Weird Tales Magazine#363)(Weird Tales
Inc.)
Manzetti, Alessandro – The Keeper
of Chernobyl (Omnium Gatherum)
Serafini, Matt – Rites
of Extinction (Grindhouse Press)
Smith,
Farah Rose – Anonyma (Ulthar Press)
Taborska, Anna – The
Cat Sitter (Shadowcats) (Black Shuck Books)
Tantlinger,
Sara – To Be Devoured (Unnerving)
Thomas, Richard – Ring
of Fire (The Seven Deadliest) (Cutting Block Books)
Warren, Kaaron – Into
Bones Like Oil (Meerkat Shorts)
Superior Achievement in Short Fiction
Chapman,
Greg – “The Book of Last Words” (This Sublime Darkness and
Other Dark Stories) (Things in the Well Publishing)
Kiste,
Gwendolyn – “The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy
Westenra’s Diary)” (Nightmare MagazineNov. 2019, Issue 86)
Landry,
Jess – “Bury Me in Tar and Twine” (Tales of the LostVolume 1: We All
Lose Something!) (Things in the Well Publishing)
Little,
John R. – “Anniversary” (Dark Tides: A Charity Horror Anthology)
(Gestalt Media)
MacKenzie,
Brooke – “The Elevator Game”(Who Knocks?
Magazine Issue #2)
O’Quinn, Cindy –
“Lydia” (The Twisted Book of Shadows) (Twisted Publishing)
Serna-Grey,
Ben – “Where Gods Dance”(Apex Magazine Issue #118)
Waggoner, Tim –
“A Touch of Madness”(The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias)
(LVP Publications)
Westlake,
Jack – “Glass Eyes in Porcelain Faces” (Black Static Issue #70) (TTS
Press)
White, Gordon
B. – “Birds of Passage” (Twice-Told: A Collection of Doubles) (Chthonic
Matter)
Superior Achievement in a Fiction
Collection
Chambers, James – On the Night Border (Raw Dog Screaming Press)
Chiang,
Ted – Exhalation: Stories (Knopf)
Evenson,
Brian – Song for the Unraveling of the World (Coffee
House Press)
Hodson, Brad
C. – Where Carrion Gods Dance (Washington Park Press)
Howard,
Kat – A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Stories(Gallery/Saga Press)
Johnson,
L.S. – Rare Birds: Stories (Traversing Z Press)
Jonez, Kate – Lady
Bits (Trepidatio Publishing)
Langan,
John – Sefira and Other Betrayals (Hippocampus
Press)
Read, Sarah – Out
of Water (Trepidatio Publishing)
Tremblay,
Paul – Growing Things and Other Stories (William Morrow)
Superior Achievement in a Screenplay
Aster,
Ari – Midsommar (B-Reel Films, Square Peg)
Busick,
Guy and Murphy, Ryan – Ready or Not (Mythology
Entertainment)
Duffer
Brothers, The – Stranger Things (Season 3, Chapter Eight:
The Battle of Starcourt) (Netflix)
Eggers,
Robert and Eggers, Max – The Lighthouse (A24, New
Regency Pictures, RT Features)
Flanagan,
Mike – Doctor Sleep (Warner Bros., Intrepid
Pictures/Vertigo Entertainment)
Gilroy,
Dan – Velvet Buzzsaw (Netflix)
Hageman,
Dan and Hageman, Kevin – Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1212
Entertainment, CBS Films, DDY, Entertainment One, Rolling Hills Productions,
Sean Daniel Company, Starlight International Media)
López, Issa – Tigers
Are Not Afraid (Filmadora Nacional, Peligrosa)
Peele,
Jordan – Us (Monkeypaw Productions, Perfect World
Pictures, Dentsu, Fuji Television Network, Universal
Pictures)
Sutherland,
Teresa – The Wind (Soapbox Films, Divide/Conquer, Mind Hive
Films)
Superior Achievement in an Anthology
Beltran,
Patrick and Ward, D. Alexander – The Seven Deadliest(Cutting
Block Books)
Brozek,
Jennifer – A Secret Guide to Fighting Elder Gods (Pulse
Publishing)
Cade,
Octavia – Sharp & Sugar Tooth: Women Up to No Good(Upper
Rubber Boot Books)
Datlow,
Ellen – Echoes (Gallery/Saga Press)
Golden,
Christopher and Moore, James A. – The Twisted Book of Shadows (Twisted
Publishing)
Guignard,
Eric J. – Pop the Clutch: Thrilling Tales of Rockabilly, Monsters, and
Hot Rod Horror (Dark Moon Books)
Johnson,
Eugene and Dillon, Steve – Tales of the Lost Volume 1: We All
Lose Something! (Things in the Well Publishing)
Jones,
Stephen – Best New Horror #29 (PS Publishing)
Schweitzer, Darrell – Mountains
of Madness Revealed (PS Publishing)
Wilson,
Robert S. – Nox Pareidolia (Nightscape Press)
Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction
Beal, Eleanor and Greenaway, Jonathan – Horror
and Religion: New Literary Approaches to Theology, Race,
and Sexuality(University of Wales Press)
Earle, Harriet E.H. – Gender, Sexuality,
and Queerness in American Horror Story: Critical Essays (McFarland)
Eighteen-Bisang, Robert and Miller,
Elizabeth – Drafts of Dracula (Tellwell Talent)
Grafius, Brandon R. – Reading the Bible with
Horror(Lexington Books/Fortress Academic)
Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra – Masks in
Horror Cinema: Eyes Without Faces (University
of Wales Press)
Kachuba, John B. – Shapeshifters: A
History (Reaktion Books)
Kröger, Lisa and Anderson, Melanie R.
– Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative
Fiction(Quirk Books)
Stobbart, Dawn – Videogames and Horror: From
Amnesia to Zombies, Run! (University of Wales Press)
Tibbetts, John C. – The Furies of Marjorie
Bowen (McFarland)
Volk, Stephen – Coffinmaker’s Blues:
Collected Writings on Terror (PS Publishing)
Superior Achievement
in Short Non-Fiction
Clasen, Mathias – Evolution, Cognition, and Horror:
A Précis of Why Horror Seduces (Journal of Cognitive
Historiography Vol 4, No 2)
Hurley, Gavin F. – Between Hell and Earth:
Rhetorical Appropriation of Religious Space within Hellraiser (The
Spaces and Places of Horror, Vernon
Press)
Kiste, Gwendolyn – Magic, Madness, and
Women Who Creep: The Power of Individuality in the Work of Charlotte Perkins
Gilman (Vastarien: A Literary Journal Vol. 2, Issue 1)
Liaguno, Vince A. – Slasher Films Made Me Gay:
The Queer Appeal and Subtext of the Genre (LGBTQ+ Horror Month:
9/1/2019, Ginger Nuts of Horror)
Mann, Craig Ian – The Beast Without: The
Cinematic Werewolf as a (Counter)Cultural Metaphor (Horror Studies
Journal Volume 10.1)
Renner, Karen J. – The Evil
Aging Women of American Horror Story (Elder Horror: Essays
on Film’s Frightening Images of Aging, McFarland)
Robinson, Kelly – Film’s First Lycanthrope: 1913’s
The Werewolf (Scary Monsters Magazine #114)
Waggoner, Tim – Riding Out the Storms (Writing
in the Dark)
Weich, Valerie E. – Lord Byron’s Whipping
Boy: Dr. John William Polidori and the 200th Anniversary of
The Vampyre(Famous Monsters of Filmland, Issue #291)
Worth, Aaron – From the Books of Wandering:
Fin-De-Siècle Poetics of a Supernatural Figure (The Times Literary
Supplement)
Superior Achievement in a Poetry
Collection
Addison,
Linda D. and Manzetti, Alessandro – The Place of Broken
Things (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Cade,
Octavia – Mary Shelley Makes a Monster (Aqueduct Press)
Coffman,
Frank – The Coven’s Hornbook & Other Poems (Bold
Venture Press)
Many thanks to A.E. Siraki for her thoughtful review of On the Night Border!
Here are stories of madness, torture, violence, settling scores, pain, and more. There are races against time, swerves to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, and haunting descriptions that remain long after the book has finished.
Today is publication day for my new horror collection, On the Night Border, published by Raw Dog Screaming Press, with an introduction by Linda Addison. Thrilled to have this in print! I hope you enjoy it!
Dark things stir in the night. When the world sleeps and quiet settles in, shadows assume sinister shapes, guilt and regret well up from the mind’s deepest recesses, and the lonely face their greatest fears. Darkness bares the secret truths whispered on the lips of the lost and the desperate. At night, terrors come alive. For those who journey too far into the dark, no escape remains—but there is a place from which to view these nightmares, a place…on the night border.
The fifteen stories collected here come from the last edge of the light and deliver glimpses into the dreadful, the mysterious, and the strange. These stories offer readers unsettling and weird visions from across the border, visions out of history and from the world around us, visions of cosmic horror, personal madness, and agonizing heartbreak.
A literary legend confronts the reality of a chaotic, uncaring universe. A young girl grows up in the shadow of a ferocious monster. A man seeks to kill his memories. Love defeats death in an odd world not unlike our own. An artist’s drawings unlock a terrifying truth of his adopted city. A mask burns. The mother of plagues offers a deadly future.
Readers will find here all of these and many other visions of what lies on the far side of the line, including, by special arrangement, stories of Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak and Kolchak, the Night Stalker. Walk up to the edge. Listen to the whispers on the wind. Peer across at the terrors beyond from your vantage point…on the night border!
What They’re Saying
“Leave the comfort of what you think you know behind and journey through the dark imaginings of James Chambers, an author with the talent to turn ordinary places and familiar people into our worst nightmares in this latest collection. Get this book now!” —Rena Mason, Bram Stoker Award® winning author of The Evolutionist and East End Girls
“In his new collection On the Night Border, James Chambers tells stories with the uneasy familiarity of urban legends or tales told around a campfire on a chilly fall evening. Some of the stories you may have read, others leap out at you for the first time. “Kolchak The Night Stalker: The Lost Boy” fluidly takes you back to that ’70s television show, while the closer, “Red Mami,” is a stunner. Highly recommended!” —Multi Bram Stoker Award-Nominated John F.D. Taff, Author of Little Black Spots and The Fearing
“On the Night Border is an assemblage of wonderfully-horrific tales by a writer madly in love with language. The fictions within are chambers of storytelling madness that, once fully explored, each and every one, infect the reader into wanting more, more, more.” —Michael Bailey, author of Psychotropic Dragon and Seven Minutes
Raw Dog Screaming Press is excited to announce that a two-book deal has been signed with author James Chambers. The agreement is for a pair of short story collections to be published over the next two years. The first, On the Night Border, is horror themed, features the Bram Stoker-nominated short story “A Song Left Behind in the Aztakea Hills,” and will be released later in 2019. Poet and author Linda D. Addison has agreed to write the introduction. The second collection, The Price of Faces, focuses on Chambers’ science fiction and fantasy themed stories and will be released in 2020. Italian artist Daniele Serra has been commissioned to paint both covers.
“After knowing Jim for so long we’re very happy to finally be able to work with him on a full-length project,” says RDSP owner John Lawson. They first met at Horrorfind in 2003 and one of Chambers’ stories was included in the second book RDSP ever published, Sick: An Anthology of Illness. “I can’t wait for people to read On the Night Border,” says editor Jennifer Barnes. “While many readers may be familiar with Jim’s Stoker-nominated story, there are several fantastic unpublished works included and it’s a great mix of his historically-inspired and Lovecraftian tales with more visceral present day horror. I was very impressed with the depth and quality of this collection.”
Jim has been contributing to the horror genre for many years and in more ways than one. While his writing has been recognized with a Bram Stoker Award® for the graphic novel, Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe and a Stoker nomination for his short story “A Song Left Behind in the Aztakea Hills” he has also been a tireless volunteer for his fellow authors receiving both the Richard Laymon Award and the Silver Hammer Award for his volunteer work with the HWA. He coordinates the New York chapter of the HWA and has supported endeavors like the Girls Write Now charity as an editor of the anthology A New York State of Fright and helping to organize a reading to celebrate Women in Horror month.
A release date will be set soon. Reviewers interested in receiving advance copies can contact books (at) rawdogscreaming.com.
