<<

What w e publish and hy ChiZine Publications is willing to take Right now, we’re seeing strong and original risks. We’re looking for the unusual, the genre ideas, but too often they rely on interesting, the thought-provoking. We standard plots, the same settings, and look for writers who are also willing to take two-dimensional characters that serve the risks, who want to take dark genre fiction plot instead of having inner motivation. to a new place, who want to show readers These are “safe” stories—not particularly something they haven’t seen before. CZP challenging, and effortless to consume and wants to startle, to astound, to share the digest. bliss of good writing with our readership. Because we’re a smaller outfit, we can take What’s Dark Genre Fiction? some risks—find authors and manuscripts that are trying to move the genre forward. We say “dark genre fiction” because too much time is spent fighting over SF vs. Come With Us! horror vs. fantasy. If there’re dragons, it’s fantasy . . . CZP wants fiction that takes that next step forward. Horror that isn’t just gross or Unless they’re bio-engineered dragons, then going for a cheap scare, but fundamentally it’s SF . . . disturbing, instilling a sense of true dread. Fantasy that doesn’t necessarily need spells But a dragon apocalypse might be horror . . . or wizards to create a world far removed from ours, but that imbues the story with We want stories using speculative ele- an otherworldly sense by knocking tropes ments—magic, technology, insanity, gods, on their heads. that isn’t just or insane-magic-technology-gods all in about space travel and gadgets, but about one—to show the dark side of human na- what it means to be human—or what it ture. The good guy can feel—and act on—an- means not to be. ger, hatred, vengeance, just like the villain. Heroes don’t always win, conclusions don’t We want to give our readers characters we always wrap things up nicely, and sometimes genuinely care about. Stories that, if you things can take a turn that’s just plain weird removed the genre element, could still stand . . . even for the genre. on their own.

Is Genre Fiction Standing Still? “New weird” and “slipstream” are labels that come to mind, but despite any kind Larger presses are sometimes forced to of moniker, above all, we’re out to publish play it safe: plots and stories we’ve seen well-written, character-driven stories. The before, because that’s what the public single most important quality we look for at seems to crave. Teenage vampire angst; CZP is resonance. multi-book series; and spaceships, fleet admirals, and invading Bottom-line: If you like one CZP book, aliens. Sometimes it can feel like we’re all chances are, you’ll like them all. just reading the same stories, over and over, just in slightly different settings. —Brett Savory, , and the CZP staff

what the . . .

Don’t worry. This isn’t a printing error! CHIZINE PUBLICATIONS These are QR codes—a quick way to jump Toronto, Canada to the Web with your smartphone. chizinepub.com Get the app, point the camera, click, and go! [email protected] 3 ChiZine Publications Bullettime Nick Mamatas Dark Fiction

David Holbrook is a scrawny kid, the victim of bullies, and the neglected son of insane parents. David Holbrook is the Kallis Episkipos, a vicious murderer turned imprisoned leader of a death cult dedicated to Eris, the Hellenic goddess of discord. David Holbrook never killed anyone, and lives a lonely and luckless existence with his aging mother in a tumbledown New Jersey town. Caught between finger and trigger, David is given three chances to decide his fate as he is compelled to live and relive all his potential existences, guided only by the dark wisdom found in a bottle of cough syrup. From the author of the instant cult classic Move Under Ground comes a fantasy of blood, lust, destiny, school shootings, and the chance to change your future. 223 PAGES ISBN 978-1-926851-71-6 “Nick Mamatas is the anti-lobotomy: an icepick in USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 the eyeball that makes you smarter. Yeah, it hurts, 5 x 7.25 but I recommend the experience. This guy is good.” Trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK —John Skipp, author of The Long Last Call August 15, 2012

“Mamatas is a powerfully acerbic writer.” —Boingboing.net

“Genre fiction’s answer to De Lillo or Pynchon.” —Interzone

NICK MAMATAS is the author of four and a half previous , including The Damned Highway with Brian Keene, and Sensation. He’s also an anthologist— recent titles include Haunted Legends, co-edited with , and The Future is Japanese, co-edited with Masumi Washington. Nick’s short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, , New Haven Review, and the Canadian literary journal subTERRAIN, among many other periodicals and anthologies. A native New Yorker, Nick now lives in California, but first he spent several years living in Jersey City, New Jersey. ChiZine Publications 4 Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye Paul Tremblay Illustrated by Susanne Apgar

Farm is the mega-conglomerate food supplier for City, populated with rabidly bureaucratic superiors, and sexually deviant tour guides dressed in chicken and duck suits. City is sprawling, technocratic, and rests hundreds of feet above the coastline on the creaking shoulders of a giant wooden pier. When the narrator’s single mother, whom he left behind in City, falls out of contact, he fears the worst: his mother is homeless and subsequently to be deported under City to the Pier. On his desperate search to find his mother, he encounters ecoterrorists wearing plush animal suits, City’s all-powerful Mayor who is infatuated with magic refrigerators and outlaw campaigns, and an over-sexed priest who may or may not have ESP, but who is most certainly his deadbeat dad.

Whether rebelling against regimented and 352 PAGES ridiculous Farm life, exploring the consumer- ISBN 978-1-926851-69-3 obsessed world of City, experiencing the suffering of the homeless in Pier, or confronting the secrets USD $16.95/CAD $19.95 of his own childhood, Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye’s 5 x 7.25 narrator is a hilarious, neurotic, and rage-filled Quixote searching for his mother, his own dignity, Trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK and the meaning of humanity. August15, 2012

“Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye is fine, ribald work. There’s a futuristic wackiness and bitterness that reminds me of the best of George Saunders’s longer stories. It’s brutal and hilarious, and Tremblay’s narrator holds it all together with an ironic grimace.” —Stewart O’Nan, author of Emily Alone and Last Night at the Lobster

PAUL TREMBLAY is also the author of the novels The Little Sleep, No Sleep Till Wonderland, and the short story collection In The Mean Time. His essays and short fiction have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Five Chapters.com, and Best American Fantasy 3. He is the co-editor of four anthologies including Creatures: Thirty Years of Monster Stories (with ). Paul is currently on the board of directors for the Awards. He fears many things, including the return of his banished uvula.

SUSANNE APGAR was born in New Jersey and raised in Montreal. She studied Illustration and Design at Dawson College followed by Fine Arts at Concordia University. She generally works in oils and is currently freelancing in editorial, advertising, and book illustration. Her paintings are exhibited in galleries across Canada and the U.S. 5 ChiZine Publications Janus John Park Science Fiction

In the near future, Jon Grebbel arrives on the colony world of Janus, and finds himself mysteriously without memory of his life on Earth. It seems that the long journey from Earth has caused severe memory loss in many of Janus’s colonists. While Grebbel wants to start his new life, he also wants his memory back, and starts treatments to restore his past. But they only leave him angry and disturbed as he begins to doubt the glimpses of the past the treatments reveal. Grebbel meets Elinda, an earlier arrival, whose lover, Barbara, vanished and then was found lying in the woods, apparently brain-damaged. Elinda has also lost her memories of Earth, but unlike him she has abandoned the effort to recover them. Now their meeting brings each of them a glimpse of an experience they shared back on Earth. . . . As their relationship deepens, doubts gather 270 PAGES about the world they live in and about ISBN 978-1-927469-10-1 themselves. Was what happened to Barbara more than an accident? Why are the memories that USD $15.95/CAD $18.95 begin to surface in Elinda and Jon so disturbing? 6 x 9 And are they even real? Trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK Investigating Barbara’s fate and their own, the September 15, 2012 two find their love and their search for justice turning toward bitter self-discovery and revenge, even as they begin to uncover the darkness at the heart of their world.

“In the tradition of Delany, Sturgeon, and Le Guin but taking his place among contemporary voices like Watts, Vonarburg, Schroeder, and Huff, John Park brings strength, intelligence, and grace of narrative to bear in this of relationship and estrangement.” —Candas Jane Dorsey

JOHN PARK was born in Britain but moved to Canada in 1970 as a graduate student and has lived there ever since. He has done research in chemical physics and been part of a scientific consulting firm. Along the way, he developed a liking for Beethoven, became a graduate of the Clarion writers workshop, and began selling short stories (not necessarily in that order). His fiction and poetry have appeared in a number of Canadian, US, and European publications. He lives in Ottawa, where he is a member of the Lyngarde writing group. ChiZine Publications 6

The Indigo Pheasant Part Two of Longing for Yount Daniel A. Rabuzzi Illustrated by Deborah Mills Fantasy Maggie Collins, born into slavery in Maryland, whose mathematical genius and strength of mind can match those of a goddess, must build the world’s most powerful and sophisticated machine—to free the lost land of Yount from the fallen angel Strix Tender Wurm. Sally, of the merchant house McDoon, who displayed her own powers in challenging the Wurm and finding Yount in The Choir Boats, must choose either to help Maggie or to hinder her. Together—or not—Maggie and Sally drive the story started in The Choir Boats—a story of blood-soaked song, family secrets, sins new and old, forbidden love, betrayals intimate and grand, sorcery from the origins of time, and battle in the streets of London and on the arcane seas of Yount. 368 PAGES Praise for The Choir Boats ISBN 978-1-927469-09-5 “(A)n auspicious debut . . . a muscular, Napoleonic- USD $16.95/CAD $19.95 era fantasy that, like Philip Pullman’s Dark 5.5 x 8.5 Materials series, will appeal to both adult and young adult readers.” Trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK —Realms of Fantasy September 15, 2012

“(A) fantastic and deeply entertaining debut novel . . . Part adventure, part classic fantasy, The Choir Boats might be earmarked for young adults, but anyone to whom this sounds like a rich ride will be surprised and delighted.” —Lincoln Cho, January Magazine (Best Books of 2009: Children’s Books)

DANIEL A. RABUZZI’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in Sybil’s Garage, Shimmer, ChiZine, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Abyss & Apex, Goblin Fruit, Mannequin Envy, Bull Spec, Kaleidotrope, and Scheherezade’s Bequest. He has presented at Arisia, Readercon, Lunacon, and the Toronto Speculative Fiction Colloquium. He has also had twenty scholarly and professional articles published on subjects ranging from fairytale to finance. Daniel is an executive at a national workforce development organization in New York City, where he lives with his wife and soulmate, the artist Deborah A. Mills, along with the requisite two cats. 7 ChiZine Publications Every House is Haunted Ian Rogers Horror

In this brilliant debut collection, Ian Rogers explores the border-places between our world and the dark reaches of the supernatural. The landscape of death becomes the new frontier for scientific exploration. A honeymoon cabin with an unspeakable appetite finally meets its match. A suburban home is transformed into the hunting ground for a new breed of spider. A nightmarish jazz club at the crossroads of reality plays host to those who can break a deal with the devil . . . for a price. With remarkable deftness, Rogers draws together the disturbing and the diverting in twenty-two showcase stories that will guide you through terrain at once familiar and startlingly fresh. An entertainer of the highest calibre.

300 PAGES “Ian Rogers’ stories are old-fashioned in the very best ISBN 978-1-927469-16-3 sense: classic chillers in the spirit of Shirley Jackson USD $15.95/CAD $18.95 and Richard Matheson. Every House Is Haunted is 6 x 9 full of well-crafted, satisfying twists, a fine companion Trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK for any reader of literate horror.” —Andrew Pyper, author of Lost Girls, October 15, 2012 The Killing Circle, and The Guardians

“Wry and stylishly bizarre, Rogers hits the mark dead on. . . . I hope he’s on the job for years to come.” —, author of Occultation

IAN ROGERS is a writer, artist, and photographer. His short fiction has appeared in several publications, including Cemetery Dance, Supernatural Tales, and Shadows and Tall Trees. He is the author of the Felix Renn series of supernatural-noirs (“supernoirturals”), including Temporary Monsters, The Ash Angels, and Black- Eyed Kids from Burning Effigy Press. Ian lives with his wife in Peterborough, Ontario. For more information, visit ianrogers.ca 8 ChiZine Publications Remember Why You Fear Me Horror/Short Stories

A woman rejects her husband’s heart—and gives it back to him, still beating, in a plastic box. A little boy betrays his father to the harsh mercies of Santa Claus. A widower suspects his dead wife’s face is growing over his own. A man goes to Hell, and finds he’s roommate to the ghost of Hitler’s pet dog. Giant spiders, killer angels, ghost cat photography, and the haunted house right at the centre of the Garden of Eden. Deliciously frightening, darkly satirical, and always unexpected, Robert Shearman has won the , the British Fantasy Award, the , and the Edge Hill Reader’s Prize. Remember Why You Fear Me gathers together his best dark fiction, the most celebrated stories from his acclaimed books, and ten new tales that have never been collected before. 425 PAGES ISBN 978-1-927469-21-7 “Corrosively funny, wistful, sharp, strange, and USD $16.95/CAD $19.95 black as a coffin lid, Robert Shearman is an addictive delight.” 6 x 9 Trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK —Mark Gatiss, Co-creator of Sherlock October 15, 2012 “Shearman offers us haunting, nightmare alternatives to our world that are still somehow utterly recognizable as our own, thanks to the way he always picks out the comically mundane among the impossible and the fantastical.” —Steven Moffat, Executive Producer and Hugo Award-winning writer for

ROBERT SHEARMAN has worked as a writer for television, radio, and the stage. His plays have been regularly produced on BBC Radio. His two series of The Chain Gang, his short story and interactive drama series for the BBC, both won the Sony Award. However, he is probably best known as a writer for Doctor Who, reintroducing the Daleks for its BAFTA-winning first series, in an episode nominated for a Hugo Award. His collections of short stories are Tiny Deaths, Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical, and Everyone’s Just So So Special. Collectively they have won the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Edge Hill Short Story Readers Prize, and the Shirley Jackson Award, celebrating “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.” ChiZine Publications 9 The Book of Thomas Volume One: Heaven Robert Boyczuk Dark Fantasy/Science Fiction

In the beginning, the Church ruled all the Spheres of the Apostles. But that was millennia ago, before the origins of this massive, artificial realm were forgotten. Now, drought, plague, and war afflict the Spheres that make up the world of Man, fragmenting society into antagonistic sects that carry out ruthless pogroms.

A young orphan, Thomas, is thrust into the midst of this upheaval and embarks on a journey to the highest of all Spheres, Heaven. As he struggles through his chaotic, crumbling world, Thomas witnesses cruelty and violence beyond measure—and chances upon unexpected moments of courage and self-sacrifice. In this turmoil, his belief becomes doubt as he is forced to make soul- rending choices between what his faith tells him he 300 PAGES should do, and what he must do to survive. ISBN 978-927469-27-9 The Book of Thomas: Heaven is the unflinching, USD $15.95/CAD $18.95 deeply affecting tale of the battle that reason and 6 x 9 religion wage for a boy’s soul. Trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK November 15, 2012 Praise for Robert Boyczuk’s Nexus: Ascension

“Robert Boyczuk is a supremely talented writer.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother and For the Win

“(P)age-turning thrills aplenty . . . Boyczuk borrows from sources as diverse as Tolkien, , and Alan Moore, and integrates the miscellany admirably into a fast-paced plot. The dystopian human dynamics, on the other hand, are the stuff of an epic nihilistic hangover.” —Publishers Weekly

ROBERT BOYCZUK has published short stories in various magazines and anthologies. He also has two books out: a collection of his short work, Horror Story and Other Horror Stories, and a novel, Nexus: Ascension (both by ChiZine Publications). More fascinating details on Bob are available at boyczuk.com 10 ChiZine Publications

Hair Side, Flesh Side Helen Marshall Dark Fantasy/Short Stories

A child receives the body of Saint Lucia of Syracuse for her seventh birthday. A rebelling angel rewrites the Book of Judgement to protect the woman he loves. A young woman discovers the lost manuscript of Jane Austen written on the inside of her skin. A 747 populated by a dying pantheon makes the extraordinary journey to the beginning of the universe. Lyrical and tender, quirky and cutting, Helen Marshall’s exceptional debut collection weaves the fantastic and the horrific alongside the touchingly human in fifteen modern parables about history, memory, and cost of creating art.

“Masterful horror. In Marshall’s dark landscapes, the metaphors are feral and they’ll turn on you in a heartbeat.” 300 PAGES —Mike Carey, author of The Unwritten ISBN 978-927469-24-8 “The stories in Helen Marshall’s Hair Side, Flesh USD $15.95/$18.95 CAD Side occur in the interstices of our most fundamental 6 x 9 relations. Brothers and sisters, parents and children, Trade PAPERBACK lovers find the space between them grown strange, shifting, as the familiar becomes the site and the source November 15, 2012 of startling transformation. Elegant, unsettling, these stories leave the reader no less changed than their characters. Highly recommended work.” —John Langan, author of Technicolor and Other Revelations

HELEN MARSHALL (manuscriptgal.com) is an author, editor, and self-proclaimed bibliophile. In 2011, she published a collection of poetry, Skeleton Leaves. The collection was jury-selected for the Preliminary Ballot of the for excellence in Horror, nominated for a Rhysling Award for Science Fiction Poetry, and shortlisted for an Aurora Award for best Canadian speculative poem. Her poetry and fiction have been published in magazines and anthologies including The Chiaroscuro, Paper Crow, Abyss & Apex, the long-running Tesseracts series and an anthology of .

12 ChiZine Publications Shoebox Trainwreck John Mantooth Dark Fiction/Short Stories These sixteen genre-bending stories are set against a backdrop of sudden violence and profound regret, populated by characters whose circumstances and longings drive them to the point of no return . . . and sometimes even further. Traversing the back roads of the south and beyond, these stories probe the boundaries of imagination, taking the reader to the fringes of a society where the world looks different, and once you visit, you won’t ever be the same.

263 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-926851-54-9• USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

The Steel Seraglio Mike Carey, Linda Carey, & Louise Carey Dark Fantasy The sultan Bokhari Al-Bokhari of Bessa has 365 concubines— until a violent coup puts the city in the hands of the religious zealot Hakkim Mehdad. Hakkim has no use for the pleasures of the flesh: he condemns the women first to exile and then to death. Cast into the desert, the concubines must rely on themselves and each other to escape from the new sultan’s fanatical pursuit. But their goals go beyond mere survival: with the aid of the champions who emerge from among them, they intend to topple the usurper and retake Bessa from the repressive power that now controls it.

439 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-53-2 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Westlake Soul Rio Youers Fantasy Meet Westlake Soul, a twenty-three-year-old former surfing champion. A loving son and brother. But if you think he’s just a regular dude, think again; Westlake is in a permanent vegetative state. He can’t move, has no response to stimuli, and can only communicate with Hub, the faithful family dog. And like all superheroes, Westlake has an archenemy: Dr. Quietus—a nightmarish embodiment of Death itself.

258 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-926851-55-6• USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK ChiZine Publications 13 Ison of the Isles Carolyn Ives Gilman Dark Fantasy Revolution has broken out in the Forsaken Isles. The islanders have risen up to drive out the Inning Empire, but still they have no one to unite them. Only an Ison can do that—a leader whose heart has been cleansed by the curing of dhota-nur. The power to create an Ison lies in the hands of three people, and none of them are heroes. Perilously poised between Inning conquest and the savage powers of ancient forces, the Forsakens need them to decide. But for an Ison to rise, each of them must betray one of the others.

263 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-926851-54-9• USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 320 PAGES • ISBN 978-0--926851-56-3 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

A Tree of Bones: Volume III of the Hexslinger Series Gemma Files Weird Western/Horror Months have passed since hexslinger Chess Pargeter sacrificed himself to restore the town of Bewelcome, once cursed to salt by his former lover, “Reverend” Asher Rook. Now a coalition led by Allan Pinkerton’s Detective Agency lays siege to reborn Mayan goddess Ixchel’s notorious “Hex City,” the one place on earth where hexes can act in consort, and the desert just outside Bewelcome has become the front line in what threatens to become a new Civil War—one in which wild magic and black science clash headlong, producing carnage like nothing the world has ever seen.

460 PAGES • ISBN 978-0--926851-57-0 • USD $15.95/CAD $19.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies James Marshall satirical Fantasy In a world where ZOMBIES control banks and governments, only one young man sees the way things are and emerges from the CHAOS and destruction: GUY BOY MAN. While he tries to end human suffering worldwide and in his high school, Guy Boy Man meets a cute PINK-HAIRED girl named BABY DOLL15 who has a UNICORN that follows her everywhere. An EPIC ROMANCE begins, but forces BEYOND THEIR CONTROL are intent on keeping the young couple apart. Will Guy Boy Man find a way to be with Baby Doll15 in a WORLD WHERE EVERYONE IS DOOMED to become either zombies or food??!!

258 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-926851-55-6• USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 240 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-926851-58-7 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 14 ChiZine Publications Rasputin’s Bastards David Nickle Dark Fantasy/Thriller It is the 1990s. The Cold War is long finished. In a remote Labrador fishing village, an old woman known only as Babushka foresees her ending through the harbour ice, in the giant eye of a dying kraken—and vows to have none of it. Beaten insensible and cast adrift in a life raft, ex-KGB agent Alexei Kilodovich is dragged to the deck of a ship full of criminals, and with them he will embark on a journey that will change everything he knows about himself.

484 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-926851-59-4 • USD $16.95/CAD $19.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing Edited by Sandra Kasturi and Halli Villegas With an Introduction by Steven Erikson Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Anthology

Imaginarium 2012: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing is a reprint anthology to be co-published annually by ChiZine Publications and Tightrope Books, collecting speculative short fiction and poetry (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, etc.) that represents the best work produced by Canadian writers.

Featuring: Kelley Armstrong, Cory Doctorow, Gemma Files, Helen Marshall, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, David Nickle, Geoff Ryman, Peter Watts, Rio Youers, and more.

300 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-926851-67-9 • USD $15.95/CAD $18.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK Click > Watch > buy . . .

Get out that trusty QR Code reader and check out our amazing book trailers! Ain’t technology great?

Rasputin’s Bastards Ninja Versus Pirate David Nickle Featuring Zombies 978-0-926851-59-4 James Marshall 978-0-926851-58-7

300 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-926851-67-9 • USD $15.95/CAD $18.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Westlake soul The Steel Seraglio Rio Youers Mike Carey, Linda Carey 978-0-926851-55-6 & Louise Carey 978-1-926851-53-2

ChiZine Publications 17 Enter, Night Michael Rowe Horror

The year is 1972. Widowed Christina Parr, her daughter Morgan, and her brother-in-law Jeremy have returned to the remote northern Ontario mining town of Parr’s Landing, the place from which Christina fled before Morgan was born. Built on the site of a decimated 17th-century Jesuit mission to the Ojibwa, Parr’s Landing is a town with secrets of its own buried in the caves around Bradley Lake. A three-hundred-year-old horror slumbers there, calling out to the insane and the murderous for centuries, begging for release—an invitation that has finally been answered.

420 PAGES • ISBN 978-1926851-45-7 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Bearded Women Teresa Milbrodt Fantasy/Short Stories A woman trying to have a child has a parasitic twin, an extra lower torso, and set of legs named Bianca—should she have “Bianca’s Body” removed to improve her chances at conception? A bearded lady considers coming out of the closet about her hirsute nature in “Mr. Chicken.” A woman with four ears gets a chance to make extra money as the mascot of a tattoo parlour, and encounters a middle-aged, cookie-baking stalker who believes she is a sign that the end of the world is nigh. Meet the “freaks”— they’re mothers, wives, and lovers: all of them trying negotiate a world that is quicker to stare than sympathize. 250 PAGES • ISBN 978-1926851-46-4• USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

The Pattern Scars Caitlin Sweet Dark Fantasy Nola is born into poverty in Sarsenay City. When her mother realizes that Nola has the gift of Othersight and can foretell the future, she sells her to a brothel seer, who teaches the girl to harness her gift. When a handsome young Otherseer from the castle promises to teach her, she eagerly embraces the prospects of luxury beyond what she can imagine and safety from a killer who stalks girls by night. Little does she know that she will soon be drawn into a web of murder, treachery, and obsessive desire that will threaten the people and land she holds dear.

375 PAGES • ISBN 978-1926851-43-3 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 18 ChiZine Publications Briarpatch Tim Pratt Dark Fantasy Darrin’s life has been going downhill ever since his girlfriend Bridget walked out on him and killed herself. In his quest to find out why Bridget took her own life, he encounters a depressive (and possibly immortal) cult leader; a man with a car that can drive out of this world and into others; a beautiful psychotic with a chrome shotgun; and a bridge that, maybe, leads to heaven. Darrin’s journey leads him into a place called the Briarpatch, which is either the crawlspace of the universe, or a series of ambitious building projects abandoned by God, or a tangle of alternative universes, depending on who you ask.

300 PAGES • ISBN 978-1926851-44-0 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Picking Up the Ghost Tone Milazzo Dark Fantasy When a letter informs fourteen-year-old Cinque Williams of the passing of the father he never met, he is faced with an incomplete past and an uncertain future. A curse meant for his father condemns Cinque to a slow death even as it opens his eyes to the strange otherworld around him. With help from the ghost Willy T, an enigmatic White Woman named Iku, an African Loa, and a devious shape-shifter, Cinque gathers the tools to confront the ghost of his dead father. But he will learn that sometimes too much knowledge can be dangerous—and the people he trusts most are those poised to betray him.

263 PAGES • ISBN 978-1926851-35-8• USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Isles of the Forsaken Carolyn Ives Gilman Fantasy The Forsaken Isles are on the brink of revolution. Three individuals are about to push it over the edge and trigger events that will lead to a final showdown between ancient forces and the new overlords of the land. Spaeth Dobrin is destined to life as a ritual healer. Is it slavery, or is it love? Meanwhile, Harg, the troubled and rebellious veteran, returns to find his home transformed by conquest. And Nathaway, the well-intentioned imperialist, arrives to teach Spaeth’s people “civilization,” only to become an explorer in the strange realm of the Forsakens.

312 PAGES • ISBN 978-1926851-36-5 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 19 ChiZine Publications The Door to Lost Pages Claude Lalumière Dark Fantasy On her tenth birthday, Aydee runs away from home and from her neglectful parents. After a series of bewildering encounters with strange creatures, she is lead to a bookshop called Lost Pages, where she steps into a fantastic, sometimes dangerous, but exciting life. Aydee grows up at the reality-hopping store, where the clientele is either eccentric or desperate. She is repeatedly drawn into an eternal war between enigmatic gods and monsters, until the day she is confronted by her worst nightmare: herself.

“Insanely imaginative . . . Lalumière’s talents are on full display in this cerebral, erotic, and hypnotically compelling tale of bibliophilic wonder.” —Publishers Weekly

205 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-12-9 • USD $11.95/CAD $13.95 • 5 x 7.25• trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK

The Fecund’s Melancholy Daughter Brent Hayward Science Fiction/Fantasy Clouds over Nowy Solum have not parted in a hundred years. Gods have deserted their temples. In the last days of a dying city, the decadent chatelaine chooses a forbidden lover, separating twin outcasts and setting them on independent trajectories that might finally bring down the palace. Then, screaming from the skies, a lone god reappears, briefly, and a limbless prophet is carried through South Gate, into Nowy Solum, with a message for all: beyond the city, something ancient and monumental has come awake.

“[Brent Hayward]’s second novel combines elegant writing with moral ambiguity and an impressive array of grotesque characters.” —Locus

245 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-13-6 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK

A Rope of Thorns: Volume II of the Hexslinger Series Gemma Files Horror/Fantasy/Western Arizona, 1867. As consort to resurrected Mayan goddess Ixchel, hexslinger “Reverend” Asher Rook has founded “Hex City,” a place where magicians can live and work together safely. But this tenuous peace is threatened by the approach of Rook’s former lover, Chess Pargeter, bent on revenge over Rook’s betrayal, dragging Pinkerton agent-turned-outlaw Ed Morrow along with him. Chess, Morrow, and young spiritualist Yancey Colder will all have to shed yet more blood as they face down Chess’s mysterious patron demon, known only as the Enemy, and all others he’s made along the way.

“Potent mythology and dollops of creeping horror establish Files’s series as a top- notch fantasy-horror saga.” —Library Journal

312 PAGES • ISBN 978-1926851-36-5 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 6 x 9 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 329 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-14-3 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK 20 ChiZine Publications Every Shallow Cut Tom Piccirilli Crime/Thriller He’s nameless, faceless, and has nothing left to lose—and now he has a gun. Alone except for his beloved bulldog, Churchill, a despondent man who’s failed at his career, his marriage, and his own simple hopes makes his way across the fierce American landscape and the spectacle of his own bitter past. As he heads home to his distant brother, he witnesses various tragedies and crimes which bring out the killer in him.

“. . . Ninety minutes spent with Every Shallow Cut will sting.” —Thomas Gaughan, Booklist

164 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-10-5 • USD $10.95/CAD $12.95 • 5 x 7.25 • trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Napier’s Bones Derryl Murphy Science Fiction, Action/Adventure Dom is a numerate, someone able to see and control numbers and use them as a form of magic. While seeking a mathematical item of immense power that has only been whispered about, it all goes south for Dom, and he finds himself on the run across three countries on two continents, with two unlikely companions in tow and a numerate of unfathomable strength hot on his tail.

“. . . Napier’s Bones is a consistently compelling and inventive read. Think of it as liter- ary prog-rock, stretching the bounds of what is possible . . .” —Ian Daffern, Quill & Quire

253 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-09-9 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism David Nickle Horror The year is 1911. Near Cracked Wheel, Montana, a terrible illness leaves Jason Thistledown an orphan, stranded in his dead mother’s cabin until the spring thaw shows him the true meaning of devastation—and the barest thread of hope. At the edge of the utopian mill town of Eliada, Idaho, Doctor Andrew Waggoner faces a Klansman’s noose and glimpses wonder in the twisting face of the patient known only as Mister Juke. And deep in a mountain lake overlooking that town, something stirs.

“David Nickle writes ’em damned weird and damned good and damned dark. He is bourbon-rough, poetic and vivid. Don’t miss this one.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother

321 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-11-2 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 6 x 9 • trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK 21 ChiZine Publications Major Karnage Gord Zajac Satiric Science Fiction It has been twenty years since The War, and Major John Karnage has finally settled into retirement: locked up in an insane asylum, with an explosive device embedded in the back of his neck to curb his violent tendencies. The world’s inhabitants live happy, profitable lives under the global rule of the benevolent Dabney Corporation, until an invading armada of aliens threatens to destroy the Earth, and it’s up to Major Karnage to stop them—as long as he doesn’t accidentally blow his own head off first.

“Zajac’s writing has a strong element of the absurd . . . A recommended read for space fiction fans.” —Ashalen Sims, Suite101.com

336 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-98-13746-6-6 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Nexus : Ascension Robert Boyczuk Dark Science Fiction/Space Opera After returning home from a thirty-year trade mission, the crew of the Ea wake from cryonic suspension to find that their home world, Bh’Haret, is dead. Their fuel and other supplies nearly exhausted, the crew of the Ea has little choice but to make planet fall on Bh’Haret, infected with a virulent and deadly disease. In a desperate scramble to save themselves, the crew members must each, in his or her own way, come to terms with the death of their world—and try to rekindle a belief in the possibility of life.

“(P)age-turning thrills aplenty . . . The dystopian human dynamics (are) the stuff of an epic nihilistic hangover.” —Publishers Weekly

253 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-09-9 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK 384 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9-813746-8-0 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

The Hair Wreath and Other Stories Halli Villegas Dark Literary Fiction/Short Stories Girls and boys disappear; couples caught in the heat and suppressed rage of urban life are haunted by the ghosts of their own making; neighbourhoods drift in the murky atmosphere of buried emotions. These strange stories gather and weave themselves together into a wreath of memories, illustrating the disconnect amongst people and the places they inhabit—the gap that allows the supernatural to flourish.

“Slippery, evocative, tasty. Elegantly and eloquently unsettling.” —Ursula Pflug, author of After the Fires and Green Music

250 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-02-0 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 321 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-11-2 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 6 x 9 • trade PAPERBACK/EBOOK ChiZine Publications 22 Sarah Court Craig Davidson Dark Literary Fiction/Science Fiction Meet the residents of Sarah Court . . . The haunted father of a washed-up stuntman. A disgraced surgeon and his son, a broken-down boxer. A father set on permanent self-destruct and his daughter, a reluctant power lifter. A fireworks- maker and his daughter. A very peculiar boy and his equally peculiar adopted family. Five houses. Five families. One block. Ask yourself: How well do you know your neighbours? How well do you know your own family? Ultimately, how well do you know yourself? Do you want to know? Welcome to Sarah Court: make yourself at home.

“(T)here is a boundless humanity in Mr. Davidson’s writing: a love of life that is beautifully woven with an acute sense of its darkness.” — 310 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-96851-00-6 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95• 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

In The Mean Time Paul Tremblay Dark Literary Fiction/Fantasy/Short Stories A history teacher begins his unorthodox senior course with clips from an ominous surveillance video, causing a student’s home life to deteriorate. A girl with a second head that changes into different historical and fictional identities tries to find her father. A once-awkward teen holes up in a kiddie- themed amusement park after the end of the world. This collection by Paul G. Tremblay (author of The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland) features fifteen stories of fear and paranoia, stories of apocalypses both societal and personal, and stories of longing and coping.

“Powerful, emotional and unforgettable; these are stories that work their way into your brain and into your heart. Highly recommended.” —Ann Vandermeer, Hugo Award-winning editor of Weird Tales 216 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-06-8 • USD $15.95/CAD $17.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

People Live Still In Cashtown Corners Tony Burgess Dark Literary Fiction Bob Clark owns the Self Serve in Cashtown Corners. It’s the only business there and Bob is the only resident. He’s never been comfortable around other people. Until he starts to kill them. And murder, Bob soon discovers, is magic. People Live Still in Cashtown Corners is Bob’s account of a tragedy we all thought was senseless.

“Buy all his books.” —Now Magazine

203 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-04-4 • USD $13.95/CAD $15.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 23 ChiZine Publications Chasing the Dragon Nicholas Kaufmann Horror/Fantasy • Nominated for the Shirley Jackson and International Thriller Award •

Centuries ago, St. George failed in his mission to kill a deadly dragon. To this day it still walks the Earth, protected by an undead army and pursuing the last of St. George’s line: Georgia Quincey. She is the last, best hope for defeating the Dragon once and for all, but Georgia is also an addict, driven to the needle by the weight of her responsibility and the loss of everyone she has ever loved. Tracking her nemesis to Buckshot, New Mexico, Georgia is about to discover the Dragon’s terrible secret that could end life on Earth.

“(D)elivers gore, mayhem, and the occasional explosion . . . fast paced and technically well crafted.” —Publishers Weekly 134 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-4-2 • USD $10.95/CAD $12.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Chimerascope Douglas Smith Fantasy/Science Fiction/Short Stories The first full collection of short fiction from award-winning Canadian author, Douglas Smith, Chimerascope is a story of many parts. Sixteen stories of fantasy and science fiction that take you from love in fourteenth-century Japan to humanity’s last stand, from virtual reality to the end of reality, from alien drug addictions to a dinner where a man loses everything.

“(An) engaging and entertaining volume, pieces of whose content resonate after the book is finished.” —Booklist

332 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-5-9 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

A Book of Tongues: Volume I of the Hexslinger Series Gemma Files Horror/Fantasy/Western The first in Files’ Hexslinger series, A Book of Tongues transports you to west—a world rife with dead gods, monsters, hexes galore and the magicians who control them. Pinkerton agent Ed Morrow must go undercover with a notorious group of hexslingers in order to map the extent of their powers­—and unlock the secrets of magic itself.

“(T)his promising debut fully delivers both sizzling passions and dark chills.” —Publishers Weekly

278 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-6-6 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 203 PAGES • ISBN 978-1-926851-04-4 • USD $13.95/CAD $15.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK ChiZine Publications 24 Katja from the Punk Band Simon Logan Industrial Noir Katja, like everyone else stuck on the work island they call home, wants to get to the mainland by any means necessary. Shooting her boyfriend and stealing a chemical vial is one way to ensure her safe passage—the only problem is, she’s not the only one who wants it, and the freedom it will bring.

“(R)eminds me of Harlan Ellison at his most daring and dangerous—raw, fearless, unpredictable, disturbing, and much needed.” —Jack O’Connell

280 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-7-3 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Cities of Night Philip Nutman Dark Fiction/Short Stories Ten stories. Eight cities. Three continents. One voice. From Atlanta to Blackpool, London to New York . . . from Rome, Italy to Albuquerque, New Mexico via Hollyweird and the city of Lost Angels . . . all are cities of night. And the night is forever. Now.

“Philip Nutman has brought a fresh eye and deep enthusiasm to the business of horror. He’s a vital and original talent.” —Clive Barker

240 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-8-0 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5.5 x 8.5• TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

The Thief of Broken Toys Dark Literary Fiction • Nominated for the Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy Award •

When a father loses his son and his wife leaves him, he cannot tear himself away from the small fishing village where the boy’s memories reside. Thinking that his life is all but over, he takes to wandering the cliffs, carrying broken things that he always promised his son he would fix, but never did. They’re a sign of his failure, and they keep little Toby close. But then he meets the thief of broken toys, and everything begins to change.

“Together with his masterfully nuanced prose, the surprising twist Lebbon springs on readers at the climax make this one of his most powerful works to date. ” —Carl Hays, Booklist

149 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-9-7 • USD $10.95/CAD $12.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK 25 ChiZine Publications

Filaria Brent Hayward Dark Science Fiction Four inhabitants of a crumbling world—a­ drug-addled boy, a privileged girl an old man and a fisherman—each search for absolution in a future where there’s no such thing.

“Hayward’s debut is a powerful, beautifully-written dystopian tale . . .” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

236 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9809410-1-2 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Horror Story and Other Horror Stories Robert Boyczuk Dark Fiction/Short Stories Love and loss are the two prevailing themes in this short story collection, featuring 19 of the author’s tales—five of which are original to this volume: “When Fat Men Love Thin Women,” “The Death Artist,” “The Uncertainty Principle,” “Monster,” and “The Love Clinic.”

“Robert Boyczuk is a supremely talented short-story writer.” —Cory Doctorow

312 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9809410-3-6 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

Monstrous Affections David Nickle Dark Fiction/Short Stories

A young bride and her future mother-in-law risk everything to escape it. A repentant father summons help from a pot of tar to ensure it. A starving woman 240 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-8-0 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5.5 x 8.5• TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK learns from howling winds and a whispering host just how fulfilling it can finally be. Can it be love?

“Bleak, stark and creepy, Stoker-winner Nickle’s first collection will delight the literary horror reader . . .”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

296 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-3-5 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 8.5 x 5.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

The Choir Boats: Volume I of Longing for Yount Daniel A. Rabuzzi Dark Fantasy When emissaries from a world called Yount offer Barnabas McDoon a chance to redeem himself, he accepts their price—to voyage to Yount with the key that only he can use to unlock the door to their prison. But bleak forces seek to stop him: Yount’s jailer, a once-human wizard who craves his own salvation, and a monstrous owl with eyes of fire who will unleash Hell if Yount is freed. And, meanwhile, Barnabas’s niece Sally and a mysterious pauper named Maggie seek to wake the sleeping goddess who may be the only hope for Yount and Earth alike.

408 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9809410-7-4 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 8.5 x 5.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK ChiZine Publications 26

Objects of Worship Claude Lalumière Dark Fantasy/Short Stories Capricious gods rule a world of women. Zombies breed human cattle. The son of a superhero must decide between his heritage and his religion. Young lovers wor- ship a primordial spider god. The apocalyptic rebirth of the god of the elephants. Monstrous chimeras roam through a devastated future Earth. A retired fisherman is caught in the middle of a conflict between gods and superheroes. Teenagers struggle to survive a surreal ice age . . .

276 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9812978-2-8 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

The Tel Aviv Dossier and Nir Yaniv Horror/Apocolyptic Fiction Through a city torn apart by violence they cannot comprehend, three disparate people­—a documentary film-maker, a yeshiva student, and a psychotic fireman— must try to survive as Tel Aviv is consumed. A strange mountain rises at the heart of the city, revealing the outside of another alien world. Can there be redemption there? Is it possible for hope to spring amid such violence and chaos?

216 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9809410-5-0 • USD $16.95/CAD $18.95 • 5.5 x 8.5 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK

The World More Full of Weeping Robert J. Wiersema Dark Literary Fiction Eleven-year-old Brian Page spends every waking moment in the forest behind his father’s house. But forests are always deeper than anyone can know, secrets hidden in the eternal twilight of the trees. When Brian disappears into the forest without a trace, just as his father did three decades before, these secrets emerge.

“(H)aunting . . . seamlessly blends literary fiction with mythic fantasy.” —Publishers Weekly

104 PAGES • ISBN 978-0-9809410-9-8 • USD $10.95/CAD $12.95 • 5 x 7.25 • TRADE PAPERBACK/EBOOK ORDERING INFORMATIONORDERING ChiZine Publications (CZP) books are available at bookstores in the U.S. through Diamond Book Distributors, in Canada through HarperCollins, as well as all major online retailers.

Retailers, wholesalers, libraries, and book clubs can order through HarperCollins for Canada (.ca) or Diamond Book Distributors (diamondbookdistributors. com) for the U.S.

If you prefer, you can order directly from our website. All orders from CZP include a 30% discount off the cover price, plus a free eBook with purchase of a trade paperback or hardcover.

Signed, limited edition hardcovers of ChiZine Publications’ books are available from the CZP website, Camelot Books, and Cemetery Dance Publications. When hardcover editions of our titles are available, they can be accessed from their respective pages at the CZP website.

Subscriptions are available for all three editions of our books (hardcover, trade paperback, and eBooks) at a 40% discount. See our website for more details.

CZP eBooks are globally available through HarperCollins Canada, as well as the CZP website, in a variety of formats.

CZP’s foreign rights are handled through Cooke Interna- tional (cookeinternational.com).

CHIZINE PUBLICATIONS chizinepub.com • [email protected]

Co-Publishers Sandra Kasturi and Brett Savory Editors-at-Large Samantha Beiko and Helen Marshall Editors/Slush Readers Colleen Anderson, Chris Edwards, Gemma Files, Kari Maaren, Stephen Michell, and Halli Villegas Comunications Director Matt Moore Marketing Manager Beverly Bambury Marketer-at-Large Laura Marshall Publicity Assistants Tristan Joseph and Sara Knaus Senior Designer Erik Mohr Layout Designers Samantha Beiko and Danny Evarts Webmonkey Barry King