Gary A. Braunbeck is a prolific author who writes mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mainstream literature. He is the author of 24 books -- evenly divided between novels and short-story collections; his fiction has been translated into Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, German, Czech, and Polish. Nearly 200 of his short stories have appeared in various publications.

He was born in Newark, Ohio; the city that serves as the model for the fictitious Cedar Hill in many of his novels and stories. The Cedar Hill stories are collected in Graveyard People, Home Before Dark, and the forthcoming The Carnival Within, all published by Earthling Books.

His fiction has received several awards, including 7 Bram Stoker Awards: the first for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction in 2003 for "Duty"; the second -- also for Superior Achievement in Short Story -- in 2005 for "We Now Pause for Station Identification"; his collection Destinations Unknown won the Stoker for Superior Achievement in Fiction Collection in 2006; and 2007 saw Gary winning 2 Stoker Awards; the first for co-editing the anthology 5 Strokes to Midnight, and the second for his novella "Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway." (5 Stokes to Midnight was also nominated for The World Fantasy Award that same year.) In 2011 his non-fiction book, To Each Their Darkness, received the Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction; and at the recent 2013 Stokers, his novella "The Great Pity" took home the Long Fiction Stoker. His novella "Kiss of the Mudman" received the International Horror Guild Award for Long Fiction in 2005.

As an editor, Gary completed the latest installment of the Masques anthology series created by Jerry Williamson, Masques V, after Jerry became too ill to continue.

He also served a term as president of the Horror Writers Association. He is married to Lucy Snyder, a science fiction/fantasy writer, and they reside together in Columbus, Ohio.

Gary is an adjunct professor at Seton Hill University, Pennsylvania, where he teaches in an innovative MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction.

His nonfiction book To Each Their Darkness has been used as a text by several college writing classes. Gary has taught writing seminars and workshops around the country (including a week-long stint as the Writer in Residence at the 2011 Odyssey Writers Workshop) on topics such as short story writing, characterization, and dialogue.

His work is often praised for its depth of emotion and characterization, as well as for its refusal to adhere to any genre tropes; some joke that the term "cross-genre fiction" may have been invented to describe his work -- a rumor he does everything in his power to propagate.

I am a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with over thirty novels published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. I have had books published with a variety of publishers including Dark Regions Press, DarkFuse and Severed Press, and my work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and magazines.

I live in Newfoundland with whales, bald eagles and icebergs for company and when I'm not writing I drink beer, play guitar and dream of fortune and glory.

Armand Rosamilia is a full-time crime thriller and horror author who loves coffee, bourbon and bourbon-favored coffee.

He's written over 200 stories that are currently available, including crime thrillers, supernatural thrillers, horror, zombies, contemporary fiction, nonfiction and more. His goal is to write a good story and not worry about genre labels.

He also loves to talk in third person... because he's really that cool. Maybe.

Thom Brannan (est.1976) has been a submariner, a nuclear operator, an electrician, offshore oilfield trash, a semiconductor industry bystander, and now works on automatic machinery for whoever will let him.

He's a freelance editor for hire, and has been published in several anthologies, in several genres. Thom finds his inspiration equally from Robert B. Parker and H.P. Lovecraft. He is the author of SAD WINGS OF DESTINY, the collaborative works PAVLOV'S DOGS and THE OMEGA DOG (with D.L. Snell) and WORLD OF TROUBLE: TRIBULATION OF DAX, as well as the Urban Fantasy series Tales of the Century.

Thom lives in or around Austin, Texas with his lovely wife, Kitty, a boy, a girl, and a cat.

Find him at the usual places online, he don't bite much.

A Jersey Girl trapped without good diners or boardwalks in New England, Rachel Kenley, is the author of eight romance novels, most recently the Melusine’s Daughters trilogy.

She started reading romances at 14 and credits them with her lifelong fascination with relationships and how they contribute to our ability to live emotionally empowered.

When she is not writing she is homeschooling her sons, trying unsuccessfully to keep up with laundry, and laughing as much as possible. She believes in shameless flirting, never missing the chance to watch The Wizard of Oz and the emotional and economic power of retail therapy.

In addition to finding her (a little too much) on Facebook and Instagram (rona.writes.as.rachel) You can follow her exploits on her blog, sign up for her newsletter and find free downloads at http://www.rachelkenley.net

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

"MacLeod’s fiction is full of traps – some physical, some psychological, none easy to wriggle free of."

~ Terrence Rafferty, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Bracken MacLeod is the Bram Stoker, Splatterpunk, and Shirley Jackson Award nominated author of the novels, is the author of the novels, MOUNTAIN HOME, STRANDED, COME TO DUST, and CLOSING COSTS (available in hardcover and paperback from William Morrow).

His short fiction has been collected in WHITE KNIGHT AND OTHER PAWNS and 13 VIEWS OF THE SUICIDE WOODS, which the New York Times Book Review called, "Superb."

Before devoting himself to full time writing, he worked as a civil and criminal litigator, a university philosophy instructor, and a martial arts teacher. He lives outside of Boston with his wife and son, where he is at work on his next novel.

Peter N. Dudar has been writing and publishing horror fiction for over a decade now. Born and raised in Albany, New York, Peter is an alumnus of Christian Brothers Academy, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the State University of New York at Albany. He currently resides in Lisbon Falls, Maine and is a proud member of the New England Horror Writers.

K. H. Vaughan is a refugee from academia with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. In his other life he taught, published, and practiced in various settings, with particular interest in decision theory, forensic psychology, psychopathology, and methodology. He lives with his wife and three children in New England. He writes and edits dark speculative fiction including horror, science fiction, and fantasy.

Michael Kamp was born and raised in the frozen wasteland of Denmark.

Choosing the path of the storyteller he prefers chilling tales of horror and went on to write

45 titles in Danish exploring the macabre in all its wretched glory.

Many years and several awards later, the time has come to go beyond his native tongue and

take a shot at the English markets.

He is co-founder of the Danish Horror Society – a society of Danish horror authors

dedicated to promote the genre as literature for adults.

Working the nightshift in an institution for the mentally ill he spends the long nights

honing his craft.

He lives in Kirke Hyllinge with his wife, sons, and a pet troll.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Morgan Sylvia is a metalhead, an Aquarius, a coffee addict, and a work in progress. A former obituarist, she is now a full-time freelance writer. Her published works include three novels, two novellas, four poetry collections, numerous poems, and dozens of short stories, several of which have been adapted into audio dramas. She was one of the writers for the award-winning audio drama Undertow: Blood Forest, as well as its follow-up Undertow: The Pulse. Sylvia belongs to several writers’ groups: the HWA, the SFWA, the New England Horror Writers, Horror Writers of Maine, and Tuesday Mayhem Society. She lives in Maine with two tuxie cats, two evil goldfish, an overgrown rose garden, a murder of crows, and a pet banshee. Her latest releases are The Withering Hours: Dark Folk Horror, a short story collection; and a fantasy novel, The Bloodgold Queen: Book 2 of The Aris Trilogy. Forthcoming works include The Zhur Lord: Book 3 of The Aris Trilogy; and her fifth poetry collection, Mysterial Rot.

Five years ago when my wife shamed me into picking up my pen again, one of the first things I started writing was a mash up novel of Lovecraftian characters, and I really wanted Herbert West to be part of that team. Unfortunately, I'm a stickler for established chronologies, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't tell the story I wanted to tell with West in it.

Enter Dr. Stuart Hartwell.

He was the perfect solution, he had all of West's skills, but his timeline was mine to play with. But, I didn't know who he was, or what motivated him. So I wrote a story about him, and another, and then another. Quickly the mash up novel was set aside and all my time was spent focused on Hartwell. Those stories became the novel Reanimators.

Now, just a year later that mash up novel I wanted to work on. The one that was called at various times The League of Lovecraftian Gentlemen, The Miskatonic Club, The Miskatonic Men's Aide Society, The Arkham Oddfellowes - well that became The Weird Company and that hits the streets in September.

Hartwell is back, but this time he's not alone, he and his cohort have been recruited by . . .

Well you'll just have to read the book now won't you.

This is the book I wanted to write from the start, and if you liked Reanimators, you will adore The Weird Company.

Since its founding in August 2012, Crystal Lake has quickly become one of the world’s leading publishers of Dark Fiction and Horror books. In 2023, Crystal Lake officially transitioned into an entertainment company, joining several other divisions, genres, and imprints, including Torrid Waters, Sinister Smile Press, Crystal Lake Comics, Crystal Lake Games, Crystal Cove Press, Crystal Lake Kids, Memento Mori Ink, and The House of Shadows & Ink on YouTube.

While we strive to present only the highest quality fiction and entertainment, we also endeavor to support authors along their writing journey. We offer our time and experience in non-fiction projects, as well as author mentoring and services, at competitive prices.

With several Bram Stoker Award wins and many other wins and nominations (including the HWA’s Specialty Press Award), Crystal Lake puts integrity, honor, and respect at the forefront of our publishing operations.

We strive for each book and outreach program we spearhead to not only entertain and touch or comment on issues that affect our readers, but also to strengthen and support the Dark Fiction field and its authors.

Not only do we find and publish authors we believe are destined for greatness, but we strive to work with men and women who endeavor to be decent human beings who care more for others than themselves, while still being hard-working, driven, and passionate artists and storytellers.

Crystal Lake is and will always be a beacon of what passion and dedication, combined with overwhelming teamwork and respect, can accomplish. We endeavor to know each and every one of our readers, while building personal relationships with our authors, reviewers, bloggers, podcasters, bookstores, and libraries.

We will be as trustworthy, forthright, and transparent as any business can be, while also keeping most of the headaches away from our authors, since it’s our job to solve the problems so they can stay in a creative mind. Which of course also means paying our authors.

We do not just publish books, we present to you worlds within your world, doors within your mind, from talented authors who sacrifice so much for a moment of your time.

There are some amazing small presses out there, and through collaboration and open forums we will continue to support other presses in the goal of helping authors and showing the world what quality small presses are capable of accomplishing. No one wins when a small press goes down, so we will always be there to support hardworking, legitimate presses and their authors. We don’t see Crystal Lake as the best press out there, but we will always strive to be the best, strive to be the most interactive and grateful, and even blessed press around. No matter what happens over time, we will also take our mission very seriously while appreciating where we are and enjoying the journey.

What do we offer our authors that they can’t do for themselves through self-publishing?

We are big supporters of self-publishing (especially hybrid publishing), if done with care, patience, and planning. However, not every author has the time or inclination to do market research, advertise, and set up book launch strategies. Although a lot of authors are successful in doing it all, strong small presses will always be there for the authors who just want to do what they do best: write.

What we offer is experience, industry knowledge, contacts and trust built up over years. And due to our strong brand and trusting fanbase, every Crystal Lake book comes with weight of respect. In time our fans begin to trust our judgment and will try a new author purely based on our support of said author.

To date we’ve published around 300 books, and with each launch we strive to fine-tune our approach, learn from our mistakes, and increase our reach. We continue to assure our authors that we’re here for them and that we’ll carry the weight of the launch and deal with third parties while they focus on their strengths—be it writing, interviews, blogs, signings, etc.

We also offer several mentoring packages to authors that include knowledge and skills they can use in both traditional and self-publishing endeavors. This includes Shadows & Ink Creators on our The House of Shadows & Ink YouTube channel and our Crystal Lake Academy.

We look forward to launching many new careers.

This is what we believe in. What we stand for. This will be our legacy.

Welcome to Crystal Lake Publishing—Where Stories Come Alive!