Photo of right hand holding up EVERY DARK CLOUD in front of a bookcase stacked with books and carved mushrooms and dried flowers. Cover art: figure standing in center of teal and black mushrooms with a yellow and white bank of clouds above, through which a minute silhouette is falling.

As of yesterday, EVERY DARK CLOUD has been in the world for one whole year!!! Bringing you luminous mushrooms, numinous apocalypse, and ruinous relations lit by darkness🩶

Out everywhere from @ghostorchidpress.com

Genre spotlight: dark fantasy

What is it? A subgenre of fantasy that includes elements of horror or Gothic, or dark themes.

Genre classics: Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, The Gunslinger by Stephen King, Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Further reading: Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato, The Poppy War by RF Kuang, The Girl With A Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean, Where the Dead Brides Gather by Nuzo Onoh, A Forest Darkly by AG Slatter, Lightfall by Ed Crocker

Do you like your fantasy tinged with darkness? Check out our beginners' guide to the Dark Fantasy subgenre!

Genre spotlight: Gothic Horror

What is it? Literature characterised by a dark, forboding atmosphere, a sense of dread, psychological turmoil, and sometimes supernatural elements.

Genre classics: The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The Monk by Matthew Lewis, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Complete Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Further reading: Hungerstone by Kat Dunn, Ashthorne by April Yates, Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas, Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker, Blood on her Tongue by Johanna van Veen, Woodworm by Layla Martinez

Love some deliciously dark Gothic horror? Find some new or classic reads with our mini-guide to the genre.

Genre spotlight: climate fiction

What is it? Fiction dealing primarily with climate change and other environmental issues, often with a science fiction or speculative aspect.

Genre classics: The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler, Orys and Crake by Margaret Atwood, The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard, Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver, The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Further reading: Every Dark Cloud by Marisca Pichette, Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley, Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang, Private Rites by Julia Armfield, Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris, Every Version of you by Grace Chan

Another favourite genre of ours at Ghost Orchid Press is climate fiction, or cli-fi. What other titles would you add to this list?

Details! maybe this one, with many, many mushrooms. Dense detail in the front, fading to glowing particles and fiery skies at back. Why? read it & find out! :-)

Pencil, charcoal and digital colour.

A book cover for 'Every Dark Cloud' by @marisca.bsky.social
out now from @ghostorchidpress.com

Cover reveal time for @comptonwrites.bsky.social's CHIMERA SKIN, a short science-fiction horror novel.

First contact. Apocalyptic. A messianic alien. This is unlike anything you've read from Johnny before!

Cover design by @alandistro.bsky.social.

More info: shortwavepublishing.com/catalog/chim...

INTERVIEW: with author Alex Woodroe Alex Woodroe is a Romanian writer of dark speculative fiction and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated editor-in-chief of Tenebrous Press. She’s the author of Whisperwood, The Night Ship, and Tatratea, and...

📚⚫🗣️ New interview! 🗣️⚫📚

I chat with horror author & EiC of Tenebrous Press, the legendary @alexwoodroe.com, about:

⚰️ Her new book, the Weird apocalypse horror The Night Ship
⚰️What really scares her
⚰️Her work with Tenebrous
⚰️The future of horror
⚰️Why her next novel is her weirdest

and more!

Genre spotlight: Gaslamp fantasy

What is it? A subgenre of fantasy that generally features realistic 19th century settings with magical, occult, or supernatural elements, and often includes Gothic horror tropes.

Genre classics. Covers of: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, The Prestige by Christopher Priest

Further reading. Covers of: DuMort by Michelle Tang, A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab, The Tarot Reader of Versailles by Anya Bergman, The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner, The Extravaganza Eternia by Kristin Osani.

Are you a fan of gaslamp fantasy? Check out our list of classic genre staples and newer titles in this genre - including a couple of our own publications.

Shop our titles at ghostorchidpress.square.site

more!

And What Can We Offer You Tonight
@premeemohamed.com
@neonhemlock.bsky.social

Every Dark Cloud
@marisca.bsky.social
@ghostorchidpress.com

The Golden Daughter
Dayna Ingram
@lethepress.bsky.social

Dear Stupid Penpal
@rascalhartley.bsky.social
@tenebrouspress.bsky.social

Go, read them!😊

"Part enchanting dreamworld, part blistering nightmare, Every Dark Cloud warns us of humanity's worst impulses, and reminds us of its best." -- Stephanie Feldman, author of Saturnalia

"Part enchanting dreamworld, part blistering nightmare, Every Dark Cloud warns us of humanity's worst impulses, and reminds us of its best."
-- Stephanie Feldman, author of Saturnalia

Buy now from our store: bit.ly/everydarkcloud

Or your preferred bookseller: books2read.com/u/4D5Xak

"Seductive to the core. Hold My Heart is an intriguing thrill, its world tinged with noir atmosphere and a passion for grime on skin and tongues on blades.” -- Hailey Piper, author of Queen of Teeth

"Seductive to the core. Hold My Heart is an intriguing thrill, its world tinged with noir atmosphere and a passion for grime on skin and tongues on blades.”
-- Hailey Piper, author of Queen of Teeth

Buy now from our store: bit.ly/4fClGvK

Or your preferred bookseller: books2read.com/u/499pPY

"With gorgeous prose and a heart-stopping conclusion, Tang’s debut novella is absolutely unforgettable.” -- Kelsea Yu, Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of Bound Feet and Demon Song

“With gorgeous prose and a heart-stopping conclusion, Tang’s debut novella is absolutely unforgettable.”

-- Kelsea Yu, Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of Bound Feet and Demon Song

Buy now from our store: bit.ly/tangdumort

Or your preferred retailer: books2read.com/u/mdxMeR

"A haunting and thought-provoking twist on the fairytale narrative. Must we be only what others have foretold and experienced? Or can we make our own stories, flawed and complex as we are..." -- Shawna Lawless, author of the critically acclaimed Gael Song series

"A haunting and thought-provoking twist on the fairytale narrative." The Castaway and the Witch is out now.

Buy from our store: bit.ly/4mTp7mJ

Or your preferred retailer: buff.ly/qFC5Dd8

Feast your ears on Transmission zero, and welcome The Night Ship into the world!

Released today wherever you can grab it, and ready to be just about the strangest journey into the vast of night you'll ever go through.

www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ni...

Sair Back, Sair Banes by Anthony Engebretson (paperback) | Ghost Orchid Press Ltd SAIR BACK, SAIR BANES by Anthony EngebretsonPaperback: 978-1-7399968-2-6E-book: 978-1-7399968-3-3Paperback: £9.99"A dark shape now stood in those choppy dark waters. A horse. A black one, large as...

Sair Back, Sair Banes from @ghostorchidpress.com is my spooky little guy drawing from Scottish folklore

ghostorchidpress.square.site/product/sair...

Congratulations @jelenawrites.bsky.social for reaching the semi final with Ghost Apparent!

Photo of Rewired anthology laying on my orange cat

4. Rewired: Divergent Perspectives in Horror by @ghostorchidpress.com

The ones that stood out to me in this anthology were:
"The Tides of Love" @kojiadae.bsky.social
"Fall Preserves" @ronistinger.bsky.social
"Russet" @arwyns.bsky.social
"The Witches of Christmas Past" by @eeking.bsky.social

cover of dumort by michelle tang

DuMort by @michelletang.bsky.social from @ghostorchidpress.com

Gaslamp occult horror of seances, forbidden love, diaspora and hauntings with gorgeous gothic prose and a chilling, beating heart

Leathan should’ve known that mystic was scamming her when he promised it’d be easy to break her curse. The thought pinballs around her head as she sequesters herself in an empty corner of the big top backstage, as far from the other troupers as she can get. Chest heaving from her cross-city dash to the circus, eyes burning from sweat and tears she refuses to shed, she digs into her skirt pocket for her compact. She should’ve known.

Convincing you to read our books based on their opening lines, part 2: The Extravaganza Eternia by Kristin Osani.

Shop here: bit.ly/4diizZZ

Look for me. It starts with this: a distant figure, high and away in the finest private box. Look for me. A pull of magnetism, as thin and strong as filigree wire. It starts at the woman with the opera glasses, who sits gazing at the stage from on high, and ends with the woman who stands there watching, struck thunderbolt-still in the stalls. Search me out. Go on. Imagine if you were looking for me with those.

Convincing you to read our books by their opening lines, part one: The Belladonna Invitation by Rose Biggin.

Tempted to read more? Shop here: bit.ly/3WaoQ45

Covers of Hold My Heart and The Devil's Gift with the caption 'if you love horror'

If you love visceral horror with plenty of gore, check out these titles.

In Hold My Heart, a woman with severe depression hires a serial murderer to kill her, with unexpected results, while in The Devil's Gift, a twelve-year-old boy discovers a girl with a dark secret.

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Covers of The Extravaganza Eternia and Neverest on a background of night sky with the caption 'if you love mystery'

Two very different books, both with compelling mysteries and hints of the supernatural.

In Neverest, a woman scales Everest to discover the truth behind her husband's death, while in The Extravaganza Eternia, a murder investigation unfolds within a magical circus.

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Publishers, editors, authors, send us your favorite speculative ecofiction published this year. This is going to be another bouquet of truly stellar ecofiction ✨🌿🦋

If you see your favourite indies, especially those who are wide or avoid Amazon, raise their prices... We all just had two emails in less than 24h:

- Smashwords is cutting down its royalty rates, especially at lower price points
- Ingramspark is raising most of its printing costs again

A copy of The Castaway and the Witch stuffed in a stocking with the quote 'Such is the nature of memory, always creeping onto the edge of fiction.'

Fill your stocking with The Castaway and the Witch by Ioanna Papadopoulou and get swept away to a magical island where reality and myth combine.

Shop here: bit.ly/4mTp7mJ

A copy of DuMort stuffed in a stocking alongside some candy canes, with the quote 'In Mydalla we do not speak of the dead.'

Did you know, novellas fit perfectly in a stocking? Why not fill yours with some lavish Gothic horror from Michelle Tang. DuMort is a gaslamp fantasy set in a world where it is forbidden to speak of the dead.

Shop here: bit.ly/4j1Q7hP

Cover reveal time for NEUROTICA! 👀

Neurotica is a new collection of poetry from Pushcart Prize and Bram Stoker Award nominated author @cybergodwrites.bsky.social!

Cover design by @alandistro.bsky.social

More info and pre-order links here:
shortwavepublishing.com/catalog/neur...

Congratulations on reaching the final, @kristinosani.bsky.social!

holy shit EXTRAVAGANZA is a finalist???!!!! I'm beyond honored and frankly stupefied, thank you thank you thank you!!😭😭😭

A Christmas stocking filled with candy canes and a copy of Ghost Apparent

Looking for a perfect Christmas gift for a fantasy fan? Why not choose Jelena Dunato's novella, Ghost Apparent? Beautiful and thought-provoking, and the perfect size to fit in a stocking.

Shop here: bit.ly/3XEIXbt