Shock Totem celebrates its ninth issue, featuring fantastic tales of nightmares, monsters, ghosts, and severed digits!  Inside you will find not only a brand new, previously unpublished tale by Stephen Graham Jones, but also an interview with this modern master of words. Kathryn Ohnaka presents “Buddy,” a twisting, slithering serpent of a tale. The words are pure poetry, with fangs. “Saturday,” by Evan Dicken, follows, creeping and crawling and filled with Things that whisper of doom.  Similar whisperings can be heard in Bracken MacLeod’s “Thirteen Views of the Suicide Woods” and most of you will know the voices. Tim Lieder’s darkly rhythmic “Hey Man” will get you toe-tapping and “in the mood.” With a touch of science fiction, Emma Osborne’s “The Box Wife” is sure to leave you uncomfortable. The box wife is one and many, but you’ll recognize all.  Stephen King once called Jack Ketchum “the scariest guy in America.” What scares the scariest guy in America? Karen Runge. And you’ll know why after reading “Good Help.” Peter Gutiérrez provides the poetry with his outstanding “Anteroom.” Closing out the fiction in this issue is S.R. Mastrantone’s “Alan Roscoe’s Change of Heart,” a tale that chips away at a well-mined vein--the near-death experience--but manages to produce an untouched gem.  In addition to the previously-mentioned conversation with Stephen Graham Jones, F. Paul Wilson is also interviewed. The seventh installment of our music-meets-horror serial, “Bloodstains & Blue Suede Shoes,” tackles the 80s and Catherine Grant provides the editorial, a scary piece that hits close to home for creators and readers of horror.  All that and more!  Come see why Shock Totem is billed as “...one of the strongest horror fiction magazines on the market today” (Hellnotes).

Shock Totem 9: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted

Literature & Fiction

Jones, Stephen Graham

MacLeod, Bracken

Dicken, Evan

Runge, Karen

Totem, Shock

Osborne, Emma

Ohnaka, Kathryn

Mastrantone, S.R.

Wilson,F. Paul

Genre Fiction

Shock Totem Publications

Treats abound! In this special edition of Shock Totem are seven short stories, one poem, and five nonfiction pieces. Of the fiction, John Boden and Bracken MacLeod venture into dark and weird neighborhoods in “Halloween On...” In “Out of Field Theory,” Kevin Lucia gives us a shadowed glimpse of what lurks beyond the frame. David G. Blake’s “Night in the Forest of Loneliness” smells of autumn and the beautiful death she brings. Learn why sometimes it’s better to stay home on Halloween in “Tricks and Treats,” by Rose Blackthorn. Kriscinda Lee Everitt’s “Howdy Doody Time” is a poignant nod to the past. The shadows come alive in “Before This Night Is Done,” by Barry Lee Dejasu, and in the story “The Candle Eaters,” K. Allen Wood explores faith and hope and a darkness that haunts us all. In addition to the fiction, Sydney Leigh provides a very fine poem, “Allhallowtide (To the Faithless Departed).” Authors John Langan, Lee Thomas, and Jeremy Wagner, as well as filmmaker Mike Lombardo and the always wonderful and brusque Babs Boden, provide anecdotal Halloween recollections. No tricks, all treats. Come see why Shock Totem is billed as “...one of the strongest horror fiction magazines on the market today” (Hellnotes).

Shock Totem 9.5: Holiday Tales of the Macabre and Twisted - Halloween 2014

Langan,John

Lucia, Kevin

Wagner, Jeremy

Thomas, Lee

Dejasu, Barry Lee

Blake, David G.

Boden, Babs

Everitt, Kriscinda Lee

In this tenth issue of Shock Totem, you will find fiction from Trace Conger, David G. Blake, Thana Niveau, Margaret Killjoy, and eight other fantastic authors. T.E.D. Klein breaks his long silence in an exclusive interview with Barry Lee Dejasu. Paul Tremblay is also interviewed. Plus reviews, nonfiction, and more... Come see why Shock Totem is billed as “...one of the strongest horror fiction magazines on the market today” (Hellnotes).

Shock Totem 10

Killjoy, Margaret

Conger, Trace

Marzioli, Samuel

Anderson, Leslie J.

Pletsch, Mary

Wayrd, D.K.

After a long hiatus, Shock Totem returns with its eleventh issue Featuring previously unpublished fiction from Bird Box author Josh Malerman, Robert Ford, Natalia Theodoridou, Aaron Dries, and more. Micah Hyatt provides an infectious piece of poetry you won't soon forget, while horror favorite Chad Lutzke offers up a grim slice of narrative nonfiction, as well as an interview with legendary Henry Rollins. Time has passed since the last issue of Shock Totem, but its time has not. Come see why they are billed as "...one of the strongest horror fiction magazines on the market today" (Hellnotes).

Shock Totem 11: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted

Malerman, Josh

Matthews, Mark

Trent, Brian

Dries, Aaron

Ford, Robert

Stroup, Chad

Theodoridou, Natalia

Firetog, Trevor

Kuriata, Chris

Shock Totem returns with its sixth issue, featuring stories that range from troubling tales of loss to chilling examinations of mankind’s dark side. In “Lighten Up,” four-time Stoker Award™-winner and Grandmaster of Horror Jack Ketchum gives us a dose of dark humor that still manages to be righteously menacing. “The River,” by rising star Lee Thompson, is a brutal tale of purgatory, wasted life, and regrets.  Soulmates connect through murder, love and revenge in P.K. Gardner’s “For Jack.” In “Orion,” a young girl who has only known darkness makes the ultimate sacrifice—in blood. “No One But Us Monsters,” by Hubert Dade, follows a man who is haunted and tormented by his own crippling fears. Mail hoarding, sin eaters, political horror, Shock Totem #6 runs the gamut.  Also included: Conversations with Lee Thompson and seven-time British Fantasy Award nominee Gary McMahon, as well as narrative nonfiction—a tale of true horror—by Ryan Bridger. An editorial about inspiration; the latest installment of “Bloodstains & Blue Suede Shoes,” which examines the connections between music and horror; plus reviews and much more...  Come see why Shock Totem is billed as “...one of the strongest horror fiction magazines on the market today” (Hellnotes).

Shock Totem 6: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted

McMahon, Gary

Shock Totem steamrolls ahead with its seventh issue, featuring tales of classic horror, creature features, heartbreak and loss! The legendary William F. Nolan offers up “The Horror That Et My Pap—and Other Swamp Stuff,” a tale the likes of which you have never read before. S. Clayton Rhodes delivers “The Gates of Emile Plimpkin: The Gravedigger’s Legacy,” a novelette that veritably oozes horror borne of the 1800s. Damien Angelica Walters (formerly Damien Walters Grintalis) gives us the heartbreaking “Shall I Whisper to You of Moonlight, of Sorrow, of Pieces of Us?” And M. Bennardo supplies this issue’s creature-feature with “Thing In a Bag.” Newcomers are front and center, beginning with the one-two punch of “Consumption” and “Among the Elephants,” by Victoria Jakes and Amberle L. Husbands, respectively. In “The Long Road,” Kristi DeMeester leads us to the water’s dark edge and tempts us to drink deep, drink long, because we are so very thirsty. Rounding things out is Dominik Parisien’s excellent poem, “Smoking, The Old Sergeant Remembers 30 Mins Past Ceasefire.” In addition to all the great fiction, you will find conversations with literary stalwart Laird Barron and Violet LeVoit. The early 70s are explored in the fifth installment of the horror-in-music serial, “Bloodstains &amp; Blue Suede Shoes.” Narrative nonfiction is handled by Kurt Newton, and with “The Hook, the Hole, and the Garden,” John Boden delivers possibly the most heart-wrenching piece of nonfiction ever published in Shock Totem. Come see why Shock Totem is billed as “...one of the strongest horror fiction magazines on the market today” (Hellnotes).

Shock Totem 7: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted

NOLAN, William F.

Barron, Laird

Walters, Damien Angelica

DeMeester, Kristi

Newton, Kurt

Boden, John

LeVoit, Violet

Parisien, Dominik

Nick Bullman was a wrestling superstar. His alter ego, The Widowmaker, was the monster heel all the marks loved to hate. Now, after a brutal encounter with two psychotic fans left his face horribly disfigured, he’s just a monster. Yanked from the spotlight and thrust into the shadows, these days Nick tries to live the life of an average Joe. He avoids mirrors. He's angry. He’s alone. And he likes it just fine that way... Until he receives a desperate phone call from a young lady he barely knows—his daughter. For the first time in over thirty years, Nick returns to his hometown of Midnight, North Carolina. There he will come face to face with old demons, forge new friendships, and make enemies far more dangerous than those who ruined his face, all in a quest to save the granddaughter he’s never met...and maybe find a little bit of redemption along the way. Ugly As Sin is an electrifying tale of “white-trash noir,” a taut page-turner that skates the razor edge of a familiar, horrifying reality. At times heartbreaking, funny, and terrifyingly suspenseful, Ugly As Sin is Newman’s best work to date.

Ugly As Sin

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Newman, James

Thrillers & Suspense

Shock Totem presents the first in an ongoing series of special holiday issues. This issue, covering the Christmas season, features an eclectic mix of holiday-inspired horror from New York Times bestseller Kevin J. Anderson, K. Allen Wood, Mercedes M. Yardley, Robert J. Duperre, and more. Also anecdotal holiday recollections from Jack Ketchum, Jennifer Pelland, Mark Allan Gunnells, Nick Cato, and a host of others.  Celebrate the holidays with Shock Totem!

Shock Totem 4.5: Holiday Tales of the Macabre and Twisted - Christmas 2011

Anderson, Kevin J.

Pelland, Jennifer

Cato, Nick

Longo, Stacey

Yardley, Mercedes M.

Wilder, Leslianne

Duppere, Robert J.

Wood, K. Allen

Ketchum, Jack.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Totem, Shock. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Totem, Shock