Steven Pajak
Steven Pajak, a Chicago-based author, crafts stories that explore the depths of horror and the human psyche. With a pen that dances on the edges of darkness, Steven brings to life tales that challenge, terrify, and linger in the minds of readers. Drawing inspiration from the urban tapestry of Chicago, his work merges the pulse of city life with the eerie quiet of the shadows lurking within the darkest corners of our minds. Steven invites you into a world where fear meets courage, and the journey through his imagination proves as haunting as it is unforgettable.
If you like author Steven Pajak here is the list of authors you may also like
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Andrew Najberg
Andrew Najberg is the author of the novel The Mobius Door (Wicked House Publications, 2023) and the forthcoming novels Gollitok (Wicked House Publishing, 2023) and The Neverborn Thief (Olive-Ridley Press, 2024), as well as the collection of poems The Goats Have Taken Over the Barracks (Finishing Line Press, 2021). In addition, his collection of short fiction, In Those Fading Stars, is due out through Crystal Lake Publishing in November 2024 and his novel Extinction Dream comes out in September 2025 through Wicked House Publishing. His short fiction has appeared in Prose Online, Psychopomp Review, Bookends Review, The Colored Lens, Utopia Science Fiction, The Gateway Review, Dark Death Things, Creepy Podcast, and is forthcoming in Fusion Fra
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Jay Bower
JAY BOWER is a horror author living outside St. Louis, MO in the forest of Southern Illinois. He spends his time reading, writing, and convincing his wife the dark stories he writes do not involve her.
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One time punk-rock skateboarder and heavy metal kid of the 80s, Jay approaches his work with the same indie attitude as those early punk bands.
He's the author of several dark novels and short stories. He can be reached at [email protected]. -
Daemon Manx
Daemon Manx is an author with a backstory. He is a recovering addict who spent nearly a decade in the prison system, where he focused on recovery and learned to perfect his horror writing craft. He has been featured in magazines in the US, the UK, and Germany and, in 2021, was nominated for a Splatterpunk award for his book Abigail. Daemon is the author of the Ojanox series, endorsed by Scream Queen actress, Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp). He was a bonus round winner on the gameshow Wheel of Fortune in 1999 and is infamously known for a motor vehicle accident involving President Ronald Reagan’s limousine. After struggling with addiction and incarceration, Daemon now uses his story to illustrate the positive outcome of sobriety and offer a gl
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Megan Stockton
Megan Stockton is an indie author who lives in rural Middle Tennessee with her husband and two children. She primarily writes, horror, thriller, dystopian, and science fiction/fantasy novels that are character-driven and immersive. She is known for delivering works that are raw, thought-provoking, brutal, and cinematic.
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James Kaine
James Kaine is a bestselling author, publisher and filmmaker born and raised in Trenton, NJ. An active pro member of the Horror Writer’s Association, he brings readers visceral, haunting tales of terror via his Horror House Publishing imprint.
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Ted Tally, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, called his book My Pet Werewolf "Twisty. Spooky. Shocking." and "Unputdownable."
BookLife by Publishers Weekly proclaimed his novel, The Dead Children’s Playground, “will chill readers to the bone.” The book, the first in his American Horrors anthology series, has been a #1 bestseller in U.S. Horror on Amazon and was the winner of the 2025 Books of Horror Indie Brawl. His works are being translated into multiple la -
Michelle von Eschen
Michelle von Eschen (early works written as Michelle Kilmer) is an American author of quiet, literary horror.
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She is a lover of the macabre who prefers Earl Grey tea, October, people who say goodbye on the phone, and her dreams are so real she can’t figure out what has really happened to her. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys weightlifting, dark beer, web design, singing and playing guitar, camping and hiking, and watching horror movies. She lives in England with her husband, horror author Jonathan Butcher. -
Nick Roberts
Nick Roberts is a native West Virginian and a doctoral graduate of Marshall University. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Horror Authors Guild. His works include Anathema, The Exorcist's House, It Haunts the Mind & Other Stories, and Mean Spirited. He currently resides in South Carolina with his family and is an advocate for people in recovery from substance use disorder.
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Debra Castaneda
Debra Castaneda is an award-winning author of urban fantasy and dark fiction based on the central coast of California.
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Her works include Barely Magic, the first book in the Maddy Madrigal Mysteries series of urban fantasy novels; The Spore Queen, The Devil’s Shallows, The Root Witch, The Copper Man, Circus at Devil’s Landing, and A Dark and Rising Tide, which comprise the Dark Earth Rising series of standalone novels, and The Monsters of Chavez Ravine, an International Latino Book Awards gold medal winner.
Debra loves writing character-driven stories about people who experience scary or magical things, and how they react when confronted with the unexpected. She’s committed to representing Latinas and Latinos in her books.
For inspiration, she -
Mark Towse
Mark Towse is an English horror writer living in Australia. He would sell his soul to the devil or anyone buying if it meant he could write full-time. Alas, he left it very late to begin this journey, penning his first story since primary school at the ripe old age of forty-five. Since then, he's been published in over two hundred journals and anthologies, had his work made into full theatrical productions for shows such as The No Sleep Podcast and Tales to Terrify, and has penned fourteen novellas, including Nana, Gone to the Dogs, 3:33, and Crows. He also has two very well-received story collections, 'There's Something Wrong with Aunty Beth,' and 'You Only Live Once.' Chasing The Dragon is his debut novel.
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'Mark Towse is an exciting new di -
Matt Shaw
Biography
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MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flir -
Duncan Ralston
**CVLT: Lonely Motel Book 3 out now!!!**
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**Sequel to the hit novel PUZZLE HOUSE coming Winter 2026**
Author of the cult smash-hit Woom and Ghostland and more than 15 other books that aren't the cult smash-hit Woom or Ghostland. His debut collection was blurbed positively by the legendary Jack Ketchum. His vampire novel, Pedo Island Bloodbath, was nominated for a 2024 Splatterpunk Award for Best Novel. His horror-thriller Ghostland will soon be a board game from Crystal Lake Publishing.
For 10 FREE dark fiction short stories/novellas including the prequel to GHOSTLAND, "The Moving House," signed copies of Woom, bookplates and merch, please visit www.duncanralston.com.
Photo © Josh Silver 2015 -
D.E. McCluskey
I love horror, and I love Christmas. Some would say that the two are not mutually associated, I would tell you different.
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I started writing at Christmas, back in the days of yore. I was reading The Night Before Christmas, by Clement Clarke Moore to my daughter who was too excited to sleep. But, I used my secret weapon, my boring voice she was soon catching the right amount of zzzzz's... As I tiptoed out of the room, giving Santa the space he needed to do his bit, I thought to myself, you know what? I could write something like that...
So I did...
The good Behaviour Act was written, the first story in Interesting Tymes, my very first publication.
I live in sunny Liverpool in the UK with my partner and daughters, I used to work in IT but don' -
Jay Bower
JAY BOWER is a horror author living outside St. Louis, MO in the forest of Southern Illinois. He spends his time reading, writing, and convincing his wife the dark stories he writes do not involve her.
Buy books on Amazon
One time punk-rock skateboarder and heavy metal kid of the 80s, Jay approaches his work with the same indie attitude as those early punk bands.
He's the author of several dark novels and short stories. He can be reached at [email protected]. -
Michelle von Eschen
Michelle von Eschen (early works written as Michelle Kilmer) is an American author of quiet, literary horror.
Buy books on Amazon
She is a lover of the macabre who prefers Earl Grey tea, October, people who say goodbye on the phone, and her dreams are so real she can’t figure out what has really happened to her. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys weightlifting, dark beer, web design, singing and playing guitar, camping and hiking, and watching horror movies. She lives in England with her husband, horror author Jonathan Butcher. -
Megan Stockton
Megan Stockton is an indie author who lives in rural Middle Tennessee with her husband and two children. She primarily writes, horror, thriller, dystopian, and science fiction/fantasy novels that are character-driven and immersive. She is known for delivering works that are raw, thought-provoking, brutal, and cinematic.
Buy books on Amazon -
Eric Butler
I'm an indie Horror writer who lives deep in the heart of Texas. When I'm not writing novels and stories for anthologies, I'm doing the bidding of 3 adorable huskies. I've been married for over 20 years and have a teenager in the house, so I won't be running out of horror material for quite some time.
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Debra Castaneda
Debra Castaneda is an award-winning author of urban fantasy and dark fiction based on the central coast of California.
Buy books on Amazon
Her works include Barely Magic, the first book in the Maddy Madrigal Mysteries series of urban fantasy novels; The Spore Queen, The Devil’s Shallows, The Root Witch, The Copper Man, Circus at Devil’s Landing, and A Dark and Rising Tide, which comprise the Dark Earth Rising series of standalone novels, and The Monsters of Chavez Ravine, an International Latino Book Awards gold medal winner.
Debra loves writing character-driven stories about people who experience scary or magical things, and how they react when confronted with the unexpected. She’s committed to representing Latinas and Latinos in her books.
For inspiration, she -
Bridgett Nelson
Once an operating room registered nurse, Bridgett Nelson so enjoyed playing with human organs, she decided to turn her macabre interest into a horror writing career. She loves bubble baths (because nothing says spooooky writer like orange-scented bubbles), hates not knowing what’s swimming in the water with her, lives for Halloween season (but loathes chainsaw-wielding dudes in haunted houses), adores her West Virginia University Mountaineers, is very pro-Oxford comma, and thinks bananas are absolutely disgusting.
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Her first collection, A Bouquet of Viscera, is a two-time Splatterpunk Award winner, recognized both for the collection itself and its standout story, "Jinx." Deadgirl, the novelization of the cult classic film, is now available fr -
M.L. Rayner
Born and bred in the county of Staffordshire. Matt is a keen reader of classical, horror and fantasy literature and enjoys writing in the style of traditional ghost stories. During his working life, Matt joined the ambulance service in 2009, transporting critically ill patients all over the UK. After writing his first novel, Matt now dedicates his time on future releases. His hobbies include genealogy and hiking, and he enjoys spending time with his wife, Emma, his children, and his family.
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https://www.facebook.com/MLRayner -
Andrew Najberg
Andrew Najberg is the author of the novel The Mobius Door (Wicked House Publications, 2023) and the forthcoming novels Gollitok (Wicked House Publishing, 2023) and The Neverborn Thief (Olive-Ridley Press, 2024), as well as the collection of poems The Goats Have Taken Over the Barracks (Finishing Line Press, 2021). In addition, his collection of short fiction, In Those Fading Stars, is due out through Crystal Lake Publishing in November 2024 and his novel Extinction Dream comes out in September 2025 through Wicked House Publishing. His short fiction has appeared in Prose Online, Psychopomp Review, Bookends Review, The Colored Lens, Utopia Science Fiction, The Gateway Review, Dark Death Things, Creepy Podcast, and is forthcoming in Fusion Fra
Buy books on Amazon -
Daemon Manx
Daemon Manx is an author with a backstory. He is a recovering addict who spent nearly a decade in the prison system, where he focused on recovery and learned to perfect his horror writing craft. He has been featured in magazines in the US, the UK, and Germany and, in 2021, was nominated for a Splatterpunk award for his book Abigail. Daemon is the author of the Ojanox series, endorsed by Scream Queen actress, Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp). He was a bonus round winner on the gameshow Wheel of Fortune in 1999 and is infamously known for a motor vehicle accident involving President Ronald Reagan’s limousine. After struggling with addiction and incarceration, Daemon now uses his story to illustrate the positive outcome of sobriety and offer a gl
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Edmund Stone
Edmund Stone is an author and a part time boat captain, living on the Ohio River. When he's not on the water, he spins nightmarish tales of horrific proportions.
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James Kaine
James Kaine is a bestselling author, publisher and filmmaker born and raised in Trenton, NJ. An active pro member of the Horror Writer’s Association, he brings readers visceral, haunting tales of terror via his Horror House Publishing imprint.
Buy books on Amazon
Ted Tally, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, called his book My Pet Werewolf "Twisty. Spooky. Shocking." and "Unputdownable."
BookLife by Publishers Weekly proclaimed his novel, The Dead Children’s Playground, “will chill readers to the bone.” The book, the first in his American Horrors anthology series, has been a #1 bestseller in U.S. Horror on Amazon and was the winner of the 2025 Books of Horror Indie Brawl. His works are being translated into multiple la -
Sarah Jules
Sarah Jules is an indie horror author from Yorkshire. She is a self-professed accidental hipster (who refuses to apologise for this). She is also the owner of Sarah Jules Writing Services, a job that allows her to work in her pyjamas, which she is immensely grateful for.
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She has written four novels - YOU INVITED IT IN, YOU NEED TO LEAVE, DON'T LIE & FOUND YOU - edited BLOODY HELL: An Anthology of UK Indie Horror, and has co-edited GOOD FOR HER (alongside Shauna Mc Eleney and TC Parker of Nefarious Bat Press).
If Sarah isn’t working (or writing), you can find her with her nose stuck in a book, travelling the UK with her partner, and her rescue pup, or sweating it out in the gym. She is a mental health advocate, coffee-addict, and loves all th -
Ben Young
Ben lives in the Cincinnati, OH area with his family and dogs, where he is currently working on more stories which may or may not ever see the light of day. He does not enjoy writing about himself, especially in the third person like this. Find him online at www.benyoungstories.com
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Eric Butler
I'm an indie Horror writer who lives deep in the heart of Texas. When I'm not writing novels and stories for anthologies, I'm doing the bidding of 3 adorable huskies. I've been married for over 20 years and have a teenager in the house, so I won't be running out of horror material for quite some time.
Buy books on Amazon -
Bridgett Nelson
Once an operating room registered nurse, Bridgett Nelson so enjoyed playing with human organs, she decided to turn her macabre interest into a horror writing career. She loves bubble baths (because nothing says spooooky writer like orange-scented bubbles), hates not knowing what’s swimming in the water with her, lives for Halloween season (but loathes chainsaw-wielding dudes in haunted houses), adores her West Virginia University Mountaineers, is very pro-Oxford comma, and thinks bananas are absolutely disgusting.
Buy books on Amazon
Her first collection, A Bouquet of Viscera, is a two-time Splatterpunk Award winner, recognized both for the collection itself and its standout story, "Jinx." Deadgirl, the novelization of the cult classic film, is now available fr -
Edmund Stone
Edmund Stone is an author and a part time boat captain, living on the Ohio River. When he's not on the water, he spins nightmarish tales of horrific proportions.
Buy books on Amazon -
Sarah Jules
Sarah Jules is an indie horror author from Yorkshire. She is a self-professed accidental hipster (who refuses to apologise for this). She is also the owner of Sarah Jules Writing Services, a job that allows her to work in her pyjamas, which she is immensely grateful for.
Buy books on Amazon
She has written four novels - YOU INVITED IT IN, YOU NEED TO LEAVE, DON'T LIE & FOUND YOU - edited BLOODY HELL: An Anthology of UK Indie Horror, and has co-edited GOOD FOR HER (alongside Shauna Mc Eleney and TC Parker of Nefarious Bat Press).
If Sarah isn’t working (or writing), you can find her with her nose stuck in a book, travelling the UK with her partner, and her rescue pup, or sweating it out in the gym. She is a mental health advocate, coffee-addict, and loves all th -
D.E. McCluskey
I love horror, and I love Christmas. Some would say that the two are not mutually associated, I would tell you different.
Buy books on Amazon
I started writing at Christmas, back in the days of yore. I was reading The Night Before Christmas, by Clement Clarke Moore to my daughter who was too excited to sleep. But, I used my secret weapon, my boring voice she was soon catching the right amount of zzzzz's... As I tiptoed out of the room, giving Santa the space he needed to do his bit, I thought to myself, you know what? I could write something like that...
So I did...
The good Behaviour Act was written, the first story in Interesting Tymes, my very first publication.
I live in sunny Liverpool in the UK with my partner and daughters, I used to work in IT but don' -
Jim Ody
Jim spent 10 years writing music reviews and interviewing bands for a rock music website. He also contributed lifestyle and comedic features and poems to a number of websites.
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Jim writes Horror, YA and Dark Mysteries that often end with his trademark twists! He doesn't believe in being restrained by genres and looks to blur the lines between them.
He has had eighteen novels, and well over a dozen short stories published, and re-published by Question Mark Press, Question Mark Horror, Hambrook Press, SpellBound Books, Wolfgang Press, Limitless Publishing, Zombie Cupcake, Crazt Ink, and Bloodhound Books.
Obsessed with writing, Jim has releases planned throughout 2025 and 2026. These include ...From The Stars, Little Miss Evil 3: The Last Evil, a -
Jennifer Osborn
Winner of the "Favorite YA Author" at the Queen of the West Book Bash, 2015.
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Winner of the "Favorite Sci-Fi 'The Sentinel's Insurgency'", at the Queen of the West Book Bash, 2015.
Top 10 book for 2014, "The Veiled" by the website "What's beyond Forks".
The Dawning of Scarlett -- 2019 Winner of the Indie Author Project - Kentucky - sponsored by The Library Journal, Bibloboard, and Ingram Spark. -
Jeremy Eads
Author of The Lodge, Rock God and Reptile, and the upcoming A Splinter in Your Mind, Jeremy Eads is a natural storyteller. First published at six years old he's since gone on to be a traveling musician, soldier, spy, and software engineer before settling on his true love, writing. He is a single father of four, a caretaker, and lives with a bossy Chihuahua named Sambone.
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Renee S. DeCamillis
Renee S. DeCamillis is a horror author and editor, and the author of the psychological thriller/supernatural horror/bizarro novella The Bone Cutters. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association, the New England Horror Writers, and the Horror Writers of Maine. Renee is the singer/songwriter and rhythm guitarist for the punk-metal band Scars Aligned. She's also a tree-hugging hippie with a sharp metal edge. And she has a comic book forthcoming.
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Her next book, Chisel the Bone, will be published on July 23, 2024, through Encyclopocalypse Publications. It is the sequel to The Bone Cutters.
Renee’s short fiction appears in: Dethfest Confession: The Devil’s Playlist; Horrors of the Deep: Starling Sea Stories; After the Burn, a post-apocalypti -
Mark Steensland
Mark Steensland self-published his first book while in fourth grade and has been telling stories ever since—some of them true. He became a professional journalist before graduating high school, writing about movies for such magazines as Prevue, Millimeter, and American Cinematographer. His award-winning films (including Peekers and The Ugly File) have played in festivals around the world. His first novel—Behind the Bookcase—was published in 2012 by Random House. A movie based on The Special, a novella co-written with James Newman, was released in 2020. Jakob's Wife, a film starring Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, and Bonnie Aarons, was released in 2021. His next novel, The Black Magic Murders, will release in December 2025.
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