-
Follow Us
Latest Release
Shock Totem Radio
-
Recent Posts
Support
Like what you've read here or in the magazine? Please consider donating.
Note that we will match 10% of all donations and donate it to Duotrope's Keep It Free! Campaign.
Fangoria Reviews Shock Totem #6
John Skipp has reviewed Shock Totem #6 on Fangoria’s website.

Shhh…listen!
“[Jack] Ketchum and I are in firm agreement that Shock Totem is living proof that we’re in a golden age when it comes to the short horror story. Some of the best stories ever written are being written right now.”
To read the full review, click here. Have you picked up your copy yet?
Posted in Alumni News, Magazine Reviews, Reviews, Shock Totem News
Tagged Addison Clift, Bloodstains & Blue Suede Shoes, Fangoria, Gary McMahon, Hubert Dade, Jack Ketchum, John Boden, John Guzman, John Skipp, K. Allen Wood, Lee Thompson, Lucia Starkey, Magazine Reviews, Michael Wehunt, Mikio Murakami, New Release, P.K. Gardner, Reviews, Ryan Bridger, Shock Totem, Shock Totem #6, Shock Totem Magazine, Simon Marshall-Jones
Leave a comment
One of Our Own Journeys North
We’re very proud to share that our great friend Robert J. Duperre, who also occasionally writes for Shock Totem, has just signed a three-book deal 47North, Amazon’s publishing imprint. The deal is for three books, all to be co-written with fantasy author David Dalglish.
The first book, Dawn of Swords, will be released in January 2014, with Wrath of Lions and Blood of Gods to follow.
Yes, these are fantasy novels, but we read widely here at Shock Totem HQ and are very much looking forward to these books. And you should as well.
If you want to sample some of Duperre’s writing and would rather something a bit closer to horror, check out his four-book Rift series—The Fall, Dead of Winter, Death Springs Eternal, and The Summer Sun. If you don’t want individual books, buy the entire series as a very affordable digital omnibus.

You can also check out The Gate 2: 13 Tales of Isolation and Despair, which not only features three stories by Duperre, but also a story by Mercedes M. Yardley and yours truly.
You can read more about this deal on Duperre’s blog, The Journal of Always.
Posted in Alumni News, Staff News
Tagged 47North, Amazon, Blood of Gods, David Dalglish, Dawn of Swords, Dead of Winter, Death Springs Eternal, Fantasy, K. Allen Wood, Mercedes M. Yardley, Robert J. Duperre, The Fall, The Gate 2, The Gate 2: 13 Tales of Isolation and Despair, The Rift Series, The Summer Sun, Wrath of Lions
Leave a comment
Hellnotes Reviews Beautiful Sorrows
Brian Sammons has reviewed Beautiful Sorrows over at the Hellnotes website.
“Pass up this feast of fancy and fear and you’ll have nothing left but famine and no one wants that. Beautiful Sorrows is beautifully done from start to finish. Consider it highly recommended.”
To read the full review, click here. Have you picked up your copy yet?
Posted in Alumni News, Book Reviews, Reviews, Shock Totem News
Tagged Beautiful Sorrows, Book Reviews, Brian Sammons, Hellnotes, Mercedes M. Yardley, Reviews
Leave a comment
Horror Fiction Review Reviews Beautiful Sorrows
Sheri White has reviewed Beautiful Sorrows, by Mercedes M. Yardley, over at the Horror Fiction Review website.
“One of the more poetic stories in the collection, “The Boy Who Hangs Stars,” reads like a fairy tale for adults. It’s beautifully written, telling a tale of a boy who hangs the stars in the sky, and the girl who loves him.”
To read the full review, click here. Have you picked up your copy yet?
Full Disclosure: Sheri White has recently become part of our extended staff of writers.
Posted in Alumni News, Book Reviews, Reviews, Shock Totem News
Tagged Beautiful Sorrows, Book Reviews, Horror Fiction Review, Mercedes M. Yardley, Reviews, Sheri White
Leave a comment
James Newman’s Holy Rollers: The Short Film
Your help is needed. Watch this video…
[ click here for a conversation with director Kevin Woods ]
Now go here.
I’m disappointed this has yet to reach its goal. I’ve seen people raise $5,000 or more for an anthology, and we all know that it doesn’t cost nearly half that much.
There have been charity anthologies published, paid for by pledgers, with proceeds from sales going to the charity. Proceeds from SALES! Thousands of dollars in donations to create something that will generate hundreds of dollars in donations to the charity, if that. Seems utterly ass-backwards, doesn’t it?
Worse, there are now magazines being funded by Kickstarter campaigns—and they’re making a killing! Now tell me, what happens when these magazines don’t make their funding goal? Who’s going to pay then? Surely not the publishers.
I’ve seen other people donate to someone who wants to take six months off from work to write a novel. People donate money so someone else can do this! Seriously. Stephen King used to write in his laundry room, with a board across his lap and a typewriter on top of the board—all while being a teacher, a husband, and a father—and some of you want donations so you can quit your job and write your novel? Bitch, please.
So I find it disheartening to see this Holy Rollers campaign failing to reach its goal.
James Newman is one of the sweetest, kindest writers in the small press. Better yet, he’s also one of the BEST writers around! He may not be the loudest in the room, or the most adept at spamming you on Facebook and Twitter, but he is undoubtedly the kind of writer we need to rally around—because he’s not blowing smoke up anyone’s ass, trying to impress you with stuff that doesn’t matter; James just writes, and he does it goddamn well.
And Holy Rollers deserves a shot. So please visit the Indiegogo page, check out the perks, and consider donating. There’s not much time left, but there is enough.
Please share this!
Posted in Alumni News, Blog, Publishing, Video
Tagged Holy Rollers, Holy Rollers: The Short Film, Indiegogo, James Newman, Kevin Woods, Kickstarter
Leave a comment
Beautiful Sorrows—Now Available!
“Beautiful Sorrows… delicate prose with devastating impact. Mercedes Yardley is a female Joe Hill, and I fear her ‘Broken’ will haunt me to my grave.” —F. Paul Wilson
Shock Totem Publications is proud to announce that Mercedes M. Yardley’s brilliant collection of whimsical horror tales, Beautiful Sorrows, is now available in print and digital formats.

[ Cover created by Yannick Bouchard ]
The print edition is $13.99, and can be purchased through Amazon or our webstore. The digital version is a mere $2.99 (currently only available for the Kindle), and can be purchased here.
If you have any questions, please let us know. And if you purchase a copy, you have our sincere gratitude.
Posted in Alumni News, New Releases, Publishing, Shock Totem Digital, Shock Totem News, Staff News
Tagged Beautiful Sorrows, F. Paul Wilson, Mercedes M. Yardley, New Release, Paperback, Releases, Shock Totem Digital, Shock Totem Publications
Leave a comment
Beautiful Sorrows Hardcover—SOLD OUT!
The limited edition hardcover of Beautiful Sorrows is officially SOLD OUT! Mini-tribal!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who bought a copy. None of us expected our very first hardcover to sell out in a little over a week, but we’re extremely grateful!
If you missed out on the hardcover, you can still pre-order the paperback through our new webstore. Official release date for the paperback is October 19.
Thanks again to everyone who made this a success!
Posted in Alumni News, New Releases, Shock Totem Digital, Shock Totem News, Staff News
Tagged Beautiful Sorrows, Limited Edition Hardcover, Mercedes M. Yardley
Leave a comment
Beautiful Sorrows—Selling Fast!
A special paperback pre-release of Beautiful Sorrows was available this past weekend in Las Vegas, at the fourth annual Killercon convention. The entire Shock Totem team was on hand for this event and we sold out of all 50 copies we had.

[ The Shock Totem Five together for the first time ever! ]
If you did not attend the event, Beautiful Sorrows will officially be released next month in paperback and digital formats. You can pre-order it now through our new webstore.
The limited edition hardcover is scheduled for release in November. It is strictly limited to 50 case-bound copies signed by the author, P. Gardner Goldsmith (foreword), and Yannick Bouchard (artist). It is priced at $34.99, and also comes with the exclusive chapbook Star-Eaten Soul.
And it’s nearly sold out!
There are only 19 copies of the hardcover left, so if you want to secure a copy, order now. We expect it to sell out in the next few days.

[ Both covers created by Yannick Bouchard ]
Posted in Alumni News, Con Reports, New Releases, Shock Totem Digital, Shock Totem News, Staff News
Tagged Beautiful Sorrows, Chapbook, KillerCon, Limited Edition Hardcover, Mercedes M. Yardley, P. Gardner Goldsmith, Star-Eaten Soul, Yannick Bouchard
1 Comment











