Omens is a collection of twelve haunting tales by Richard Gavin, whose work is reminiscent of the subtle supernatural tales of Robert Aickman, and also of the eerie and unsettling tales of Thomas Ligotti.

Omens

Literature & Fiction

Richard Gavin

Genre Fiction

Mythos Books LLC

SYNOPSIS 
Weird fiction is an incredibly rich and varied genre, running the gamut from supernatural horror to imaginary-world fantasy to psychological terror. This anthology seeks to exhibit the wide range of themes, motifs, and imagery that weird fiction allows, as embodied in the work of some of the leading contemporary writers in the field. 
The ghost or revenant is a venerable motif, and stories by John Shirley, Lynda E. Rucker, and Reggie Oliver ring fascinating changes on it. Allied to the ghost is the haunted house, and stories by Gemma Files and Jason V Brock present highly ingenious variants on the idea. The resurrection of the dead is treated in strikingly different ways by Clint Smith, Jonathan Thomas, Michael Aronovitz, and W. H. Pugmire. 
Weird fiction has always exploited topographically remote areas of the world as a potent setting for horror. Here, tales by Cody Goodfellow, Lynne Jamneck, and Stephen Woodworth take us to unfamiliar realms where the weird can manifest itself. From a very different perspective, Richard Gavin and Darrell Schweitzer infuse their tales with elements of fantasy that allow for the maximum play of the imagination. 
Science fiction has always been allied to the weird, and in this volume Nancy Kilpatrick and George Edwards Murray take us to a post-apocalyptic environment where the preservation of our very humanity is brought into question. Psychological horror, as represented here by the work of Steve Rasnic Tem and Michael Washburn, focuses on the dread that stems from mental aberration. 
The eighteen stories making up Apostles of the Weird demonstrate that weird fiction is a multifaceted genre whose emphasis on fear does not preclude pathos, poignancy, and a brooding rumination on our place in this fragile world.

Apostles of the Weird

Gemma Files

John Shirley

Cody Goodfellow

Reggie Oliver

Clint Smith

Darrell Schweitzer

Jonathan Thomas

Jason V Brock

S.T. Joshi

W.H. Pugmire

Lynda E. Rucker

Michael Aronovitz

Lynne Jamneck

stephen-woodworth

PS Publishing

SYNOPSISH. P. Lovecraft (1890 1937), the pioneering writer of weird fiction, has himself become an icon in popular culture. Stories, novels, and other works featuring the gaunt, lantern-jawed gentleman from Providence, Rhode Island, have proliferated. These works have been triggered by the incredible amount of knowledge we have on the writer his family, his friends, his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities as found in his thousands of surviving letters. This anthology takes the figure of Lovecraft and enmeshes him in a series of bizarre and supernatural adventures. Darrell Schweitzer focuses on Lovecraft s childhood, when he was plagued with dreams of night-gaunts and was left bereft by the early death of his father. John Shirley depicts Lovecraft as a gawky teenager evolving his notions of cosmicism, while Scott Wiley emphasises Lovecraft s devotion to cats. Stephen Woodworth and Donald R. Burleson ring changes on the Lovecraftian theme of personality exchange. Lovecraft famously collaborated with Harry Houdini on a story. Donald Tyson and Jonathan Thomas write very different stories on the association of these two figures. Mark Samuels focuses on Lovecraft s creation of imaginary tomes of forbidden lore, while the stories by Richard Gavin, David Hambling, Jason V Brock, and S. T. Joshi supply broader ruminations on the origins of Lovecraft s revolutionary motifs. While eschewing Lovecraft himself as a character, the tales by W. H. Pugmire and Simon Strantzas exhibit figures who reveal strikingly Lovecraftian elements while probing the psyche of the man from Providence. H. P. Lovecraft s work has captured the imaginations of millions and now he himself has become no less fascinating. In every sense of the word he was, as Vincent Starrett said of him, his own most fantastic creation.

His Own Most Fantastic Creation: Stories about H. P. Lovecraft

Simon Strantzas

Donald Tyson

Donald R. Burleson

David Hambling

Scott Wiley

Harry Houdini

Mark Samuels

This second instalment of S. T. Joshi s critically acclaimed Black Wings series contains eighteen stories by leading contemporary writers, all drawing upon themes, images, and ideas from the life and work of H. P. Lovecraft. Caitlín R. Kiernan has written a poetic reinterpretation of The Hound, while Nicholas Royle plays a fascinating riff on the existential horror of The Outsider. Three separate tales, by Jason C. Eckhardt, Brian Evenson, and Jonathan Thomas, ring changes on Lovecraft s seminal story, The Call of Cthulhu. Nick Mamatas writes an ingenious elaboration of The Whisperer in Darkness. The cosmic indifferentism that is the core of Lovecraft s fiction is treated in various ways by John Langan, Melanie Tem, Tom Fletcher, Darrell Schweitzer, and Richard Gavin. The archaeological horror that we find in some of Lovecraft s most powerful tales is revivified by Donald Tyson, while Lovecraft s media presence is made the subject of half-comic, half-horrific tales by Don Webb and Chet Williamson. John Shirley, Rick Dakan, and Jason V Brock use Lovecraft s life and outlook as springboards for imaginative tales of psychological and supernatural horror. All in all, Black Wings II affords a rich feast of terror inspired by the twentieth century s greatest writer of the supernatural.

Black Wings II [jhc]

JOHN LANGAN

Don Webb

Nicholas Royle

Steve Rasnic Tem

Tom Fletcher

Nick Mamatas

Melanie Tem

Jason C. Eckhardt

Brian Evenson

Rick Dakan

Caitlin, R., Kiernan

SYNOPSIS This fourth instalment of S. T. Joshi s acclaimed Black Wings series features seventeen stories that continue to elaborate upon the conceptions, motifs, and imagery of H. P. Lovecraft, the most influential writer of weird fiction of the past hundred years. One of Lovecraft s favourite themes was the tale of archaeological horror, where venturesome explorers unearth hideous secrets of the ancient past that cast a baleful light on the fragility of our own existence. In this volume, a major new novella by the award-winning novelist and poet Fred Chappell, Artifact, treats this theme with his customary panache and subtlety, while other writers such as Richard Gavin, Lois H. Gresh, Ann K. Schwader, and Donald Tyson broach the same theme in their own distinctive and diverse ways. The cosmicism that was at the core of Lovecraft s vision finds vivid realisation in stories by Caitlín R. Kiernan, Cody Goodfellow, and Melanie Tem. John Pelan and Stephen Mark Rainey have co-written a vivid novelette fusing horror and science fiction, while Will Murray s tale of governmental espionage leads to a conclusion that bodes ill for the fate of the human race. Lovecraft was skilled at evoking the terrors inherent in the history and topography of his native New England, and several writers in this volume notably W. H. Pugmire and Jonathan Thomas do the same. Jason V Brock finds Lovecraftian terror in Prague, just as Gary Fry locates it in the British countryside. Lovecraft s patented motif of the forbidden book that reveals secrets too horrible to contemplate is the focus of Darrell Schweitzer s story of what can be found in an out-of-the-way bookstore, while stories by Simon Strantzas and Stephen Woodworth elaborate on the Lovecraftian themes of immortal gods and of dreams that reveal unwelcome truths about ourselves. The book s final contribution, by Charles Lovecraft, is nothing less than a recasting of Lovecraft s early tale The Lurking Fear in a cycle of twelve sonnets. Black Wings IV shows that H. P. Lovecraft continues to inspire some of today s leading writers of weird fiction.

Black Wings IV - More Tales of Lovecraftian Horror

Lois H. Gresh

Ann K. Schwader

Gary Fry

"Richard Gavin's writing serves as a testament that great masters once crafted stories..and as evidence that they shall do so again." -- Thomas Ligotti "Gavin's prose is a refined instrument capable of evoking whatever person, mood, or time period he chooses..." -- Jim Rockhill in Dead Reckonings Dark Regions Press is proud to present Charnel Wine: Memento Mori Edition, which contains the original collection in its entirety as well as five previously unpublished tales, a new introduction by the author, and cover art by renowned illustrator J.K. Potter. "[Gavin's] voice blends hints of Arthur Machen, M.R. James, and H.P. Lovecraft, yet updates all three of them ably into the 21st century...he's fond of declarative statements which sound normal on first reading, then twist into something dreadful and alien when you try to parse them further." - Gemma Files "There is writing here of dreams and darkness. Stories of nightmare blended with poetic eloquence. Memories will linger from this book, like fears conjured from visits to the graveyard." -- L.H. Maynard & M.P.N Sims "Richard Gavin pens tales of grimness and melancholy, of ghost and things much darker than ghosts...He knows how to get under your skin and haunt you." -- Laird Barron "Richard Gavin has the narrative strength and the imaginative power of veteran." -- Hellnotes

Charnel Wine - Memento Mori Edition

Dark Regions Press

Sylvian Dread- Tales of Pastoral Darkness

Three Hands Press

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Books by Richard Gavin