“The horror, the horror!”
-Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Welcome to Gravelight Press, a start-up that publishes horror. Horror, of course, covers a wide range of subject material. We’re not looking for the kind of explicit gore you’re going to find in the works of Jack Ketchum or Edward Lee. Nothing wrong with those authors, and if you appreciate their work there’s certainly nothing wrong with that either. It’s just not the type of horror we’re looking to cultivate.
Rather, we’re interested in the types of stories that give you the shivers but are not repulsive or explicit to the point that they might have been authored by the town medical examiner. Stories that involve rape, incest, extreme physical torture, animal cruelty, graphically explicit sex, racism, homophobism, or the harming of children are all off the table, so don’t bother submitting to us if any of those are your thing. We’re also not interested in the “Angels versus Demons” angle or tales pitting Heaven against Hell “with the balance of the entire planet at stake!”
Monster tales, ghost stories, Arkham House-esque weird fiction, and commercial horror the likes of King, Matheson, and (early) Barker are welcome. If you have an original take on public domain characters (such as James Lovegrove’s Sherlock Holmes/Cthulhu mash-up) we’d be interested in hearing from you. Most of all, we’re looking for well-written tales that keep readers on the edge of their seats.
Now how difficult could that be?
GRAVELIGHT PRESS 