Cover by Matthew Jaffe

Word Horde, Ross E. Lockhart’s small press, has produced some knockout titles over the past few years, including Vermilion by Molly Tanzer, the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Fisherman by John Langan, and The Children of Old Leech, edited by Ross E. Lockhart and Justin Steele. Last month they released Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies, the big new collection by horror master John Langan. The Publishers Weekly review teased some of the stories within nicely.

Langan (The Fisherman) draws inspiration from Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, David Lynch and other masters of the strange and horrific to create an impressive collection of 21 tales as terrifying as they are mysterious. The exceptional title story finds two siblings investigating family secrets hidden away in their grandfather’s basement and stumbling on a horrific realization. “With Max Berry in the Nearer Precincts” offers a disturbing vision of the afterlife, while “Ymir” ventures into a Canadian mine with an eccentric billionaire and his female bodyguard. True Detective meets Stephen King’s It in “The Communion of Saints,” about a detective whose faith is tested when the Catholic saints are revealed to be other than they appear… This well-crafted collection will delight fans of dark, literary horror.

On his website Langan notes, “This is a big book, modeled after collections like King’s Skeleton Crew and Barker’s Books of Blood.” Here’s the complete table of contents.

“Sweetums”
“Hyphae”
“Muse”
“Zombies in Marysville”
“With Max Barry in the Nearer Precincts”
“Into the Darkness, Fearlessly”
“Children of the Fang”
“Episode Three: On the Great Plains, in the Snow”
“Tragōidia”
“Ymir”
“Irezumi”
“The Horn of the World’s Ending”
“The Underground Economy”
“The Communion of Saints”
“Aphanisis”
“Gripped”
“Inundation”
“To See, To Be Seen”
“What You Do Not Bring Forth”
“Vista”
“Slippage”

John Langan’s previous collections include The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies (2013) and Sefira and Other Betrayals (2019), both from Hippocampus Press.

Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies was published by Word Horde on August 18, 2020. It is 390 pages, priced at $19.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 in digital formats. The introduction is by Stephen Graham Jones, and the cover art is by Matthew Jaffe. Get full details and order copies at the Word Horde website.

See all our coverage of the best new releases in fantasy, science fiction, and weird horror here.