Press Release: WILDWOOD

by | Jun 2, 2021 | The Horror Review News | 0 comments

Announces the Release of:
WILDWOOD: TALES OF TERROR & TRANSFORMATION FROM THE FOREST
Edited and Introduced by William P. Simmons

Unnamable nightmares lurk in the wild. Do you dare stray from the path? Witness the sylvan horrors of nature with WILDWOOD: TALES OF TERROR & TRANSFORMATION FROM THE FOREST, the first anthology in the Shadow House Library of Weird Fiction series.

Forests fill us with fear and fascination, evoking dread of the unknown while promising savage freedom. Anthologist William P. Simmons invites you to get lost in the woods with 15 rare and classic horror stories of eldritch altars, haunted forests, and sylvan dread. See pagan rituals in doom-laden groves and the great god Pan wreak havoc in stygian glades. Encounter woodland elementals and a weird wilderness of spirits, faerie, and furrow fiends.

Famed and forgotten authors around the world reveal nature in its most terrifying and visionary aspects, merging horror with wonder as humanity faces supernatural, occult, and undefinable nightmares…and discover numinous secrets about reality (and themselves). In the world’s dark forests macabre miracles hide behind every tree, death slithers between gnarled roots, and neither your mind nor your soul will escape unscathed.

Satyrs, nymphs, and faerie; elementals, nature spirits, and ancient gods; werewolves, ghosts, and witches; all here for those bold enough to stray from the path. Collected from the late 19th-20th centuries, these stories inspire not only terror but wonder. Experience the forest as a mysterious setting of sudden death, spiritual panic and metamorphosis; witness supernatural entities born of the wildwood; quake before nature as a sentient force suggesting other realities.

A wide range of sub-genres and supernatural motifs are represented in this carefully curated call to the wild, from rustic folk-horror and mystical nightmares to traditional ghost stories and cosmic fright. Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, E.M. Forester, Saki, Ralph Adams Cram, and H.F.W. Tatham appear beside obscure female authors Bessie Kyffin-Taylor, Theo Douglas, and others. They dare you to confront the darkest part of the woods…and your own natures.

Does the Wildwood offer freedom or damnation, liberation or destruction?  You decide.

This critical edition features a comprehensive Introduction examining weird nature fiction, Story Notes, Author Biographies, and Further Reading. An article on “Forest Folklore” by late ghost hunter Elliott O’Donnell is appendixed.

Get lost in the forest. You may survive but you won’t be unchanged.

Available now, in paperback and Kindle from Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0962N9RK1 ), and various e-formats from the publisher.

About the Editor: William P. Simmons is a bestselling author and editor of supernatural horror fiction. He is the editor of the anthologies Season of the Dead, Monster Carnival, and Yuletide Frights, and of the series Horror Hall of Fame Novellas and Macabre Mistresses. Eight of his stories earned Honorable Mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. His collection By Reason of Darkness was praised by Publisher’s Weekly, All Hallows & Cemetery Dance. Best-selling authors Graham Masterton, Hugh B. Cave & T.M. Wright have endorsed his work, and he has interviewed such legends as Richard Matheson, F. Paul Wilson & Caitlin Kiernan. He was a reviewer for Publisher’s Weekly, Cemetery Dance, Hellnotes & Darkness Rising. 

SHADOW HOUSE PUBLISHING preserves our horror heritage with authoritative and affordable special editions of quality supernatural literature.

 

About Scarlett R. Algee

Scarlett R. Algee is the managing editor for JournalStone Publishing and Trepidatio Publishing.

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