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Simon Strantzas

@strantzas.bsky.social
1.1K followers 74 following 598 posts

Author of BURNT BLACK SUNS. Editor of AICKMAN'S HEIRS. Finalist for four Shirley Jackson Awards, two British Fantasy Awards, and the World Fantasy Award. Probably won’t follow you back. 🌎 strantzas.com

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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
"The first thing I’d like to say in the time since I published Books of Blood 40 years ago, is that there hasn’t been a lot of short story collections."
static.klipy.com
Man's Hilarious Confused Look
ALT: Man's Hilarious Confused Look
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Every time I get out of a chair now that I’m my mid-50s…
media.tenor.com
a man in a suit is walking down a sidewalk .
ALT: a man in a suit is walking down a sidewalk .
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Corey Farrenkopf @coreyfarrenkopf.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
You know what’s a great story about trolls (or maybe not trolls?) and changing childhood friendships? Shepherd Not Sheep by @strantzas.bsky.social over in @bourbonpenn.bsky.social! Treat yourself :) www.bourbonpenn.com/issue/32/she...
bourbonpenn.com
Simon Strantzas > Shepherd Not Sheep > Bourbon Penn
Our tiny village, Drei Fluss, has three rivers and seven bridges. Under each bridge is a troll. The trolls arrived the summer before last and no one in the village knows what to do about them so the c...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
I know I say this every time, but if you’re not reading BOURBON PENN your head’s not on right.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
All I want to do is stay home and read all of the Richard Stark “Parker” books. Why is that so wrong?
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
In the last seven days I’ve watched PAYBACK: STRAIGHT UP, and POINT BLANK. I’ve also read Richard Stark’s THE HUNTER, and the Darwyn Cooke adaptation of the same. It’s still somehow not enough.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
If you’re not reading BP your head’s not on right.
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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Weird Horror #12 is alive! Another fab ToC! Thank you to everyone who preordered. I will get your copy out soon. You can grab a copy direct from us (or elsewhere). Our friends @weightlessbooks.bsky.social have the official digital subscription. Thx! undertowpublications.com/shop/weird-h...
Cover of issue 12 of WEIRD HORROR showing a witchy figure floating above the ground and gliding right to left as their hair and robe traisl behind.

Chloe N. Clark, Roy Graham, Rick Kennett, Annika Barranti Klein, Rajiv Moté, Russell Nichols, Rory Say, R.L. Summerling, D. Matthew Urban, and Aliya Whiteley.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Wherein I attempt to explain just what I mean when I contrast “European Horror” with “American Horror”. Let the hate flow through you! www.weirdhorrormagazine.com/on-horror-12
weirdhorrormagazine.com
On Horror 12 — Weird Horror Magazine
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PAUL FINCH @paulfinchauthor.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The odd couple in the rotting holiday park. The dark side of lacemaking. The twin town and its horrible secret. Wide range of macabre weirdness inspired by the late, great Rob Aickman. Spec writing of the highest order. @strantzas.bsky.social My review: paulfinch-writer.blogspot.com/2019/05/back...
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Nicholas Kaufmann @nicholaskaufmann.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
A friendly reminder that my new collection MONUMENTS IN DARKNESS is available in paperback and e-book! I think it contains some of my very best short work, and I'm extremely proud. Its publication also marked my 25th anniversary as a professionally published author. I hope you'll give it a read!
bookshop.org
Monuments in Darkness
Check out Monuments in Darkness - <p>This volume commemorates Nicholas Kaufmann's twenty-five years as a writer of weird fiction, which began with the story "La Bête Est Morte" (2000). In this diverse...
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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Can we help our pals @littleghostsbooks.bsky.social expand their programming and build a fabulous workshop? crowdfundr.com/littleghosts...
crowdfundr.com
Little Ghosts Books Workshop Space
Little Ghosts Books horror bookstore & community hub is looking to expand its space by renovating our back garage into a studio to host our workshops, book clubs, and author events.
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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Reminder you can really help us out by pre-ordering our 2026 titles. Thank you! Weird Horror #12 (Shipping March) Weird Horror #13 (Shipping August) Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 2 (Shipping November) undertowpublications.com/shop/2026-pr...
undertowpublications.com
2026 Pre-Order Bundle — Undertow Publications
Pre-order all 3 of our 2026 titles: Weird Horror #12 (Shipping March) Weird Horror #13 (Shipping August) Best Weird Fiction of the Year, Vol. 2 (Shipping November)
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Thinking about creating a special email address to give to writers I like and telling them “just email me here and tell me if/when you have a new book coming” because, at this point, I’m nowhere near present enough to see their (no doubt) multitudinous social media posts on the subject.
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Undertow Publications 🇨🇦 @undertow.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
I know issue 12 isn't even out yet—soon—but revel in the glory of the cover and contributors of issue 13 (Summer). Art by James Hutton. Design by Vince Haig. I'll be doing a big pre-order push soon on our 2026 titles to try and secure some much-needed operating funds.
Cover for issue 13 of Weird Horror. Art by James Hutton depicts a red figure with tree limbs sprouting from mouth and chest and yellow moon in background.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Holy smokes did I ever sleep on The Gits.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
I’m Simon Strantzas. I write horror but also sort of don’t. It's complicated. I wrote the collection Burnt Black Suns and edited the anthology Aickman’s Heirs. Last year I published a new collection called OTHER SIDES that I really think you might like. www.lethepressbooks.com/product-page...
lethepressbooks.com
Other Sides | Lethe Press
In Other Sides, Simon Strantzas invites you to explore the eerie fringes of reality, where the familiar twists into the unexplainable. A hungry house that demands a price from its occupants. A boy who...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
I’d just like to say it was an immense honor to be part of this omnibus. If you can afford a copy, you should buy a copy. www.centipedepress.com/horror/thing...
centipedepress.com
Things Seen and Unseen
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Caught this play a few days ago in Toronto. Not sure how much it reminded me of either Poe or Jackson, but it was a fun experience. www.crowstheatre.com/shows-events...
crowstheatre.com
The Veil | Crow's Theatre
SAVE UP TO 40% FOR A LIMITED TIME The Veil is part of the Complete Crowsnest subscription. Also, it may be included in any 4-ticket or 6-ticket Design ...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
My dudes and dudettes and all those between: it wasn’t my intention to harsh your mellows today. I wish you all long and successful short story writing careers from the bottom of my blacked heart.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
"Strantzas is one of the masters of modern weird fiction, able to mine the common materials of everyday life for unmistakable signs of dread." — Steve Rasnic Tem www.lethepressbooks.com/product-page...
lethepressbooks.com
Other Sides | Lethe Press
In Other Sides, Simon Strantzas invites you to explore the eerie fringes of reality, where the familiar twists into the unexplainable. A hungry house that demands a price from its occupants. A boy who...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Here’s the thing about being a short story writer: there are a lot of you. A lot who started writing before you, and a lot who will start after. And depending on when you begin to send your work out, there may be a plethora of places to publish, or a paucity. (1/8)
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Wanted: Short Story Writer. Must love: long hours for little pay; minimal book sales; multitudinous rejections; working in anonymity. Perks: doing what you want because no one is reading anyway. Misplaced self-importance an asset but not required. Apply within.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Daniel Mills has long been one of my favourite writers. Missing this book would be a great mistake. (One you may regret every day for the rest of your life.) undertowpublications.com/shop/among-t...
undertowpublications.com
Among the Lilies — Undertow Publications
PAPERBACK Cover art: Yves Tourigny The long-awaited new collection of short stories from Daniel Mills, whose literary antecedents include Poe, Hawthorne, Vernon Lee, and John Darnielle. A visionary ...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
We should judge our success not by our few times of triumph, but by our perseverance during multiple times of failure.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
PHANTASMAGORIA, issue 27, is now on the newsstands and includes a reprint of my story, "Thea Was First", and a brand-new interview with me. I feel I'm getting better at these interviews as I slouch toward decrepitude, but I'll let you be the judge. www.amazon.com/Phantasmagor...
amazon.com
Phantasmagoria Magazine Issue 27
Phantasmagoria Magazine Issue 27 [Kennedy, Trevor] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Phantasmagoria Magazine Issue 27
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Matt Simon @mattsimon.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Words by yours truly about group guilt and a freaky jester costume in Sorority Row, Irish vampire music in Sinners, and the mind’s dark margins in @strantzas.bsky.social’s “In This Twilight.” www.deadofnightletter.com/jester-vamp-... #filmsky #horror
deadofnightletter.com
Jester, Vamp, & Bus Creep
It's been two weeks focusing on the higher brow end of horror cinema, so we're turning our focus, at least to begin with, on different fare: one of the more delightful American slashers of the 1980s, ...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Another stellar review of OTHER SIDES, this time in the latest issue of Phantasmagoria magazine… “Strantzas has delivered another excellent collection of the weird and the horrifyingly wonderful… – highly recommended.” www.lethepressbooks.com/product-page...
lethepressbooks.com
Other Sides | Lethe Press
In Other Sides, Simon Strantzas invites you to explore the eerie fringes of reality, where the familiar twists into the unexplainable. A hungry house that demands a price from its occupants. A boy who...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
I used to be a grumpy writer. I still am, but I used to be, too.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Podcast idea: “The Process is a Process All Its Own”, where your host interviews a guest and first discusses how they started, then how they typically write stories, then ending with a discussion about current ideas for stories and how they might be fleshed out.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Book reviews are not for the writer.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Small press and micro press publishers are typically not business-minded people. They are just regular joes and janes who like books so much that they want to put more of what they love out into the world.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
This is a great book!
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
I probably shouldn't have but I did.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
I fell for this scam when I was in my early 20s. The scammer even drove me to the bank and waited in line with me to make sure I didn’t flake. My mom was /not/ happy with me. Still, I used those speakers for over a decade, so I’m convinced I got my money’s worth. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_v...
en.wikipedia.org
White van speaker scam - Wikipedia
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
I like to use the time I set aside for writing each day to wonder why I'm not writing.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
I know I've said there are no rules to writing, but there actually are a few. A big one is: Never ask someone what they thought of what you wrote. That's because they'll either lie to you or tell you the truth, and both outcomes are equally horrible.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
“Just finished OTHER SIDES by [Simon Strantzas]. Another stellar collection of dark reveries.” — Michael Kelly, editor of THE BEST WEIRD FICTION OF THE YEAR Amazon link: www.amazon.com/Other-Sides-...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Fresh outta the box! Still got that "new book" smell!
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
My new collection, OTHER SIDES, concludes with the novella "Interior Designs". A young, troubled woman is employed to prepare a home for a notorious star. But there's something amiss about that old wooden door and that weird shape that's following her. Order OTHER SIDES: tinyurl.com/2ektv9ty
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Steve Rasnic Tem @stevetem.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
I highly recommend this new collection by Simon Strantzas, Other Sides. Strantzas is one of the masters of modern weird fiction, able to mine the common materials of everyday life for unmistakable signs of dread. www.amazon.com/Other-Sides-...
amazon.com
Other Sides
Other Sides [Strantzas, Simon] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Other Sides
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Desperate to read OTHER SIDES but you’re allergic to paper? Don’t be left behind! EBOOK edition now available through Godless. (Amazon link to come at a later date). godless.com/products/oth...
godless.com
Other Sides by Simon Strantzas
In Other Sides, Shirley Jackson Award-winner Simon Strantzas invites you to explore the eerie fringes of reality, where the familiar twists into the unexplainable. A hungry house that demands a price ...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
I’m glad there are new (read: smarter) folks out there trying to make sense of what the Weird currently is because I’m starting to feel I have my arms wrapped tight around an old dissipating ghost.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Elsewhere I excitedly shared a link to a new in-depth essay about my work before I read it and realized that the thing was 90% AI hallucination.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
The penultimate story in my new collection, OTHER SIDES, is "The Somnambulists". Is it horror? Is it weird? Is it fantasy? Who the fudge knows, but I think you'll like it. It was first published in Shadows & Tall Trees 8. Order OTHER SIDES: tinyurl.com/2ektv9ty
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D'Argento Alexandr⭕ פיש is Phish @dargentoalexandro.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Today (well, yesterday) is the drop day for @michaelcisco.bsky.social latest! Weird fiction icon Michael Cisco's Black Brane, begins with the physical pain of a bad foot and later voyages into absurdity, mad science, occultism, and existential dread. indiepubs.com/products/bla... (Buy Indie!)
Weird fiction icon and award-winning author Michael Cisco's Black Brane, begins with the physical pain of a bad foot and later voyages into absurdity, mad science, occultism, and existential dread.

A man lying in a bed of pain flees from physical torment into his own memories, and into speculations about life and reality. He was, once, employed by the Temporary Institute for the Study of Holes, a think tank pursuing research that ranges from occult studies to advanced physics, including black holes—or, as they are known in string theory, black branes.

He meets and interacts with the various other members of the institute. Its founder, Dr. Marilyn Shitansky, a formerly homeless woman who claims to have a thinking hole in her brain; its resident occultist, the chain-smoking Daladara with his magic abacus; Ernie Allegre the engineer, who designed and built a decoherence reactor to power the institute; Dr. Liu, the string theorist; the linguist Dr. Corngholm, who can't sit still; and Dr. Shitansky's secretary, Renbrui, who seems to carry a mystery with her wherever she goes.

In memory, the speaker finds them again, in a story of physical and emotional pain, of social and quantum entanglement, that turns comic, speculative, and nightmarish. Echoing the work of Blake Crouch and Thomas Ligotti, Michael Cisco shows in Black Brane why he’s beloved by weird fiction and horror readers.Weird fiction icon and award-winning author Michael Cisco's Black Brane, begins with the physical pain of a bad foot and later voyages into absurdity, mad science, occultism, and existential dread.

A man lying in a bed of pain flees from physical torment into his own memories, and into speculations about life and reality. He was, once, employed by the Temporary Institute for the Study of Holes, a think tank pursuing research that ranges from occult studies to advanced physics, including black holes—or, as they are known in string theory, black branes.

He meets and interacts with the various other members of the institute. Its founder, Dr. Marilyn Shitansky, a formerly homeless woman who claims to have a thinking hole in her brain; its resident occultist, the chain-smoking Daladara with his magic abacus; Ernie Allegre the engineer, who designed and built a decoherence reactor to power the institute; Dr. Liu, the string theorist; the linguist Dr. Corngholm, who can't sit still; and Dr. Shitansky's secretary, Renbrui, who seems to carry a mystery with her wherever she goes.

In memory, the speaker finds them again, in a story of physical and emotional pain, of social and quantum entanglement, that turns comic, speculative, and nightmarish. Echoing the work of Blake Crouch and Thomas Ligotti, Michael Cisco shows in Black Brane why he’s beloved by weird fiction and horror readers.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
"Strantzas doesn’t just tell scary stories—he peels back the layers of the human mind and dives straight into the shadows... where the real terror isn't just what's out there… but what's already inside us." - Cassandra Clare, #1 New York Times bestselling author tinyurl.com/2ektv9ty
lethepressbooks.com
Other Sides
Lethe Press is an independent publishing house specializing in speculative fiction, books of gay interest, poetry, spirituality, as well as classic works of the occult & supernatural. Named after the ...
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Peter was one of the best to ever do it. I hope one day this will be available in a format that more people can afford.
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
The twelfth story in OTHER SIDES, my new collection, is “The Beautiful Fog Ascending”. First published in Joshi’s SEARCHERS AFTER DARKNESS, it's the uplifting story of an elderly man whose family have all deserted him, so he goes for a walk. Order OTHER SIDES: tinyurl.com/2ektv9ty
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Simon Strantzas @strantzas.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
If you’re not reading BOURBON PENN then you ain’t thinking right.
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