Publishing Weird Horror and the Grotesque Since 2015
Weirdpunk’s Mission
Weirdpunk Books hopes to fill a specific gap we see in the publishing industry. One where a multitude of amazing horror writers never see their work published because it’s too weird, alienating, different, or grotesque. One where queer writers have historically been ignored and scorned. One where horror stories that are emotionally challenging are skipped over in the name of more easily digestible work.
Weirdpunk sits at a very specific cross-section. A place where well-read Dell Abyss paperbacks and faded Ebullition vinyl records are piled together in chaotic glory. A place where tattered issues of the old Profane Existence zine are read while Brian Yuzna’s Society plays on a barely working old tube tv. A place where JG Ballard and Kathy Acker debate Cronenberg’s filmography while warped Celtic Frost tapes blast in the background.
Too alienating for most. Home for the others.
These Books Kill Fascists | This Press Runs on Spicy Pickles & High Life.
Established in Minneapolis, 2015.
Weirdpunk’s History
Weirdpunk Books was founded in 2015 by Emma Alice Johnson, with Sam Richard as Editor. Together, they edited and released the underground anthology hits Blood For You: A Literary Tribute to GG Allin and Hybrid Moments: A Literary Tribute to the Misfits. We think of this time as ‘the early years.’
In 2017, while working on their next anthology, Zombie Punks Fuck Off, Sam’s wife, Mo Richard, died suddenly from an aortic aneurysm. Sam set the project aside to deal with the shock and grief, trying to make sense of her death by writing the stories that would eventually be released as his Wonderland Award-Winning debut short story collection, To Wallow in Ash & Other Sorrows (NihilismRevised, 2019 - later repressed by Weirdpunk in 2021).
Knowing that Mo, who was always a massive supporter of the press, would want the book to be released, in 2018 Sam continued forward in getting the anthology completed. Around that same time, Emma decided to step down from Weirdpunk to focus on other things, giving up sole ownership to Sam.
Not having dealt with the technical side of publishing before, Sam enlisted the help of Leza Cantoral and Christoph Paul at CLASH Books to help co-publish Zombie Punks Fuck Off, which was then released in October 2018, just in time for Halloween.
With stories from a wide swath of talented authors like David W. Barbee, Danger Slater, and Jo Quenell, ZPFO received a lot of praise for breathing new, rotten life into an overdone genre. This is seen as the ‘transitional period’ for the press.
2019 saw the release of The New Flesh: A Literary Tribute to David Cronenberg, which was edited by Sam Richard and Brendan Vidito (pictured together here). The idea of this book came the first time the two met, at BizarroCon 2016. With a foreword by Kathe Koja, and stories by Brian Evenson, Cody Goodfellow, Gwendolyn Kiste, Ryan Harding, and Katy Michelle Quinn, The New Flesh managed to snag a Splatterpunk Award Nomination for Best Anthology.
This represented a turning point in the output of the press. Up until The New Flesh, all Weirdpunk Releases were expressly tied to punk in some way. With Sam taking over, he wanted to push the punk element of the press to more the philosophical backbone of what Weirdpunk Books is about, as opposed to the overarching theme and aesthetic of the books.
2020 saw the release of the first four Weirdpunk Books novella releases, The Mud Ballad by Jo Quenell, Sabbath of the Fox-Devils by Sam Richard, Seventeen Names For Skin by Roland Blackburn, and is The Wingspan of Severed Hands by Joe Koch.
In the years since then, Weirdpunk has published many novellas, collections, and anthologies, including several that have gone on to become cult hits in the horror underground. Some have also been nominated for Stoker Awards, Splatterpunk Awards, Wonderland Awards, and more. Many have received critical acclaim.
We’re always trying to stick as close as possible to our vision, never putting out books because we think they’ll sell or will make a name for us, but instead opting to publish books that we love, written by authors who we believe in and are inspired by.
Eat pickles, read weird horror, punch nazis.