Nightmare Carnival

Encounter the scariest clowns and freakiest curiosities under the big top, in stories by Stephen Graham Jones, Laird Barron, Priya Sharma, and others.

With an introduction from Katherine Dunn

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up for fifteen tales of terrifying rides, supernatural sideshows, and petrifying performers guaranteed to keep you up all night—with Hugo and Bram Stoker Award–winning editor Ellen Datlow as the ringmaster.

In Stephen Graham Jones’s “The Darkest Part,” three men are driven to madness by the clown that has haunted them since one misguided Tunnel of Love ride during their childhoods. The deaths of three circus performers—two brothers and a beautiful fire dancer—become the burning obsession of an author who wrote a book about the tragedy in “The Firebrand” by Priya Sharma. “Skullpocket” by Nathan Ballingrud takes you to an alternate fantasy world where a well-respected ghoul from a town near Chesapeake Bay grieves the death of his one true love, a freak show attraction known as the Orchid Girl.

Under the tent, you’ll find more chilling stories by Genevieve Valentine, Robert Shearman, N.  Lee Wood, Nick Mamatas, A. C. Wise, Terry Dowling, Joel Lane, Glen Hirshberg, Jeffrey Ford, Dennis Danvers, and Livia Llewellyn.

“To Datlow’s credit a number of her selections take the dark carnival theme into provocative new territory. . . . Ballingrud’s tale is a magnificent piece of storytelling. Accompanied by another 14 estimable acts, it makes admission into Nightmare Carnival well worth the price.” —Locus

“There’s not a bad story in the bunch.” —Horror DNA