Hippocampus Press is proud to commemorate ten years of our acclaimed journal of weird poetry, Spectral Realms, with the publication of the twentieth issue. As before, it contains a diverse array of poetry by today's leading versifiers in the realm of horror and the supernatural-John Shirley, Scott J. Couturier, Frank Coffman, Manuel Pérez-Campos, Ngo Binh Anh Khoa, Leigh Blackmore, Ann K. Schwader, and a host of others. Maxwell I. Gold and Jay Sturner contribute provocative prose poems, while a cadre of poets pen tributes to Dylan Thomas (Carl E. Reed's Echoing Dylan Thomas"), Robert W. Chambers (David J. Kopaska-Merkel's "A Vision of Carcosa"), Emily Brontë (Michael Potts's "After Heathcliff Digs Up Cathy"), and the imperishable Shakespeare (Kyla Lee Ward's "Malvolio's Revenge"). Among the classic reprints are poems by the Scottish writer William Sharp and the Weird Tales poet Mary C. Shaw. The issue concludes with a detailed index of poets and poem titles to issues 11-20.
Kyla Lee Ward Book order
Kyla Lee Ward crafts dark and fantastic narratives that delve into the gothic and esoteric. Her poetry collections explore bizarre and exhilarating ideas, capable of inducing nightmares yet captivating readers with their unique vision. Ward's work is celebrated for its originality and its power to evoke strong emotions, often described as weird and exhilarating. She fearlessly pushes the boundaries of storytelling, making her writing a compelling experience for lovers of the unusual.



- 2024
- 2022
This Attraction Now Open Till Late: Strange Sights and Shadows
- 270 pages
- 10 hours of reading
Enter a dark carnival where nothing is as it seems, in this collection of thirteen tales by award-winning author KYLA LEE WARD. Each exhibit tantalises with a mix of horror, seduction and blackest humour. A masked apparition tempts a struggling musician. Tourists in the City of Assassins seek a truly authentic experience. Gargoyles and angels battle for the future of a university. Firefighters confront the spectre of what has burned before. Actors in a funfair haunt realise where the true horror lies. A wax-working necromancer plots vengeance for the death of her lover. This menagerie of stories represents twenty years of publication by a unique voice in contemporary weird and Gothic fiction, and will enthrall enthusiasts of thoughtful horror and dark fantasy, especially readers of Joyce Carol Oates and Tanith Lee. A cavalcade of artists and archetypes, mummies and masquers, vampires and voyeurs will sweep you away to distant times and places, and shock you with surprises closer to home. But be warned! For as the hour grows late, the difference between spectator and attraction blurs. After midnight, you'll never want to leave... Cover art by Alessandro Amoruso
- 2019
The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities
- 152 pages
- 6 hours of reading
A contemporary update on the medieval Danse Macabre theme, written for the twenty-first century onward. Written and illustrated profusely by the author.