{{Infobox magazine , image_file = Shock_Totem_Issue_10.jpg , image_caption = Shock Totem #10 Artwork created b
Mikio Murakami
, publisher = Shock Totem Publications, LLC. , frequency = Bi-annual , language =

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

Canadian English Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the varieties of English native to Canada. According to the 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or 58.1% of the total population; the remainder spoke French ( ...

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Engli ...

, category =

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, editor = K. Allen Wood , firstdate = July 2009 , country =

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, based =

Seattle, WA Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of ...

, website
www.shocktotem.com
, issn = 1944-110X Shock Totem Publications (commonly referred to as Shock Totem) was an American

small-press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

publisher specializing in

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

and horror.

Shock Totem Magazine

The debut issue of ''Shock Totem: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted'', a digest-sized magazine of fiction and nonfiction, was first published in July 2009. To date, eleven issues have been released, as well as three special holiday issues (Christmas 2011, Valentine's Day 2014, and Halloween 2014). Notable authors to appear in ''Shock Totem'' are

Jack Ketchum Dallas William Mayr (November 10, 1946 – January 24, 2018), better known by his pen name Jack Ketchum, was an American horror fiction author. He was the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. His novels inclu ...

John Skipp John Skipp is a splatterpunk horror and fantasy author and anthology editor, as well as a songwriter, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He collaborated with Craig Spector on multiple novels, and has also collaborated with Marc Le ...

Kevin J. Anderson Kevin James Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is an American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for ''Star Wars'', ''StarCraft'', ''Titan A.E.'' and ''The X-Files literature#Novels, The X-Files'', and with Brian Herbert is the ...

, William F. Nolan,

Don D'Ammassa Donald Eugene D'Ammassa (born April 24, 1946) is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror critic and author.David Niall Wilson David Niall Wilson (born 1959 in Clay County, Illinois) is an American writer primarily known for his works of horror, science fiction, and fantasy fiction. The Academic Study of Wilson's Novels Scholars such as A. Asbjørn Jøn, at the Unive ...

, Kurt Newton, Rennie Sparks (of

The Handsome Family The Handsome Family is an American music duo consisting of husband and wife Brett and Rennie Sparks formed in Chicago, Illinois, and as of 2001 based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They are perhaps best known for their song " Far from Any Road" from ...

Darrell Schweitzer Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...

, Cody Goodfellow,

Brian Hodge Brian Hodge is a prolific writer in a number of genres and subgenres, as well as an avid connoisseur of music. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he is working on his latest novel. Brian Hodge's novels are often dark in nature, containing t ...

, Jeremy Wagner (of

Broken Hope Broken Hope is an American death metal band from Chicago, Illinois. History Broken Hope was founded in 1988. They were known as an accomplished mid-paced style death metal band with low-pitched growling vocals. As a band, they were active for ...

), John Dixon,

Tim Waggoner Tim Waggoner is the author of numerous novels and short stories in the Fantasy, horror fiction, Horror, and Thriller (genre), Thriller genres. Education Waggoner graduated from Wright State University in 1989 with a Master of Arts in English ...

, Violet LeVoit,

Weston Ochse Weston Ochse (born 1965 in Gillette, Wyoming) is an American author and educator. He has won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for his short fiction. His novel SEAL Team 666 is currently bein ...

Ari Marmell Ari Marmell is an American novelist and freelance role-playing game writer. Novels His first novel, ''Gehenna: The Final Night'', was published in 2004 by White Wolf Publishing. ''Agents of Artifice,'' a media tie-in novel set in the Magic: The ...

, Lee Thomas,

John Langan John Langan (born July 6, 1969) is an American author and writer of contemporary horror. Langan has been a finalist for International Horror Guild Award. In 2008, he was a Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best Collection, and in 2016, a Bram Stoke ...

Stephen Graham Jones Stephen Graham Jones is a Piegan Blackfoot, Blackfoot Native Americans in the United States, Native American author of experimental fiction, horror fiction, crime fiction, and science fiction. Although his recent work is often classified as horror ...

Josh Malerman Josh Malerman is an American novelist, short story writer, film producer, and one of two singer/songwriters for the rock band The High Strung. He is best known for writing horror and his post-apocalyptic novel, '' Bird Box'', which was the inspir ...

. On January 1, 2015, it was announced that ''Shock Totem'' magazine would be going on hiatus until at least 2016. That hiatus lasted longer than expected, but on October 31, 2018, ''Shock Totem'' announced its return with a new issue, its eleventh, of ''Shock Totem'' magazine.

Novels, Collections, etc.

In addition to its namesake magazine, Shock Totem entered into book publishing in 2012 and published the following books: * ''The Wicked'', by James Newman (2012) * ''Beautiful Sorrows'', by Mercedes M. Yardley (2012) * ''Ugly As Sin'', by James Newman (2013) * ''Dominoes'', by John Boden (2013) * ''Zero Lives Remaining'', by

Adam Cesare Adam Cesare is an American author of horror novels and short stories. He attended Boston University, where he studied English and film. Bibliography Novels and Novellas *''Bound By Jade'' (2012) *''Tribesmen'' (2012) *'' Video Night'' (2013) ...

(2015) * ''Shine Your Light on Me'', Lee Thompson (2016) * ''Greener Pastures'', by Michael Wehunt (2016) In early 2017, citing personal reasons (kids, exhaustion, and ultimately a type-2 diabetes diagnosis), publisher K. Allen Wood dissolved the Shock Totem book line, transferring all current and in-progress books to

Jason Sizemore Jason Sizemore is an American writer and editor based in Lexington, Kentucky. He is the owner and managing editor of Apex Publications. Early life Sizemore was born in Big Creek, Kentucky (pop. 400). Career Sizemore was the editor and publisher o ...

and

Apex Publications ''Apex Magazine'', also previously known as ''Apex Digest'', is an American horror and science fiction magazine. This subscription webzine, ''Apex Magazine'', contains short fiction, reviews, and interviews. It has been nominated for several awa ...

, save for ''Zero Lives Remaining'', by

, who decided to self-publish it under his own Black T-shirt Books.

Editorial Staff

* K. Allen Wood * John Boden *Mercedes M. Yardley * Sarah Wood *Chad Lutzke *Tom Moran *Billie Moran

Former Staff

* Michelle Howarth * Chris Vrysen * Nick Contor * Tom Bordonaro * Mercedes M. Yardley * Zachary C. Parker * Barry Dejasu * Catherine Grant

History

Shock Totem Publications, LLC was founded in 2008 by K. Allen Wood. Originally meant to be a monthly e-zine, the decision was made to publish a bi-annual print digest in early 2009. In late 2011, ''Shock Totem'' came full circle and entered the digital realm by making available each issue as e-books. In 2012, they published their first novel and single-author collection. In May 2020, Shock Totem Publications closed its doors for good.

Notes and references

1
Shock Totem: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted #1
''Bookgasm, September 2009''
2

''Horrorworld, September 2009''
3
Shock Totem - Review
''Hellnotes, August 2009''
4

''Brain Tremors, August 2009''
5

''The Future Fire, July 2009''
6
K. Allen Wood
''D.L. Snell’s Market Scoops, October 2009''
7
Interview with Editor/PublisherK. Allen Wood
''Duotrope's Digest Editor Interview, June 2010''
8

''The Journal of Always, August 2010''
9
Magazine Review: Shock Totem Issue #3
''Fatally Yours, March 2011''
10
Reviewed: Shock Totem Issue 3
''The Crow's Caw, March 2011''
11

ttp://www.kallenwood.com K. Allen Wood''Toasted Cheese Interview, May 2011''
12
Shock Totem 6 (Book Review)
''Fangoria, April 2013''
13
Storyville: Editor Interviews—Shock Totem, Shimmer, and The Dark
''LitReactor: Storyville, December 2013''
14
KnippKnopp Interviews...Shock Totem Publications
''KnippKnopp, February 2014''
15
Dominoes - Book Review
''Hellnotes, March 2014''
16
Dominoes Wins a DRAWA
''Written Backwards, April 2014''
17
Trailer for Zero Lives Remaining
''Reel Splatter Productions, November 2015''
18
The Year in Horror, 2015: 13 Frighteningly Good Reads
''Fangoria, January 2016''

External links

*
Official Website
Biannual magazines published in the United States Digests Horror fiction magazines Literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 2009 Magazines published in Seattle