Richard Thomas (author)

Thomas was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Webster Groves. He earned a Bachelor of Science at Bradley University, in Peoria, Illinois, and in 2012 an MFA at Murray State University. He currently lives in Chicago.

Thomas was Editor-in-Chief at Dark House Press , an imprint of Curbside Splendor Publishing that launched in 2014 with The New Black.[3][4] Work there was nominated for both the Bram Stoker Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. He was also the Editor of Gamut Magazine, a new online publication focusing on neo-noir, speculative fiction with a literary bent, that was funded by a successful Kickstarter, raising over $55,000. It was launched on January 1, 2017.

In addition to his fiction he writes a Storyville column at LitReactor.com.[5] He has taught creative writing at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival , Story Studio Chicago , LitReactor.com , and his own classes (online) .

• Transubstantiate (Otherworld Publications) April, 2010[6][7]
• Herniated Roots: Stories (Snubnose Press) September, 2012[8]
• Staring Into the Abyss: Stories (Kraken Press) April, 2013[1][9][10]
• Disintegration (Random House Alibi) May, 2015 [11]
• Breaker (Random House Alibi) January, 2016 [12]
• Tribulations: Stories (Crystal Lake Publishing / Cemetery Dance) April, 2016
• The Soul Standard (Dzanc Books) with Caleb J. Ross, Nik Korpon, and Axel Taiari, June, 2016[13]
• Spontaneous Human Combustion (Turner Publishing), February, 2022[14]
• Incarnate (Podium Audio), Spring, 2024

• Winner, "Enter the World of Filaria" contest, 2009, at ChiZine for "Maker of Flight."
• Winner of the 2011 Cafe Doom / One Buck Horror short story contest for "Wicker Park Pause."
• “Terrapin Station,” Pear Noir #5, January 2011 (Pushcart nomination)
• “Fireflies,” Polluto #8, May 2012 (Honorable mention, Best Horror of the Year)
• “The Jenny Store,” Qualia Nous, Written Backwards, October 2014 (Bram Stoker-nominated anthology)
• "White Picket Fences," Shadows over Main Street, Hazardous Press, January 2015 (Honorable mention, Best Horror of the Year)
• "From Within," Slave Stories: Scenes from the Slave State, Omnium Gatherum, April 2015 (Honorable mention, Best Horror of the Year)
• Bram Stoker Award. 2014: nominated for Best Anthology—Burnt Tongues, Medallion Press (Co-Editor) and Qualia Nous, Written Backwards ("Jenny Store"); nominated for Best Short Story Collection: After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones, Dark House Press (Publisher); nominated for Non-Fiction: Horror 101: The Way Forward, Crystal Lake Publishing ("The Journey: Rudy Jenkins Buries His Fears").[15]| 2016: nominated for Best Anthology—Chiral Mad 3 edited by Michael Bailey ("The Offering on the Hill") AND Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward ("Repent") [16]| 2017: Winner for Best Anthology—Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders, edited by Doug Murano ("Hireath"; nominated for Non-Fiction for Where Nightmares Come From: The Art of Storytelling in the Horror Genre edited by Joe Mynhardt and Eugene Johnson;[17] 2022: nominated for Best Fiction Collection—Spontaneous Human Combustion, Turner Publishing (Keylight);[18]
• Shirley Jackson Award. 2014: nominated for Best Short Story Collection—After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones, Dark House Press (Publisher) [19]| 2015: nominated for Best Anthology—Exigencies, edited by Richard Thomas; nominated for Best Short Fiction: "Wilderness" by Letitia Trent, in Exigencies (Editor and Publisher) [20]
• This is Horror Award. 2014: Winner for Best Anthology: Burnt Tongues, Medallion Press (Co-Editor); Winner for Best Short Story Collection: After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones, Dark House Press (Publisher).[21]| 2015: Nominee for Best Short Story Collection: Vile Men, by Rebecca Jones-Howe, Dark House Press (Publisher); Nominee for Best Anthology: Exigences, Dark House Press (Editor and Publisher); Nominee for Best Press, Dark House Press (Editor-in-Chief).[22]| 2016: Nominee for Best Novel: Paper Tigers, by Damien Angelica Walters, Medallion Press (Publisher).[23]| 2017: Nominee for Best Magazine: Gamut (Editor, Publisher, Editor-in-Chief).[24]|
• Disintegration (Random House Alibi), 2015: Best Fiction Books of 2015 (Entropy Magazine);[25] Top Ten Books of 2015 (Cultured Vultures);[26] Favorite Reads of 2015 (Shotgun Logic).[27] Best Fiction Reads of 2015 (Quiet Fury Books).[28]
• Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight, June, 2016: "Wilderness" by Letitia Trent, in Exigencies (Editor and Publisher).[29]
• "Repent," Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Crystal Lake Publishing and "The Offering on the Hill," Chiral Mad 3, Written Backwards, 2016 (Bram Stoker Winner, Best Anthology)
• International Thriller Writers Awards. 2016: Finalist for Best eBook Novel: Breaker (Penguin Random House Alibi) [30]
• Million Writers Awards. 2016: Notable story, "From Within" (reprinted online at Cease, Cows).[31]
• “The Offering on the Hill,” Chiral Mad 3, March 2016 (Honorable mention, Best Horror of the Year)
• “Repent,” Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, June 2016 (Honorable mention, Best Horror of the Year)
• Gamut magazine had eighteen stories and poems listed as Honorable Mentions for Best Horror of the Year) . (Editor and Editor-in-Chief)
• "Golden Sun," Chiral Mad 4 included in The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Eleven. Co-written with Kristi DeMeester, Damien Angelica Walters, and Michael Wehunt

• Official blog
• Dark House Press
• Gamut Magazine