Author: Craig Gidney

Author of "Sea, Swallow Me & Other Stories" (2008 Lambda Literary Finalist); "Skin Deep Magic" (2014 Lambda Literary Finalist); "Bereft" (2013 Bronze Moonbeam Award and 2014 Independent Publishers' Award) "The Nectar of Nightmares" (Dim Shores Chapbook) and A Spectral Hue (2019)
Posted on

The Nectar of Nightmares (Stories) Cover Reveal and blurbs

Craig Laurance Gidney is a magician. His stories are dazzling and transformative. His illusions shame reality for its fragility. He dares you to take a card—any card—and gives you back your watch, your wallet, your sanity.

The stories in The Nectar of Nightmares weave and remix myths, legends, and identities. Ranging from retold folktales to diverse settings like the Harlem Renaissance and the contemporary drag ball scene to phantasmagoric secondary worlds, this is a horror collection for those who have descended so far into the deep, there’s nothing left to fear.

There is.


Craig Laurance Gidney has been nominated for the Lambda Literary Award on multiple occasions. The Nectar of Nightmares is his latest collection of weird and wondrous stories.

“The Nectar of Nightmares is a haunting collection of stories, filled with retellings and reimaginings, transgressive versions of familiar tales from our youth. It’s important work that’s being done here, visceral and unsettling, paired with humor and hope. This is an author to keep an eye on, for sure.”
—Richard Thomas, author of Spontaneous Human Combustion

“The Nectar of Nightmares is an incredible and breathtaking achievement. There’s a sublime magic in these stories as well as a lingering danger, one that lurks at the edges of every page, waiting to draw you nearer. No one else out there is writing weird and wondrous fiction like Craig Laurance Gidney. Prepare to be dazzled and bewitched.”
—Gwendolyn Kiste, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens and Reluctant Immortals

Release Date: June 7, 2022

Posted on

Word Horde Emporium GoFund Me

I just donated to the Word Horde Emporium GoFundMe. Word Horde not only published my novel A SPECTRAL HUE, they are also have a bricks and mortar store that sells independent speculative fiction (along with other wonderful things). They want to relocate, and I’d love to see independent bookstores thrive!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/independent-bookstore-seeks-new-home?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet
Posted on

Science Fiction & Weirder Things! VIRTUAL EVENT ON JAN 26th

On January 26 I will be in conversation with Dr. Andre M Carrington, professor at University of California, Riverside and author of Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction for a virtual lecture/conversation series on race, sexuality and Weird Fiction

RSVP online 

Posted on

Awards Eligibility

I had two stories that are eligible for awards

  1. “Sacred She-Devil”–involving trans characters and Umbanda/Quimbanda goddesses in the anthology Whether Change: The Revolution Will be Weird (Broken Eye Books)
  2. “Antelope Brothers”–a story about a Black secret society and sex magic(k) in the anthology Unfettered Hexes: Queer Tales of Insatiable Darkness (Neon Hemlock)
Posted on

HP Lovecraft Film Festival Panel this weekend!

I’ll be on a panel this weekend with some fabulous folks

We Once Were Monster Kids: Experiencing and Writing About Weird Childhoods
DESCRIPTION: Some of the best Weird and horror fiction features child protagonists. Do children have not just a sense of wonder but also a greater comfort with The Weird? How did the panelists’ own childhood experiences and pop culture favorites lay a foundation for their own horror and Weird fiction? Panelists will also share their favorite Weird tales featuring kids, both classic and contemporary, including the recent Cooties Shot Required: There Are Things You Must Know from Broken Eye Books. 
PANELISTS: Anya Martin (moderator), Craig Laurance Gidney, Gwendolyn Kiste, Ian McDowell, Eden Royce

TIME: 1:30 pm EST (10:30 am PST) October 10.

Link