About

UPDATED: August 12, 2021

Richard Thomas is the award-winning author of eight books: three novels—Disintegration and Breaker (Penguin Random House Alibi), as well as Transubstantiate (Otherworld Publications); four short story collections—Staring into the Abyss (Kraken Press), Herniated Roots (Snubnose Press), Tribulations (Cemetery Dance), and Spontaneous Human Combustion (Turner Publishing); and one novella in The Soul Standard (Dzanc Books).

With over 165 stories published, his work is forthcoming or published in many places, including The Best Horror of the Year (Volume 11), Cemetery Dance (twice), Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders (Bram Stoker winner), PANK, storySouth, PRISMS, Lost Highways: Dark Fiction from the Road, Liminal Space, Shadows Over Main Street, Gargoyle, The Nightside Codex, Weird Fiction Review, Midwestern Gothic, Pantheon, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Penumbra, Qualia Nous, Chiral Mad (numbers 2-4), Shivers VI (with Stephen King and Peter Straub), In Filth It Shall Be Found, Menacing Hedge, Hypnos, Deciduous Tales, Blue Monday Review, Litro, Arcadia, Polluto, Pear Noir, Murky Depths, Fear the Reaper, Cipher Sisters, Into the Darkness, and at Great Jones Street. For a more complete list of his work in print, CLICK HERE, for online work, CLICK HERE.

He was also the editor of four anthologies: The New Black and Exigencies (Dark House Press), The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press) and Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) with Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club) and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes).

He has won contests at ChiZine and One Buck Horror, has received five Pushcart Prize nominations, and has been long-listed for Best Horror of the Year six times. His story, “Golden Sun” written with Kristi DeMeester, Damien Angelica Walters, and Michael Wehunt was included in The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Eleven. He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, Thriller, and Audie awards.

In his spare time he is a columnist at Lit Reactor, teaches classes (at the University of Iowa, Story Studio Chicago, LitReactor.com, and his own classes as well at Storyville), and was Editor-in-Chief at Dark House Press and Gamut Magazine.

He lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He was born in St. Louis, MO (Webster Groves) where he attended Webster Groves High School. He did his undergraduate studies at Bradley University, where he majored in Advertising and Communications, and minored in Psychology. He received his MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from Murray State University in 2012.

His agent is Paula Munier at Talcott Notch. For more information visit www.whatdoesnotkillme.com. He may be reached at richardgthomasiii@gmail.com.