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Clay McLeod Chapman 

American Author, Filmmaker & Storyteller

Clay McLeod Chapman 

Clay McLeod Chapman is an American author, storyteller, playwright, filmmaker, and comic-book writer whose work spans horror fiction, graphic novels, performance art, and screenwriting. He is the creator of The Pumpkin Pie Show, a long-running international storytelling performance series, and the author of numerous novels and story collections, including Ghost Eaters, What Kind of Mother, Whisper Down the Lane, The Remaking, and Wake Up and Open Your Eyes. His writing also includes middle-grade titles like The Tribe series and a wide range of short fiction. Chapman has written for Marvel Comics, including titles such as Scream: Curse of Carnage, Edge of Spider-Verse, and Venomverse, and has created original graphic novels like Seance in the Asylum and Self Storage. He co-wrote the horror podcast Quiet Part Loud from Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions. An educator as well as a creator, Chapman teaches writing at The Actors Studio MFA Program at Pace University.

Books

Featured Work

Acquired taste

Acquired taste

Acquired Taste (2025). From department store Santas to ghost boyfriends and salamander-worshipping nuns; from the claustrophobia of the Covid-19 pandemic to small-town Chesapeake USA, Chapman takes universal fears of parenthood, addiction, and political divisions and makes them uniquely his own in this short story collection.

Bodies of Work

Bodies of Work

Bodies of Work (2026). A murderous artist is haunted by the spirits of those he has killed in this surreal and chilling supernatural revenge novella.

Devil Inside

Devil Inside

Exorcism isn’t a job, it’s a calling—and a curse. Just ask Morgan Kingsley, a woman who has a stronger aura than any Demon. Or so she thought. Now, in a pair of black leather pants and a kick-ass tattoo, Morgan is heading back to Philadelphia after a nasty little exorcism—and her life is about to […]

Ghost Eater

Ghost Eater

 Ghost Eaters (2022). Set in Richmond, Virginia, this supernatural horror novel explores addiction, grief, and the afterlife through a drug that allows users to see ghosts.

Kill Your Darling

Kill Your Darling

A horror/dark fantasy short story collection featuring six interconnected tales set against grim Southern and working-class landscapes, exploring the boundaries between the known world and Hell through supernatural horror and psychological dread. The collection includes “The Visible Filth,” later adapted into a film. The acclaimed author of Ghost Eaters and What Kind of Mother is coming to Bad Hand […]

Shiny Happy People

Shiny Happy People

 Shiny Happy People  (2025). A twisted and thrilling genre-bending young adult novel set in a struggling Southern small town, shining a light on the terrors of the U.S. opioid epidemic through a mysterious new drug and its haunting side effects. A BRAM STOKER AWARD WINNER • A twisted and thrilling genre-bending novel that shines a […]

What Kind Of Mother

What Kind Of Mother

What Kind of Mother (2023). A NYT Book Review Best Horror of 2023 selection, this supernatural horror and domestic suspense novel explores parental grief and devotion through a dark Southern Gothic lens rooted in rural Southern life.

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