Creature Publishing is a feminist horror press based in Brooklyn, NY. What is feminist horror? Simply put, it is storytelling which uses horror tropes to explore feminist issues. Beyond that, it is unraveling minds, transforming bodies, possession, oppression, final girls, femme fatales. It is hybrid, intersectional, and constantly shifting. It is a conversation. As this conversation evolves, our list of books—or catalog of creatures—will speak to the power of feminist horror to transgress genres, boundaries, and convention.

Creature Publishing was founded on a passion for feminist discourse and horror’s potential for social commentary and catharsis. Seeking to address the gender imbalance and lack of diversity traditionally found in the horror genre, Creature is a platform for stories which challenge the status quo. Our definition of feminist horror, broad and inclusive, expands the scope of what horror can be and who can make it.

We think of our books as individual creatures—living, forceful entities with desires of their own, capable of inspiring fear, passion, anxiety, dread. The spine illustration on the spines of our books speaks to this idea. Our name is also a nod to the content of the genre itself; horror is full of creatures, human and nonhuman and all things in-between. They can have gender or not, body or not, consciousness or not. They can be sinister or benevolent, familiar or “other.” The monster under the bed, the monster in bed with us, the monster inside. Our creatures have bones to pick. We like it that way.

Olivia Batker Pritzker is a writer and editor. Her professional and creative work investigates modes of storytelling, subversion of traditional tropes, world-building and social justice, and the intersection of narrative and physical and psychological well-being. Her path to Creature Publishing includes a lifelong affinity for weird creatures of all kinds, a passion for discovering and supporting new writers, a decade of experience in the publishing industry, and countless cups of coffee. Olivia has an M.F.A. in writing from Otis College of Art & Design and studied psychology and comparative literature as an undergraduate at Brandeis University. She lives in Brooklyn.

Amanda Manns holds an M.F.A. in fiction from Virginia Tech where she taught creative writing and edited print and digital literary magazines. She has since attended the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford and worked for C&R Press and W. W. Norton. Her passion for travel and meeting new people has led her through various places in the United States, Central America, and Europe. Currently living in central Virginia, she appreciates the lyric essay and a well-tended moss tray.