By Dee Holloway 
DIS/MEMBER spotlights independent publisher Malarkey Books, editor-in-chief Alan Good, and upcoming horror titles.
Sometimes, the most interesting offerings of a given genre–like horror–come from unexpected places.
“I’ve never been a big horror fan, to be honest,” says Alan Good, teacher, writer, and editor of Malarkey Books. “I have broad tastes, and I think that’s reflected in our catalogue.” From contemporary poetry collections like Adrian Sobol‘s brand-new Hair Shirt and litfic forays including the cli-fi satire White People On Vacation, Malarkey’s storefront is deep indeed.
There’s a subjectivity infusing Malarkey’s ethos that borders on whimsy; even their masthead is elusive. In place of a typical who’s-who list, you’ll find a tall tale about “Mule Face” Malarkey, Missouri’s finest purveyor of pulps. And why not? Independent publishing is meant to be just that: independent of Big Five machinations and BookTok influencers, yes, but also impervious to trends, beholden only to good… or perhaps organic… taste. There’s an appealing negative capability about Malarkey’s public face, evidenced in their homepage’s welcome verbiage: Malarkey is unserious talk. Silliness. Nonsense. These same words get applied to literature today, especially fiction, in our data-ruled, obsessed-with-utility world…
It’s quite a statement, especially considering how thorough Malarkey’s website is, and how serious the press’s aims appear to be. From an annual-subscription book club to archives of short fiction and essays, from convivial guides on formatting and printing DIY to a short-fiction magazine, King Ludd’s Rag, the Malarkey team are intent on doing it all. “We started out just making a couple of anthologies,” Good says, and things took off from there. After putting out a poetry collection when the book was dropped by its first press, Malarkey was off and running–just in time for the 2020 COVID pandemic.
According to Good, there are “dwindling opportunities for writers who aren’t well-known or well-connected to get published, and it seems to get worse every year.” Certainly in the years since the pandemic began, pre-existing issues of accessibility and opportunity have compounded. That’s where small presses step in, and that’s why a multifaceted publisher like Malarkey is serving up some of the weirdest and tastiest mystery meat around.
Although as Good admits, his intentional horror reading doesn’t stretch much past Stephen King (and Goosebumps–clearly a real one), Malarkey devotes serious time to not only full-length horror works, but also an annual Halloween zine, Hellarkey. Featuring stories and poetry, the Hellarkey series has included buzzy Weird kids like Matthew Mitchell, K.A. Roy, and Adam McPhee. It’s not only an opportunity for Malarkey authors such as O F Cieri and Eric Williams to flex their editorial muscles, it also serves as an annual fundraiser for the press. Heartwarming!
Elsewhere in Malarkeyland, editors Zachary Kocanda and Donald Ryan helm submissions for King Ludd’s Rag and Mealarkey, a brand-new food column. This heterogeneity of form situates the publisher’s website itself as a place to visit, not just a landing pad for submitting work–a vintage notion in 2025, but one that’s making a comeback. Would-be Malcontents (what I’ve decided, with no input, to call the press’s stable of authors) can peruse archives to glean a sense of what the editors are looking for; there’s also a free-sample section and a house style sheet.
This is appealing to authors; Cieri says, of the period of shopping Backmask around: “Malarkey was one of the only sites I found that had their own webstore, free samples, and links to their authors. Free samples was a big deal; a lot of small presses don’t even blurb their books. Most indie books might as well be blind items.”
According to Good, “the thing that connects [Malarkey’s output] is the quality of the writing; that’s what I care about, the craft, the liveliness of the sentences.” It’s this genre-agnostic stance that has built a truly unique catalogue. And it’s that unique catalogue–bursting with poetry, weird fiction, sci-fi, and yes, horror–that’s so encouraging to readers seeking a book off the beaten path, or writers looking to home their strangest children.
“It’s a little chaotic,” Good says. “The biggest challenges are time and money.” That’s true for any small press, doubly so in the post-pandemic boom of new publishers and magazines, and on the heels of genAI slop infiltrating submissions queues. Yet throughout these challenges, Malarkey authors agree that Good is a writer’s editor and a steady presence in the frequently tumultuous sea of small-press publishing. “Before I worked with him,” Lauren Bolger says, “he was the same as after I’d worked with him. He doesn’t put on airs, he’s level-headed, chill, makes good decisions… The more you live in this publishing world, the more you come to realize how rare that is.”
So what’s next? A long, strange trip to Barre, Vermont. Bolger’s The Barre Incidents arrives in October 2025 and is already gaining interest–even from Barre’s historical society. “They’re going to talk to Lauren about the book for their newsletter,” says Good, which strikes me as the sort of publicity you can’t buy, particularly for a book all about undead miners and Mothman.
The way Good tells it, Malarkey didn’t intend to publish horror titles, but the good’n’gory stuff just came flowing in: Bolger’s first novel Kill Radio, Eric Williams‘ collection Toadstones, Music Is Over by Ben Arzate, and more. Beyond The Barre Incidents, expect five or six new books from Malarkey between now and 2027–and yes, Hellarkey volume four is welcoming submissions! Got something spooky percolating? Send it in by July and see what happens. According to Cieri, “[Eric, Lauren, and I] are a team that have been working together for years to produce spooky stories. We’ve never even met, and yet we have trust and faith in each other. I think that’s cool.” It sounds like writers can trust that their work is in good hands, no matter what corner of the press you have your eye on.
Literary omnivores, join Malarkey’s mailing list for the latest news, including open reading periods, and follow the press on Bluesky too. Happy reading, ghouls!
