Gemma Files

Follow to get new release updates and improved recommendations

About Gemma Files

Born April 4, 1968, in London, England, Gemma Files is the child of two actors (Elva Mai Hoover and Gary Files), and has lived most of her life in Toronto, Canada. Previously best-known as a film critic, teacher and screenwriter, she first broke onto the horror scene when her short story "The Emperor's Old Bones" won the International Horror Guild's 1999 award for Best Short Fiction. Her current bibliography includes two collections of short work (Kissing Carrion and The Worm in Every Heart, both Prime Books) and two chapbooks of poetry (Bent Under Night, from Sinnersphere Productions, and Dust Radio, from Kelp Queen Press). Her first novel, A Book of Tongues: Volume One in the Hexslinger Series (CZP), was published in April 2010. The trilogy is now complete, including sequels A Rope of Thorns (2011) and A Tree of Bones (2012), and she is hard at work on her first stand-alone novel. Files is married to fellow author Stephen J. Barringer, with whom she co-wrote the story "each thing i show you is a piece of my death" for Clockwork Phoenix 2 (Norilana Books). They have one son.

Ellen Datlow

Philip Fracassi

Adam Nevill

Paul Tremblay

Angela Slatter

Laird Barron

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.

Learn more at Author Central

1 11 1

$6.49

Kindle Edition
$7.99

Kindle Edition
$7.99

Kindle Edition
$7.99

Kindle Edition
$6.99

Kindle Edition
$19.99

Kindle Edition
$1.99

Kindle Edition
$2.99

Kindle Edition
$1.99

Kindle Edition
$4.99

Kindle Edition
$9.99

Kindle Edition
$7.95

Kindle Edition

Author Updates

Titles By Gemma Files

All Formats Kindle Edition Audible Audiobook Paperback Hardcover See more

Experimental Film Oct 13, 2020

by Gemma Files

( 237 )

$6.49

The award-winning author of the Hexslinger Series “explores the world of film and horror in a way that will leave you reeling” (Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach Trilogy).

Former film teacher Lois Cairns is struggling to raise her autistic son while freelancing as a critic when, at a screening, she happens upon a sampled piece of silver nitrate silent footage. She is able to connect it to the early work of Mrs. Iris Dunlopp Whitcomb, the spiritualist and collector of fairy tales who mysteriously disappeared from a train compartment in 1918.

Hoping to make her own mark on the film world, Lois embarks on a project to prove that Whitcomb was Canada’s first female filmmaker. But her research takes her down a path not of darkness but of light—the blinding and searing light of a fairy tale made flesh, a noontime demon who demands that duty must be paid. As Lois discovers terrifying parallels between her own life and that of Mrs. Whitcomb, she begins to fear not just for herself, but for those closest to her heart.

Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel

“One of the standout horror novels of 2015 . . . From an author who has already established herself as one of the genre’s most original and innovative voices, Experimental Film is a remarkable achievement.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

“Experimental Film represents the next, significant contribution to what is emerging as one of the most interesting and exciting bodies of work currently being produced in the horror field. Every film, Lois Cairns writes, is an experiment. The same might be said of every novel. This one succeeds, wildly.” —Locus

“Experimental Film is sensational. When we speak of the best in contemporary horror and weird fiction, we must speak of Gemma Files.” —Laird Barron

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback , Audio CD

Fearful Symmetries Jul 21, 2020

by Ellen Datlow, Caitlìn R. Kiernan, Garth Nix, Laird Barron, Nathan Ballingrud, Michael Marshall Smith, Gemma Files, Bruce McAllister, Gary McMahon, Pat Cadigan, Helen Marshall, Terry Dowling, Stephen Graham Jones, Brian Evenson, Jeffrey Ford, Robert Shearman, Kaaron Warren, Catherine MacLeod, Siobhan Carroll, John Langan, Carole Johnstone

( 183 )

$7.99

Winner of the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Awards: “Twenty insanely inventive, hauntingly atmospheric and flat out coo coo for Cocoa Puffs stories” (Hellnotes).

A World Fantasy Award nominee, “this anthology . . . is a collection of some of the most talented horror and speculative fiction authors writing today” (BuzzFeed). It includes all-new stories by Laird Barron, Pat Cadigan, Brian Evenson, Jeffrey Ford, Caítlin R. Kiernan, Garth Nix, Michael Marshall Smith, Kaaron Warren, and other masters of all things spooky and suspenseful.

In tales that crisscross the boundaries of fear and imagination—from a haunted courtyard in New Orleans to a remote Arctic research station—swamp monsters, pool-cleaning robots, and cannibalistic spirits wreak chaos and terror across the pages. You’ll be invited to a prom where a psycho hides inside a sparkly dress or rented tux; on a trip aboard a train to a destination that teems with ghosts; and into the darkest recesses of a human mind, the most fertile ground for the blossoming of true evil.

“Datlow’s ‘experimental’ crowdfunded horror anthology is nicely unthemed. . . . This is an excellent anthology for horror fans, with a nice range of tones and styles and some intriguing new voices.” —Publishers Weekly

“[Fearful Symmetries] not only goes beyond expectations, it raises the bar high above into the horror heavens. . . . A melting pot of distinct voices and styles that leave you wanting more.” —Hellnotes

“One of the best horror anthologies I’ve ever read.” —Thirteen O’Clock

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback , MP3 CD

The Worm in Every Heart: Stories Oct 13, 2020

by Gemma Files

( 23 )

$7.99

The second collection from the author of Kissing Carrion, whose stories “overwhelm the reader with a true sense of wonder, awe, and horror” (Paul Tremblay, award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts).

As two-time Bram Stoker Award winner Paula Guran said in Horror Garage, “Nobody in a Gemma Files story puts a hand on a doorknob and opens the door they shouldn’t—these folks are already in the other side.” The inhabitants of the stories in The Worm in Every Heart include gods and madmen, arsonists and ancient vampires, monsters and mothers who don’t know how to love. No matter where they live—Warsaw during World War II, British India, or modern-day Toronto—their realities are not our own, but ones in which we’ll willingly immerse ourselves for a terrifying moment or two . . .

Praise for Gemma Files

“One of the genre’s most original and innovative voices.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

“What makes We Will All Go Down Together so riveting isn’t its ideas or imagery, as richly atmospheric and detailed as they are. It’s the author’s voice. Colorful, powerful, and charismatic, her characters are rendered in bold strokes and poignant nuances.” —NPR.org

“The recent republication of Gemma Files’s first two collections of short fiction, Kissing Carrion and The Worm in Every Heart, was a reminder of how long and how well she has been writing.” —Locus

Other Formats: Paperback

Kissing Carrion: Stories Oct 13, 2020

by Gemma Files

( 23 )

$7.99

The first horror story collection from the author of Experimental Film, “one of the most powerful and unique voices in weird fiction today” (Paul Tremblay, award-winning author of A Head Full of Ghosts).

These seventeen tales take readers into the uniquely twisted mind of “one of Canada’s most promising new horror writers” (Publishers Weekly). From a live necrophilia show starring reanimated corpses to a confrontation between a security guard and inhuman squatters, from who can be found at an all-night laundromat to what lies in wait at the bottom of the sea, from undead addictions to all-consuming obsessions, Kissing Carrion is “a journey through some of the most beautifully rendered visions of darkness and death to be published this past year. . . . Fans of Poppy Z. Brite, Charlee Jacob, and Clive Barker should enjoy this collection immensely” (SF Reader).

Praise for Gemma Files

“One of the standout horror novels of 2015 . . . From an author who has already established herself as one of the genre’s most original and innovative voices, Experimental Film is a remarkable achievement.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

“[We Will All Go Down Together] is a vivid, haunting mix of horror and fantasy woven together through a complex fugue of short stories. The effect is powerful. It’s a book you have to work hard at, in order to make sure you’re not missing any of the peripheral connections. But it rewards the effort, and then some.” —Entertainment Weekly

“The recent republication of Gemma Files’s first two collections of short fiction, Kissing Carrion and The Worm in Every Heart, was a reminder of how long and how well she has been writing.” —Locus

The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010 Dec 18, 2010

by Paula Guran

( 25 )

$6.99

Darkness surrounds us. We can find darkness anywhere: in a strange green stone etched with mysterious symbols; at a small town's annual picnic; in a ghostly house that is easy to enter but not so easy to leave; behind the dumpster in the alley where a harpy lives; in The Nowhere, a place where car keys, toys, people disappear to; among Polar explorers; and, most definitely, within ourselves. Darkness flies from mysterious crates; surrounds children whose nightlights have vanished; and flickers between us at the movie theater. Darkness crawls from the past and is waiting in our future; and there's always a chance that Halloween really is a door opening directly into endless shadow. Welcome to the dark. You may never want to leave. This inaugural volume of the year's best dark fantasy and horror features more than 500 pages of dark tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique. Chosen from a variety of sources, these stories are as eclectic and varied as the genre itself.

Other Formats: Paperback

The Hexslinger Series: A Book of Tongues, A Rope of Thorns, and A Tree of Bones Oct 13, 2020

by Gemma Files

( 2 )

$19.99

An omnibus edition of the trilogy that’s “chock full of hellish horrors” (Mike Allen, author of Unseaming).

Saddle up for a wild ride through “boundary-busting horror-fantasy . . . [that] fully delivers both sizzling passions and dark chills” (Publishers Weekly).

A Book of Tongues
Pinkerton agent Ed Morrow is going undercover to infiltrate an outlaw gang led by former Confederate chaplain Asher Rook. But there is someone else who has Rook in her sights: the Lady of Traps and Snares, a bloodthirsty Mayan goddess who will stop at nothing to satisfy her own desires.

A Rope of Thorns
Infuriated at being betrayed by Rook, his former lover, and sacrificed in the name of the Mayan goddess who is Rook’s current consort, Chess Pargeter leaves a trail of death and destruction in his wake. But there is a resurrected lawman with a bone to pick with Chess—and a final judgment to deliver . . .

A Tree of Bones
A new Civil War is brewing, forcing Pinkerton-agent-turned-outlaw Ed Morrow, spiritualist Yancey Kloves, and even “Reverend” Asher Rook to choose what ruin or redemption means to each of them. Meanwhile, Chess Pargeter gears up for the greatest fight of his life—and death. A battle out of hell itself . . .

Plus three bonus stories set in the Hexslinger universe!

Praise for the Hexslinger Series

“Ridiculously vivid . . . A magic-riddled, horror-strewn West with hexes running around wrecking reality and a spectrum of queer characters.” —Tor.com

“Truly one-of-a-kind: violent, carnal and creepy.” —Fangoria

“Paints a stark, vivid, and gory picture of the ‘wild west’ in the years following the Civil War.” —Library Journal

A Rope of Thorns (The Hexslinger Series Book 2) Oct 13, 2020

by Gemma Files

( 9 )

$1.99

The second book in the “top-notch horror-fantasy saga,” following A Book of Tongues, is “a spectacular blend of Aztec religion and Western gunslinging (Publishers Weekly).

Welcome to Hex City. Population: magicians. Thanks to hexslinger “Reverend” Asher Rook, sorcerers now have a sanctuary where they can live and work in peace. But a storm is coming—a tempest known as Chess Pargeter.

Infuriated by his former lover Rook’s betrayal and sacrificed in the name of the Mayan goddess who is Rook’s current consort, Chess leaves a trail of death and destruction in his wake. Caught up in Chess’s crusade is Pinkerton-agent-turned-outlaw Ed Morrow and a young woman spiritualist. But there are more than Chess’s own demons to be reckoned with, including a resurrected lawman with a bone to pick—and a final judgment to deliver . . .

“Paints a stark, vivid, and gory picture of the ‘wild west’ in the years following the Civil War . . . Files’s latest is not for the squeamish but should delight fans of gothic Western fantasy and Central American myths.” —Library Journal

“Files’ prose remains a delight to read, the cadence of her sentences captures the wild west setting perfectly, and the images she paints are a fascinating mix of frontier practicality and magic bred surrealism.” —The Turned Brain

Praise for A Book of Tongues

“Boundary-busting horror–fantasy . . . This promising debut fully delivers both sizzling passions and dark chills.” —Publishers Weekly

“Ridiculously vivid . . . A magic-riddled, horror-strewn West with hexes running around wrecking reality and a spectrum of queer characters.” —Tor.com

“Truly one-of-a-kind: violent, carnal and creepy.” —Fangoria

Other Formats: Paperback

Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane Oct 23, 2012

by Audrey Niffenegger, Sarah Lotz, Dan Abnett, Gail Z. Martin, Jonathan Oliver

( 10 )

$2.99

They gather in darkness, sharing ancient and arcane knowledge as they manipulate the very matter of reality itself. Spells and conjuration; legerdemain and prestidigitation – these are the mistresses and masters of the esoteric arts.
From the otherworldly visions of Conan Doyle’s father in Audrey Niffenegger’s ‘The Wrong Fairy’ to the diabolical political machinations of Dan Abnett’s ‘Party Tricks’, here you will find a spell for every occasion.
Jonathan Oliver, critically acclaimed editor of The End of The Line and House of Fear, has brought together sixteen extraordinary writers for this collection of magical tales.
Within you will find works by Audrey Niffenegger, Sarah Lotz, Will Hill, Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem, Liz Williams, Dan Abnett, Thana Niveau, Alison Littlewood, Christopher Fowler, Storm Constantine, Lou Morgan, Sophia McDougall, Gail Z. Martin, Gemma Files and Robert Shearman.

Other Formats: Paperback

A Tree of Bones (The Hexslinger Series Book 3) Oct 13, 2020

by Gemma Files

( 11 )

$1.99

“The rousing conclusion to Files’s remarkable Hexslinger trilogy . . . A bravura performance” from the author of A Book of Tongues and A Rope of Thorns (Publishers Weekly).

A new Civil War is brewing. With the city of Bewelcome as its headquarters, Allan Pinkerton’s Detective Agency leads a siege on Hex City, the town founded by “Reverend” Asher Rook and his consort, the Mayan goddess Ixchel. Monsters prowl the battleground, rocket trails of spells crisscross the sky, and an unnatural rain falls.

Sides must be taken, but Pinkerton-agent-turned-outlaw Ed Morrow, spiritualist Yancey Kloves, and even Rook must choose what ruin or redemption means to each of them. Meanwhile, Chess Pargeter gears up for the greatest fight of his life—and death. A battle out of hell itself . . .

Praise for the Hexslinger Series

“Gemma’s been producing top-notch horror stories for years, and her weird Western Hexslinger trilogy is chock full of hellish horrors.” —Mike Allen, author of Unseaming

“Potent mythology, complex characters, and dollops of creeping horror and baroque gore establish Files’s Hexslinger series as a top-notch horror-fantasy saga.” —Publishers Weekly

“Paints a stark, vivid, and gory picture of the ‘wild west’ in the years following the Civil War . . . Files’s latest is not for the squeamish but should delight fans of gothic Western fantasy and Central American myths.” —Library Journal

“Ridiculously vivid . . . A magic-riddled, horror-strewn West with hexes running around wrecking reality and a spectrum of queer characters.” —Tor.com

“Truly one-of-a-kind: violent, carnal and creepy.” —Fangoria

Other Formats: Paperback

Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness Mar 11, 2012

by Catherynne M. Valente, Mary Robinette Kowal, Saladin Ahmed, Marie Brennan, Leah Bobet, Gemma Files, Kelly Barnhill, Tanith Lee, Claude Lalumière, Mike Allen

( 7 )

$4.99

The second volume in the ground-breaking, genre-bending, boundary-pushing CLOCKWORK PHOENIX anthology series, newly available in digital format.

"Allen finds his groove for this second annual anthology of weird stories, selecting 16 wonderfully evocative, well-written tales. ... Each story fits neatly alongside the next, and the diversity of topics, perspectives and authors makes this cosmopolitan anthology a winner."
— Publishers Weekly

Includes critically-acclaimed and award-nominated stories by Claude Lalumière, Leah Bobet, Marie Brennan, Ian McHugh, Ann Leckie, Mary Robinette Kowal, Saladin Ahmed, Tanith Lee, Joanna Galbraith, Catherynne M. Valente, Forrest Aguirre, Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer, Kelly Barnhill, Barbara Krasnoff and Steve Rasnic Tem.

"15 original tales by some of fantasy's most imaginative voices ... each chosen for their unique perspective and stylistic grace."
— Library Journal

With a whimsical introduction and new afterword by Nebula Award-nominated editor Mike Allen.

"Sixteen unique voices that manage nevertheless to harmonize into a sort of choir of the uncanny singing in the key of beauty and strangeness ... Mike Allen has conducted it masterfully. I highly recommend it, and look forward with great anticipation to CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 3."
— SF Site

CONTENTS

Three Friends • Claude Lalumière
Six • Leah Bobet
Once a Goddess • Marie Brennan
Angel Dust • Ian McHugh
The Endangered Camp • Ann Leckie
At the Edge of Dying • Mary Robinette Kowal
Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela • Saladin Ahmed
The Pain of Glass: A Tale of the Flat Earth • Tanith Lee
The Fish of Al-Kawthar's Fountain • Joanna Galbraith
The Secret History of Mirrors • Catherynne M. Valente
Never nor Ever • Forrest Aguirre
each thing i show you is a piece of my death • Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer
Open the Door and the Light Pours Through • Kelly Barnhill
Rosemary, That's For Remembrance • Barbara Krasnoff
When We Moved On • Steve Rasnic Tem

Other Formats: Paperback

Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing (The Imaginarium Series) Apr 5, 2016

by Sandra Kasturi, Jerome Stueart, Margaret Atwood, Kelley Armstrong, Courtney Bates-Hardy, Greg Bechtel, Jocko Benoit, Jeremy Butler, Siobhan Carroll, Peter Chiykowski, Eric Choi, Suzanne Church, David Livingstone Clink, A.M. Dellamonica, Cory Doctorow, Puneet Dutt, Amal El-Mohtar, Gemma Files, Zsuzsi Gartner, Neile Graham, Lisa L. Hannett, Shivaun Hoad, Ada Hoffman, Nalo Hopkinson, Louisa Howerow, Matthew Hughes, Matthew Johnson, Catherine MacLeod, Helen Marshall, Matt Moore, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, David Nickle, Rhonda Parrish, Tony Pi, Ranylt Richildis, Holly Schofield, Trevor Shikaze, Kate Story, Jean-Louis Trudel, Peter Watts, A.C. Wise, Rio Youers

( 5 )

$9.99

Imaginarium 4: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing is a reprint anthology collecting speculative short fiction and poetry (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, etc.) that represents the best work published by Canadian writers in the 2014 calendar year.

Featuring Kelley Armstrong, Margaret Atwood, Courtney Bates-Hardy, Greg Bechtel, Jocko Benoit, Jeremy Butler, Siobhan Carroll, Peter Chiykowski, Eric Choi, Suzanne Church, David Clink, A.M. Dellamonica, Cory Doctorow, Puneet Dutt, Amal El-Mohtar, Gemma Files, Zsuzsi Gartner, Neile Graham, Lisa L. Hannett, Shivaun Hoad, Ada Hoffman, Nalo Hopkinson, Louisa Howerow, Matthew Hughes, Matthew Johnson, Catherine MacLeod, Helen Marshall, Matt Moore, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, David Nickle, Rhonda Parrish, Tony Pi, Ranylt Richildis, Holly Schofield, Trevor Shikaze, Kate Story, Jean-Louis Trudel, Peter Watts, A.C. Wise, and Rio Youers.

Other Formats: Paperback

Spectral Evidence Feb 21, 2018

by Gemma Files

( 23 )

$7.95

For almost thirty years, Shirley Jackson Award-winning horror author Gemma Files has consistently served up tale after tale celebrating monstrosity in all its forms: the imperfect, the broken, the beautifully alien and the sadly familiar. Her characters make their own choices and take their own chances, slipping from darkness into deeper darkness yet never losing their humanity--not even when they're anything but.

An embittered blood-servant plots revenge against the vampires who own him; a little girl's best friend seeks to draw her into an ancient, forbidden realm; two monster-hunting sisters cross paths with an amoral holler-witch again and again, battling both mortal authorities and immortal predators. From the forgotten angels who built the cosmos to the reckless geniuses whose party drug unleashes a plague, madness, monsters and murder await at every turn. And in "The Speed of Pain," sequel to the International Horror Guild award-winning story "The Emperor's Old Bones," we find that even those who can live forever can't outrun their own crimes....

Following in the footsteps of her critically praised Kissing Carrion, The Worm in Every Heart and We Will All Go Down Together, this is the first of two new Gemma Files collections from Trepidatio Publishing, bringing together nine of her best stories from the past ten years. So whether you're returning to Files's dark dreamlands or visiting for the first time, we advise you to get ready to review the--

SPECTRAL EVIDENCE

Other Formats: Paperback

More Information

Are you an author? Visit Author Central to change your photo, edit your biography, and more

Gemma Files

Similar authors to follow

About Gemma Files

Customers Also Bought Items By

Are you an author?

Author Updates

Titles By Gemma Files

More Information