John Langan: The Fisherman

These last few years, I’ve continued to benefit from the kindness of writers whose work inspired my own. Both Peter Straub and Jeffrey Ford have been unfailingly generous in their support and example. While I am at it, let me raise a glass to the memory of the late, great Lucius Shepard, whose encouragement, praise, and fiction I continue to treasure.

My indefatigable agent, Ginger Clark, has been a champion of this book since I sent her its first three chapters a long, long time ago. Every now and again, Ginger would send an e-mail encouraging me to finish the novel, and when at last I did, there was nobody happier. I’m grateful for her continuing faith in me and my work.

As was the case with my previous novel, House of Windows, The Fisherman took a while to find a home. The genre publishers said it was too literary, the literary publishers, too genre. Thanks to Ross Lockhart and Word Horde for responding so immediately and enthusiastically to the book.

While this is a work of fiction, its composition was aided by details found in Bob Steuding’s The Last of the Hand Made Dams: The Story of the Ashokan Reservoir (1989) and the 2002 documentary, Deep Water: The True Story of the Ashokan Reservoir , by Tobe Carey, Bobbie Dupree, and Artie Traum. Alf Evers’ The Catskills: From Wilderness to Woodstock (1972) is a treasure-trove of information about the Catskill region.

And a final, heartfelt thank you to you, the reader, for the gifts of your time and attention. You make this writing life I have possible, and I’m grateful for it.

Tales of Jack the Ripper

an anthology edited by Ross E. Lockhart

We Leave Together

a Dogsland novel by J. M. McDermott

The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the

Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron

an anthology edited by Ross E. Lockhart and Justin Steele

Vermilion

a novel by Molly Tanzer

Giallo Fantastique

an anthology edited by Ross E. Lockhart

Mr. Suicide

a novel by Nicole Cushing

Cthulhu Fhtagn!

an anthology edited by Ross E. Lockhart

Painted Monsters

a collection by Orrin Grey

Furnace

a collection by Livia Llewellyn

The Lure of Devouring Light

a collection by Michael Griffin

A Brutal Chill in August (August 2016)

a novel by Alan M. Clark

Ask for Word Horde books by name at your favorite bookseller.

Or order online at www.WordHorde.com

John Langan is the author of a previous novel, House of Windows (Night Shade, 2009), and three collections of stories: Sefira and Other Betrayals (Hippocampus, 2016), The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies (Hippocampus, 2013), and Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (Prime, 2008). With Paul Tremblay, he co-edited Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters (Prime, 2011). One of the co-founders of the Shirley Jackson Awards, he served as a juror for their first three years. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with his wife, younger son, and a houseful of animals.