Books by Douglas Ford (Click on images for purchase link)

The Bloody Bucket (Vissaria County Dispatches)

Nat’s dream job comes calling when a college needs someone to take charge of an annual haunt. One year before, Nat’s predecessor went inside the haunt—but he never came out. Soon, Nat finds herself confronting the ghosts of her own past as well as curses bubbling forth from the land itself.

“Douglas Ford’s The Bloody Bucket is a potent blend of history, hauntings, twisted horns, and ancient evil in a dark academia tale that is steeped in Florida unease and stained with blood. Full of stories inside stories, of goats and crows, possession and poetry, sacrifices and open wounds, The Bloody Bucket is a masterpiece of the occult and deeply, deeply disturbing. Expect to see this one on all the award lists.”—Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of Grotesque: Monster Stories

“Where do you find inspiration for a deeply terrifying haunt? Sometimes it’s there in the history of the land right under your feet, in the tangled web of stories passed down for generations. Steeped in the lush and sometimes dangerous landscape of Florida, The Bloody Bucket is a chilling reminder that while we may try to forget the past, it’s never all that far away. Ford skillfully weaves history, folklore, and just the right bit of the terrifying occult into a mesmerizing tale that will resonate long after you close the cover.”—Jennifer McMahon, author of My Darling Girl

“Douglas Ford is a Floridian witch doctor, the anti-Carl Hiassen, a swampland shaman capable of imbuing every page with the humidity and kudzu and blood of the Alligator State and exposing its scaly underbelly. The Bloody Bucket overflows with the brackish beauty of a writer besotted by an unplumbed region and regaling the rest of us with its exquisite literary spillover.” — Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

Let’s Cut Up Dad! and Other Stories of Transgressive Madness (Vissaria County Dispatches)

A curious girl experiments with her father’s putrefying corpse. An attempt at resurrection in Key West leads to an unusual meal. An evening with a babysitter brings forth an altogether different form of “Satanic Panic.”

Tim Waggoner calls Douglas Ford a “sinister surgeon with a night black scalpel,” and with this collection of stories, you’re invited to witness what happens when we cut up dad.

“A must-read that starts off with a bang and continues at the same fiery pace for which Ford is best known.”

Cindy O’Quinn, Bram Stoker Award(R) winning author

Who Dies First (Vissaria County Dispatches)

A road-trip takes a dark detour when Steve and Nancy decide to visit distant family, unwittingly opening a trove of family secrets that threaten to change everything they know about themselves and each other. From the author of The Trick and The Infection Party comesa neo-Southern Gothic tale that follows a surreal path to sinister museums in thrift stores, an ex-wrestler with an unspeakable appetite, time-bending government experiments, and finally a revelation about what’s hidden upstairs.

Keep the location services turned on so you’re not the one who dies first.

“Ford deftly reminds us that the ties that bind in the Deep South are sometimes best left alone and undone. A timely tale of family secrets that unsettles and unnerves before it ends in a sharp, wicked jab to the gut.”

–Kenzie Jennings, author of Reception and Always Listen to Her Hurt

“The tension building is stellar!”

–Ruth Anna Evans, author of Do Not Go in That House

The Reattachment (new edition from Madness Heart Press)

When Frye suffers a workplace injury that costs him his left arm, he is overjoyed when the company doctor tells him it can be reattached weeks later. Sure, it’s longer than he remembers, has signs of decay and seems to have sea shells and teeth marks in it, but hey, nobody’s perfect.

As he returns to work things have taken a change to the more occult, Frye must unravel the mysteries of his new job, and his new arm before one or both kill him.

The second edition features a new comprehensive edit and a new cover from the incredible Luke Spooner

The Last Slaughter (Vissaria County Dispatches)

As the land withers under a changing climate and resources grow scarce, a hungry family confronts a dark legacy. An old storehouse holds an ancient secret: an imprisoned girl who can bestow bounties of food and prosperity. But in return she requires sacrifices.

Her ancient power contains the truth they must face. You can deny family, but you can’t deny blood.

“. . . creepy folk horror”
–Kerry E. B. Black
Author of CAROUSEL OF NIGHTMARES

Dead Cats of Civilization (D&T Publishing)

From the author of The Beasts of Vissaria County and The Infection Party comes a novelette about natural disasters and the unspeakable things they awaken from the ocean’s depths. When a hurricane strikes his hometown, a young man rushes away from his new life so he can help with the recovery effort. He finds his old neighborhood dealing with the storm’s aftermath in some macabre ways, including the construction of a strange totem. Even worse, nothing can prepare him for the twisted horror that awaits him inside the walls of what he once called home.

The Trick (Madness Heart Press)

In his follow-up to Little Lugosi (A Love Story), Douglas Ford reveals a new trick up his sleeve: an occult odyssey of weird magic, dark fate, and macabre use of human skin. When Adam attends a magic show, he has no idea that he will leave with something inked into his hand, a tattoo with origins that extend back thousands of years, as well as a destiny in a swamp on the borderland of Vissaria County. Behold the chains of the ink!

“The Trick opens with magic and ends with a fever-dream of ritualistic chaos. This is a story so unbridled and visceral, it can only come from the mind of Douglas Ford. Strange and incredibly immersive, it will keep you guessing until the last page.”

—Holly Rae Garcia, author of Parachute

Babble (Madness Heart Press)

Young Sammie’s childish speech impossibly seems to consist of Latin. Evidence of possession, or the consequence of a trauma his mother experienced long ago in a remote polar region?

Table for 3 (Out of Print/Easton Falls Publishing)

Three horrific stories of crop-killing fungal outbreaks, ancient sources of sustenance, and a ravishing hunger for which there is no cure.

The Infection Party and Other Stories of Dis-ease (D&T Publishing)

Douglas Ford’s first collection of horror fiction, Ape in the Ring was called a “must have collection for every horror library” by Owl Goingback. Now, from the author of the best-selling The Beasts of Vissaria County comes a new collection of tales that will infect your imagination and unsettle your dreams. In these stories, a horrific truth lies concealed beneath the wrappings of a mummy costume; a church potluck becomes the scene of a satanic communion; the ruins of a road-side attraction hides a forgotten, monstrous entity; an illicit transaction in a hotel room awakens a demonic presence; an overnight trip in the Everglades is disturbed by something unworldly preserved in an old still of moonshine; and in the title story, the presence of a black box brings dread to a gathering of teenagers.

Little Lugosi (A Love Story) (Madness Heart Press) *Winner of the Literary Nastie Award*

From the author of Ape in the Ring and The Reattachment comes a tale of transgressive love and unnatural birth. When Madeline senses something missing from her life with Trevor, she tries to fill the gulf between them by ordering a leech from a medical supply company. Troubled by this new pet and the special feedings it requires, Trevor must also deal with his co-worker’s Ahab-like obsession with killing a monstrous pig, a creature of myth known as “The Minister.” Finding this creature brings Trevor to a reckoning with the truth behind the arcane beliefs and practices of a lost cult, as well as the meaning behind problems much closer to home. With undertones of folk horror, Little Lugosi: A Love Story, is a bizarro odyssey of blood and other bodily fluids.

“Little Lugosi is probably the sickest leech story ever written — as hilariously wrong as you’d expect in the hands of Douglas Ford — but the premise delivers so much more. Ford’s plot is bizarrely riveting, as the author splashes as playful as a satanically-possessed piglet in the dark, bloody waters of neo-folk horror, spiraling deeper and darker than you’ll want to go, but oh you will join him in the forest of gloom. The Minister beckons…dare you pray?” — Michael Arnzen, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Play Dead and Grave Markings

The Beasts of Vissaria County (D&T Publishing)

For Maggie McKenzie, repairing a shattered life becomes more complicated when a stranger
takes up residence in the ruins of an old Florida estate with a macabre history. This stranger
brings with him a sinister magic and an obsession with the disturbed grave of a witch. Maggie’s
troubled past becomes part of a larger, darker legacy of curses and bloody rituals, as well as a
variety of beasts, both human and supernatural, that will prey upon her and those she loves. The
Beasts of Vissaria County is a mix-tape of gothic horror, a love letter to weird fiction and dubbed
late-night horror films.

“One part hoodoo horror, one part Southern gothic with dark allusions stitched smartly into its
seams, Beasts of Vissaria County delivers on its promise of an exceptional tale of the ‘dark
fantastic.’”
-Rebecca Rowland, author of The Horrors Hiding in Plain Sight

“Ford’s Beasts of Vissaria County is Southern Gothic horror at its most atmospheric, creepy, and
compelling. A story filled with witchy history, little known legends, and horrific beasts only
Florida could boast, this slow-burn narrative will haunt you long after the last page is over.”
– Gaby Triana, bestselling author of MOON CHILD, ISLAND OF BONES, and the Haunted
Florida series

“Mingling fiends and occult-fueled fun, Douglas Ford’s The Beasts of Vissaria County is a
worthy exercise in honoring everything beloved in classic horror fiction.”
– Clint Smith, author of The Skeleton Melodies

“A terrific, brisk read. A true love letter to the genre and the creatures we all love. Equal
parts Lords of Salem and Salem’s Lot, with dashes of silent-era terror and warm, sun-baked
horror.”
– Robert P. Ottone, author of Her Infernal Name & Other Nightmares

Ape in the Ring and Other Stories of the Macabre and Uncanny (Madness Heart Press)

From the author of The Reattachment comes a frightening and twisted collection of stories that demonstrates Douglas Ford’s imagination at its best.

In these stories, a woman uncovers the buried memory of how she once disappeared inside the house of a murderer; a father waits and waits for his son to come out of a playground structure, unprepared for what finally does emerge; a group of foster children play an unconventional form of divination while protecting a secret together; the closet of a hotel room hides an unspeakable voyeur; and in the title story, a carnival offers ritualized combat with something that may or not be an ape.

Douglas Ford wields language like a sinister surgeon with a night-black scalpel. These stories cut down to the bone, exposing the darkness that lies just beneath the surface of our everyday world. This collection is a midnight carnival of dark wonders, terrifying and fascinating in equal measure.
–Bram Stoker Award-Winning Author, Tim Waggoner

Ape in the Ring and Other Tales of the Macabre and Uncanny is a must have collection for every horror library. Douglas Ford crafts stories that are disturbing, dripping with atmosphere, and claustrophobically frightening. You will be thinking about this book long after you have set it down.
-Bram Stoker Award-Winning Author, Owl Goingback

The Reattachment (out of print edition from Madness Heart Press)

When Frye suffers a workplace injury that costs him his left arm, he is overjoyed when the company doctor tells him it can be reattached weeks later. Sure, it’s longer than he remembers, has signs of decay and seems to have sea shells and teeth marks in it, but hey, nobody’s perfect.As he returns to work things have taken a change to the more occult, Frye must unravel the mysteries of his new job, and his new arm before one or both kill him.The Reattachment, riffs on Hands of Orlac and other amputation horrors by way of Franz Kafka along with an element of eldritch weirdness.

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