The Spectral Book of Horror Stories

Spectral Press are launching a brand new horror anthology series this year.  Edited by Mark Morris, The Spectral Book of Horror Stories is inspired by popular anthologies of the 1960s and 70s, such as the Pan and Fontana books of horror stories.  This first volume will feature 19 all-original stories by renowned authors in the genre such as Ramsey Campbell and Michael Marshall Smith.

Above is my final cover for this.  The brief was to come up with an image and design that captured the spirit of the old Pan Book of Horror Stories/Fontana Book of Great Horror Stories, but had a contemporary feel and that would establish an identity for this new anthology series in its own right.  I proposed a few different ideas for  potential images but this ‘kids in masks’ idea was the favourite – I liked the idea of playing around with traditional horror iconography such as skulls and tentacled monsters etc and combining them in a single image as disturbing masks on creepy children…  Below are roughs for potential compositions for this idea.

The Spectral Book of Horror Stories will be out in September and will be launched at the 2014 FantasyCon in York (5-7 September) with a mass signing session.