Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 1

Adam Cesare is an American horror author who studied English and film at Boston University and now lives in Philadelphia after working as a teacher. His young adult debut, Clown in a Cornfield, follows a teenager caught in a slasher rampage led by a killer clown mascot; it won the 2020 Bram Stoker Award for Best Young Adult Novel and became a 2025 film, spawning a continuing book series. He also hosts Project: Black T-Shirt, a horror-film review show, and has written the graphic novel Dead Mall...

Cheryl Mullenax writes in the hardcore horror genre. Her stories have appeared in collections such as Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 1 and Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 4. She's an author for readers who appreciate intense, direct horror.

Jeff Strand writes horror stories that often lean into dark comedy. He is the author and editor behind titles like Blood Lite, Blood Lite II, and The Monster's Corner. His work focuses on monsters and

Monica J. O'Rourke is known for her contributions to hardcore horror and bizarro fiction. Her work can be found in Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 1 and The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction. She also wrote Poisoning Eros and Decadence 2.

Randy Chandler is a go-to author for hardcore horror, featured in the Year's Best Hardcore Horror series. His other works, like Forbidden Gospels: The Devil's Cut and Into Painfreak, dive into dark themes of decadence and debauchery.