John Edward Lawson is the author of 16 books of fiction and poetry, and numerous chapbooks. Over 500 of his poems, stories, and articles have been published in magazines, anthologies, literary journals, and newspapers worldwide. He has been called “The forgotten black man of horror,” but he also regularly publishes science fiction, bizarro, mystery/thrillers, and literary fiction.

John was a winner of the 2001 Fiction International Emerging Writers Competition; in addition to being a finalist for the Stoker Award (2006, Superior Achievement in Poetry) and the Wonderland Award for Bizarro Fiction (2007, collected fiction), other award nominations include two for the Dwarf Stars Award, the Pushcart Prize, two for the Rhysling Award, and honorable mention for the 2015 Wonderland Award.

As an editor, John is co-founder of Raw Dog Screaming Press, recognized by the Horror Writers Association in 2019 with their Specialty Press Award. He spent four years as editor-in-chief of online literary journal of bizarro fiction and poetry. Other editorial projects include three print anthologies, four e-anthologies, and freelance work for such companies as National Lampoon and Double Dragon Publishing.

As a storyteller, reviewers have compared John to J. G. Ballard, Clive Barker, Donald Barthelme, Ray Bradbury, William Burroughs, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, R. Crumb, James Herbert, Shaun Hutson, John Irving, Franz Kafka, Sarah Kane, HP Lovecraft, the Marx Brothers, Carlton Mellick III, Monty Python, Vladimir Nabokov, George Orwell, Chuck Palahniuk, Johnathan Swift, Walter Tevis, and Kurt Vonnegut. If any of this sounds good to you please consider investigating his books.