Horror Publishing Success for Alumnus

Our alumnus, Toby Crabbe, recently signed a publishing contract with UK Horror Press, Poe Girl Publishing. His collection, The Things Thoughts Fear, will be out in Autumn 2024.

This is the latest in a series of publishing successes for alumnus Toby Crabbe, having placed works in anthologies and online publications, nationally and internationally. His dark and Gothic tales have been published by Black Hare Press, Thin Veil Press and Crump's Barn.

Toby told the University: "My debut short story collection, The Things Thoughts Fear, came from the want to explore the different sub-categories that exist under the umbrella of 'horror'. The idea first struck me during university. One particular module saw us studying the many faces of horror - many of which I was already aware of through mediums such as cinema and novels."

"I’m very easily swayed from one atmosphere of writing to another. When winter rolls in, I want nothing more than to write isolationist tales set in the snow. When the veil is at its thinnest for Halloween, I'm tempted into writing autumnal folk-tales about witches, pagan spirits, and dark carnivals. Therefore, I figured I'd collect all my unpublished work into a single collection. Thusly, The Things Thoughts Fear contains tales of Gothic horror, folk horror, ghost fiction, body horror, murder mysteries, and dark fantasy."

About his time at the University, Toby added: "Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Wolverhampton was irreplaceably useful for my writing career. It taught me how to write truer. I learned to understand my own writing, the importance of a routine and self belief: to just keep going. There are few finer places to sharpen your creativity than at the University of Wolverhampton!"

Creative and Professional Writing is riding a wave of success with their students finding homes for their horror stories. Last year, Poe Boy Publishing published their Gore Anthology which contains work from Toby and his peers, Sofia Ribeiro Willcox and Sophie Ford, and Rowena Murphy had her work accepted for last year's Current Research in Speculative Fiction conference in Liverpool. Final year student, Teresa Russel, has also had success in the recent Winter of the Raven collection.

Course Leader, Dr Rob Francis, said: "We're one of the only universities that takes genre fiction seriously as a form of literature for critical exploration and creative expression. We run modules on Crime, Horror and Speculative Fiction and these are underpinned by the innovative research of our teaching team. The results are starting to speak for themselves".

Find out more about Toby's work and Poe Girl Publishing.