Wildside Press is an independent publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 company located in Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, USA. It was founded in 1989 by John Gregory

John Gregory Betancourt

John Gregory Betancourt is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at Amazing Stories and editor of Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field, the revived Weird Tales magazine, the first issue of H. P...

 and Kim Betancourt

Kim Betancourt

Kim Betancourt co-founded Wildside Press in 1989 with her husband, science fiction writer John Betancourt. She has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award two times for their publishing company's efforts. Kim is not only part of Wildside Press, she is Director of Economics and Multifamily Market...

. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction

Speculative fiction

Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...

 in both trade and limited editions, it has broadened out somewhat since then, both in content and format. It now publishes mysteries

Mystery fiction

Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...

 and nonfiction, as well as eBooks and magazines. Wildside Press has published approximately ten thousand books
through print on demand and traditional means.

The company has published work by a number of contemporary writers, including Paul Di Filippo

Paul Di Filippo

Paul Di Filippo is an American science fiction writer. He has been published in Postscripts...

, Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...

, Esther Friesner

Esther Friesner

Esther Mona Friesner-Stutzman, née Friesner is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for her humorous pieces.- Life :...

, Paul Levinson

Paul Levinson

Paul Levinson is an American author and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. Levinson's novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into twelve languages....

, Nick Mamatas

Nick Mamatas

Nick Mamatas is an American horror, science fiction and fantasy author and editor for the Haikasoru line of translated Japanese science fiction novels for Viz Media...

, Vera Nazarian

Vera Nazarian

Vera Nazarian is an Armenian-Russian American writer of fantasy, science fiction and other "wonder fiction" including Mythpunk, an artist, and the publisher of Norilana Books...

, Brian McNaughton

Brian McNaughton

Brian McNaughton was an American writer of horror and fantasy fiction who mixed sex, satire and black humour. He also wrote thrillers.-Biography:...

, Paul Park

Paul Park

Paul Park is an American science fiction author and fantasy author. He lives in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children. He teaches a course in reading and writing science fiction at Williams College...

, Tim Pratt

Tim Pratt

Tim Pratt is a science fiction and fantasy writer and poet. He grew up in the vicinity of Dudley, North Carolina, and attended Appalachian State University, where he earned a Bachelor's in English. In 1999 he attended the Clarion East Writing Workshop...

, Stephen Mark Rainey

Stephen Mark Rainey

Stephen Mark Rainey is an author of novels, short stories, and various works of nonfiction. From 1987 to 1997, he edited Deathrealm, a magazine of horror and dark fantasy fiction, for which he won several awards for Best Editor.-Biography:...

, Alan Rodgers

Alan Rodgers

Alan Rodgers is a science fiction and horror writer, editor, and poet. In the mid-eighties he was the editor for Night Cry. His short stories have been published in a number of venues, including Weird Tales, Twilight Zone and a number of anthologies, such as Darker Masques, Prom Night, and...

, Darrell Schweitzer

Darrell Schweitzer

Darrell Charles Schweitzer is an American writer, editor, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy...

, Lawrence Watt-Evans

Lawrence Watt-Evans

Lawrence Watt-Evans is one of the pseudonyms of American science fiction and fantasy author Lawrence Watt Evans...

, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

-Biography:She was born in Berkeley, California. She attended Berkeley schools through high school followed by three years at San Francisco State College .In November 1969 she married Donald Simpson and divorced in February 1982...

.

In addition to newer writers, the company works at keeping of older authors in print, such as James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell

James Branch Cabell, ; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles lettres. Cabell was well regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when his...

, H. Rider Haggard

H. Rider Haggard

Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...

, and Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...

, as well as lesser known scribes like R. A. Lafferty

R. A. Lafferty

Raphael Aloysius Lafferty was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, as well as for his etymological wit...

. The publisher also has a specialty reprint project going, reproducing old issues of such pulp magazines as The Phantom Detective

The Phantom Detective

The Phantom Detective was the second pulp hero character published, after The Shadow. The first issue was released in February of 1933, a month before Doc Savage, which was released in March of 1933. The title continued to be released until 1953, with a total 170 issues...

, Secret Agent X

Secret Agent X

Secret Agent X was the title of a U.S. pulp magazine published by A. A. Wyn's Ace Magazines, and the name of the main character featured in the magazine. The magazine ran for 41 issues between February 1934 and March 1939....

, and The Spider

The Spider

The Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...

.

Wildside Press has also published a ten book series called 'Weird Works of Robert E. Howard', which consist of Robert E. Howard

Robert E. Howard

Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....

's entire work for the pulp magazine Weird Tales

Weird Tales

Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....

, meticulously restored to its original magazine texts.

Magazines

Current

• Weird Tales
  Weird Tales
  Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
  
  

Defunct

• Adventure Tales
  Adventure Tales
  Adventure Tales is an irregularly published magazine reprinting classic stories from pulp magazines of the early 20th century. It is edited by science fiction writer John Gregory Betancourt and published by Wildside Press. Each issue has a theme or a featured author related to pulp...
  
  
• Cat Tales: The Magazine of Fantastic Feline Fiction
• H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror
  H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror
  H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror was a quarterly horror magazine edited by Marvin Kaye and published by Wildside Press. HPL's was originally announced as a quarterly, but has always appeared on an irregular basis....
  
  
• Strange Tales
  Strange Tales
  Strange Tales is the name of several comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the...
  
  
• Underworlds: The Magazine of Noir and Dark Suspense

External links

• 7 Question Interview with John Betancourt