The Quiet Wrongness
Shirley Jackson. Daphne du Maurier. Domestic space turned against its occupant. The neighbor who smiles too long. Dread as an interior weather system.
I.
The Mission
Corpus Vile is an independent publishing collective dedicated to dark fiction, folk horror, bodily dread, and modern weirdness.
We operate on the foundational principles of the DIY underground: no gatekeepers, no corporate polish, no artist exploitation.
Much like the independent record labels that defined late-20th-century counterculture, Corpus Vile exists to amplify uncompromising, raw, and visceral voices that mainstream publishing ignores or fears. We don't tailor stories to suit algorithms or trends. We cultivate direct relationships between creators and readers, treating the page as a site of radical creative freedom.
If it breathes, rots, bleeds,
or lurks in the soil—
we print it.
II.
The Vibe
A reading list, a record crate, and a shoebox of photographs nobody wants to look at twice. These are our coordinates—not a house style, but a haunting.
The Body as Text
Clive Barker. Cronenberg. Kathe Koja. Flesh that revises itself. Transformation as ecstasy and as sentence. Beauty that costs something.
Cosmic Futility
Thomas Ligotti. Robert Aickman. Puppets who suspect the strings. Stories that end without resolving, because nothing ever does.
Folkloric Dread
Wicker and wheat. Parish records. The hill fort that predates the church. Rites that outlive the reason for them. The soil remembers what the village forgot.
The DIY Underground
Dischord. SST. Rough Trade. Xeroxed sleeves and hand-numbered runs. Distribution as a favor between friends. The means of production, seized and stapled.
The Zine Object
Toner smear and cut-paper collage. Half-tone rot. Marginalia. Books that feel like they were found rather than bought.
III.
Call to Arms
Submissions are open. We are building our first anthology and we are reading everything that arrives. We pay contributors—modestly, honestly, and up front. You keep your rights.
We Want
- Short fiction 1,500–7,000 words
- Flash fiction under 1,000 words
- Weird poetry up to 5 poems
- Dark essays criticism, hauntology, field notes
- Illustration ink, collage, photography
We Don't
- Gore for its own sake, with nothing underneath
- Torture of women as a plot device
- Anything generated by a machine
- Work that punches downward
- Tidy endings that apologize for the story
Fine print
Standard manuscript format, .docx or .rtf. Simultaneous submissions welcome—tell us immediately if placed elsewhere. One piece at a time; poetry may be batched. Response within eight weeks. If we go quiet, nudge us. We are people, not a portal.
IV.
Send It
Attach the work. Give us three lines about yourself—no publication history required, and none held against you.
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