Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in

Cabin John, Maryland Cabin John is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Its original southern boundary encompassed a section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O) including locks 8–12, and the northern ...

, United States. It was founded in 1989 by

John Betancourt John Gregory Betancourt (born October 25, 1963) is an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels, as well as short stories. He is also known as the founder and publisher, with his wife Kim Betancourt, of Wildside Press in 1 ...

and

Kim Betancourt Kim Betancourt co-founded Wildside Press in 1989 with her husband, science fiction writer John Gregory Betancourt.

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

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

and limited editions, its focus has broadened since then, both in content and format. Its website notes publication of works of

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

, and nonfiction, as well as downloadable

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

s and CDs, eBooks, magazines, and physical books. Wildside Press has published approximately 10,000 books through

print on demand Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...

and traditional means.

Writers

The company has published work by a number of contemporary writers, including Lloyd Biggle Jr.,

Alan Dean Foster Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts. Career ''Star Wars'' Foster was the ghost ...

, Paul Di Filippo,

Esther Friesner Esther Mona Friesner-Stutzman, née Friesner (born July 16, 1951) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is also a poet and playwright. She is best known for her humorous style of writing, both in the titles and the works themsel ...

, S. T. Joshi, Ionuț Caragea,

Paul Levinson Paul Levinson (born March 25, 1947) is an American author, singer-songwriter, and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. His novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into ...

David Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for most ...

Nick Mamatas Nick Mamatas ( el, Νίκος Μαμματάς) (born February 20, 1972) is an American horror, science fiction and fantasy author and editor for Haikasoru's line of translated Japanese science fiction novels for Viz Media. His fiction has been ...

, Brian McNaughton, Vera Nazarian, Paul Park, Tim Pratt, Stephen Mark Rainey, Alan Rodgers,

Darrell Schweitzer Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...

Lawrence Watt-Evans Lawrence Watt-Evans (born 1954) is one of the pseudonyms of American science fiction and fantasy author Lawrence Watt Evans (another pseudonym, used primarily for science fiction, is Nathan Archer). Biography Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, as ...

, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. In addition to newer writers, the company works at keeping established older authors in print, such as

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, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His work ...

, H. Rider Haggard, and Clark Ashton Smith, as well as lesser known scribes like R. A. Lafferty. The publisher has a specialty reprint project, reproducing old issues of such

pulp magazines Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

as ''

The Phantom Detective ''The Phantom Detective'' was the second pulp hero magazine published, after ''The Shadow''. The first issue was released in February 1933, a month before ''Doc Savage'', which was released in March 1933. The title continued to be released unt ...

'', ''

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. The ''Secret Ag ...

'', and '' The Spider''. Wildside Press has also published Robert E. Howard's ten book series called ''Weird Works'', which comprises Howard's entire body of collected work published in the pulp magazine ''

Weird Tales ''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, pri ...

'', and restored to the original magazine texts.

Imprints

Borgo Press The Borgo Press was a small publishing company founded by Robert Reginald in 1975 funded by the royalties gained from his first major reference work, ''Stella Nova: the contemporary science fiction authors'' (1970). That same year Reginald met M ...

* Cosmos Books *

Point Blank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel paral ...

Magazines

Current

* '' Adventure Tales'' * ''Black Cat Mystery Magazine'' * ''Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine'' * ''Weirdbook''

Defunct

* '' Cat Tales: The Magazine of Fantastic Feline Fiction'' * '' H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror'' * ''

Strange Tales ''Strange Tales'' is a Marvel Comics anthology series. The title was revived in different forms on multiple occasions. Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. made their debuts in ''Strange Tales''. It was a showcase for the science ...

'' * '' Underworlds: The Magazine of Noir and Dark Suspense'' * ''

Ebooks

In addition to selling ebooks via its website and other booksellers', Wildside Press maintains a "Freebies" page on which it sells both permanent and weekly free selections. The weekly freebies are typically either "megapack" or "minipack" compilations.

References

External links

*
7 Question Interview with John Betancourt
{{Authority control American speculative fiction publishers Book publishing companies based in Maryland Role-playing game publishing companies Science fiction publishers Privately held companies based in Maryland Publishing companies established in 1989