"Who's the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum." - Stephen King
Welcome to the house that Jack built.
It's not a huge place
compared to some. It's no Haunted Mansion or Ancient
Ghostly Castle or anything. It's more like a small
suburban house on a quiet dead-end street. But things
do lurk in the shadows here. And you might be better
off not knowing about some of them. Some get pretty
nasty. So now that I've warned you and before I strain
this silly damn metaphor to death, you have my encouragement
to come on in. And thanks, as always, for stopping
by.
-Jack Ketchum
(if you experience problems, please contact Kev (the Webmaster)).
Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for a former actor, singer, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk -- a former flower child and baby boomer who figures that in 1956 Elvis, dinosaurs and horror probably saved his life. His first novel, Off Season, prompted the Village Voice to publicly scold its publisher in print for publishing violent pornography. He personally disagrees but is perfectly happy to let you decide for yourself. His short story The Box won a 1994 Bram Stoker Award from the HWA, his story Gone won again in 2000 -- and in 2003 he won Stokers for both best collection for Peaceable Kingdom and best long fiction for Closing Time. He has written eleven novels, arguably twelve, four of which have been filmed -- The Lost, The Girl Next Door, Red, and Offspring. His stories are collected in The Exit At Toledo Blade Boulevard, Broken on the Wheel of Sex, Peaceable Kingdom, Sleep Disorder (with Edward Lee), and Closing Time and Other Stories. His novella The Crossings was cited by Stephen King in his speech at the 2003 National Book Awards.