Jonathan Janz (born October 27, 1973) is the pen name of Craig Shaeffer, an American horror author of multiple novels.
Early life Jonathan Craig Shaeffer grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was raised by his mother near a graveyard, where she would check out books on albums from the library. Early influences during this time include The Twilight Zone, In Search Of..., the works of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as the audio version of The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens. During childhood, he was prone to sleepwalking, and describes a time when he woke up in a pitch-black room of a friend's house, navigating his way through a maze of boxes because the family had just moved in. He adopted the pseudonym of Jonathan Janz as a way of honoring his maternal grandparents, who helped to raise him.
Career In 2011, Janz published his debut novel, The Sorrows. The book received praise from author Brian Keene, who called it "the best horror novel of 2012." Keene would also describe Janz as "One of the best writers in modern horror to come along in the last decade."
Between 2011 and 2016, eight of Janz's novels were released by Samhain Publishing. After this, Janz signed a deal with Flame Tree Publishing, which published four more novels as well as reprintings of his earlier works. Other novels have been released through Sinister Grin Press, Earthling Publications, and Cemetery Dance.
His manager, Ryan Lewis, also works with Josh Malerman.
Janz cites multiple influences on his career, including Stephen King, Joe R. Lansdale, Brian Keene, Richard Matheson, among many others.
In March of 2023, Janz won the Wilburn-Thomas Award at the Scares That Care event in Williamsburg, Virginia. This is a charity event organized by author Brian Keene and the award is given to authors who have helped other writers and their community.
Personal life Jonathan Janz is the pen name for Craig Shaeffer. Janz teaches high school English, film literature, and creative writing at West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School. He currently resides in Indiana with his wife and three children.
Novels
Year Title Publisher Pages Notes 2011 The Sorrows Samhain Publishing 272 2012 House of Skin 312 2013The Darkest Lullaby 272 Savage Species 315 Originally published as a 5 part eBookBloodshot: Kingdom of Shadows Kindle Direct Publishing 187 Out of Print; Originally published as an eBook 2014Dust Devils Samhain Publishing 280 Castle of Sorrows 337 Sequel to The Sorrows 2015The Nightmare Girl 304 Wolf Land 314 2016 Children of the Dark Sinister Grin Press 392 Booklist Top Ten Horror Book of the Year for 2016; Re-published in a revised edition by Cemetery Dance Publications in 2023 2017 Exorcist Falls 458 Contains the novella Exorcist Road 2018 The Siren and the Specter Flame Tree Publishing 295 Goodreads Choice Awards nominee for Best Horror 2018 2019 The Dark Game 352 Library Journal Best Horror of 2019 2020 The Raven 245 The Raven, Book One 2022Blood Country 320 The Raven, Book TwoMarla Earthling Publications 288 Initially published by Earthling and limited to 500 copies; Mass publication in 2026 by Weird Tales Presents & Blackstone PublishingThe Dismembered Cemetery Dance Publications 178 2024 Children of the Dark 2: The Night Flyers 396 Sequel to Children of the Dark 2025 Veil Blackstone Publishing 360
Collections
Year Title Publisher Pages Notes 2018 Tales From the Shadow Side Thunderstorm Books 263 Limited to 60 copies. Includes excepts from an unreleased novel, Garden of Snakes. Re-published in 2019 in a 350 limited edition run, excluding the excerpt from the unreleased novel.
Short Fiction
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Witching Hour Theatre" novella Kindle Direct Publishing (July 2005) Tales From the Shadow Side (2019) Originally published as an eBook "Old Order" novella Kindle Direct Publishing (September 2010) Tales From the Shadow Side (2019) Originally published as an eBook "The Clearing of Travis Coble" short story Kindle Direct Publishing (March 2013) Tales From the Shadow Side (2019) Originally published as an eBook "Throwing Monsters" short story Piercing the Darkness (February 2014) Tales From the Shadow Side (2019) "Exorcist Road" novella Kindle Direct Publishing (September 2014) Appears revised in the paperback edition of Exorcist Falls (2017) Originally published as an eBook "A Southern Evening" short story LampLight Vol. 4, Issue 4 (June 2016) Tales From the Shadow Side (2019) "Vanilla Sunshine" short story Clickers Forever: A Tribute to J.F. Gonzalez (February 2018) Set in the world of J.F. Gonzalez's Clickers "Titan, Tyger" short story Lost Highways: Dark Fictions From the Road (July 2018) - "Night and Day and In Between" short story Welcome to the Show (August 2018) - "The Kiss of Diana Antonov" novella Leaders of the Pack: A Werewolf Anthology (January 2020) - "Room For the Night" short story Close to Midnight (October 2022) - "The Humpers at the Threshold" short story The Drive-In: Multiplex (Fall 2023) - Set in the world of Joe R. Lansdale's The Drive-In "Midwinter Tales" short story Literally Dead: Tales of Holiday Hauntings (October 2023) - "Dobrogost" short story Swords in the Shadows: An Anthology (October 2023) - "The Third Shannon" short story Morbidologies (October 2023) - "The Drolls" short story Fear of Clowns: A Horror Anthology (September 2024) - "Stretch-Neck" short story Stretch-Neck: A VEIL Story chapbook (Summer 2025) - Set in the world of his novel Veil that was sent to recipients of his newsletter and those who pre-ordered the book "Lenora" short story The End of the World As We Know It: Tales of Stephen King's The Stand (August 2025) - Set in the world of Stephen King's The Stand "Moonflowers" short story Marla Weird Tales edition (August 2026) - Set in the world of his novel Marla "Follower™ " short story KingCon 2026 Program Book (October 2026) - "Take a Puzzle, Leave a Puzzle" short story Take a Puzzle, Leave a Puzzle chapbook (November 2026) -
Non-Fiction
Title Type Originally published in Collected in Notes "Treating Fiction Like a Relationship" essay Writers on Writing, Vol. 3 (April 2016) - Originally published as an eBook "Elizabeth: An Unnaturally Forgotten Novel" essay Elizabeth by Ken Greenhall, Valancourt Books edition (April 2017) - "Introduction" introduction Midnight in the Graveyard (October 2019) - "They Come and They Go: An Introduction to Stephen Kozeniewski's Hunter of the Dead" introduction Hunter of the Dead by Stephen Kozeniewski (November 2022) - "Introduction: Step Into the Spinning Tunnel" introduction Illusions of Isolation (February 2023) - "Introduction" introduction The Cry Room by Kathe Koja (April 2026) - "IT and Stranger Things: A Shadow Cast By Love" essay Still Floating: 40 Years of Pennywise (September 2026) -
References
External links
Goodreads Simon & Schuster