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    Bodies of Work

    A Novella

    Author Clay McLeod Chapman
    Hardcover
    $19.99 US
    Titan | Titan Books
    On sale Apr 07, 2026 | 176 Pages | 9781835415931
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    “Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite horror storytellers working today.” — Jordan Peele

    A murderous artist is haunted by the spirits of those he has killed in this surreal and chilling supernatural revenge novella.

    From the acclaimed author of Ghost Eaters, and perfect for fans of Joe Hill and Delilah S. Dawson.

    At sixty-six years old, Winston Kemper has always been a nonentity. No one notices him. His simple existence barely registers for those who come into contact with him. Some call him feeble-minded. He is a janitor at the local church, a groundskeeper by default, and that’s it. No friends, no family. When he’s done with work, he returns home—a remote, single room apartment located above a garage—and that is where his true work begins.

    Winston Kemper is a collector of voices, and his magnum opus—The Butterfly Girls—is a sprawling epic of untapped imagination. It has no single canvas, no particular frame. It is everywhere—scribbled on the walls, the floor, and countless notebooks.

    Winston is creating a fantasia which exists in words, images and blood. As part of his 'art' he has been murdering forgotten women. Poor souls who slip through the cracks of society, who no one’s looking for. Mothers, sisters, daughters to someone, but no more.

    Winston takes their lives, their voices. 

    But now he can hear them. They whisper to him. They talk of revenge. 

    Winston Kemper might not believe in ghosts, but he is about to learn they are very real. And they are very, very angry. 

    A surreal and dreamlike novella about the ghosts of our past and the dangerous, obsessive pursuit of art, from the "true master of horror." (CJ Leede, Maeve Fly)
    Clay McLeod Chapman is the creator of “The Pumpkin Pie Show” and the author of Rest Area, Nothing Untoward, and The Tribe trilogy. He is the co-author, with Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick, of the middle grade novel Wendell and Wild. In the world of comics, Chapman’s work includes Lazaretto, Iron Fist: Phantom Limb, and Edge of Spiderverse. You can find him at claymcleodchapman.com.
    Clay McLeod Chapman View titles by Clay McLeod Chapman
    GOODREADS MOST ANTICIPATED HORROR 2026


    Clay McLeod Chapman's BODIES OF WORK is a scalpel, and you cannot read this book without being reshaped by it. It is a rot-crumbled tale of human brokenness, clear-eyed and visceral, awful, tragic and somehow exquisitely triumphant. But as with all of Chapman's work: it comes at a cost.—Chris Panatier, author of The Redemption of Morgan Bright


    Ornate and remarkably intricate for such a slender book, encountering Clay McLeod Chapman's Bodies of Work for the first time feels both startling and exhilarating like discovering a broken relic of long-since forgotten art. A profane hymn screaming from the charnel pit of a blood-clogged throat, an obscene portrait torn from careless, withered hands—this novella is deeply subversive, absorbing, and original.—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke


    Bodies of Work is a chilling read that shows the horror of real crime whilst giving the victims a voice. Excellent read for horror and crime lovers.—V. Castro, Bram Stoker award nominated author of Maria The Wanted


    In prose both fevered and stunning, Clay McLeod Chapman takes us into the world of a tormented killer—and into the minds of the young women whose lives he steals. Colorful and haunting, Bodies of Work stitches together beauty and cruelty, madness and imagination, as it plays all our best feelings against each other. A compelling and brutal read that proves Chapman is a true master of horror.—Wendy N. Wagner, author of Girl in the Creek


    Fantasy and reality warp and blend in a pure Chapman product, where a serial killer's demented fantasies give bloom to creative carnage on the canvas of his victims' bodies. Sad, sickening, and weirdly sweet, Bodies of Work is an unflinching window into the horrors of one way too dedicated artist's demented creative process.—Bitter Karella, Hugo nominated author of Moonflow


    A beautiful, horrifying, and timely tale about the dark side of the creative process (and a frank examination of the artist as monster). Chapman is one of the most inventive voices in contemporary horror.—Shaun Hamill, author of The Dissonance


    In Bodies of Work, Clay McLeod Chapman offers a glimpse into that liminal space where the true horror within remains undefined. A novella that’s fractured between perspectives, it warps and shifts even as it reveals. Dark, fecund and engrossing... unique.—Bookbeard

    “A standard‑bearer for horror that’s both entertaining and intellectually rigorous.” –Ginger Nuts of Horror

    About

    “Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite horror storytellers working today.” — Jordan Peele

    A murderous artist is haunted by the spirits of those he has killed in this surreal and chilling supernatural revenge novella.

    From the acclaimed author of Ghost Eaters, and perfect for fans of Joe Hill and Delilah S. Dawson.

    At sixty-six years old, Winston Kemper has always been a nonentity. No one notices him. His simple existence barely registers for those who come into contact with him. Some call him feeble-minded. He is a janitor at the local church, a groundskeeper by default, and that’s it. No friends, no family. When he’s done with work, he returns home—a remote, single room apartment located above a garage—and that is where his true work begins.

    Winston Kemper is a collector of voices, and his magnum opus—The Butterfly Girls—is a sprawling epic of untapped imagination. It has no single canvas, no particular frame. It is everywhere—scribbled on the walls, the floor, and countless notebooks.

    Winston is creating a fantasia which exists in words, images and blood. As part of his 'art' he has been murdering forgotten women. Poor souls who slip through the cracks of society, who no one’s looking for. Mothers, sisters, daughters to someone, but no more.

    Winston takes their lives, their voices. 

    But now he can hear them. They whisper to him. They talk of revenge. 

    Winston Kemper might not believe in ghosts, but he is about to learn they are very real. And they are very, very angry. 

    A surreal and dreamlike novella about the ghosts of our past and the dangerous, obsessive pursuit of art, from the "true master of horror." (CJ Leede, Maeve Fly)

    Author

    Clay McLeod Chapman is the creator of “The Pumpkin Pie Show” and the author of Rest Area, Nothing Untoward, and The Tribe trilogy. He is the co-author, with Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick, of the middle grade novel Wendell and Wild. In the world of comics, Chapman’s work includes Lazaretto, Iron Fist: Phantom Limb, and Edge of Spiderverse. You can find him at claymcleodchapman.com.
    Clay McLeod Chapman View titles by Clay McLeod Chapman

    Praise

    GOODREADS MOST ANTICIPATED HORROR 2026


    Clay McLeod Chapman's BODIES OF WORK is a scalpel, and you cannot read this book without being reshaped by it. It is a rot-crumbled tale of human brokenness, clear-eyed and visceral, awful, tragic and somehow exquisitely triumphant. But as with all of Chapman's work: it comes at a cost.—Chris Panatier, author of The Redemption of Morgan Bright


    Ornate and remarkably intricate for such a slender book, encountering Clay McLeod Chapman's Bodies of Work for the first time feels both startling and exhilarating like discovering a broken relic of long-since forgotten art. A profane hymn screaming from the charnel pit of a blood-clogged throat, an obscene portrait torn from careless, withered hands—this novella is deeply subversive, absorbing, and original.—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke


    Bodies of Work is a chilling read that shows the horror of real crime whilst giving the victims a voice. Excellent read for horror and crime lovers.—V. Castro, Bram Stoker award nominated author of Maria The Wanted


    In prose both fevered and stunning, Clay McLeod Chapman takes us into the world of a tormented killer—and into the minds of the young women whose lives he steals. Colorful and haunting, Bodies of Work stitches together beauty and cruelty, madness and imagination, as it plays all our best feelings against each other. A compelling and brutal read that proves Chapman is a true master of horror.—Wendy N. Wagner, author of Girl in the Creek


    Fantasy and reality warp and blend in a pure Chapman product, where a serial killer's demented fantasies give bloom to creative carnage on the canvas of his victims' bodies. Sad, sickening, and weirdly sweet, Bodies of Work is an unflinching window into the horrors of one way too dedicated artist's demented creative process.—Bitter Karella, Hugo nominated author of Moonflow


    A beautiful, horrifying, and timely tale about the dark side of the creative process (and a frank examination of the artist as monster). Chapman is one of the most inventive voices in contemporary horror.—Shaun Hamill, author of The Dissonance


    In Bodies of Work, Clay McLeod Chapman offers a glimpse into that liminal space where the true horror within remains undefined. A novella that’s fractured between perspectives, it warps and shifts even as it reveals. Dark, fecund and engrossing... unique.—Bookbeard

    “A standard‑bearer for horror that’s both entertaining and intellectually rigorous.” –Ginger Nuts of Horror

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