ESME LORDEDark fiction

THE FICTION OF ESME LORDE

Take the
road less
travelled.

Dark fiction. Unfamiliar turns.
The things that follow you home.

Explore the stories

FROM THE WRITING DESK

Unquiet stories.

Strange roads. Old shadows.
A world just a little out of place.

Fiction in the works.

01The Loop cover by Esme Lorde: a wet winding forest road, a white memorial cross, and an empty rocking chair

CASCADES · 2008

The Loop

A story taking shape

A birthday getaway takes Matt and Jess into the autumn mountains of the Cascades. After a missed turn, they trust their GPS to guide them back. But familiar landmarks keep returning, and each recalculation draws them deeper into a journey neither understands.

02Approved Jupiter’s Puppet artwork featuring a sinister clown in a Jeep on the road to Florida

TOLEDO TO FLORIDA · 1992

Jupiter’s Puppet

A story taking shape

In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, Paul Lafayette sees an opportunity for a new start. He heads south to Florida for recovery work, with a discarded seven-foot clown riding along in his Jeep. Mile by mile, his temper frays—and his passenger begins to change.

03Approved Behind the Lights artwork with Tammy and Janet in a car beneath theatre lights

CALIFORNIA · 1974

Behind the Lights

A story taking shape

California, 1974. Tammy and Janet are headed to L.A., chasing opportunity and fame. Along the way, they cross paths with a travelling band equally hungry for the spotlight. It’s all too easy to overlook who’s standing in the shadows.

04Approved Floored artwork showing an industrial warehouse with steel lettering and cobwebs

CANADIAN PRAIRIES

Floored

A novel under construction

Cold, dark days settle over a small Canadian prairie town. Inside a warehouse, a tight-knit construction crew builds modular buildings bound for faraway places. When one of their own is found murdered—the man who never quite fit in—loyalty turns to suspicion, and protecting each other becomes a dangerous business.

05Approved Unsettled artwork showing a colonial figure entering towering dark woods

NEW HAMPSHIRE · 1700s

Unsettled

A novel in progress

In colonial New Hampshire, Scots-Irish settlers seek a new beginning on land others already call home. Beyond their clearing, the forest conceals a presence they can neither glimpse nor explain. As unease gives way to fear, every unfamiliar sound becomes a warning.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Esme Lorde’s flowing EL monogram, branching into a tree with a perched crow

The familiar.
Made strange.

Esme Lorde is a Canadian writer of dark fiction. Introduced to books by her parents at an early age, she developed a lifelong reverence for the written word. Influenced by Stephen King, Clive Barker, and writers who explore the boundary between darkness and light, she crafts stories in which the familiar turns unsettling and the unexpected lurks in the shadows. Rooted in Canada yet connected to family south of the border, she lives in Alberta with her husband and two mischievous black dogs.

CORRESPONDENCE

A word with Esme.

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