Gemma Files, born on April 4, 1968, in London, England, is the daughter of two actors, Elva Mai Hoover and Gary Files. She has spent most of her life in Toronto, Canada. Initially, she gained recognition as a film critic, teacher, and screenwriter. However, Files made her mark on the international horror scene when her short story "The Emperor's Old Bones" won the International Horror Guild award for Best Short Fiction in 1999. This recognition propelled her writing career and established her as a prominent figure in the horror genre.
Gemma Files has an impressive bibliography, including two collections of short stories, Kissing Carrion and The Worm in Every Heart, both published by Prime Books. She has also published two chapbooks of poetry, Bent Under Night and Dust Radio, from Sinnersphere Productions and Kelp Queen Press, respectively. In 2010, Files released her first novel, A Book of Tongues: Volume One in the Hexslinger Series, published by ChiZine Publications. The series, which also includes A Rope of Thorns (2011) and A Tree of Bones (2012), has been well-received by horror fans. Currently, she is working on her first stand-alone novel. In addition to her individual work, Files has also collaborated with her husband, fellow author Stephen J. Barringer, with whom she co-wrote the story "each thing i show you is a piece of my death" for Clockwork Phoenix 2 (Norilana Books). They have one son together.
Hexslinger Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
A Book of Tongues
2010
2
A Rope of Thorns
2011
3
A Tree of Bones
2012
Standalone Novels
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
We Will All Go Down Together
2014
2
Experimental Film
2015
Short Stories/Novellas
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Each Thing I Show You Is a Piece of My Death
2009
2
Each Thing I Show You Is a Piece of My Death (With: Stephen J. Barringer)
2009
3
The Jacaranda Smile
2009
Collections
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Kissing Carrion
2003
2
The Worm in Every Heart
2004
3
Spectral Evidence
2018
4
Drawn Up From Deep Places
2018
5
Dark is Better
2023
6
Blood from the Air
2023
7
Little Horn
2025
Conversation Pieces Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Alien Bootlegger
1993
2
Alien Bootlegger ( By: Rebecca Ore)
1993
3
Counting on Wildflowers (By: Kim Antieau)
2005
4
Counting on Wildflowers
2005
5
Ordinary People
2005
6
Ordinary People (By: Eleanor Arnason)
2005
7
Candle in a Bottle (By: Carolyn Ives Gilman)
2006
8
Candle in a Bottle
2006
9
Absolute Uncertainty ( By: Lucy Sussex)
2006
10
Absolute Uncertainty
2006
11
Knots
2006
12
Knots (By: Wendy Walker)
2006
13
Aliens of the Heart
2007
14
Aliens of the Heart (By: Carolyn Ives Gilman)
2007
15
Voices from Fairyland (By: Theodora Goss)
2008
16
Voices from Fairyland
2008
17
Three Observations and a Dialogue
2010
18
Three Observations and a Dialogue ( By: Sylvia Kelso)
2010
19
Through the Drowsy Dark (By: Rachel Swirsky)
2010
20
Through the Drowsy Dark
2010
21
Slightly Behind and to the Left
2010
22
Slightly Behind and to the Left (By: Claire Light)
2010
23
With Her Body
2011
24
With Her Body (By: Nicola Griffith)
2011
25
The Red Rose Rages (By: L. Duchamp)
2011
26
The Red Rose Rages
2011
27
The Grand Conversation
2011
28
The Grand Conversation (By: L. Duchamp)
2011
29
Distances (By: Vandana Singh)
2011
30
Distances
2011
31
Shotgun Lullabies (By: Sheree Renée Thomas)
2011
32
Shotgun Lullabies
2011
33
Of Love and Other Monsters
2011
34
Of Love and Other Monsters (By: Vandana Singh)
2011
35
De Secretis Mulierum
2011
36
De Secretis Mulierum (By: L. Duchamp)
2011
37
A Brood of Foxes
2011
38
A Brood of Foxes (By: Kristin Livdahl)
2011
39
The Adventures of the Faithful Counselor (By: Anne Sheldon)
2011
40
The Adventures of the Faithful Counselor
2011
41
Writing the Other
2011
42
Writing the Other (By: Cynthia Ward)
2011
43
The Bone Spindle (By: Anne Sheldon)
2011
44
The Bone Spindle
2011
45
Talking Back
2011
46
Talking Back (By: E.C. Myers)
2011
47
The Last Letter (By: Fiona Lehn)
2011
48
The Last Letter
2011
49
Making Love in Madrid (By: Kimberly Todd Wade)
2012
50
Making Love in Madrid
2012
51
We Wuz Pushed (By: Lee Mandelo)
2012
52
We Wuz Pushed
2012
53
The Traveling Tide
2012
54
The Traveling Tide (By: Rosaleen Love)
2012
55
The Receptionist
2012
56
The Receptionist (By: Lesley Wheeler)
2012
57
Birds and Birthdays
2012
58
Birds and Birthdays (By: Christopher Barzak)
2012
59
Naomi Mitchison (By: Lesley A. Hall)
2012
60
Naomi Mitchison
2012
61
The Queen, the Cambion, and Seven Others (By: Richard Bowes)
2013
62
The Queen, the Cambion, and Seven Others
2013
63
Spring in Geneva (By: Sylvia Kelso)
2013
64
Spring in Geneva
2013
65
The XY Conspiracy (By: Lori Selke)
2013
66
The XY Conspiracy
2013
67
Myths, Metaphors, and Science Fiction ( By: Sheila Finch)
2014
68
Myths, Metaphors, and Science Fiction
2014
69
Numa: An Epic Poem with Photo Collages (By: Katrinka Moore)
2014
70
Numa: An Epic Poem with Photo Collages
2014
71
NoFood (By: Sarah Tolmie)
2014
72
NoFood
2014
73
The Haunted Girl
2014
74
The Haunted Girl (By: Lisa M. Bradley)
2014
75
Three Songs for Roxy
2015
76
Three Songs for Roxy (By: Caren Gussoff)
2015
77
Ghost Signs (By: Sonya Taaffe)
2015
78
Ghost Signs
2015
79
The Prince of the Aquamarines
2015
80
The Prince of the Aquamarines (By: Ruth Berman)
2015
81
Back, Belly, and Side: True Lies and False Tales
2015
82
Back, Belly, and Side: True Lies and False Tales (By: Celeste Rita Baker)
2015
83
A Day in Deep Freeze
2015
84
A Day in Deep Freeze (By: Lisa Shapter)
2015
85
Marginalia to Stone Bird
2016
86
Marginalia to Stone Bird (By: R.B. Lemberg)
2016
87
Unpronounceable (By: Susan diRende)
2016
88
Unpronounceable
2016
89
Sleeping Under the Tree of Life (By: Sheree Renée Thomas)
2016
90
Sleeping Under the Tree of Life
2016
91
Other Places (By: Karen Heuler)
2016
92
Other Places
2016
93
Monteverde
2016
94
Monteverde (By: Lawrence Schimel)
2016
95
The Adventure of the Incognita Countess
2017
96
The Adventure of the Incognita Countess (By: Cynthia Ward)
2017
97
Boundaries, Border Crossings, and Reinventing the Future
2017
98
Boundaries, Border Crossings, and Reinventing the Future (By: Beth Plutchak)
2017
99
A Field Guide to the Spirits (By: Jean LeBlanc)
2017
100
A Field Guide to the Spirits
2017
101
Liberating the Astronauts (By: Christina M. Rau)
2017
102
Liberating the Astronauts
2017
103
In Search of Lost Time (By: Karen Heuler)
2017
104
In Search of Lost Time
2017
105
We, Robots (By: Sue Lange)
2017
106
We, Robots
2017
107
Cosmovore (By: Kristi Carter)
2017
108
Cosmovore
2017
109
Helen's Story (By: Rosanne Rabinowitz)
2017
110
Liminal Spaces (By: Beth Plutchak)
2018
111
Helen's Story
2017
112
Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints (By: Alex Dally MacFarlane)
2018
113
Liminal Spaces
2018
114
Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints
2018
115
If Not Skin (By: Toby MacNutt)
2018
116
If Not Skin
2018
117
Changeling (By: Nancy Jane Moore)
2018
118
The Adventure of the Dux Bellorum (By: Cynthia Ward)
2018
119
Changeling
2018
120
People Change (By: Gwynne Garfinkle)
2018
121
The Adventure of the Dux Bellorum
2018
122
Invocabulary
2018
123
People Change
2018
124
The Green and Growing (By: Erin K. Wagner)
2019
125
Everything is Made of Letters (By: Sofía Rhei)
2019
126
The Green and Growing
2019
127
Midnight at the Organporium (By: Tara Campbell)
2019
128
Everything is Made of Letters
2019
129
Algorithmic Shapeshifting (By: Bogi Takács)
2019
130
Midnight at the Organporium
2019
131
The Rampant (By: Julie C. Day)
2019
132
Algorithmic Shapeshifting
2019
133
The Rampant
2019
134
Mary Shelley Makes a Monster (By: Octavia Cade, Crista Kempton)
2019
135
Articulation (By: Cesi Davidson)
2019
136
Mary Shelley Makes a Monster
2019
137
City of a Thousand Feelings (By: Anya Johanna DeNiro)
2020
138
Articulation
2019
139
The Adventure of the Naked Guide (By: Cynthia Ward)
2020
140
City of a Thousand Feelings
2020
141
The Adventure of the Naked Guide
2020
142
Ancient Songs of Us (By: Jean LeBlanc)
2020
143
Sacred Summer (By: Cassandra Clarke)
2020
144
Ancient Songs of Us
2020
145
Sacred Summer
2020
146
Disease (By: Sarah Tolmie)
2020
147
Disease
2020
148
Goddess Bandit of the Thousand Arms (By: Hal Y. Zhang)
2020
149
Goddess Bandit of the Thousand Arms
2020
150
Resistance and Transformation (By: Mari Ness)
2021
151
The Silences of Ararat (By: L. Duchamp)
2021
152
Resistance and Transformation
2021
153
Cabinet of Wrath (By: Tara Campbell)
2021
154
The Silences of Ararat
2021
155
Cabinet of Wrath
2021
156
The Adventure of the Golden Woman (By: Cynthia Ward)
2021
157
Fricatives (By: Cesi Davidson)
2021
158
The Adventure of the Golden Woman
2021
159
Fricatives
2021
160
We’ve Been Here Before (By: Anne Carly Abad)
2022
161
Bilabials (By: Cesi Davidson)
2022
162
We’ve Been Here Before
2022
163
When Home, No Need to Cry (By: Erin K. Wagner)
2022
164
Bilabials
2022
165
When Home, No Need to Cry
2022
166
Apollo Weeps (By: Xian Mao)
2023
167
To the Woman in the Pink Hat (By: LaToya Jordan)
2023
168
Apollo Weeps
2023
169
To the Woman in the Pink Hat
2023
170
From Voyages Unreturning (By: Deborah L. Davitt)
2023
171
From Voyages Unreturning
2023
R'lyeh Cycle Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The Abyssal Plain (By: Brett J. Talley, Michelle Garza, William Holloway)
2019
2
Black Seas of Infinity
2024
Clockwork Phoenix Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Clockwork Phoenix (By: Tanith Lee, John C. Wright, Deborah Biancotti, Laird Barron, Mike Allen, Vandana Singh, Catherynne M. Valente, Cat Rambo, Cat Sparks, John Grant, Ekaterina Sedia, Leah Bobet, Erin Hoffman, Michael J. DeLuca, Jennifer Crow, C.S. MacCath, David Sandner, Marie Brennan, Joanna Galbraith)
2008
2
Clockwork Phoenix 2 (With: Tanith Lee, Mary Robinette Kowal, Steve Rasnic Tem, Saladin Ahmed, Forrest Aguirre, Mike Allen, Catherynne M. Valente, Claude Lalumière, Kelly Barnhill, Ian McHugh, Leah Bobet, Barbara Krasnoff, Marie Brennan, Ann Leckie, Joanna Galbraith, Stephen J. Barringer)
2009
3
Clockwork Phoenix 3: New Tales of Beauty and Strangeness (With: Tanith Lee, John C. Wright, Gregory Frost, Michael M. Jones, Mike Allen, Cat Rambo, John Grant, Kenneth Schneyer, Shweta Narayan, C.S.E. Cooney, Georgina Bruce, Marie Brennan, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Tori Truslow, S.J. Hirons)
2010
4
Clockwork Phoenix 4 (With: Tanith Lee, Richard Parks, A.C. Wise, Mike Allen, Yves Meynard, Cat Rambo, Kenneth Schneyer, Alisa Alering, Ian McHugh, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Shira Lipkin, Barbara Krasnoff, Patricia Russo, Camille Alexa, Marie Brennan, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Yukimi Ogawa, Corinne Duyvis)
2013
5
Clockwork Phoenix 5 (By: Alex Dally MacFarlane, A.C. Wise, Mike Allen, Keffy R.M. Kehrli, Rich Larson, Cassandra Khaw, C.S.E. Cooney, Carlos Hernandez, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Sonya Taaffe, Beth Cato, Barbara Krasnoff, Patricia Russo, Gray Rinehart, Marie Brennan, Sam Fleming, Shveta Thakrar, Holly Heisey, Jason Kimble, Rachael L. Jones, Rob Cameron, Sunil Patel)
2016
Laksa Anthology Series: Speculative Fiction Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Strangers Among Us
2016
2
The Sum Of Us
2017
3
Where the Stars Rise
2017
4
Shades Within Us
2018
5
Seasons Between Us
2021
Lexington Books Horror Studies Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Dark Forces at Work: Essays on Social Dynamics and Cinematic Horrors
2019
2
Violence in the Films of Stephen King
2021
3
Gothic Mash-Ups: Hybridity, Appropriation, and Intertextuality in Gothic Storytelling
2022
4
The Anthropocene and the Undead: Cultural Anxieties in the Contemporary Popular Imagination
2022
5
Supranational Horrors: Italian and Spanish Horror Cinema since 1968
2022
6
Grief in Contemporary Horror Cinema: Screening Loss
2022
7
The Evolution of Horror in the Twenty-First Century
2023
8
Future Folk Horror
2023
9
Transnational Zombie Cinema, 2010 to 2020: Readings in a Mutating Tradition
2023
10
The Ethics of Horror: Spectral Alterity in Twenty-First-Century Horror Film
2024
11
Dissecting Cannibal Holocaust
2024
12
Disney Gothic: Dark Shadows in the House of Mouse
2024
13
Hidden Histories: The Many Ghosts of Disney’s Haunted Mansion
2024
14
Catholic Horror on Television: Haunting Faith
2024
Best Horror of the Year Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One
2009
2
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two
2010
3
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three
2011
4
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four
2012
5
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five
2013
6
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six
2014
7
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Seven
2015
8
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight
2016
9
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Nine
2017
10
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Ten
2018
11
The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction
2018
12
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eleven
2019
13
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Twelve
2020
14
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Thirteen
2021
15
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fourteen
2022
16
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fifteen
2024
17
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen
2024
18
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Seventeen
2025
Gemma Files Anthologies
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Seductive Spectres
1996
2
Queer Fear
2000
3
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, #11
2000
4
The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women
2001
5
Queer Fear II
2002
6
Dark Terrors 6
2002
7
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 15
2004
8
The Mammoth Book of Monsters
2007
9
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One
2009
10
Clockwork Phoenix 2
2009
11
Mighty Unclean
2009
12
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two
2010
13
Apex Magazine #16, September 2010
2010
14
Clockwork Phoenix 3: New Tales of Beauty and Strangeness
2010
15
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010
2010
16
Arcane
2011
17
Evil I Did Dwell; Lewd Did I Live
2011
18
Chilling Tales: Evil I Did Dwell; Lewd Did I Live
2011
19
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three
2011
20
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four
2012
21
The Mammoth Book of Body Horror
2012
22
Imaginarium 2012
2012
23
A Season in Carcosa
2012
24
Best New Horror 23
2012
25
Clockwork Phoenix 4
2013
26
Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane
2012
27
Chilling Tales: In Words, Alas, Drown I
2013
28
The Grimscribe's Puppets
2013
29
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five
2013
30
In Words, Alas, Drown I
2013
31
Bad Seeds: Evil Progeny
2013
32
Best New Horror 24
2013
33
Dark Discoveries - Issue #26
2014
34
Stamps, Vamps & Tramps
2014
35
Lovecraft's Monsters
2014
36
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six
2014
37
Fearful Symmetries
2014
38
The Children of Old Leech
2014
39
Imaginarium 3: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing
2015
40
Letters to Lovecraft
2014
41
The Starry Wisdom Library
2014
42
Imaginarium 3
2015
43
The Doll Collection
2015
44
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Seven
2015
45
Aghast Vol. 1: A Journal of the Darkly Fantastic
2015
46
Eulogies III
2015
47
Daughters of Frankenstein: Lesbian Mad Scientists!
2015
48
The Monstrous
2015
49
She Walks in Shadows
2015
50
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight
2016
51
Genius Loci: Tales of the Spirit of Place
2016
52
The Best of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Online Magazine, Year Seven
2016
53
Children of Lovecraft
2016
54
Aghast
2016
55
The Madness of Dr. Caligari
2016
56
Imaginarium 4
2016
57
Best New Horror 27
2017
58
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Nine
2017
59
Looming Low: Volume I
2017
60
Chthonic: Weird Tales of Inner Earth
2018
61
I Don't Want to Play This Game Anymore
2018
62
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Ten
2018
63
Fright Into Flight
2018
64
The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction
2018
65
Nightmare Magazine, Issue 75
2018
66
Best New Horror 29
2019
67
Vastarien: Vol. 2, Issue 1
2019
68
Thinking Horror Volume 2: The Horror Boom
2019
69
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eleven
2019
70
Behold the Undead of Dracula
2019
71
Apostles of the Weird
2020
72
Not Just a Pretty Face
2020
73
Weird Dream Society
2020
74
Final Cuts: New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles
2020
75
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Twelve
2020
76
Tales from OmniPark
2021
77
In that Endlessness, Our End
2021
78
Beyond the Book of Eibon
2021
79
There Is No Death, There Are No Dead: Tales of Spiritualism Horror
2021
80
Hymns of Abomination
2021
81
Humans Are The Problem: A Monster's Anthology
2021
82
Body Shocks
2021
83
Beyond the Veil
2021
84
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Thirteen
2021
85
Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror
2022
86
Screams from the Dark
2022
87
Mother
2022
88
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fourteen
2022
89
Damnation Games
2022
90
The Best of Eternal Haunted Summer
2023
91
Future Folk Horror
2023
92
A Darkness Visible: Explorations of Horror in the Postmodern