Centipede Press is an American independent book and periodical publisher focusing on horror, weird tales, crime narratives, science fiction, gothic novels, fantasy art, and studies of literature, music and film.
Centipede Press was founded in 2001 in Lakewood, Colorado by Jerad Walters. Since inception, it has published over two hundred volumes including currently well-known authors (including Stephen King, Peter Straub, Richard Adams, John Fowles, Neil Gaiman, and Patrick McGrath), as well as resurrecting out-of-print works of past genre writers. As of 2018, the press releases two to three new books a month, principally in luxury or oversized, signed or traycased hardback editions aimed toward the collector's market.
Centipede Press received the Horror Writers Association Specialty Press Award in 2013, with its other volumes being named finalists in other years for the Bram Stoker Award in Non-fiction twice and once for Fiction Collection, the Locus award for Single-Author Story Collection, and World Fantasy Award for Best Multiple-Author Anthology (from its first released book, World Fantasy Award for Stigmata in 2001). In 2018, the World Fantasy Convention presented three "Special Award--Professional" trophies to the writer, artist, and editor behind its volume on Patrick McGrath, Writing Madness.
Noting this press's novel treatments and presentations of the fiction of Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, and Patrick McGrath at the Stoker Awards presentations in New Orleans on 15 June 2013, the Board of the 1,300 member-World Horror Association lauded how Centipede "specializes in horror, crime, and science fiction", yet also regularly produces important "art books, career retrospectives, and critical studies on horror films". As the award presenter put it: "Centipede Press titles strive to be excellent examples of bookmaking, with superior design, page layout, and dust jackets.
