Bodies of Work: A Novella

"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
Publisher: Titan Books (UK)
Published: 04/07/2026
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.48lbs
Size: 8.13h x 5.48w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781835415931


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 03/27/2026 pg. 1

About the 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.