Falstaff Books is a digital and print publishing company based in Charlotte, NC dedicated to bringing to life the best in fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and dramatic literature. We love bringing amazing stories to light and giving incredible writers a voice. The battered, ignored, rejected “misfit toys” of fiction are all welcome at Falstaff Books, where we understand that every scar is a story and only with different voices can harmony be created.
Founded in January 2016 by three experienced professionals in the publishing field, self-publisher and small press author John G. Hartness, editor and anthologist Jaym Gates, and author and editor Jay Requard, Falstaff quickly became known for its activism and support of writers, readers, and the greater creative community publishing three anthologies, including the WeAreNotThis – Carolina Writers for Equality, and a number of wide-ranging genre novels in its first year.
Since 2017, the publisher continued to grow, releasing over 40 stories annually in a variety of formats including electronic, trade paperback, and audio. In February 2018, Falstaff added a romance line: Falstaff Crush. In October 2022, Falstaff added a horror line: Falstaff Dread.
Our Staff
We are writers, editors, publicists, windmill-tilters, agitators, bloggers, rabble-rousers, protestors, drunkards, rapscallions, rogues, knight-errants, and raconteurs. We are the ones your Creative Writing professor warned you about.
Publisher – John Hartness (North Carolina)
John G. Hartness is a teller of tales, a righter of wrong, defender of ladies’ virtues, and some people call him Maurice, for he speaks of the pompatus of love. Awarded the 2016 Manly Wade Wellman for NC Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Convention Coordinator – Theresa Glover (North Carolina)
A relapsed writer and dream-chaser, Theresa Glover keeps the rest of the Falstaff crew in line at conventions, making sure we do silly things like eat and sleep as well as actually sell all the things. In the dark valley of her soul and keyboard, her experiences dealing with us give her fodder to create unique and twisted characters with a side of snark.
Senior Editor, Falstaff Crush – Lucy Blue (South Carolina)
Writing since seven years old, Lucy Blue has released novels and short stories through large presses (like Berkeley-Penguin), indie presses, and self-publishing. Bringing her own abiding love for weird, pulp, Gothic, and adventures tales of all kinds, she is shaping the Falstaff Crush into a unique line of romantic fiction.
Senior Editor, Falstaff Dread – Rachel Brune (California)
Rachel A. Brune got her first publishing gig working for the US Army as a military journalist. Twenty years later, she writes, edits, and publishes speculative fiction, with an emphasis on the dark side of the literary spectrum. She brings a deep and abiding love of all the flavors of fear and foreboding to the Falstaff Dread line of horror fiction.
Production Manager– Erin Penn (North Carolina)
Working in the publishing industry since 2013, Erin Penn lives to nerd.. Her interest range widely from hard science to soft science, history to future, numbers to grammar. Like the Borg, she wants to assimilate it all and is impatiently awaiting the Singularity for direct download capability. In the meantime, she shepherds books from cypher to shelf.