Margaret Killjoy Books In Order

Publication Order of Danielle Cain Books

Publication Order of Daughters of the Empty Throne Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Margaret Killjoy is an anarchist and trans woman author of several steampunk novels. She is also the editor of several novels and other literary works that include short fiction and magazines. She is the author of the choose your adventure type novel “What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower”, and co-edited the critically acclaimed anthology “We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy from Occupation to Liberation”, and founded “Steampunk Magazine”. Killjoy’s short fiction has been featured in a variety of fantasy and fiction magazines, which always blows away the author given that most of her work is about rebels, criminals, anarchists, queers, travelers, and squatters. Besides writing her own novel she has also been ghostwriter for trashy hetero romance books, though she for the most part loves to work on her own novels. Even as she has ghost-written for money, much of her work outside her novels is unpaid. Together with friends she runs “Anarcho Geek Review” a pop culture review site, “Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness” a zine publisher and “Combustion Books”, a volunteer run and community run publisher. Her biggest drive is to help the underrepresented in society get a voice, which she does by typography and editing of aspiring writers works through her many endeavors.

Margaret Killjoy was born and brought up in Maryland, though she has spent much of her adult life with no fixed address. Given her life on the streets, she has a healthy respect for the underworld criminal class, street kids, and hobos who make the characters in many of her novels. Killjoy while seemingly a rebel of organized life, went to College and graduated from Clarion West. Her short fiction has been published by Fireside, Vice’s Terraform, and Strange Horizons among several other publications. Apart from her work with editing and authoring novels, she also blogs about her works, gender and LGBTQ issues on her blog and on social media. She currently lives in Appalachia from where she can be found complaining about being so old and organizing the downtrodden to end tyranny. Her books include the “Danielle Cain’ series and several freestanding novels, short story collections, and nonfiction.

The “Danielle Cain” series are tense horror novels that depict the struggle between society and state that often turns violent in pervasive and sinister ways. But aside from all that the novels are also about meditating on elements of the meaning of anarchism, society, how the rules of society are enforced and if people have to accept the enforcement of rules placed upon them. The big question is how people can keep themselves decent if there are no regulations that specify punishment for transgressors. The novels paint a creepy and inventive picture of a mythic and occult sci fi world. The world is full of well-thought-out and diverse characters that make up a community of people on the quest for a new life but who have to face up to questions of righteousness and justice. These are entertaining novels with fast paced narratives that follow the lead protagonist Danielle as she falls in love and makes friendship with the most unlikely of persons. Magic, myth, zombies and all the typical worldly problems confront the lead protagonist as she works to fight for the vulnerable and convinces them to fight for their lives and for what is right. The novels come with a little of the supernatural, a deep sense of community, and little of creepy vibe that will have the reader engrossed right from the get go.

“The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion” the first novel of the Danielle Cain series of novels is a thrilling introduction to the series. Danielle Cain has gone to Freedom, Iowa where she intends to investigate what caused Clay her best friend to take his own life. Arriving in Freedom, she stumbles on what seems like a zombie stag eating a rabbit carcass and immediately knows there is something bizarre going on in this town. Making friends with some of her deceased friend’s colleagues, she soon learns just how the town had called destruction upon itself. Clay and a few of his friends had been responsible for summoning a spirit that was to be used to run off a power hungry man from town. The spirit had run off the man but had taken rein over the city. Some people in the town are skeptical about the existence of the supernatural though they believe that having an omniscient arbiter may be great in a town with practically no rules or enforcement. However, for some people the fact that the spirit has gone rogue and killed several men in town means that it has to go. Now that it has turned against the people it was supposed to protect, Danielle must summon her friends and act fact to get out of town alive or drive out the spirit to save Freedom.

“The Barrow Will Send What it May” is the exciting sequel to “The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion”. The characters that we met in book one are now traveling across the United States on a quest for adventure and most important of all safety. Given that the police think the friends are responsible for the deaths in Freedom, they are bound to get harassed if they get caught. Their only hope of ever getting out of the bind is to track down and eliminate the demon spirits. But suddenly the friends find themselves in a familiar situation when they arrive in a small town where they learn that at least one resident may be an undead. The friends make quick fiends with local historians and librarians Heather and Vasilis, even as Danielle falls for Brynn the tattoo artist. The novel has diverse and brilliant characters that may be reckless at times given that they are all anarchists. The author succinctly describe Danielle’s panic attacks and her anxiety to make for a relatable and well described characterization that explains her motivations. The novel comes with the fantastic action sequences, adventure, and humor just like the first. However, the novel has more plot twists and bit more humor and romance, making it a more intriguing novel that will have its reader flipping through the pages.