"S. Craig Zahler is certain to become one of the great imaginers of our time." ― Clive Barker
Zahler's debut western novel, A Congregation of Jackals was nominated for both the Peacemaker and the Spur award. His western horror novel, Wraiths of the Broken Land was released in hardback and trade paperback editions in May 2013, and his science fiction novel Corpus Chrome, Inc. came out soon afterward. Following this was his fourth novel, a crime story entitled, Mean Business on North Ganson Street. Zahler's idiosyncratic orphan tale Hug Chickenpenny was published in 2018.
In 2021, his sixth book, a nasty crime piece called The Slanted Gutter was released, as was his debut graphic novel, Forbidden Surgeries of the Hideous Dr. Divinus, which he wrote and illustrated.
His critically-acclaimed directorial debut, Bone Tomahawk (starring Kurt Russell) was released theatrically and through streaming platforms on October, 2015 and was nominated for many awards, including the Indie Spirit Award for best original screenplay. Zahler's follow-up movies, the prison film Brawl in Cell Block 99, and the crime picture, Dragged Across Concrete, both premiered at the Venice Film Festival. All three pictures are Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and were added to the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
"[A] witty fusion of western, horror and comedy that gallops to its own beat." —NY Times
"Great dialogue, strong characters, and imaginative and memorable kills." —IGN.com
"...Bone Tomahawk succeeds in demonstrating the voice of its massively talented creator." —Twitchfilm.com
"A genre-smashing confluence of an oater and an eater, Bone Tomahawk is an absolute blast..." —birthmoviesdeath.com
"...a most violent delight" —Variety
"...Bone Tomahawk isn’t just the best horror movie of 2015, it’s the best movie..." —shocktiltyoudrop.com
"There's a humming genre intelligence at work in the grim, witty horror-western Bone Tomahawk." LA Times
Below is some praise for his books by Kirkus Review, Booklist, Larry Niven, Joe R. Lansdale, Edward Lee, Kurt Russell, and Jack Ketchum:
"[We fell] completely under Zahler's spell, buying into his near-future world... A bravura literary performance." --Dave Pitt, Booklist, Starred Review for Corpus Chrome, Inc.
"CORPUS CHROME, INC describes one of the weirder post-singularity futures. The characters are very much alive. I was entertained throughout." --Larry Niven, multiple Hugo and Nebula award winning author of the Ringworld series
"Zahler's a fabulous story teller..."
-Kurt Russell, star of Tombstone, Escape from New York, Dark Blue, and Death Proof
"It would be utterly insufficient to say that WRAITHS is the most diversified and expertly written western I've ever read."
-Edward Lee, author of The Bighead and Gast.
"If you're looking for something similar to what you've read before, this ain't it. If you want something comforting and predictable, this damn sure ain't it. But if you want something with storytelling guts and a weird point of view, an unforgettable voice, then you want what I want, and that is this."
-Joe R. Lansdale on Wraiths of the Broken Land
"[C]ompulsively readable.... Fans of Zahler's A Congregation of Jackals (2010) will be satisfied; think Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. [C]lever mayhem ... leads to a riveting climax." -Booklist
"WRAITHS always rings true, whether it's visiting the depths of despair, the fury of violence, or the fragile ties that bind us together for good or ill. It's a Western with heart and intelligence, always vivid, with characters you will detest or care about or both, powerfully written."
-- Jack Ketchum, author of Off Season and The Girl Next Door
Florida-born New Yorker S. Craig Zahler worked for many years as a cinematographer and a catering chef, while playing heavy metal and creating some strange theater pieces.
Zahler's western screenplay, The Brigands of Rattleborge, garnered him a three-picture deal at Warner Brothers, topped the prestigious Black List and is now moving forward with Park Chan Wook (Old Boy) attached to direct, while Michael Mann (Heat & Collateral) develops his nasty crime script, The Big Stone Grid at Sony Pictures. In 2011, a horror movie that he wrote in college called, Asylum Blackout (aka The Incident) was made and picked up by IFC Films after a couple of people fainted at its Toronto premiere.
A drummer, lyricist and songwriter, Zahler continues to make music, and is now finishing his third album of doomy epic metal with his band Realmbuilder, which signed to I Hate Records of Sweden, after his foray in black metal with the project Charnel Valley (whose two albums were released by Paragon Records). He is also navigating preproduction on his directorial debut--a horror western that he wrote called, Bone Tomahawk, which will star Kurt Russell, Richard Jenkins, and Jennifer Carpenter.
Zahler studies kung-fu and is a longtime fan of animation (hand drawn and stop-motion), heavy metal (all types), soul music, genre books (especially, horror, crime and hard sci-fi), old movies, obese cats and asymmetrical robots.
