Recently itās come to my attention that I write some pretty morbid and creepy stuff. If youāve been around long enough to read my daily 100 word stories or my longer fiction, this may not be news to you. The thing is, itās news to me!
Sure, I will fully admit that I hate happy endings. I donāt believe in them. I never like to write them. They just donāt feel true to life, for me. But if you were to ask me, āwhat genre do you write?ā Horror or thriller would NEVER be on the tip of my tongue. Iād sooner answer with āfantasy, mystery, young adult.ā I might even go so far as to say āsuspense.ā But horror?
Well, itās time for me to be real with myself and perhaps in my own admission will I find a new level of writing within my work? Maybe? Weāll seeā¦
I write horror. Yes. I am a horror fiction writer. And this doesnāt in the slightest change the fact that I write fantasy or mystery or YA. In fact, itās simply the catalyst I use to write them. So, Iām actually a horror fantasy, horror mystery, and horror YA writer. There. That wasnāt so difficult to unpack, was it?
When I look at the short story collections Iām currently knee deep into writing itās most evident where my mind is. Each story in Anatomy of a Typewriter is steeped in murder and bloody death. In fact, I seem to be challenging myself to come up with a new level of gruesome with each new story! And I love it!
Looking back on my childhood I can say that I hated horror. I can think of the times in my life when I actively tried to avoid or literally hide from things that scared me. I wasnāt trying to watch Friday the 13th or Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Halloween movies. Nope. I honestly didnāt really watch them until I was well into my adulthood, and even then, I canāt say I remember much of anything about them.
I appreciate horror that make you think or are less about the jump-scare and more about the theory or twist behind it. And when it comes to books? Yes, Iāve read my share of Stephen King. But I will fully admit there are several of his books I simply could not bring myself to finish because they were too scary for me. The one that comes to mind that I love and recommend to anyone to read but donāt ask me to watch the movie or to finish the book; Needful Things.
When it comes to amusement parks I shy away from thrill rides. Iāve never been on a rollercoaster or anything like that. Iāve never gone in for any sort of Halloween tradition of going to a cemetery or a corn field or some haunted house. HELL NO! I am just not that girl rushing to see that scary movie, read that scary book, or even listen to the soundtrack.
Which is why I probably never truly considered myself a writer of horror. Then I remember what I do love. I love reality. What do I mean by that?
Well, I have an unhealthy obsession and fascination with serial killers. So much so that my senior year thesis in college was on female serial killers and their historical lack of being properly labeled as such. Show me a book or movie or documentary about any serial killer (known or unknown) and I am there in a heartbeat!
I love those salacious documentaries or podcasts. I can watch/listen to them daily! I donāt know what it is about them but the crazier or creepier the story the more into it I am. But the person has to be real. Someone who exists and was caught or never caught. It really gets my heart racing and blood pumping and Iām like a kid in a candy store!
And there it is. There is where you will find me, I hope, in my fiction writing. I want to fictionalize all the famous serial killers throughout history. I want to dissect them and think like them, understand them and hopefully translate them onto the page.
One of my all time favorite television shows is Criminal Minds. This was the show that made me want to pursue the career of a profiler in the FBI. I almost went that route too. My plan was to major in forensic psychology. Get my Masters. Join the FBI. The whole bit. I wonāt go into why that never happened but if it were meant to be then it wouldāve happened. Fiction was a larger calling for me.
Below are the covers for two planned collections of horror short stories coming in 2025. Over 20 short stories across both books. It would mean so much if, when the time comes, you pre-ordered them. Share this post with friends and family so they can subscribe to my newsletter and get notified when they come out.
These will officially be my first time listing my work under the horror genre and my first collections as well. Lots more āfirstsā to come in the second half of this year and all of next.
Paid subscribers will receive both of these books (in print and ebook) as well as be mentioned in my acknowledgements page as well.