My seaside ghost tale “No Sweet Bird” accepted at CROW & CROSS KEYS!
A lantern below decks on the Charles W. Morgan, a whaling ship at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT.
“Carving Grace” isn’t my first story about terror by the sea. Although I didn’t grow up near the ocean—I grew up in the middle of the woods by a lake instead—I have always been fascinated by all things salty. While it probably had something to do with the fact that, because of my dad the English teacher, I read both The Old Man in the Sea and Moby Dick before the age of ten, I truly fell in love with the sea’s raw atmospheric power when I read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in high school.
2020 was my best writing summer ever—I had every evening after work and weekends to do nothing but write. One story I’d always Read the rest of this entry
Dark Thoughts of the Ladies of Salem: Lady Peacock and Yvonne
Sponsor: Salem Beautification Committee
Artist: Jeanne Paré
Lady Peacock
They burned our home.
Our Corn Maze adventure
I’ve always loved a corn maze, though I must admit I’d never heard of them until the early 2000’s—it seemed like that was a “new” thing back then. Every farm around here was doing them, and there were plenty to choose from.
We always pick some kind of Halloween adventure every year for the two of us to do. We’ve done Pumpkin Blaze, Forest of Fear, and the Bronx Zoo’s Boo at the Zoo a few times. Before that, I did things down in Sleepy Hollow. I’ll tell you out of the gate, too, that although I am a horror writer, I’m seriously not a fan of being abjectly terrified. I like things more on the creepy, atmospheric side than the thrill and scream side.
The other issue is that a tradition is Read the rest of this entry
Dark Thoughts of the Ladies of Salem: Lady Baker and Shalimar
Sponsor: Village Tavern Grill and Oyster Bar
Artist: Shella Farren Billings (name unclear)
Lady Baker
The bread was poisoned.
Let H-Fest Begin!
Pre- a few family issues and pre-pandemic, my cousin Maryanne and I would get together three to four times per year for a horror movie fest weekend. Although we got together for a “mini” one back in May (just to test the waters, because it’s been a few years), our first full one in October–our fave time of year to do it–is here!
We don’t know what we’ll watch. We usually go through the piles of DVDs and BluRays we have and go with the flow. We do, however, this weekend, have The Block Island Sound–on Netflix–on our list. This movie–which starts on an island in which animals and birds are mysteriously dropping dead en masse–has come highly recommended by a few people I know who have similar tastes as me, so we’re very excited!
Meet Bessie (aka Willow): my very own figurehead!
My husband got me this figurehead as a gift in celebration of “Carving Grace”‘s acceptance. How cool is THAT?
If you’ve been reading my posts for the last month, then you know that earlier this year I wrote a short story called “Carving Grace,” which deals with vengeful ship figureheads coming to life and searching for unhappy souls. In order to write that dark love story, I pretty much had to live and breathe in an imagined town by the sea and read all about figureheads every day for at least two months. We even visited the figurehead exhibit at Mystic Seaport (for Valentine’s Day, no less, but Nathan’s always Read the rest of this entry
The stories in Neil D’Silva’s RIGHT BEHIND YOU have teeth
—THIS POST IS MOSTLY SPOILER-FREE—
Horror stories coming out of India deserve a bigger spotlight; the stuff is viscerally terrifying in ways that make some of our Western classics seem tame. If you love a great scare and you’ve not read Indian horror? You’ve missed out.
Until now. Neil D’Silva’s short fiction collection, Right Behind You, is the place to start. Read the rest of this entry
Dark Thoughts of the Ladies of Salem: Lady Russet and Lady Crinoline
Sponsor: Beverly Cooperative Bank
Artist: Amberlynn Narvie
Lady Russet
I wasn’t allowed to leave.
Need original monsters? WICKED CREATURES antho features my story “Carving Grace” and lots of unique creeps!
Monster anthologies—there are so many! Wicked Creatures is crammed with seriously unusual ones, though—everything from a mumble man to scary train beings. And it’s now available!
The antho features my short story “Carving Grace.” In it, living figureheads scour the streets of Timber Inlet in search of happy souls to punish. Grace, who struggles with depression, thinks she’s safe … until Read the rest of this entry
BREWS & BOOS was a success!
The Brews & Boos: Talking Terror with E.C. Hanson and Patrick Moody event at Twelve Percent Beer Project at 341 State Street in North Haven, CT was a success! Here are a few photos so you can check out the time we had!
A HUGE thank you to Norm at the Twelve Percent Beer Project for hosting the evening. He’s awesome, the brewery is gorgeous, modern, and lively—and yes, if you’re concerned about going out in the time of COVID, this is the place to go. It’s big and airy and there’s plenty of room to spread out, as well as outdoor space, a food truck, and … well, DELICIOUS. BEER. Learn more about the Twelve Percent Beer Project here: https://twelvepercentbeerproject.square.site/
Left, E.C. Hanson, and Right, Patrick Moody, with their set up. Learn more about E.C. Hanson, author of All Things Deadly: Salem Stories, here: https://bit.ly/ECHorror
Learn more about Patrick Moody, author of Creatures of Clay and The Gravedigger’s Son, here: https://bit.ly/PMoodyHorror
My cousin Maryanne, who’s in West Haven. She’s into horror and we both like beer. Enough said! Read the rest of this entry
