Tag: #horror

FIRST BOOK LOOK: Mary Rajotte’s THE BONE KEY

First Book Look is an ongoing interview series that gives new authors a chance to talk about their debut titles.

Q: What is your new book called, and what is it about?
A: It’s called The Bone Key, a dark fantasy novel about a coven of owl shifters that came out in October 2024 from Quill & Crow Publishing House. It follows my main character Valeria Salcedo as she goes on a journey of self-discovery, both within her Craft, and in exploring her heritage. Valeria is of mixed ethnicity (French Canadian and Mexican American). She has always identified more with her French Canadian side, which makes her feel somewhat guilty for not fully honoring the other cultural aspects of her life. So, I wanted to show this exploration she goes on, and how it reveals hidden truths about her family legacy, something that directly ties to her magical powers.

Book Blurb:
To fight for her future, she’ll have to embrace her past…
Valeria Salcedo is a member of the Aquelarre Buho, a coven that shares the magical ability to transform into owls.

When a ruthless faction of hunters known as Los Cazadores closes in on the witches with the intention of stealing their magic, Valeria must master the powers of both light and dark to defend her coven’s gifts against those who have pursued them for generations.

Q: What was your biggest challenge in writing this book or in getting it published?
A: I always struggle with drafting, so just getting that first draft done was a challenge. I’ve been writing professionally since 2014, and I’ve drafted quite a few books. I’m a plotter by nature, so I had the entire book planned before I started, but I honestly prefer editing to the blank page/screen. Luckily, I wrote this book while taking a novel-in-a-year course, so I had my classmates and instructor to help keep me motivated and offer their thoughts on my book throughout the entire process, which was invaluable. My book wouldn’t be what it became without their insight.

Q: What are you hoping readers will get from your story? What do you hope to leave them with?
A: I hope they enjoy Valeria’s personal journey, even if she can be a little frustrating at times (yes, my editors told me they found themselves screaming at the page when Val doubted herself or did something to self-sabotage). And I hope they see that by embracing every facet of her gifts and trusting in herself, she recognizes her own magic and her own power.

Q: What has been your favorite part of being a new author, so far?
A: Honestly, just seeing people read my book! Whether they buy a copy, take it out of the library, or even snap a photo of it on their TBR pile, it’s such a thrill to see them interested in my owl witches! I also love sharing with readers that this was my debut, and that it came out the year I turned 50, something I’m so proud of.

Publishing is such a grueling journey. All that work, all that waiting…and sometimes feeling like you’re never going to achieve your dreams or that you’ll never find those readers you’re writing for. Seeing even one person choose my book makes all the struggles and self-doubt worth it.

Q: What are you working on next?
A: I’m currently deep into revisions for the sequel to The Bone Key, with a planned 3rd book in the series. I’m also shopping around a dystopian horror novel, and outlining a sequel to that as well. Plus, a few folk horror novella ideas whispering to me from the sidelines…always busy, but loving every day I’m able to pursue my dreams.

Q: Where can people learn more about you?
A: I’m MaryRajotte on all social media platforms, and they can also find me at my website maryrajotte.com or sign up for my newsletter to stay updated on all my writerly shenanigans.

LINKS
Website: https://maryrajotte.com/blog
Newsletter sign-up: https://maryrajotte.com/blog/newsletter/
The Bone Key book page: https://maryrajotte.com/blog/book/the-bone-key/
Quill & Crow: https://www.quillandcrowpublishinghouse.com/

1

Self-Made Monsters: digital ARCs available for review

Okay, they are actually “galleys,” as they are uncorrected proofs and haven’t been through the final formatting, BUT, people are more familiar with the term “advanced reader copy,” so I used that above.

Small press authors know they have to work their tail feathers off with marketing and promotion, since there are no or very small advertising budgets available. But, surprise: I do not have a marketing degree. I’m just a bumbler. But this bumbler has learned “ARCs good. Advanced reviews good.” So here I go!

Self-Made Monsters will be released in early October of this year–for you locals, we’ll hold a launch party at Downtown Brew in Fredonia on Oct. 5th, and I hope you will come!–and ramping up to that, I’m doing what I can to spread the word. One of those efforts is giving digital galleys of the book to people who are willing to read it and leave ratings and reviews on Goodreads (the page is up now) and eventually on Amazon (look for that in the fall). It would help a great deal if folks clicked the link at the beginning of this paragraph and marked it “Want to read.” If you have done/will do that, thank you!

I will also come up with a Google form, closer to publication, for preorders–that is when you can fill out the form, send money via PayPal or Venmo, and give me your mailing address. When I get my shipment of author copies, I will package up your copy along with some book swag and a special gift, and ship it out to you. (There will be an option for local folks–cost minus any shipping, and you can pick up your book and gift at the launch Oct. 5th at Downtown Brew.)

If you are intrigued about Self-Made Monsters and want to know more, here is a short review from Amelia Gorman, author of the book Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota: Poems:

“‘A smashed marionette,’ ‘a queen of scale and bone,’ a ‘body sculptor’ and her assistant – Self-Made Monsters by Rebecca Cuthbert is a veritable encyclopedia of different ways women can be monsters, victims, heroes, and bystanders. This collection contains multitudes but never loses sight of its clear through-lines. Stories tend to be short and sit alongside several deliciously dark poems, meaning Cuthbert doesn’t waste time getting to the meat of what horror fans crave. Sometimes this comes in the form of violence, other times the pareidolia found in wild places or the temptation of the front door of that spooky house down the street. It’s easy to tell yourself ‘just one more,’ over and over until you realize you’ve devoured the whole book in one sitting.”

If you are interested in being an early reviewer, message me and let’s connect!

0

‘New Press, Who Dis?’ (Undertaker Books is born)

Life is weird and I know it frequently surprises us with heartache and tragedy. But sometimes amazing things happen, kind of out of nowhere, leaving us wondering what we did to deserve such good fortune.

Undertaker Books is one of those amazing things.

At the beginning of 2024, I worked for a different small press (name tactfully withheld; I’m keeping it positive here). There, I met D.L. Winchester and Cyan LeBlanc. We quickly allied ourselves, and then bonded–the three of us had similar work ethics, and acted on the same principles: do a good job for the authors. Conduct ourselves in a way that allows us to respect ourselves. Put out books that make us proud.

Well, that press fell apart. And because phoenix analogies are a little tired, I’ll use a different one: D.L. and Cyan and I looked at the house that had fallen down around us, and we inventoried what we could salvage. Then we hauled it away to a new site, put on our damn overalls, and got to work building something new.

While we planned carefully, the paint on the shutters was still wet when we got our first houseguest: Elizabeth Broadbent, with her breakout Southern Gothic novella Ink Vine. Her stock of copies sold out at AuthorCon III, and Ink Vine topped Amazon’s charts all that weekend (and hovered there afterward). Reviews are still coming in, and they are great! The Horror Tree just gave it five out of five crows. (Do you like sexy scary swamp magic? Then get yourself a copy!)

Quickly, one guest became a whole party, and only a couple months in, our new little publishing house is full to bursting with good people and good cheer. Our calendars for the rest of 2024 AND all of 2025 are full, and the lineup is amazing. Just to name a few, in addition to Eliza, we’ve signed Kathleen Palm, Robert Ottone, Emma Murray, C.M. Saunders, and, through an agreement with anthology guest editor T.J. Price, Christi Nogle, Ai Jiang, Carson Winters, Caleb Stephens, Ivy Grimes, and Erik McHatton. More news is coming soon–watch our social media feeds for signing announcements!

Because the hosts are allowed to celebrate, too, we are also putting out a few of our own books–have a look at Cyan’s new releases, Mastering the Art of Female Cookery and The Taste of Women, and D.L.’s chapbook story collections, Shadows of Appalachia and A Terrible Place (forthcoming). My ghost story collection, The Hauntings Back Home, with an introduction and thirteenth story by Jonathan Gensler, will be out next year.

And if you will allow me to gush about my publishing partners (and who’s gonna stop me? This is my blog. Ha!), I want to say how much I appreciate them. Cyan is our publisher and formatter, and also the handler of most of our marketing. (Wanna get on an ARC/galley list? Message us!) D.L. is our head of business development and manages all of our contracts and our master schedule. He is also our short fiction editor, running most of our anthology calls. (He will also be editing my story collection and a few long fiction projects.) Yours truly is editor in chief–I edit most of our long fiction projects and scout talent (and by that I mean pester people whose work I love–you know who you are–your DMs haven’t seen the last of me). All of us are novice cover designers who are determined to learn new skills and improve. (I still throw out nine of ten designs, but that’s okay–art is all about trial and error.) The three of us work well together, and we’re so excited to be a part of bringing so many wonderful books into the world.

Undertaker Books runs on integrity, professionalism, honesty, and transparency. We communicate openly with our authors and expect them to do the same. We want to sustain our business but we know money doesn’t fall from the sky, so we will work hard to make sure we are successful. We’ve heard from a lot of authors who have been let down by their former publishers–some of those authors have signed with Undertaker, and we vow to be the rebound who makes them believe in love again.

Undertaker Books: Stories You’ll Take To Your Grave (and folks who will be nice to work with).

0

“Horror allows us to safely explore fear,” an interview with Shadows in the Stacks editor James Sabata

James Sabata, horror author, editor, podcast host, and founder of Spirited Giving, agreed to give us the story behind Shadows in the Stacks, a great anthology that I get to be a part of (yay!). Read on for James’s interview, and see his bio and more information on Spirited Giving and Shadows in the Stacks below.

Q: So what is Shadows in the Stacks? Tell us about it and what it benefits. 
A: Shadows in the Stacks is a charity horror anthology that is a part of our horror-themed fundraiser Spirited Giving. Spirited Giving takes place May 29th at the San Diego Central Library and features author readings, live performances, and book signings, with ticket sales raising money for the Library Foundation SD and the Books Unbanned Initiative.
Shadows in the Stacks is an offshoot of Spirited Giving and another way to raise money to fight censorship and banning books.
Available through Shortwave Publishing and edited by Vincent V. Cava, Jared Sage, and myself, Shadows features short stories from twenty-one authors.
The Books Unbanned initiative is a library program that issues library cards nationwide in order to give electronic access to the library’s digital and audio collections to teens and young adults living in U.S. locations where books are being challenged. The initiative aims to support the rights of teens and young adults to read what they like, discover themselves, and form their own opinions, without being restricted by censorship or political pressure. Many of the books that are banned or challenged are by or about Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), or LGBTQ+ people and explore their experiences, stories, histories, and movements. Reading these books can help teens and young adults understand themselves and connect to others, as well as develop critical thinking and intellectual freedom.
The Shadows in the Stacks anthology features themes pulling inspiration from the books that are facing censorship and banning throughout the United States.

Q: Why did you and the other editors choose this theme?
A: I don’t think there was ever a question on what the theme would be. I don’t even remember discussing it much, to be honest. We are running a fundraiser that is generating funds for the Library Foundation and the Books Unbanned Initiative, so it made absolute sense to lean into those social concerns.
At the same time, we left it very open to authors to interpret any way they wanted. We didn’t give them specific topics they could or couldn’t touch, and they kept it varied, interesting, relevant, and respectful.

Q: What is your personal take on horror writing? Why do these stories matter?
A: Horror writers deal in grief and trauma. I have this deeply held belief that the majority of people who write horror experienced a lot of grief and/or trauma in our lives and we were shaped by those experiences. But those are shared experiences. Horror allows us to safely explore fears, anxiety, grief, trauma, etc. while still being on this side of the screen or on this side of the page. We can turn it off or close it if it becomes too much but we’re also able to keep it open and safely explore the darker pieces of reality.
On another level, we are able to explore grief and trauma in a more communal sense. We can share the book or film with one another. We can talk about what we felt with it or what it brought out of us. We can learn how it affected someone else differently and see their side with this shared experience. There’s a whole level of emotion and shared secrets between an author and a reader.
But there’s another aspect that I find fascinating and that’s how much easier we make it for people to privately delve into these explorations without having to talk about it with others. Maybe you’re going through something and you don’t know how to talk to someone else about it or maybe don’t even know what it is to put it into words yet. You
might find something in a story that resonates with you or allows you to understand something about yourself.
That’s my overall take on horror as a genre. It’s also why I’m super lenient in my definition of “what horror is.” Horror is individualized while speaking to a full community. Putting labels on things discounts someone else’s truth. These stories are important because we don’t know who needs to hear them. Writers can reach people they will never meet in person. Readers/viewers can find common ground to start conversations with others. I fully believe that horror is doing a lot of good for people in a world that doesn’t expect that.
With Shadows in the Stacks, we’re hoping to start some conversations. We’re praying that we plant some seeds in the minds of readers and hope that they can’t let go of those ideas. Maybe they will start to see how much is at stake with how things are changing in the world today. Maybe they’ll see why censorship and banning isn’t good. Maybe people who think they aren’t affected will see that they absolutely are.

Q: What would you tell readers who are thinking of picking up a copy of Shadows in the Stacks? What should they know about the stories in the anthology? 
A: The first thing I would say is that these are really good stories, even without the overall context of social commentary. I think you’re going to forget what the theme was and get lost in the lives created on these pages. These stories are all really different while somehow fitting together beautifully. Some are dark. Some are hilarious. Some walk a completely different path and make their own mark that won’t let go of you. When you add back in that context of social commentary and how it plays into the horror in twenty-one stories. These stories don’t hold back. They came to make statements and they did. That doesn’t mean they’re preachy, but they don’t shy away from anything. My buddy, author SA Bradley, always says, “If you want to know what society feared at any given time, look at their horror stories,” and looking at this many different fears really puts into perspective how worried we all are about the future.
As Laurel Hightower said in the introduction: “This anthology is a love letter to the human race. An offering from each of the talented authors who bled on the page for the stories you’re about to read. A dream of what could be, a nightmare of what is. A light in the darkness of a ban on books, hands joined to protect one another and our precious gifts of knowledge. Join them—join us. Hold tight and know the hands that hold yours, be they never so rotted or clawed or slippery with gore, belong to hearts formed of the same swirling nebulae of stardust. No matter how dire things look, be that flame in the dark.”

Q: What were the challenges and rewards of putting together this project? 

A: The single biggest challenge with anything like this is getting people to hear about it and hopefully take a chance on it. We’re relying on word of mouth. We’re relying on author to help us get the word out. We’re relying on people taking a chance and interviewing us on their websites. 😉 (Thank you, Rebecca). It’s rough though. We can’t be everywhere at once and share it with everyone. We know it’s a great book. We know the stories are some of the best you’ll find this year. It’s about getting others to know that. Most of the other challenges I expected never really materialized. It’s been a good journey putting this book together. As of writing this, the book is up for pre-order through Shortwave Publishers (http://bit.ly/ShadowsInTheStacks), but I don’t know how much it will raise for the library or anything at this point. I consider that a “future” reward… so I want to talk about the rewards I have gotten already from this book.

First up would be my relationships with the authors and my fellow editors and the amazing Alan Lastufka at Shortwave Publishing. I’ve probably made Alan insane with countless emails but he has been an absolute dream to work with. Incredibly professional, insightful, and creative. He designed the cover for the anthology and did a great job. I’ve become closer to several of the authors in the book. I have become friends with a couple I had never met or read before. That’s the big reward for me right now; increased community. And that’s what we shoot for overall at Spirited Giving, so it’s fun to see it handed back to me this way. It’s even led to further collaborations, as Vincent V. Cava and I are now launching a new monster book series called Midnight Monster Madness (coming in April). The other reward for me is as a reader. I got to read some of the best stuff I read this past year, read authors I didn’t know before, AND I got to talk to the authors about those stories. That’s a luxury we often do not get and I’m happy to have had it as one of the rewards.

More information:

James Sabata is a horror author, produced screenwriter, and co-host of TheNecronomi.Com, a weekly podcast analyzing horror films as social commentary. TheNecronomi.Com has over one million downloads. James is the founder and director of SPIRITED GIVING, a pop-up horror-themed fundraiser helping local communities. James has written several books and has three more coming out in 2024. His first feature film is reportedly currently in production. He lives in Phoenix, AZ with his wife, daughter, two cats, a tarantula, and the ghost of an older gentleman with a hilarious sense of humor. For more on James and his projects, click these links:

James’s website: JamesSabata.com

TheNecronomi.Com Podcast: TheNecronomi.Com

Sign up for James’s newsletter here.

Sign up for Midnight Monster Madness here.

Shadows in the Stacks releases on May 28th from Shortwave Publishing (http://bit.ly/ShadowsInTheStacks). If you’re attending Spirited Giving or StokerCon, you can have your copy waiting for you there and get it signed by many of the authors, who will be in attendance.

Learn more about Spirited Giving: http://spirited-giving.com
Learn more about The Books Unbanned Initiative here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/books-unbanned
Learn more about The Library Foundation SD here: https://libraryfoundationsd.org/

0

The Social Commentary of ROSEMARY’S BABY with Rebecca Cuthbert and Laurel Hightower

on TheNecronomi.com Podcast with host James Sabata

Rebecca Cuthbert and Laurel Hightower join us to discuss ROSEMARY’S BABY.  We’re deep diving into both Ira Levin’s novel and the 1968 film and looking at gender roles, mental illness, oppression of women, isolation, control, gaslighting, marital rape, and more.

Then we lighten the mood by learning one of Laurel’s hidden talents!

Listen here.

0

CREEP THIS WAY has launched!

Today I am excited to share that CREEP THIS WAY: How to Become a Horror Writer with 24 Tips to Get You Ghouling, is officially out in paperback and ebook format from Seamus & Nunzio Productions.

If you would like to get a copy for yourself, here’s the link!

CREEP THIS WAY is half memoir, half craft text, with advice on how writers can get a foot in the door of the horror genre. Lots of the advice and vignettes are relevant to all writers, though, and Christopher Ryan (the publisher) and I hope that many writers at all levels will find something useful in the book’s pages.

As with my first book, In Memory of Exoskeletons, anyone who reviews CREEP on Goodreads or Amazon will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of my hybrid collection, Self-Made Monsters, set to be released this fall from Alien Buddha Press.

An in-person book launch celebration is planned for March 28th on the SUNY Fredonia campus, hosted by the Department of English. The event will include a reading and book signing, with copies of CREEP THIS WAY available for purchase, along with copies of In Memory of Exoskeletons, The Start (RebellionLit), Soul Scream Antholozine (Seamus & Nunzio), The Crow’s Quill (Quill & Crow Publishing), and poetry broadsides. Swag free with book purchase, of course!

0

“Plea from the Ghost Haunting Your One-Bedroom Queens Apartment that You Clean this Place the F*** Up”

Published in Carnage House: a Splatter Friendly Web ‘Zine

***

Hey.

It’s me.

The ghost haunting your one-bedroom Queens apartment.

Yeah, so, I know I usually keep to the hall closet where you store the vacuum you don’t use enough; or to the inside of the walls, where I bang on rusty pipes and make sighing noises; or, that one time, to the medicine cabinet, so that you saw me in the mirror when you got out of the shower and wiped the steam away and screamed and then almost fainted. But I’ve materialized in front of you today for something much more important than parlor tricks, Patricia.

That’s right. Your utter lack of anything close to housekeeping. And I mean like utter lack.

This is a goddamn intervention.

…

To keep reading, visit Carnage House!

0

Hard Work Works (thank you 2022!)

This is basically a “part two” to my recent “Failing at NaNoWriMo & Winning at Rejections” post.

This year (2022) has been pretty incredible. I’ve met dozens of cool writers, joined writers’ groups, and I’ve gotten more acceptances than I have in several past years combined. What made this magic? I worked my ASS off.

Which is really good news. That there is nothing ethereal or fate based that leads to writing success. Just good old-fashioned sweat and tears. And that also means there are no shortcuts (at least not for most folks).

Success is relative, I know. And people take different paths to the same or similar places. Mine went like this:

-Joined the Horror Writers Association in early 2022 (March?) after earning an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Etched Onyx Winter Contest. That story, “A Bargain at Twice the Price,” (a ghost story) earned enough that I qualified to join the HWA as an Affiliate Member.

-After joining, figured “What the hell? I’ll go to StokerCon” (May). I knew no one. I mean no one. But I had the best time there, and met so many wonderful people, from big-name authors like Brian Keene to other people like me, struggling to find a path.

-Was so inspired by StokerCon—the people and the presentations and the panels—that I decided on the way home to quit my second job as the managing editor of Leapfrog Press. I deserved time to write, and my writing deserved my time and attention. This realization hit me with a stunning clarity at about midnight on the plane from Atlanta to Buffalo.

-Wrote. Wrote and wrote and wrote. I produced so much new content in 2022, especially over the summer, when I was finishing up with Leapfrog and before the fall semester started (I teach at SUNY Fredonia).

-But I didn’t just write. I joined a workshop with other writers in the horror community who ended up with me the same way folks end up owning cats—I was dumb and hungry; they were kind. I started another workshop with a few people I’d met at StokerCon. I workshopped with other students from Lindsay Merbaum’s independent studies (we are her happy little cult members). And I continued to workshop with my friends from grad school. Outside of those groups, I also beta read for people who needed it and joined social media groups of people with similar goals. I learned so much from those other writers, by reading their work, getting feedback on my own stuff, and sharing our successes and challenges.

-Took every chance I got for affordable independent education. With Lindsay, I learned about Feminist Horror and Queer Speculative Realism, and more recently, witches. I’ll be taking another independent study with her in 2023 on ghosts. (If you are interested in joining us, let me know and I’ll connect you with Lindsay.) I paid for a few developmental editing sessions with an awesome writer and friend. I took workshops through Defunkt Magazine’s Litfest. And I went to other one-off virtual workshops and panel discussions I found through Event Brite.

-Along with all that, I submitted a ton, too. My goal for 2020 was #100rejections. That meant I’d have to submit over 100 times, because I had to factor in the likelihood of a few acceptances. I just hit 150 submissions, with about a ten percent acceptance rate. I sailed past 100 rejections. A friend called submitting work “sending tiny missives of hope out into the universe,” and that’s exactly what it feels like.

-Finished my manuscript of speculative and slipstream stories—you can call it quiet horror or eerie horror or feminist horror or dark fiction. It’s a collection of 13 stories, and I’m currently trying to find a home for it. Some of those stories patiently waited to be revised for ten years. I’m so glad I kept my faith in them.

-I also put together a poetry chapbook manuscript, after being surprised I had enough poems to do so. (I’m primarily a fiction writer.) But I saw a chapbook contest being advertised by Mausoleum Press, and I took a chance. My poetry made their shortlist, but did not ultimately get selected. Getting that far, though, told me my poems had merit. That was further proved by Nocturne Magazine nominating my poem “Still Love” for a Pushcart Prize. The second press that got my poetry manuscript said it came close. Then I got an acceptance! More on that when I have details to share.

-There were so many “firsts” for me in 2022. In addition to being nominated for the Pushcart Prize, I was nominated for a teaching award at work. I was invited to be a part of an upcoming anthology-magazine hybrid (and my story was accepted). I was invited to be a guest on a podcast (still in the works, so no details right now). I made it into a dream anthology that I thought was such a longshot (Shakespeare Unleashed). And of course, there’s the to-be-published poetry collection that I’m so happy about.

-Oh! And I started and abandoned a novella, then started another novella that I’m happy with (and still need to finish), and the novel notes I mentioned before from my first NaNoWriMo.

I’ve got big hopes for 2023. I hope to get my collection picked up. I hope to finish my novella (spicy ghosty gothic), “Forgive Us Our Trespasses.” I hope to make lots of progress on the novel I tried to start during NaNoWriMo.

And I hope I will get another #100rejections.

Happy Writing to you all!

1

“Research Cycle”

Published in Hearth & Coffin Literary Journal, Volume 2, Issue 3

***

The results weren’t ideal—she’d liked her assistant. Ken? Keith? Quiet, eager. But feeding the subjects had been his job, and he’d signed the liability waiver. Anyway, wasn’t science about taking risks? She was an explorer, a revolutionary, and until this morning, Kyle (Kevin?) had been, too.

…

To read more, visit Hearth & Coffin.

0

“Still Love”

Published in Nocturne Horror Literary Magazine, Issue 2, Fall 2022, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize

***

When my left hand turned to stone—
whorled gray marble smooth
as a promise, fingers fused in a cold clenched fist
too heavy for my husband to hold
he just switched sides, he loved me
still, we stayed connected
at the movies, the farmers market, shadows
melting into one wide shadow
stretching across the sun-dried pavement.

…

Visit Nocturne to keep reading!

0

A WordPress.com Website.

Up ↑