Showing posts with label Short Story Collection. Show all posts

Published  September 17, 2015 by Inklings Publishing In Twisted Reveries, suspense author Meg Hafdahl introduces us to thirteen unforgettabl...


Published September 17, 2015 by Inklings Publishing

In Twisted Reveries, suspense author Meg Hafdahl introduces us to thirteen unforgettable women. They include a grieving mother, a librarian living on the edge of fantasy, and a pyromaniac motel manager. In all thirteen spine-tingling tales these women are faced with their deepest fears, as they are forced to become the hero or villain of their own story. The Rochester Post Bulletin describes, "Everything is not as it seems in the short, 'Twilight Zone' like tales Hafdahl writes." Packed with twists and intrigue, Twisted Reveries will satisfy fans of horror, suspense, and captivating female protagonists. As Amanda walks home alone in the eerie town of Willoughby, she is unsettled by a malevolent stalker in close pursuit, who is somehow familiar... Louise is kidnapped off a snowy, rural road when she is distracted by A Flash of Orange. When a twist of fate allows her escape, her true horrifying test begins... A group of strangers, including fearful Kelly, are trapped in the infusion ward of a hospital, and something hungry is targeting their weaknesses. Will Kelly dig deep and find her Guts? When Hannah Goes Home she brings her fiancee to the squalid reality of her childhood. But she is determined to keep one, awful truth from surfacing... Immerse yourself in the dark, pulse-pounding landscapes of Twisted Reveries: Thirteen Tales of the Macabre.








The Haunted House in Horror Literature

by meg hafdahl



With the recent success of Grady Hendrix’s (My Best Friend’s Exorcism, The Final Girl Support Group) newest novel, How To Sell A Haunted House, I naturally started thinking about this well-loved trope of a house bursting with ghosts. It’s also been on my mind as my co-author and I have been crossing the USA, documenting haunted places for our travel book coming in 2024. I don’t need to tell you that haunted houses are abundantly used as settings in the horror genre, and they share many similarities. You know; the drafty rooms, mysterious corridors, spider-webbed attics, and, most vital of all, the ghosts. These are often apparitions of the former owners, often people who were murdered or died with the always popular “unfinished business.” They can be invisible, or maybe show themselves, dressed in the clothes of their era.  The haunted house is certainly not a new idea, like the boogeyman himself, it is borne of our natural, human fears. Home is where we should feel safe. No matter the indignities of life outside, we should all have a safe place in which to retreat. When this is disturbed, it immediately brings horror to the characters, and their readers. 

My favorite haunted house story is Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. I’m not alone, as it has inspired many films and works, as recently as Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series. Written at a time when women were grappling with their place in the home (on the cusp of the sixties) Jackson uses the conventions of a haunted house to point to the destruction of the female in forced domesticity. Home, to Jackson, is inherently female, as well as maternal. When Stephen King created ghosts in The Shining (okay a hotel, but close enough) he used the tropes of the haunted house to further a story about a man haunted by his own past, as well as his ever-present addiction. And we know Edgar Allan Poe meditated on the nature of guilt and grief through some of the first American haunted dwellings. Perhaps what makes a haunted house so prolific in horror literature, is that it is an enticing template on which authors can inject their own fears. Isn’t that what we do when we enter a Halloween haunted house? As we traverse the slim corridors and actors jump out at us, we are individually dreading all the things that could happen. For some its our fear of something crawling on our neck, for others it’s a bloodthirsty ghost of that person we killed! Oops! 

As a horror fiction writer I am not immune to this trope. Ghosts creeping around houses are just plain scary, it’s something as humans we’ve collectively agreed gives us goosebumps. It also delves into what little we know about an afterlife. In my novel Daughters of Darkness, I introduced a ghost who speaks to a child through an air vent. This juxtaposition of the scary and the mundane is another aspect, I think, that makes haunted houses so appealing. 

    Books are not the only reason we share a collective understanding of the haunted house. They are alive and well in films from every decade, like the Vincent Price starring The House on Haunted Hill in 1959 to the vividly gothic Crimson Peak in 2015. Let us not forget the chairs moving in formation in Poltergeist, and that clown toy hiding in the shadows that still gives me nightmares…

    However you like your haunted house there’s one for you.

    Here’s some recommendations of some of my favorites if want to explore some haunted houses on your own (what could go wrong?) 

Books: The Good House by Tananarive Due, Hell House by Richard Matheson, The Hacienda by Isabel Canas, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Movies: The Grudge, The Changeling, 1408, The Others, The Innocents




Horror and suspense author Meg Hafdahl is the creator of numerous stories and books. Her fiction has appeared in anthologies such as Eve’s Requiem: Tales of Women, Mystery and Horror and Eclectically Criminal. Her work has been produced for audio by The Wicked Library and The Lift, and she is the author of two popular short story collections including Twisted Reveries: Thirteen Tales of the Macabre. Meg is also the author of the two novels; Daughters of Darkness and Her Dark Inheritance called “an intricate tale of betrayal, murder, and small town intrigue” by Horror Addicts and “every bit as page turning as any King novel” by RW Magazine. Meg, also the co-host of the podcast Horror Rewind and co-author of The Science of Monsters, The Science of Women in Horror, The Science of Stephen King and upcoming The Science of Serial Killers, lives in the snowy bluffs of Minnesota.

DEATH IS FUNNY SOMETIMES through this collection of 13 stories of horror and science fiction. Among them are… ANOTHER WILD NIGHT AT THE F***...



DEATH IS FUNNY SOMETIMES through this collection of 13 stories of horror and science fiction. Among them are…

ANOTHER WILD NIGHT AT THE F***ED HEN – A former punk rocker turned bar owner protects his patrons from the latest blitz of vampires who aren’t thirsty for beer.

ONE HUNDRED DEGREES AFTER MIDNIGHT – A wrongly convicted man’s final hours on the planet before his execution on death row.

DEAD KID AT A SLEEPOVER – Fun nostalgia trip of a typical sleepover with friends in the 1980s. Just with a dead kid.

SAL & SON – A butcher shop owner seeks revenge against New York mobsters after his father is killed for failing to pay protection money. This one is for slasher fans.

POSTCARDS FROM CHERNOBYL – A young girl who is immune to radiation takes a stand against a government experiment to dominate the world during the nuclear arms race of the 1980s.

MIKE & MANDY FIGHT THROUGH THE END OF THE WORLD – Mike and Mandy were ready to finalize their divorce and start a new life. But the zombie apocalypse screwed it all up. It was just one of those days.

HOW TO CATCH CRAWFISH AS TOLD BY RUFUS WHEELER – In the Louisiana bayou a down on his luck father makes a strange discovery while crawfishing and has hope it can give his son a better life.

SUPERFICIAL CRACKS IN A PORCELAIN FACE – An aging star of Italian Giallo cinema is not ready to retire.



What attracted you to the genre(s) you write in?


Quite simply -- I love horror and sci-fi, and my main heroes and influences are Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling and Robert Eggers. The story in my DEATH IS FUNNY SOMETIMES anthology titled ONE HUNDRED DEGREES AFTER MIDNIGHT was written as an homage to THE TWILIGHT ZONE. 

What part of writing do you consider a chore?


Outlining, but it is also my favorite part of the process.

Where were you when you first thought "I need to write this story?"


I have always been a fan of anthologies such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT and CREEPSHOW and wanted to write one of my own. Both were actually referenced in reviews I have received, and that felt really great. My current favorite anthology series is LOVE, DEATH AND ROBOTS on Netflix. 

A lot of authors have a soundtrack while writing. Are there are songs you had on repeat?


I like to listen to soundtracks from Studio Ghibli films at a low volume in the background while I write. I know, not the typical answer for a horror writer, but I find those pleasant scores help with my creativity and writing flow/rhythm. I did listen to a lot of music from the '70s and '80s while writing the stories that take place in those decades in the anthology book. 

What advice would you like to pass on to aspiring writers that is unconventional but true?


Not unconventional, but I would just say KEEP WRITING. 

Do you have a WIP? If so, can you tell us anything about it?


I am currently writing another anthology and it keeps with the fun vibe of DEATH IS FUNNY SOMETIMES. 

Which of your characters was your favorite to write and why?


Wiktor Wojna, mainly because he was the lead character of my first book, the crime novella SMORG WAR OF '84. 

You've watched a movie 50 times and you still aren't tired of it. What movie is it?


THE BLUES BROTHERS. 

Which animal (real or fictional) would you say is your spirit animal and why?


Probably just a dog because they are friendly. 

What would you say is your weirdest writing quirk?


I like to read all of my dialogue out loud while I am writing it, so sometimes it looks like I am having a conversation all by myself in my office. 

Using only emojis, sum up your book.


INSERT A SKULL AND A HAPPY FACE HERE. Haha.

You've just gone Trick or Treating.  What do you hope is in your bag? What do you pawn off on your kids/SO/random stranger?

Starburst and Skittles, and I would pawn off DOTS or Junior Mints.

What is in your internet search history (researching for your book) that you would want someone to wipe if you were under suspicion from the police?


I had to do some morbid research regarding the operations/procedures of a Medical Examiner for my short story THE JOY OF COLLECTING STAMPS & HUMAN REMAINS.

You wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. What was it?


I tend to have the same recurring nightmare where I get stuck in an elevator. And my short story A CHURCH AT TRADER'S CREEK was actually inspired by a weird dream I had where a preacher walked into a lake and did not resurface from under the water. 

What movie completely scarred you as a child?


THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW. I saw it when I was 12. Enough said.

What are your SM links? Can we follow you and pretend we're besties? 


I can be found on Twitter @MichaelAugust


MC August is a former editor from Chicago. That job sucked.


If you're a horror fan, you don't wait for Halloween to imbibe all things spooky. Sometimes though you still want a eerie story to h...


If you're a horror fan, you don't wait for Halloween to imbibe all things spooky. Sometimes though you still want a eerie story to help set the mood. Although Halloween is right around the corner, it's not too late to start a Halloween read.
You can't go wrong with any of these books and right now, all of these are currently available on Kindle Unlimited!




Three leading voices in modern horror take us on a journey through Halloween in the infamous town of Clifton Heights.

DAUGHTER OF THE MISTS by Kevin Lucia: Clifton Heights’ biggest classic horror movie cinephile finds himself plunged into the midst of his own personal horror movie nightmare, in which he discovers how savage the classic monsters actually are.

ONCE UPON A HALLOWEEN NIGHT by Jeremy Bates: In the days leading up to Halloween night, two brothers will discover the worst kinds of monsters are often human.

BROTHERS by Jason Parent: Sometimes, bonds between brothers are thicker than blood. Rand wants nothing more than to be an Alpha, a member of the most popular fraternity on campus. He convinces his best friend, Henry, to pledge with him. Before they can join, Rand and Henry must follow the senior Alphas’ rule: a predicament that soon leaves them humiliated, victimized, and broken. Rand is left to face the torment alone but, hiding in the darkness, another is willing to share it with Rand, one who promises something more sinister than revenge...and a Halloween party the survivors of which will always remember. 




The same trick-or-treater keeps coming to my house. He's starting to scare me.

There's a scarecrow standing in the vineyard--but we stopped using them years ago.

And there's something moving in the pumpkin patch...

HALLOWEEN HORRORS is a wildly terrifying anthology of Halloween stories. Ghoulish trick-or-treaters, gruesome jack o'lanterns, and faceless specters haunt the pages of this book, ready to leap to life in the deepest corners of your mind. Sit down in front of the fire, as the chilly autumn wind howls outside, and read... if you dare..


Author James A. Moore offers up ten autumnal tales of the darker things that lurk just around the corner of Indian Summer. A man learns of a town's obsession with scarecrows and tries to find the answers as to why they are so important. Children move through familiar streets and find that Halloween makes everything different. Tis' the season when ghosts are real, witches soar through the night, and things in the Beldam Woods are not always what they seem. Sometimes it's the monsters that wear the masks.



From the author of Devil's Hill and The House on Moon Creek Avenue comes a new anthology of grindhouse horror in The Halloween Grindhouse.

On Halloween night, four friends use a new app that takes users to random locations that are considered weird, creepy, and haunted. The location generated for them is an abandoned house in a sketchy neighborhood.

Upon entering the empty home, they find a room containing an old television set, a VCR, and a set of videotapes. What is on the tapes will bring them instant regret, fear, and a new threat that awaits them under the full October moon.

Includes the short story "Mischief" and four new original tales of Halloween horror and suspense.


This Halloween, usher in the spookiest of seasons with a collection of fourteen haunting tales from some of the finest talents in indie horror today. A curious coffin calls to trick-or-treaters. A group of ghosts seek revenge on the one who took their lives. A woman who makes her own candy uses the most wicked of recipes. A man discovers a naked girl in the woods with no clue of who, or what, he should fear. A witch witnesses atrocity and does everything in her power to prevent history from repeating itself. A pair of otherworldly beings know the every desire of those who trespass on their abode. A local boogeyman casts a yearly shadow over the neighborhood and everyone in it.



There's an old house up on a hill in the woods that the kids call "Halloween House". They accused the mysterious old woman who lived there of being a witch until the rumors got out of hand and the panicked townspeople burned her house down with her in it one Halloween. She only said one thing before she died: "A curse on all of you!"

Now, three years later, the spooky holiday approaches again, and Carmen is left in charge of taking her little brother trick-or-treating.

But strange things begin happening around the small town.

Children are going missing one by one, and the only clue to their disappearance is a gingerbread man left on their windowsill. Now Carmen has to protect her brother so that he doesn't become the next victim as the townspeople descend into insanity all around them. Riddled with fear, they have no one to pin the kidnappings and strange occurrences on.

Because the witch is already dead...

...isn't she?


Do you love All Hallows' Eve? Ghost stories? Tales from beyond that leave you feeling unsettled while walking to the kitchen at night? The orange-and-black vintage Halloween aesthetic? Haunted houses with shuttered windows?

Edited by Gaby Triana with John Palisano, this anthology of 19 short stories by some of the most terrifying names in horror is the perfect collection for a dark and stormy October night. Featuring tales to make you hide under the covers by: Jonathan Maberry, Gwendolyn Kiste, Catherine Cavendish, Tim Waggoner, Jeff Strand, Sara Tantlinger, Lee Murray, Alethea Kontis, Lisa Morton & more.

JONATHAN MABERRY - "When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead Across Your Dreams in Pale Battalions Go"
LISA MORTON - "Halloween at the Babylon"
TIM WAGGONER - "No One Sings in the City of the Dead"
JEFF STRAND - "Ghosts of Candies Past"
LEE MURRAY - "The Ghost Cricket"
GWENDOLYN KISTE - "A Scavenger Hunt When the Veil is Thin"
SARA TANTLINGER - "How to Unmake a Ghost"
ALETHEA KONTIS - "The Ghost Lake Mermaid"
CATHERINE CAVENDISH - "The Curiosity at the Back of the Fridge"
SCOTT COLE - "Postcards From Evelyn"
DENNIS K. CROSBY - "Bootsy's House"
STEVE RASNIC TEM - "When They Fall"
CATHERINE McCARTHY - "Soul Cakes"
MAUREEN MANCINI AMATURO - "A Bookstore Made of Skulls"
HENRY HERZ - "The Ghosts of Enerhodar"
JEREMY MEGARGEE - "Always October"
DANA HAMMER - "A Halloween Visit"
DAVID SURFACE - "The Crawlers in the Corn"
EVA ROSLIN - "Pink Lace and Death Gods"




A house flipper with everything to lose must contend with an ancient evil. The playing of a horror classic in a historic movie theatre unleashes an undead terror. A mentally unstable lighthouse keeper comes face to face with the ghosts of the past. A colonial American town battles something wicked stalking them in the surrounding woods. An elderly priest recounts the harrowing tale of his family's dark curse through three generations. A house decorated for Halloween night gives trick or treaters more than they bargained for…

These creepy, atmospheric short horror stories await you in “Walking After Midnight: Tales for Halloween Part III.” Take a trip down the tree-lined roads of fall and cozy up with this collection of stories guaranteed to give you that spooky October feeling, just like Parts I & II.

When the Halloween Beyond stores appear across America, they intertwine the lives of three visitors in a web of mystery and magic.

THE TALKING-BOARD by Lisa Morton: Can ancient magic exist in the modern world?
When Kayla’s sister Hailey went missing in the nearby Ghost Woods on Halloween night, the last person to see her was the solitary, elderly Brigid. Kayla, who has long suspected Brigid of being involved with Hailey’s disappearance, dreads the first anniversary of her sister’s vanishing even as her best friend Sophie urges her to put the past behind her.
Halloween nears and Kayla pays a visit to the pop-up Halloween Beyond store, where an enigmatic clerk named Maeve convinces her to buy a talking-board. Kayla begins receiving messages which claim to be from Hailey, but is it actually something more sinister calling out from beyond the veil?
Brigid—who may be a witch—offers to lead Kayla into the Ghost Woods on Halloween in search of answers. Kayla discovers dark truths about herself as she and Brigid confront the terrifying supernatural forces that claimed Hailey.

NEW BLOOD by Lucy A. Snyder:Maddie is keen for Halloween, but when she moves to a strange coastal town, a Devils’ Night party forces her to face eldritch dangers that threaten her entire family.

A GENTLEMAN’S SUIT by Kate Maruyama: Halloween Beyond is magic. The store’s inscrutable clerk finds Lex exactly the right costume which somehow makes people see the nonbinary Lex for who they really are.
It’s Lex’s last Halloween at home before college, and it had better be good. When Lex’s father, Beto, known locally as the King of Halloween adds an enormous animatronic Death on a boat to the collection in his elaborate front yard haunt, Halloween night takes a deadly turn.
Lex is having trouble letting go of old friendships, of home, of Halloween itself, but they now face the hardest kind of letting go.

This anthology is perfect for fans of Halloween stories, supernatural, horror anthologies, classic horror, Mystery and suspense, the occult, magic, strong female protagonists, and thrillers.

Crystal Lake’s Dark Tide series will continue soon with more tales of Mystery Thrillers and Horror Books, including themes of Weird Western, Sherlock Holmes, Grief Horror, Body Horror, Mystery fiction, Travel Horror, Deadly Duos, and Psychological Thriller books.




Nothing stays buried this Halloween!

Not with 18 scary tales of flash fiction filled with Halloween goodness.

Shallow Waters is an official monthly flash fiction contest hosted by Crystal Lake Publishing, with different themes each month. The best submissions every month are then posted on Crystal Lake’s Patreon page (an exclusive behind the scenes community of readers and authors), where patrons read daily entries and vote for the winner (you don’t have to be a patron to enter). Come find Crystal Lake Publishing on Patreon to vote in future contests (or gain access to our Still Water Bay series and so much more). Be sure to check out the Shallow Waters series page here on Amazon, where you’ll find volume 1 for free.

This Halloween Horror Anthology includes:
Introduction by Joe Mynhardt
“Mummy’s Boy” by Karen Bayly
“Tumshie” by William Meikle
“Arts and Crafts” by Madison McSweeney
“The Halloween House” by Sheldon Woodbury
“West Pennfield Township Newsletter, October 2021” by Tom Coombe
“I Want Candy by Larry Hinkle
“Let the Darkness In” by Ricki Whatley
“Soul Cake” by Anthony D. Redden
“The Pumpkin Fetch" by Tom Deady
“Wishing” by Jay Bechtol
“One Parent Survives” by Wil Dalton
“Don’t Eat the Candy” by Matt Bliss
“The Red Scarf” by Rhea Rose
“Shackled to the Shadows” by Richard Thomas
“Apple Tree Man” by Roxie Voorhees
“Smooth Man” by Kim Mannix
“Sleepy Hallowed” by Joseph VanBuren
“How to Create the Perfect Pumpkin” by Francesca Maria

This anthology is perfect for fans of Halloween books, flash fiction, scary stories, classic horror tropes, horror books, mystery thrillers, horror anthologies, and mystery and suspense flash fiction stories. With a bit of dark humor and candy sprinkled over the top.

Skeletons, ghosts and witches. All Hallows Eve is filled with the terrors that walk the thin line of our world and the other. From the twisted minds of some of todays best horror authors, Dark Halloween is a collection of halloween themed stories sure to delight and terrify.

How will you celebrate the holidays?

Dark Halloween is book 5 in the holiday horror collection

Strang isn’t the small, quaint town it appears to be. It’s haunted every night by a creature the townsfolk refer to as Halloween. Once the sun sets each day, Halloween emerges to collect its treats: a small, live offering from each household. The residents comply because no one wants to be the target of Halloween’s tricks. But the nightmare of residing in Strang is nothing compared to the yearly ritual Halloween demands of the citizens on All Hallows’ Eve.

HALLOWEEN, 1988


A gang of twelve-year-old boys are trick-or-treating in London. Off in the distance, they hear the discordant chimes of an ice-cream truck. It seems strange to hear on a cold autumnal night, but their thoughts of maximizing their candy haul soon dismissed its incongruous melody… until they saw the rusting hulk idling in the shadows at the end of the street, its driver a faceless shadow.


That was the night he took one of them.


OCTOBER, 2016


Years later, Halloween is fast approaching and Tom Craven is still haunted by the events of that dark night, especially the fact that their friend was never found. Increasingly plagued by horrific visions, Tom returns to the place where it all began, only to discover he's not the only one who can feel it. His friends have already arrived and are preparing for a battle which could get them all killed.


The Ice Cream Man is back… and he’s come for the ones that got away.


Alice Jacobs didn't believe in ghosts... until her daughter was taken by one.

When Alice's husband disappears while investigating a series of strange and terrible incidents in the bustling seaport of Salem, she is forced to bring her young daughter, Abigail, along from Boston while she takes up the search. But she soon learns of a terrible curse that has the entire town bracing for nightfall: one hundred years after the infamous witch trials, the vengeful spirit of a woman hanged for witchcraft will rise from hell to claim the souls of Salem's children.

Alice dismisses the old legend as foolish superstition until Abigail is snatched from her bed by a sinister woman made of smoke and mist.

Desperate to find her daughter before the sun rises and she is lost forever, Alice races against time on a spine-chilling adventure that takes her from forgotten dungeons and gloomy cemeteries to the haunted forests of Gallows Hill. Along with a roguish sailor searching for his own missing child, she battles deadly supernatural forces and uncovers a dark secret that may be the key to saving Abigail's soul... if only she can survive the most terrifying night of her life.

Suspenseful, thrilling, and dripping with atmosphere, All Hallows Eve is a spine-tingling treat for fans of Darcy Coates, Amy Cross, Robert McCammon, and anyone who enjoys having their skin crawl with every turn of the page.



Halloween just got a whole lot darker...

DARK HALLOWS: 10 Halloween Haunts is a wonderfully chilling collection of creepy tales that will have readers up late into the night--but only if they leave a light on!

This new offering from Scarlet Galleon Publications and Editor Mark Parker, includes stories from industry luminaries and new voices alike: Brian James Freeman, Al Sarrantonio, Robert Morrish, Norman Partridge, Ronald Malfi, Aaron Dries, Adam Cesare, Mark Parker, and Lisa Morton. And features a never-before-published tale from Cemetery Dance founder and publisher, Richard Chizmar!

Each story is beautifully accompanied by original artwork from Aaron Dries, making this a must-have for book lovers and collectors everywhere. It’s one frightful ride readers won’t want to miss.

Exploring the chilling haunts of Dark Hallows, is to take a journey into the very heart of Halloween, where readers are reconnected with the best, and hopefully worst, the 'dark holiday' has to offer.


Publication date: October 14th, 2022 Add to Goodreads A hair-obsessed serial killer… A flesh-eating motorway pileup… A grotesque holiday ill...



Publication date: October 14th, 2022


A hair-obsessed serial killer…

A flesh-eating motorway pileup…

A grotesque holiday illness…

Forget what you think you know about the human body. In Rob Ulitski's debut short story collection, get ready for a thrilling, gut-churning ride through death, disease and destruction.

Boasting thirteen unique stories and a whole host of brutal bodily afflictions, 'Fleshed Out' explores the fragility of flesh and blood, and the gruesome ways our bodies can twist, contort and transform into our worst nightmares.




What attracted you to the genre(s) you write in?


I have always been a huge horror fan. From reading Stephen King at far too young an age, to my first film memory being the original Resident Evil (2002), I've always been attracted to the grislier side of life. 

Where were you when you first thought "I need to write this story?"


It was during the pandemic - my work as a filmmaker suddenly dried up, and I realised that I wanted a creative outlet I could do from anywhere in the world. 

Did publishing your first book change your process of writing?


Definitely. A lot of my writing before was far too lengthy and wordy. Knowing it was going to be published meant I got a far better editor than myself involved, and went through more drafts than I do with my personal writing. 

What's your favorite "bad review" that you've gotten?  


I haven't had any reviews at all yet, so this is still to come!

What comes first for you - the plot or the characters?


The plot! I think the plot really informs the characters, so it makes sense to me to start there and grow the characters from a certain problem or perspective. 

Do you have any writing superstitions?


Not yet! Maybe these will come as I write more haha. 

Is there a word you find yourself using too often when writing?


Surreal. Everything in my stories is surreal, so it's a word I try not to use now!

A lot of authors have a soundtrack while writing. Are there are songs you had on repeat?


Actually, it's quite obscure, but I used an industrial electronic soundtrack on a short film before, and I tracked down the guy who remixed it, Plaster Music. He had an EP out which I listened to on repeat every time I worked, and I feel hugely inspired and thankful for such an awesome soundtrack. It's this one. https://plastersound.bandcamp.com/album/in-between

Do you have a favorite line that you've written? 


The opening line of the first story in my collection: "Natalia was soaked through with blood, fresh tangles of hair dangling from her puckered lips."

What is something about the genre that annoys you?


I don't know if it's in the genre, but the fact that many authors have to hide the fact their books are horror, and call it 'supernatural thriller' or something like that to make it sell. It's one thing I'm very passionate about, making it clear that I am writing horror, and very proud to do so. 

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?


This writing malarky might actually materialise into something awesome and different opportunities, so stop using the word 'surreal' so much! 

What advice would you like to pass on to aspiring writers that is unconventional but true?


You don't have to have been writing for ages to publish a book. Just have a good team around you, and especially a good editor. 

Do you have a WIP? If so, can you tell us anything about it?


Right now I'm looking to expand an idea from my collection into a book series. 

Which of your characters was your favorite to write and why?


Helena in my short story 'Crystalline'. She has such a bad go of things, but still has hope and optimism for the future. 

Killing off characters your readers love - Risky or necessary?


In this genre, very necessary. 

Did any of your characters surprise you while you were writing?


Again, I think Helena. She held out hope much longer than I first thought she would. 

You've watched a movie 50 times and you still aren't tired of it. What movie is it?


Resident Evil (2002). For some people it's a guilty pleasure, for me it's just pleasure. 

Which animal (real or fictional) would you say is your spirit animal and why?


A llama. They're my favourite animal, though I've never had a good experience with them. I like the fact they just trot around doing their own thing, looking cute and avoiding any stress they aren't involved in. I like to think I have some of these qualities at least some of the time! 

Would you rather live in a haunted mansion or a cottage surrounded by fairytale creatures?


A haunted mansion. Think of the stories you'd have to tell! 

Using only emojis, sum up your book.


💪💀💇🐟 🩸🏭

You've just gone Trick or Treating. What do you hope is in your bag? What do you pawn off on your kids/SO/random stranger?

In the UK, we have these two chocolate bars called Bounty and Snickers. I'd give away anything liquorice flavoured.  

What is in your internet search history (researching for your book) that you would want someone to wipe if you were under suspicion from the police?


What happens if you eat a lot of hair. 

You wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. What was it?


Falling. Always falling or being on tall buildings about to fall. 

What cliched tattoo would your main character have?


I feel like Doug from the short story 'Doug' would have a cliche tramp stamp (UK lingo for cheap tattoos just above the butt crack) 

What movie completely scarred you as a child?


Deep Blue Sea 🦈

What's the strangest thing a fan (or other author)  has said to you?


Nothing yet! 

If animals could talk, which one would be the rudest?


Oh, cats. Definitely cats. 

Your main character is at the hardware store. What do they buy?


A spade... 

If you were bitten and changed, would you want it to be by a vampire or a werewolf?


Vampire! 

You're riding through the desert on a horse with no name. What are you going to call it?


Horseface. 

What are your SM links? Can we follow you and pretend we're besties? 


@robulitski on everything and @robwriteshorror just on IG - OF COURSE! 


Rob writes visceral, concept-driven horror stories, anchored by complex
characters and offbeat narratives.

Writing primarily in the body horror genre, his debut release, ‘Fleshed Out’ is
a thirteen-part short story collection which explores the “fragility of flesh and blood, and the gruesome ways our bodies can twist, contort and transform into our worst nightmares.”

Rob was born in Portsmouth, UK, and received his bachelor of arts in Film
Production from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham.

Having trained in filmmaking, and working as a director and producer on
everything from music videos to shorts to feature-length anthology films,
Rob’s official writing journey started in 2020.

When not writing, he can be found watching cheesy 90s films, baking cakes
and haunting local bookstores.