Category: Guest Post

Beneath the Mask: Psychological Horror and the Human Psyche

Beneath the Mask: Psychological Horror and the Human Psyche

 

Psychological horror occupies a special place at the top of the horror genre. But it grows in the strange shadows of the mind, not in overt acts or visible monsters. This article does just that by exploring the central role psychological horror plays in penetrating our deepest fears and penetrating the veil of consciousness. 
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Pressing Skin: Publishing Horror With a Small Press

Pressing Skin: Publishing Horror With a Small Press

by Lee Rozelle

I’m the type of writer who rolls body horror over my tongue until it makes me concerned about myself. I like to handle and manipulate words—flip them, control them— long after they become the property of other people. I squeeze myself between editors, get in the comfort zones of layout designers, stalk cover artists, and expose myself to bloggers. Craving validation for my literary efforts, I invite myself to online interviews, doll up to charm reviewers, and brand myself until it hurts.

Does that mean I need help?

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WiHM 2024: 5 March Horror Book Releases From Women

Image donated by Sara. C./center>

March is often our last month before spring gets its foothold into the earth, sprouting flowers and ushering us out into the sunshine. As goth girls who can’t get enough of reading dark books by a crackling fire, we hope you take this opportunity, like we are, to stay inside, cozy under a black blanket for a little bit longer. And since March is Women in Horror Month, what a great excuse to pick up these five March horror book releases by women. 

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Write Where You Know

Write Where You Know

By: Kev Harrison

Writing advice is as common as it is varied. But one nugget which seems to have stood the test of time, is to ‘write what you know.’ There’s been constant debate over what this really means for your fiction. In this article, I’m going to recommend a slight twist on this. Write where you know. 

As with all writing advice, it’s important to know that your mileage may vary. But this is something which has worked for me, and might do for you, too.

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Genre Fluid

Genre Fluid

by Alethea Lyons

I have a long-running debate with a friend. She insists I write horror. I staunchly deny this (as a complete wuss) and say I write very dark SFF.

My first published short story is about a brainwashed child forced to commit murder.

Read as a standalone, it seems like horror and it is in a horror anthology. However, it’s based on backstory for a book that is firmly science-fantasy.

Where is the line between dark fantasy and horror?

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Horror Musicals By Kelly Florence & Meg Hafdahl

Horror Musicals

By Kelly Florence & Meg Hafdahl

Ever since we were little, we’ve both been obsessed with the horror genre and musicals. How could the two possibly go together? Surprisingly well, to our delight. We’ve had the privilege of seeing several horror musicals in-person in the theatre over the years and need to tell you our favorites, in no particular order.

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An Already Haunted House

An Already Haunted House

By: Jennifer Anne Gordon

I was a ghostly girl, playing with a Ouija board on the kitchen floor while our family…this is when we still had family—poured in. The house was warm. The air was sweet with sticky buns, and almost oppressive with turkey smells. My body felt starchy like I had a thin layer of mashed potatoes rubbed into my skin like a fine French lotion.

My mother stepped up and over me, as little Missy and I tried to conjure the dead. We were close to the kiddie table but had aged out of it. Thank God.

We had not gotten big enough for the grown-up table, so we knew we would eat in the living room, in front of the turned-off television. The carpet stained where my cat Casper would religiously spill any drink we brought in there.

This was before the family drifted apart, becoming wraiths. This was before my mother stopped coming home at night, before my father got a cancer diagnosis that he ignored, and before my cousin Jessica turned her first trick…she became a heroin addict before or after that…I don’t know.

Her eyes were haunted that day—I thought she was tired, but there was something inside of me that knew I could not let her touch that Ouija board. Instead, she watched, her eyes were wide and dark.

Missy and I talked to the dead. 

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