An Interview With Author Julie Hiner

I recently chatted with Julie Hiner, author of Fear of the Deep, about all things monstrous and watery. From the blurb for Fear of the Deep:

But the sea has a way of claiming what it wants. The discovery of a woman’s body, marked by peculiar and familiar bite marks, washes up on her beach, forcing Bailey to confront the fears she’s been running from. Deep beneath the waves, something sinister lurks, a nightmare born from genetic engineering gone awry. As Bailey delves deeper into the mystery, she finds herself entangled in a web of horror and science fiction, where sea creatures of the darkest depths become terrifyingly real.

With each tide, the line between reality and nightmare blurs, pulling Bailey into a psychological maelstrom. Her journey is not just a battle against the horrors emerging from the deep but a fight to overcome the demons within herself.

Julie Hiner spent her childhood lost in the pages of books. The only thing that took precedence was her Walkman. Julie remains a hardcore ’80s rocker at heart.

Julie worked as a computer scientist, specializing in network simulation. While traveling, she published an inspirational book, her own story of facing fear and anxiety by cycling up mountains.

She now writes a unique blend of heavy metal and horror, weaving both psychological suspense and various genres of rock and metal into a tapestry of musically infused storytelling. She has published an ’80s metal murder detective vs serial killer series, a ’90s nostalgic serial killer novella, a death metal demon possession novella, and co-curated a horror anthology. Several of Julie’s horror short stories have been published in anthologies. Torrid Waters, a pulp and extreme horror imprint of Crystal Lake Publishing, published Julie’s deep sea horror novella on Valentines Day 2025.

You can find her at KillersAndDemons.com serving up toxic cocktails of metal and murder.

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Horror isn’t always about haunted houses or ancient curses. Sometimes, it’s the creeping dread of daily life—the suffocating rules of a suburban HOA, the slow unraveling of a workplace routine, or the existential weight of what it costs to simply exist. That’s exactly the kind of horror Steve Capone Jr. explores in Cost of Living, the debut anthology from Whisper House Press.

We recently sat down with Steve to discuss the making of this collection and the philosophy behind his press. A seasoned teacher, award-winning writer, and former philosophy grad student, Steve brings an analytical yet deeply empathetic eye to editing. His approach blends his love of narrative with his belief in fiction as a means of connecting across perspectives. And in horror, he’s found a genre where strange situations and unthinkable choices can become powerful thought experiments, what he calls “intuition pumps” borrowed from the language of ethics.

In this interview, Steve opens up about the press’s beginnings, the kinds of stories that made it into Cost of Living, and why he believes horror is uniquely suited for amplifying marginalized voices. We also touch on his second anthology, Dread Mondays, and get insight into how working with students and running Whisper House Press have sharpened his instincts as both an editor and a writer.

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An Interview With Denis Kitchen On The Kickstarter For The ‘Oddly Compelling’ Documentary And More!

For more than half a century, Denis Kitchen has been the embodiment of punk-rock persistence in comics—equal parts artist, publisher, and First Amendment firebrand. Long before “creator-owned” was a buzzword, Kitchen was stapling together Mom’s Homemade Comics, hawking issues out of head shops, and launching Kitchen Sink Press so voices like Will Eisner, Trina Robbins, and Alan Moore could run wild without a Comics Code muzzle. When prosecutors finally came knocking, he didn’t flinch; he built the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund brick by brick, turning courtroom showdowns into victory laps for free expression. Now filmmakers Soren Christiansen and Ted Intorcio are rolling the tape on Oddly Compelling, a documentary that threads Kitchen’s hippie-era pranksterism, his thirty-year publishing crusade, and his ongoing fight against censorship into one heck of an origin story for modern horror comics.

Why does that matter to Horror Tree readers? Because every grotesque panel, banned-book challenge, and late-night anthology pitch we celebrate traces back to the doors Denis kicked open. Oddly Compelling isn’t just a look in the rear-view; it’s a rallying cry at a moment when book bans are spiking and moral crusaders have libraries in their crosshairs. So I sat down with the man himself to talk EC horror, From Hell, giant penises invading Manhattan, and the practical ways tomorrow’s creators can keep the gates of weird wide open.

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Ghosts, Crime Podcasts, and More with Keller Agre

Have you ever listened to a true crime podcast?  I bet most of us have, whether it’s a favorite genre of interest or not one you gravitate toward often.  But when I read Keller Agre’s newest novella, Let the Ghosts Sleep, centered on true crime podcasters exploring a haunted hotel, I knew immediately the plot would make for a fun summer horror read!  

So put your earbuds in, play that latest true crime podcast, and cozy in to read Keller’s interview on his newest release, hauntings, true crime, and more!

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An Interview With Eric LaRocca

Eric LaRocca is a 3x Bram Stoker Award® finalist and Splatterpunk Award winner. He was named by Esquire as one of the “Writers Shaping Horror’s Next Golden Age” and praised by Locus as “one of strongest and most unique voices in contemporary horror fiction.” LaRocca’s notable works include Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Everything the Darkness Eats, and At Dark, I Become Loathsome. He currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts, with his partner.

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Max Allan Collins Author Interview

Baby, It’s Murder – It Could Be The Last One…

By Sarah Elliott

People struggle to follow my train of thought on the best of days. I can’t imagine leaving unfinished manuscripts for another writer to complete. Max Allan Collins, an accomplished writer in his own right, took this on and continued the legacy of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. But is it now time for Mike to lay his gun and fedora down to rest? Will Baby, It’s Murder be the last we hear from our favourite hardboiled PI?  

“Don’t worry about being overwhelmed by sentimentality: The legendary shamus still kills and maims with the best of them.”—Kirkus Reviews

Mickey Spillane is the legendary crime writer of the Mike Hammer novels, selling millions of copies worldwide.

Max Allan Collins was hailed in 2004 by Publishers Weekly as “a new breed of writer.” A frequent Mystery Writers of America nominee in both fiction and non-fiction categories, he has earned an unprecedented eighteen Private Eye Writers of America nominations. In 2002, his graphic novel Road to Perdition was adapted into an Academy-Award winning film starring Tom Hanks. He lives in Iowa, USA.

Mike Hammer doesn’t like people. Fortunately, Max Allan Collins likes them well enough to take some time to speak with us.

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Interview with Award-Nominated Poet Deborah Sheldon

I’m a fan of award-winning horror author and anthology editor, Deborah Sheldon. I’ve read most everything she’s written, including short stories, novellas, novels, and anthologies as well as flash fiction and drabbles. She’s a master of the horror genre in all its forms, and I await each of her regular new publications with eager anticipation, always wondering what it might be – a novel, a collection of short stories, an anthology? I’m happy to report that Deborah Sheldon’s latest publication The Broonie and Other Dark Poems is available now through Hiraeth Publishing. For those of us who read her horror stories with relish, the contents of this poetry collection will not disappoint. Intrigued that Sheldon has now turned her hand to verse, I caught up with her recently to talk about her multi-faceted writing journey.

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“You’re Only Alive if You’re Online”

By Sarah Elliott

Why the impending feeling of doom at the thought of switching off your phone? Why does the panic-induced pounding of your heart feel like, at any moment, your insides will spew forth if you dare to disconnect?

Being accessible and online seems non-negotiable these days. In Zac Thompson’s graphic novel Cemetery Kids Don’t Die, it’s more than non-negotiable, it’s a matter of life and death. Gamers beware! Will you accept the same challenge as the Cemetery Kids?

Let’s get to know the creator of this possible future world.

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