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Starting a newsletter was on my list for 2026 projects. Here we are halfway through, and things are happening, so it feels like the right time. If you are receiving this in your inbox, you either signed up for it, or you were part of a review team for one of my books and opted in to a future newsletter. Thank you for your support!

The Foyer: Introduction

I’m still kind of a newbie in the horror and speculative fiction community, though I’ve been incredibly fortunate in just a few years. Due to the generosity of new friends, editors, and publishers in the space, I’ve published six titles with small presses, and my seventh, a collection of dark fairy-tale inspired poetry called A Curse Thrown from the Hanging Tree, will be out July 27th with Uncomfortably Dark Horror (order here when preorders are available—coming soon).

It’s a challenge to describe my work to new readers: I stubbornly refuse to write in just one subgenre or form. I write ghost stories, feminist horror, eco horror, grief horror, gothic fiction, dark academia, comedy horror, creature features, dark poetry, and more. I go in for slow, creeping dread more than I do gore. I love showcasing humanity against eerie backdrops, and I’ve been criticized because here and there, I end my stories on a happy or hopeful note—some would say “that’s not horror.” Cool. Call it whatever you want.

The Parlor: Professional News

I’m trying to cover six-plus months here, because some of these awesome occurrences happened late in 2025. I’ll stick to the big ones, and I promise this segment will be shorter next time.

-I got a literary agent! I am so happy to say I was signed by Lane Heymont and Danai Christopoulou of the Tobias Literary Agency in the fall. Their guidance, feedback, and expertise have made my manuscripts so much better, and having them in my corner gives me a boost of confidence. As of this coming week, I’ll be able to say I have TWO manuscripts out on submission with editors. (Wish me luck!) Special shout-out to my agent Danai, who has helped me expand or revise both fiction projects, steered me through query materials, AND given me advice on etiquette. They are truly a rockstar and I am grateful for them.

-Tom Deady, of Greymore Publishing, invited me to be part of the nonfiction anthology STILL FLOATING: 40 Years of Pennywise, which will be out in September of this year. For my essay, “99 Red Balloons Get Tied: 2017 Sewer Drain Installments as Cry for Connection,” I interviewed the wonderful Dr. Lee Golembiewski, professor of Psychology at SUNY Fredonia, about the contemporary struggles of young people (and the struggles of the younger selves who still live, gasping, within us).

-My story “I Won’t Call it a Monster,” first printed in my hybrid collection Self-Made Monsters, was accepted for the anthology Poisoned Folk Tales by Dread House Publishing. This story features a twisted tree, a malevolent being, and a mother who refuses to accept that “gone” means “for good.”

-James Tate Hill invited me to write about the characteristics of AI (LLMs) for The Writer’s Chronicle, a bimonthly publication of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). My essay, “Know Thine Enemy: Recognizing the Tics and Tells of AI-Generated Content,” is out now (June 2026). Big thanks to James for both taking me seriously as a professional and for allowing the inclusion of silliness.

-As I mentioned briefly above, I have a new poetry collection coming out!! I am so excited about this. A Curse Thrown from the Hanging Tree will be out June 27th as part of Uncomfortably Dark Horror’s Blood Moon Poetry series. Heavily inspired by dark fairy tales and folklore, the subjects of these poems range from shipwrecks to sentient rose bushes to missing children. The cover reveal (art by Don Noble) will be happening soon, and I will include updates in future newsletters! The book launch party will be held August 9th in Fredonia, NY at Downtown Brew at 2 p.m. There will be drink specials, readings, cookies, book sales and book signings. Locals, I hope to see you there!

-StokerCon 2026 just wrapped up. The event was wildly well attended this year, with something like a thousand people taking part. I’d like to thank the organizers for inviting me to do an author reading, and for asking me to be a panelist (“Artificial Intelligence: How to Identify Who’s Using It, How to Avoid It, How to Fight Back Against It”) and a panel moderator (“Making Modern Spaces Scary”).

-DL Winchester, Cyan LeBlanc, and I are keeping more than busy with our small publishing house, Undertaker Books. We have published close to 40 titles thus far, and just celebrated our second birthday in April. Since there is no rest for the wicked or the weary and we are both, we’ve filled our publication calendar through the end of 2027. Summer titles to look forward to are Luck of the Devil by C.M. Saunders (western horror, novella), Into the Casbah and All the Way Through by Jonathan Gensler (military and folk horror, novelette), and Out of the Nothing by Kathleen Palm (middle grade horror, third book in the Nowhere Series).

-I’ve got some other projects cooking, but I am not at liberty to discuss them YET. I’ll blab when I can.

The Study: Current Projects

While I can’t talk about everything I’m working on, I can run my mouth about a few writerly and scholarly undertakings. For my to-do list this summer:

-Finish an entire, successful draft of a YA novel in the Dark Academia genre. I’m about ten thousand words into what will likely end up being seventy-five, so I’ve got a long way to go. But, I feel prepared: I have an outline, character sketches, and miscellaneous notes from the prewriting stage. If all goes well, this will go to my agent in the fall for their thoughts.

-Participate in an ocean-horror-themed independent study led by Lindsay Merbaum. The Study Coven is a huge part of my life, and I don’t think I’d be where I am without the feedback and support of the group. Not to mention the assignments and workshop deadlines—I love homework. Bring it on!

-Plan for a low-tech fall semester. Because of AI’s infiltration into academics, and because of how it has eroded students’ confidence in themselves, I will be bringing my classes back to 1995, as much as I can. That will mean a lot of in-class pen-and-paper writing and printed-page reading, hands-on activities and prompts, and hopefully, a return for ME to the joy of teaching creative writing.

The Library: What I’m Reading

Recently, I finished one of my vintage gothic novels—I collect them (those covers!). The Dark Stone by Mildred Nelson wasn’t my favorite, but it had some exciting scenes and I felt a connection with the older female character Emily McGroarty, whose face was repeatedly called “grotesque.” It was also a nice mental shift from the more literary horror I’ve been reading recently for Undertaker Books.

Before that, I read Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth. It is so weird and so good. If you liked Bunny by Mona Awad and Night Bitch by Rachel Yoder, this one is for you. Snarky ghosts, struggling romance, light cannibalism… What’s not to like?

Next up is Play Nice by Rachel Harrison. I can always rely on her books for feminist horror, a little dark comedy, and characters I can relate to. (Note to all: more middle-aged characters, please!)

The Garden: Outdoor Activities

When I’m not writing or reading, I’m usually in the garden or the kitchen. Far from being embarrassed by these “granny activities,” I’m proud of them. They make me feel like I have magical powers (see my poem “Women’s Work” in the collection In Memory of Exoskeletons).

I haven’t been cooking or baking much lately, but I’ve been playing in the dirt almost every day. One big project was to divide and rearrange plants in one of my large perennial beds (and force plants on my friends). Everything was getting a bit crowded, and the peonies were overshading plants I liked a lot more: Siberian irises and cone flowers and rudbeckia. It doesn’t look great right now—lots of bedraggled stems and yellowing leaves—but the plants will grow new roots and be pretty soon. (I still have to clean up my even larger perennial bed. It looks like a jungle and it’s full of creeping Charlie.)

That’s it for now. Look for a missive in the early fall!