Why Horror?
My first ever podcast interview!
Good morning!
If you’re new here, welcome! I’m so glad to have you in this bookish sliver of the internet! Last week, I did something outside of my comfort zone. I mean, I volunteered for it, competed for it in fact (if picking the closest number to the randomly generated digit counts as competition). Then got really nervous and second guessed the whole thing.
What did I do? Well, if you didn’t read the subtitle, I got interviewed on a podcast, hosted by the lovely Macabre Monday crew. The interviewer, The Chronicler aka M.E. Beckley, aka speculative fiction writer extraordinaire, asked thought provoking questions about my newsletter, horror, writing and reading.
She made the entire thing so easy. And she let me talk a lot about all my favorite things. If you’re interested, you can give it a listen (or a read if you prefer) by clicking the Macabre Monday link below, or find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
(Here, I’ll help you find it)
If you’re looking for a fiction community, it doesn’t get better than Macabre Monday. And if you’re curious about more fiction on Substack, I’d love to introduce you some of my favorites.
Here you’ll find loads of fiction written and published by Substack authors. Organized by genre and growing everyday thanks to the hard work of Winston Malone and J.M. Elliott.
Speculative fiction published every week, by S.E. Reid. Her community is lovely, her stories are enchanting, and just this month, she was a featured Substack publication, no small feat for the fiction crowd on the platform!
Paranormal, horror and fantasy fiction published each week. Lauren Salas is a hoot and a wonderfully creative storyteller!
Last year, Olivia St. Lewis wrote one of my favorite short stories of the year, “Missing Girl: Found”
Jeff Kinnard, one of the creators of the Macabre Monday newsletter also writes at Choose Fiction, inviting readers along in choosing where the story goes.
Daniel W. Davison was one of the first fiction newsletters I subscribed to. He writes speculative fiction, spanning, horror, fantasy, magical realism, and more. Last year he started a serialized novel called The Werewolf of Mariahilf am Inn. Atmospheric, terrifying, brutal and beautiful.
Daniel O’Donnell reminds me of myself. He writes about fiction, and he writes fiction, publishing posts on movies and books, along with original short stories.
This newsletter, written by Scoot, offers so much to the Substack writing community. Exercises, prompts, as well as original (usually sci-fi-esque) short fiction. One of his most popular stories written last year was “Father and Sun.”
A personal inbox favorite, and written by one of the most generous humans you’ll ever meet, Nathan Slake. I’ve been a fan ever since I stumbled on a freeform post written from a train (or so Nathan claims…he’s been known to bend the truth). That’s because he is a person of imagination, exploration, strange and beautiful wanderings. Give him a read!
Leigh Parrish is a gifted horror writer, publishing short fiction on Substack. She merges historical fiction with the uncanny, creating eerie atmospheres in unexpected places.
I stumbled uponBen Wakeman through Substack’s Notes feature on their app. (If you didn’t know, it’s a Twitter-ish social media feature where writers and readers connect). His humor was what pulled me in, but like most funny people, he is a deep well. Most recently he brought together the fiction community to perform an exercise in empathy, through a project called, “Same Walk, Different Shoes.” When I tell you some of these stories will make you cry, I mean it. Give them a read.
And last but not least, The Chroniclerwho was the gracious interviewer you’ll hear when you listen to the podcast. She writes across genres, publishing speculative fiction on Substack while building an audience for her debut novel, “Shades of Night.” She also did something that I was floored by. She made a trailer for her incredible serialized story, “A Town Called Evening” Watch it below.
If you know someone who would enjoy more fiction in their life, send them this email or share this post. Everyone listed, and I’m sure many more, have an audience out there that would love to read their work.
Last Thing: If you have a fiction Substack writer that I missed here, will you post a link to their work in the comments? Thanks all! Happy reading!
Wow, thank you for such a glowing recommendation!
Cool! So much exploring to do now, thanks Shaina!