BOREAL is open for submissions & more!

March updates included!

Today is the day! BOREAL: An Anthology of Taiga Horror is now open for submissions. This will be Strange Wild Press’s premiere anthology in its biome series (and first anthology ever, too!). If you haven’t had a chance yet, please go check out the submissions page over on my website to become familiar with the guidelines before you send in your story. Submissions are open from today at 9 AM EST until midnight on April 1st EST.

The files for the hardcover special edition version of Undead Folk were submitted to Ingram today! I’ve got everything set and ready to go for printing to begin. If you hadn’t heard already, the hardcover is an exclusive edition only offered at Author-Con III in Williamsburg, VA April 12th-14th. I’m bringing pre-ordered copies with me and will have only about 25 copies with me to sell at the show. If you want to make sure you don’t miss out on this before the day of the show, you can pre-order now right in my shop.

Not going to Author-Con III? You can pre-order paperbacks, too.

Speaking of Undead Folk, these new Undead Folk t-shirts are now on sale in my shop. They feature Amos, the undead fox from the cover (and one of my favorite characters to write!). Go grab yours now!

I sent my book, Sorrow Eater (formerly Crocodile Tears) in for submission with a press and it got a full manuscript request less than 48 hours later. This is my first time sending a book in to anyone and it was such a pleasant and beautiful surprise. I won’t find out for a long while if they’ve accepted it or not, so I’m not getting my hopes up. Hopefully, they (or another press) will be intrigued by the premise and think it fits with their aesthetic enough to publish.

I’ve got a few different events I’ve signed up for this year and I’m excited about all of them! Besides Author-Con III (April 12th-14th Williamsburg, VA), I’ll be returning to the Spooktastic Book Fair in Boston, MA September 7th and I’ll be vending at ZervCon in Cape Cod. Here’s a banner that the founder of ZervCon had commissioned for me and it’s so rad!

SPECTRUM is coming out in just a matter of weeks! I did the interior formatting for the paperback and the ebook for Third Estate Books and I’m so excited to see what they look like in hand. If you haven’t pre-ordered yours yet, hop to it!

Winterviews just wrapped up its fifth episode last night with Aquino Laoyza and existential horror! I also recorded episodes with Chad Lutzke on Coming-of-Age horror and Micah Castle on Weird Fiction. All of these episodes can be found on my YouTube channel in the Winterviews Series 3 playlist here.

What else is happening?

I’m conceptualizing my next book. I have a couple things in mind that are very different from one another and I’m not sure which path I’ll take. One is very crime/horror and the other is existential road-trip horror. I likely won’t be starting work on which ever I decide to go with until April so I’ve got time to sort it out.

Other than that, I’ve been gearing up for Author-Con III by ordering books, bookmarks, stickers, and all kinds of other fun stuff. I’m looking forward to seeing all my friends and readers!

What ‘cha been reading/watching/playing?

Most of the reading I’ve done has been with Winterviews in mind this month. I read Chad Lutzke’s most recent novella, Bruises on a Butterfly, and Let the Woods Keep Our Bodies by E.M. Roy. Both were phenomenal. I’m currently in the middle of reading Aquino Laoyza’s Deep and L.C. Marino’s Bury The Child.

As for what’s on the tube? I’ve rewatched a fair few things and discovered a lot of new, intense stuff, too. Here’s a sneak peek at what I’ve enjoyed lately:

Rewatched:

• The Usual Suspects

• Supernova

• Army of the Dead

Enjoyed for the first time:

• Shogun (Season 1 - all episodes aired to date)

• Everything Everywhere All At Once

• Dawn of the Dead

• Blown Away (Season 4)

• The Great North (Season 4)

• Blind Date (2007)

Playing games? Not really. If I get pulled into playing video games, it takes away from my writing time and messes with my productivity. That being said, Netflix now has games and I found myself enthralled by one in particular a couple weeks ago that I haven’t finished yet. It’s called The Almost Gone and it’s minimalist, dark, grief atmosphere is right up my alley. I’m sure I’ll return to it soon…

I’ve also lived vicariously through my friend, Todd Keisling’s, game night. He just finished playing Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice which was incredible. If you haven’t picked up that game for yourself, you should. You should also check out Todd’s Patreon, too.

That’s all I’ve got for now! I’ll be putting out another one of these hopefully the first week of April before Author-Con III to recap the rest of the month and get us back on track. In the event I don’t (which is entirely possible), you’ll hear from me mid-April!

Until then!

Kat