The Catch-Up

"I'm not dead! I'm not dead yet!"

To quote Mark Twain, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Not that any of you necessarily thought that but I know I haven’t kept up with my monthly blog since my end of the year post in 2023. My social media use has been fairly inconsistent over the last month and there are some good reasons for that.

Namely, there was a bit of a scandalous deal that happened here on Substack with the owners basically stating that they weren’t going to stop certain people from having their harmful and detrimental opinions from being aired on their platform. We’re basically talking about Nazis, guys. A number of other authors from the horror community left Substack in defiance of the creators’ decision and I had thought I would also do the same up until I read a newsletter from the wonderful Brian Keene.

If you aren’t following Brian Keene’s newsletter, just stop here and go do that. You may think I’m joking but I’m not. I think Keene is a rare human being: a lion-tamer of feral felines, is charitable to boot, and is an insanely good writer. Keene also has a Substack and has chosen to stay on the platform because (and forgive me for paraphrasing) he doesn’t want Nazis to win. Positive voices need to stay on Substack to help outweigh the bad ones. So, in solidarity with him, I’m choosing to stay here.

What’s going on?

January was a busy month. I didn’t spend as much time on socials as usual so that I could concentrate on finishing the first draft of my WIP (which I’m tentatively calling Crocodile Tears). I’m happy to report that I’ve finished and am now going through it to edit and revise before I put it out on sub to small presses. I’ve got a reputation as a self-published author and while I enjoyed the majority of doing that for my previous books, I would like to take some new steps away from that. There are some amazing indie presses in the horror world and my goal is to become more of a hybrid author by finding one that really meshes with this story.

In addition to writing and editing, I’ve done the interior formatting for Third Estate Books’ first offering: Spectrum, an autistic horror anthology. Getting to read these stories and have the pleasure to format them has been rewarding. There’s some amazing pieces in this anthology and I can’t wait for readers to get to devour them. I’ll be finishing that up this week hopefully.

Also this week: my own small press, Strange Wilds, will be putting out its own anthology for the first time ever! I’m very excited to take this step of beginning to publish other authors. As a one-woman operation, it’s daunting to think about all of the responsibilities that come with taking on this endeavor. I want to be able to let the works shine, and give them as much of my attention as I can. While I will not be able to pay pro-rate, I will passionately promote and I will take the time needed to ensure that this anthology gets the time and attention it needs to succeed. Guidelines and the cover will be shared this Thursday February 8th. Submissions will begin March 15th and go until April 15th. I’m hoping for a publishing date of January 2025.

It’s here! It’s here!

You can now finally get The Wild Fall on audiobook via Amazon and Audible. Returning narrator, Lisa Roumain, has once again done an incredible job of portraying protagonist, Liz, as well as all the other characters. Her ability to emulate their emotions blows me away every time I listen to her speak.

If you love to listen to audiobooks on your daily commute, as you wind down for the evening, or while you bustle about your busy day, make sure you grab this one (and its predecessor, The Wild Dark). Both are experiences unto themselves.

What ‘cha reading?

I’ve been a reading demon these last few weeks and have actually blasted through four books! Crazy, I know! I’m usually the person who sits down to read a book and four months later, I’m half way through. What can I say? Every week, there are new books coming out and I’m so far behind on my TBR, I have to start catching up. Here’s what I’ve read:

• The World He Once Knew by Micah Castle

• Osgood As She Gets by Cooper S. Beckett

• In Excess of Darkness by Red Lagoe

• String Them Up by William Sterling

I’m currently reading:

• Let The Woods Keep Our Bodies by E.M. Roy

What ‘cha watching?

It’s been a bit all over the place, haha. I’ve re-watched several films and television shows and explored a handful of new ones. But honestly, that’s where inspiration comes from. I don’t just watch horror (though I enjoy it some of the time). I’ll be finishing up Crocodile Tears soon, and I’m hoping that something creates a spark between then and now so I can start my next book.

I’ve watched:

• Detroiters (Seasons 1-2)

• Wolf Like Me (Season 1)

• Mr. Harrigan’s Phone

• Maine Cabin Masters (Season 2)

• Stanley Tucci’s Searching For Italy (Season 1)

• Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour (Fireweed & Yarrow Programs)

• Blues Brothers

• School of Rock

Currently watching:

• Wolf Like Me (Season 2)

• Stanley Tucci’s Searching For Italy (Season 2)

Home-Owner Woes

For those of you that own homes, you know all too well that you can be scraping by, knowing that the roof is going to need to be replaced or the washing machine is seeming a bit off kilter or the couch is looking kind of sad. You think you can maybe make it to the next paycheck or two or five and maybe then, you’ll be able to really think about financing some of those fixes.

And then your water heater goes in a blast of glory in the winter.

Which is what happened to me this week.

Gushing water into basement from a rusted out bottom, I had to call whoever I could and ended up with the nicest of plumbers who not only was able to get it fixed in a couple days but also scored me a new out-of-the-box water heater to replace the one coming out. While it was an unplanned for event and will set me back, I’m taking the kindness of that situation forward because it could have been a totally demoralizing weekend if not for that plumber.

Until the next announcement, folks. If you’d like to purchase a book and help the sinking ship/house, I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading!

Kat