The First Half of 2025 (Updates!)

ALLLLLLLLLL the updates

Well, it’s been quite the year so far.

I’ll keep what’s already happened this year brief because otherwise this would be a suuuuper long update and it’s Sunday! A day off for all that reading, or writing or whatever have you. So, where were we?

January and February

The first couple months of this year consumed a lot of my time with the release of BOREAL: An Anthology of Taiga Horror. I’m so proud of all the authors in this book and how it’s being received by the community. There were so many steps involved in marketing and creation for this that the last year still feels like a whirlwind.

As a part of BOREAL’s marketing, I organized a series of readings, panels, and signings for various authors including a panel discussion at the Gray Public Library with E.M. Roy, Marisca Pichette, and Nicole Lynn, a signing at Little Ghosts Books in Toronto with Jon Gauthier, Sarah Musnicky, JS Betula, and Vincent West, and a panel discussion and signing at B&N South Portland in Maine with E.M. Roy, Daphne Fauber, and Nicole Lynn. Each of the events went swimmingly. Many thanks to all the authors, the store events coordinators and library staff for all of their support. BOREAL is available via ebook and paperback wherever books are sold. If you’re a fan of sad and existential horror, this one is definitely for you.

While I was working on the final touches for BOREAL and the marketing, I also did the interior formatting for Christopher Bond’s latest release, Black Out The Stars. I had a lot of fun with this one. It’s now available from Third Estate Books if you’d like to get your hands on it.

Also while doing all of that, I started my fourth season of Winterviews, a live interview series where I talk to authors about their favorite horror subgenres and their works within them. Winterviews is done on basically zero budget. I typically reach out to eight authors each year about coming on and talking for an hour or so and each year, I’ve had an awesome group. This year was no exception…and I overbooked. Eleven authors joined me on Winterviews between February and April: Clay McLeod Chapman, Scott J. Moses, Corey Farrenkopf, Wendy N. Wagner, Rebecca Cuthbert, Todd Keisling, Tom Rimer, Sam Richard, Jacy Morris, Rowan Hill, and Radar Steal. You can watch all of their interviews now right over on my YouTube channel.

March

Ah, blessed March. While still conducting Winterviews and attempting to read each author’s book (one a week…ludicrous with a full-time job and everything else going on), I also formatted Nothingland into a hardcover special edition for Author-Con.

While I sold several copies at the show, I still have some left. These are limited edition copies that I won’t be printing again. If you want one, you can grab one in my website shop.

I also finished writing my latest release VULPINE CURSE, the latest in the Deadlands series. It serves as a prequel to Undead Folk and stars Hugh (Janet’s dad) as the main character. The influences for this one differ from the rest of the series, taking cues from dystopian, desert, and splatterpunk. And it’s sad. Boy is it sad.

April

EDIT: I also forgot that the audiobook for Nothingland came out this month! Lisa Roumain did a superb job capturing Janet’s voice in the last book of the trilogy and you definitely should grab all three if you haven’t read the books yet (or even if you have).

We hopped down to Williamsburg for Author-Con and had a grand old time with friends. I got sick on Friday night which took me out of commission for the last hour of the show and kept me away from the social scene all night (and I was so bummed). While sales weren’t as good as previous years for the whole weekend, I can’t say enough good things about this show. Scares That Care is a community event. It’s a charity that supports people in need, brings a lot of like-minded folks together, and supports the genre and its authors with so much love and care. I’ve purchased a table for next year and eagerly await the chance to return.

If you’d like to donate to Scares That Care, here is their site.

I picked up a handful of books at the show (certainly not as many as I’d have liked) but I’m looking forward to pouring over a bunch of them this summer when I *finally* have some free time.

Also during the month of April, I finished up edits on a project for Third Estate Books. This book is a fabulous surreal horror story by Paul Jessup called SuicideMusic. I’m honored to have had the chance to read it and to work with Paul on it. It will be coming from Third Estate in early July.

Lastly, and certainly not least, I finished the interior formatting and cover design for Vulpine Curse at the last possible moment in time for its debut at the end of the month. I think it’s one of the prettiest books I’ve put out in my catalog and definitely one of the most violent. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you can order in ebook or paperback wherever books are sold.

May

While still marketing Vulpine Curse, I’ve caught up on a bit of my backlog of projects including some blurbs. In April, I blurbed The Off-Season by Jodie Robins from Wild Hunt Books (which was so eerie!) and Unclaimed Property by Cat Delani (kept me flipping pages, definitely worth a read) which she is self-pubbing. I’m currently in the midst of reading Jacy Morris’ upcoming book from Tenebrous Press We Like It Cherry. I love Jacy’s writing. Seriously one of the most underrated authors in horror right now. You should give his stuff a look. I also got to read Todd Keisling’s latest, The Sundowner’s Dance, and it’s absolutely my new favorite book by him. It’s got so much heart. Definitely put it on your TBRs.

What’s going on right now?

I recorded one online panel for Stoker-Con this year with authors Chad Lutzke, Candace Nola, and Peter Rosch and moderated by Mark Matthews where we discuss the avenue of self-publishing. I am also moderating a panel at Stoker-Con about 80’s and 90’s kindertrauma and will sit on another panel about grappling loneliness in the writing world. I’m excited to get to do this in June, and it’ll be my first Stokercon!

I finished up the interior formatting of SuicideMusic and have sent that on its merry way to be turned into a full-fledged book! I’m so excited for Paul and for the upcoming month of promotion on his book. If you’re not already following Paul Jessup and his writing, you should! The new book comes out July 8th!

I’m in the middle of editing my book, SORROW-EATER, which I had pitched to a number of different publishers over the course of 2024 and never found a home for it. I did get some very helpful feedback from a friend and fellow publisher that I’m now implementing into the story to hopefully make it stronger. I’ll be sending it out again within a couple weeks. Cross your fingers for me!

In June, I’ll start working on a secret project that I’ll hope to have completed in time for some book fairs in the fall. All I can say about it is that it’s an omnibus and it will feature new stories and new artwork on the cover. Stay tuned for more info.

Last and certainly not least, my book, Where The Soul Goes, with Truborn Press is starting to get rolling. Edits are currently happening on it, I’ve gotten my ISBN, and I’ve seen a very cool concept marketing page for the book. I’m so excited for people to get to read this one. This feels like a very authentic piece to me and finally gets to portray an ace character. Since coming out in 2024, I’ve struggled with how to best portray this part of myself in my work in a way that doesn’t feel too general and conveys the fears and anxieties that surround relationships and identifying as an ace individual. This book is my answer to that. And, it’s also a portrayal of my love for road-trip media, food, and existential horror.

Some other news items: Undead Folk has been chosen by Ingram for their Pride Month Picks over on Bookshop.org! Hoping that more people will find Janet’s story and fall in love with the world inside. I’ll be starting my next book in July, a crime/coming-of-age narrative with influences from The Craft, The Usual Suspects, and Groundhog Day. I’ve been looking forward to starting this one for a while and hope to finish it by winter 2025. I don’t plan on self-publishing it.

The next anthology in the Biome Horror series will not be taking submissions until 2026. I’ve realized that I over-extended myself this year by having waaaaay too much going on and need to find a better balance between work and self-care. Because I do all of the work on these anthologies, I had to make a decision that wouldn’t put me in a bad place mentally or financially. So… keep your eyes peeled for January 2026.

And that’s it! I tried to keep it brief and still ended up writing a novel instead. I’ll be trying to make these updates more regular as we go along, possibly even weekly? I have some plans for marketing WTSG that include food-related blogs so…stay tuned, friends!

Until next time,

Kat