Welcome to June
June. Summer is coming. Unfortunately here in Maine, the weather has vacillated between uncomfortably cold and rainy and downright humid AF. To be fair, we’ve only had one or two days where the temperature got up into the high 80’s and since then, I’ve been perpetually wrapped in a sweater. I’m looking forward to warmth whenever it decides to deign me with its presence.
May Recap
Into the Darkening Dust came out on May 1st. This is the latest book and it takes place about six months after the events of Nothingland: Book 3 of The Deadlands. For the fans of grief horror who love minimalist stories, dystopian landscapes, and enjoyed Janet’s story from the previous books, you should be in for a treat with this one.
I initially released it in hardcover and Ingram (the printer and distributor) instantly became irreconcilable and took a month to print ten copies. As such, I’ll be pushing forward to create the paperback and will absolutely have author copies of those when I go to Spooktastic in September. The hardcover is still available to purchase at all your favorite retailers (I just don’t have copies I can sign here).
I got invited to a horror book panel hosted by Briar Patch Books up in Bangor last Friday. I got a meet a few new authors that I had only interacted with online (like Amber Hathaway here) and meet some great folks. I’d ingested a medium iced coffee on my drive up and let me tell you: I did NOT need that caffeine. It made me a bit bolder than I typically am which also got me out of my comfort zone.
Whatcha been writing?
I am finishing up Dichotomy, my Gothic zombie novella. I’ve been flying through it (hit 40,000 words last night) but now I just have to come in for the close and it’s proving to be difficult to wrap things up. A small terrible part of me thinks this needs to be a longer book and I really, really don’t want it to be. I might have to write more and then cut it significantly when I get the edits going on it. We’ll see!
For now, the plan is to start preparing it for publication by SWP in early 2027. I may send it to an agent or two just for kicks but my plan for this one since its inception was to put it out myself.
Whatcha been reading?
This month, I finished five books. Unheard of. I’m a slow reader generally but I got my hands on some really good stories this month and that made reading an absolute blast.
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
It Waits In The Woods by Josh Malerman
Empty Devils by Chris DiLeo
We, The Missing by Arwyn Sherman
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
When I posted my review for Tokarczuk’s book, I found out that she has admitted to using AI for research on her most recent novel and it left me feeling so depressed that someone who has been shortlisted and nominated for so many awards felt the pull to use AI for anything as lazy as “research.”
The glorification of AI drives me absolutely crazy. Use your brains, people. Researching via old articles, books, journals, and studies are one of my favorite things about writing a book. I want to read what someone has done the work through detailed investigation to unearth, not be force-fed a generalized answer that is more than likely from skimming posts from Reddit or another message board.
Whatcha been watching?
May has been the month of movie discovery. I think I went to the movies twice in 2025. Last month we went three times (would have been four but its been a bit of a crazy week). Early on, we went to see what is now one of my favorite horror films: Hokum.
I’m a sucker for haunted horror. I’m a sucker for quiet horror. And I also love movies done well on a small budget with a powerful story. From the moment this movie started, I was cowering in my theater seat, peeking out from between my fingers. Every moment of this film felt tense and uncomfortable and I loved it.
The next two films we saw were a lot of fun: Mortal Kombat 2 and The Mandalorian and Grogu. Fun fact is that I am a HUGE fan of OG Mortal Kombat. The original, 2 and 3 were all games that I played growing up and getting to see the world brought back to life via these more recent films has been a blast.
We’ve also caught a handful of excellent films via streaming this month that I’ve enjoyed:
Zombieland: Double Tap
Death of A Unicorn
Mickey 17
As always…
You can find signed books available for sale on my website shop: here.
I will not be at Stoker-Con this week because of finances and the inability to get time off from work. I work retail in a summer town; we have very few full-time employees and that means that as one of the full-timers I’m basically there all the time.
If you are going to Stoker Con virtually, you can catch me in a panel moderated by Amanda Headlee with fellow panelists Cynthia Pelayo and Amber Hathaway all about Asexual and Aromantic Perspectives in Horror.
As for fun things coming up, I am looking forward to a Streetlight Manifesto concert next weekend (my first one) and getting to theaters to see Backrooms before that goes away.
Until next time,
Kat