I think I’ve figured out why I like horror movies, why I have a strong preference for those like I Spit on Your Grave (1978), Evil Dead (2013), and Smile (2022), just to name a few. Movies where a woman goes a little bit mad and the people around her either suffer or leave her or are forced to deal with the consequences of having known her in one form or another.

I see my relationships reflected in these extreme situations because I come from a life of extreme circumstances. My child-self survived poverty to the point of starvation, abuse and neglect, substance use, prisons, rehabs, unsafe and sometimes terrifying environments. Despite the fact I’ve broken (mostly) free as an adult, my mind has been conditioned to be afraid, distrustful, and to fight for its life. As a result, the way I handle the anger, sadness, and frustration deeply rooted in my soul can sometimes seem extreme. A lot of the time, I find myself completely lost in a reaction, only to wake up in a state of numbness—because to let myself feel the full force of regret and shame would mean to implode.

When the women in horror movies scream, kill, rage, I feel it in the primal part of my soul. The angry, traumatized part. In horror movies, the woman always reaches a breaking point. Battered, bruised, she becomes possessed, and suddenly her actions, even the most vile, no longer hold the same meaning. She is not held to a standard of perfection; she is released from being the perfect friend, the perfect wife or girlfriend, the perfect mother, the perfect professional. She cuts her face because it doesn’t matter if she’s pretty. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of her, because what she has become or what she is up against is so much bigger than that.

And I think there is beauty in the fact that horror movie audiences love her. Likewise, I hope the horror community can continue to love me too, even when I’m spinning like a top.

Because I am that very witch.

Medusa Publishing Haus

The Book of Queer Saints Vol II’s crowdfunding campaign is currently 59% funded, thanks in large part to donations made during the #TransRightsReadathon.

All team members for QS2 were announced last week and early this week. Featured writers include Wonderland Award-winner Sam Richard (Sabbath of the Fox Devils, To Wallow in Ash), Bram Stoker-nominated Paula D. Ashe (We Are Here to Hurt Each Other), and Alison Rumfitt, author of the critically acclaimed novel Tell Me I’m Worthless. Lor Gislason, editor of Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror, will be first reader. TrubornDesign will be doing cover design, and Hailey Piper (Queen of Teeth, The Worm and His Kings) will write the foreword.

Submission guidelines for The Book of Queer Saints Vol II can be found here.

To preorder your copy of QS2, click here.

Submission Calls

Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror from Ghoulish Books, edited by Sofia Ajram, opens submissions on May 1. Submission guidelines can be found here.

Wilted Pages: An Anthology of Dark Academia from Shortwave Books, edited by Christi Nogle and Ai Jiang, is wrapping up its successful crowdfunding campaign in three days. Don’t miss your opportunity to preorder the book and get merch exclusive to the campaign. The extended submissions deadline for marginalized writers is March 31. Submissions guidelines here.

Releases

Soft Targets by Carson Winter, released by Tenebrous Press, hit shelves on March 22. Soft Targets is a reality-bending novella about malignant malaise; the surrender to violence; and the addictive appeal of tragedy as entertainment. Order here.

Weirdpunk Books announced that it will be releasing Samantha Kolesnik’s novella Elogona later this year.

Second Sight Films released George A. Romero’s Martin: Limited Edition 4K UHD & BluRay.

A troubled young man, who believes himself to be a vampire, goes to live with his elderly and religious cousin in a small Pennsylvania town where he tries to redeem his blood-craving urges after he falls for a lonely housewife, all the while his hostile cousin becomes convinced that the young man is actually Nosferatu.

Note: This product does not ship outside the UK and Ireland.

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Mae