Published September 10, 2021 by Omnium Gatherum

The Scream Teens are hired to raise the dead as the necro-tainment for a zombie cruise, and the eighteen-year-old animator, Cozy Coleman, is bitten by a shapeshifting she-wolf. To Cozy’s surprise, she survives and with the aid of her friends, helps the government stop a human-extinction virus from spreading. Unfortunately, Cozy uncovers a secret so haunting, that her death is only the beginning of her problems.

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accurately portraying mentally ill characters

by Nzondi

13 Reasons Why tackled issues like suicide and bullying head on, yet still presented it in a way that got popular culture talking about these issues, which was the most important asset to helping real-life youths open up a dialogue with teachers, parents, and health professionals. In writing this article, I learned many things to do and not to do when writing about mental health issues. I recommend that all authors research these dos and don’ts before writing about any characters that have mental health issues.

As a horror writer, however, you may feel like your story is not there to preach, teach, or raise awareness. However, given the fact that there have been documented accounts of novels causing an increase in the rate of contagion, wouldn’t you want your literary themes to reflect a more accurate perspective?

Look, I get it. I’ve worked as a stand-in on a show called “How To Get Away With Murder,” and I have had many conversations with attorneys who say that the show is too sensational, especially in the courtroom. I’m like, “Thank goodness the creator of the show doesn’t depend on you to write their episodes. We’d be bored out of our minds!” They are the same people who can’t suspend disbelief long enough to get past the fact that when Bruce Banner changes into the Hulk, he’s always in those purple short-pants, instead of being nude.

We are writing fiction, aren’t we? We create a way for the reader to escape reality and travel to worlds of fantasy, science fiction, dystopia, and horror. Still, when writing about characters and stories involving mental health, shouldn’t we ask questions that breathe life into the “who, what, when, and how” of the tropes we use?

So how do we get it right?

Here are some facts to know about mental illness by Kathleen S. Allen, an author who also has a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (which is a clinical doctorate):

• Having depression doesn’t mean your character can’t still have fun or laugh or be social.
• A character who has bipolar disorder may have manic episodes or they may not. Bipolar disorder has a spectrum of symptoms from moderate depression to severe.
• No one who has Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called split personality) would kill someone when they are in one of their alter personality states unless the core personality would also kill.
• Your character would not have amnesia after killing someone. The disorder is rare, and some medical professionals don’t believe it exists at all, so be careful using it.
• Talking about suicide does not mean your character will push the person into attempting suicide. It was already on their mind.
• Your characters don’t stop hearing voices immediately after taking anti-psychotic medication.
• Sometimes, they won’t stop at all. It may take weeks to months for the meds to work. If they are having a psychotic episode, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to function in their daily lives by going to school, work, maintaining a romantic relationship, or maintaining any relationship. Psychotic patients are not dangerous. Are there exceptions? Yes. But as a general rule, they aren’t.
• In conclusion, one of my biggest takeaways from researching horror writing for Mental Health Awareness Month was some of the things we shouldn’t do.
• For example, unless your character is politically incorrect, don’t describe suicide as an “epidemic”, “skyrocketing,” or other exaggerated terms.
• Use words such as “higher rates” or “rising.” Don’t describe suicide as “without warning” or “inexplicable.”
• Do convey that the character exhibited warning signs.
• Don’t refer to suicide as “unsuccessful” or “failed attempt,” or report it as though it were a crime. Do say, “died by suicide,” “killed him/herself,” and instead of presenting the act like a crime, write about suicide in your story as a public health issue.

Hopefully, as horror authors, we can continue to scare the jeebies out of our readers, but at the same time, create a story which accurately exhibits archetypes of mentally ill characters, whether they are mad scientists, psychopathic serial killers, or characters with dissociative identity disorders that assume their mother’s personality.

Born Acemandese Nzondi Hall on the Fourth of July, Nzondi (Ace Antonio Hall) is an American science fiction/horror author, singer and songwriter. He is the first African-American to win a Bram

Stoker Award in a novel category for his young adult book, Oware Mosaic. A former English teacher and Director of Education for NYC schools and the Sylvan Learning Center, Nzondi earned a BFA from Long Island University. Crossroad Press reprinted his novel Oware Mosaic in 2023. His zombie novel, Lipstick Asylum, (Omnium  Gatherum Media, 2021) and his other works can be

found on his website: AAntonioHall (dot) com..

Published December 11, 2023 by Fractured Mirror Publishing

No full moon. No silver bullets. No chance.

A young man named Tom Daniels is kidnapped by a local family and is dropped on Loughby Island in an attempt to 'clean up their streets'.

When the family that dropped Tom off is slaughtered by a werewolf-like creature, he soon finds himself banding together with a small group of the island's residents in a fight for their lives against an otherworldly monster.

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Matt Doyle is a pansexual/non-binary speculative fiction author, voice actor, and pop culture blogger from the UK. Matt specializes in fiction with a horror or sci-fi grounding and diverse characters.

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Published August 21, 2023 by Def Pix Entertainment

In a world where the cheesy nightmare of a zombie apocalypse has become a reality, Gabby and Nadia, a lesbian couple, must face the dual challenge of impending separation and the absurdity of the undead. As their love is tested by an onslaught of mozzarella-ridden chaos, they join forces with an eccentric group of survivors in a desperate attempt to stay alive. With Gabby's dream of becoming a renowned chef in New York City at stake, the couple must fight to keep their love alive in a battle against the cheese-filled horror of the zombie apocalypse. Will they succeed or will their love succumb to the undead?

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Eric Williford grew up in Northern Virginia, where he spent his time playing sports and consuming late night b-movies that he was too young to be watching. This love of Roger Corman, Troma, and exploitation films transformed into an award winning career as an independent filmmaker. With his debut novella, The Dead Ate Cheese, he looks forward to bringing his playfully grim sensibilities to lovers of dark genre fiction.

Published June 5, 2023 by AM Ink Publishing

If you already know the Universal Monsters, deadites, cenobites, people under the stairs, silver shamrocks, maniacs with blades on their fingers and others with a love for machetes, then it’s time to take your fandom to the next level by diving deep into the DVD bins for some horrific hidden gems.

Horror Galore is the most comprehensive compendium of lesser-known films in the genre with 300 truly awesome titles that all share the common distinction of being underseen and underappreciated. Are you brave enough to watch them all? Check them off one by one as you make your way through the extensive list of vampires, zombies, sharks, sorcerers, animated spooks, haunted houses, evil coastal towns, rubber-suited monsters, theme park massacres, dinner party disasters, summer camp slashers, and so much more!

With its entertaining layout and wide variety of recommendations, Horror Galore will help you pick what horror flick to watch next, no matter what you’re currently craving.

Can Jarod break the curse for good, save the innocent from the homophobic Covenant Trustees, and vanquish what the screaming cicadas have awoken?

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Published November 14, 2023 by Berkley 

A sharp-edged, supremely twisty thriller about three women who find themselves trapped inside stories they know aren’t their own, from the author of Alice and Near the Bone.

Celia wakes up in a house that’s supposed to be hers. There’s a little girl who claims to be her daughter and a man who claims to be her husband, but Celia knows this family—and this life—is not hers…

     Allie is supposed to be on a fun weekend trip—but then her friend’s boyfriend unexpectedly invites the group to a remote cabin in the woods. No one else believes Allie, but she is sure that something about this trip is very, very wrong…

     Maggie just wants to be home with her daughter, but she’s in a dangerous situation and she doesn’t know who put her there or why. She’ll have to fight with everything she has to survive…

     Three women. Three stories. Only one way out. This captivating novel will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Allie realized she should never have agreed to this trip. Once Cam and Madison backed out on their deal and showed up with the Wonder Twins in tow, she should have said she felt sick, had to study for a test, anything to stay back in the dorm for the week- end. But she’d felt boxed in by Cam and Madison’s pleading faces, by the mocking way Brad had looked at her as she hesitated before picking up her backpack and climbing into the car.

He’d looked like he could read her mind, could see right through to her reluctance (and, if she was honest with herself, anger), like he was daring her to come anyway.

Allie knew it was stupid, knew it was childish, but she could never back down from a dare.

Besides, she was the reason for this weekend in the first place. If she had decided to stay back at school, she’d never hear the end of it.

They’d all shown up in Brad’s car—a BMW, of course, which Allie was sure his parents had bought for him. Cam and Madison had moved off campus that semester, and Cam was supposed to be driving her old Toyota. It was going to be Allie and Cam and Madison, the Three Musketeers back together again, off to a beach cottage that Cam’s parents’ friends owned and said they could use for the weekend.

Instead, there was Brad, driving his stupid rich boy car and watching her with those eyes that told Allie never to be caught alone with him. Cam and Madison had yelled from the backseat, and Allie had swallowed her annoyance and climbed in, crammed in the middle seat because “you’re the smallest and legroom doesn’t matter for you.”

Cam and Madison had whooped and shouted, slapping a paper “Birthday Girl” crown on her head and dropping a package of Hostess Cupcakes in her lap.

“Let’s get this twenty-first-birthday party started!” Cam had shouted, her arm around Allie’s shoulders.

Allie had smiled, the way she was supposed to, but she didn’t miss the look Brad had given her in the mirror. Something sneaky, something snakey, something that didn’t bode well at all for the weekend.

They’d driven away from the campus, and almost immediately Steve had handed a thermos to Madison, shaking it meaningfully.

“A little juice for the party,” he’d said.

Madison had immediately opened it and guzzled a bunch, and then passed it to Allie, who didn’t want to drink alcohol at ten in the morning, and especially did not want to drink some mystery cocktail prepared by Steve. But everyone had been watching her and waiting, so she’d taken a sip and made herself not wrinkle her nose, because whatever was in there tasted like gasoline. Cam had shouted, “Yeah, girl!” and grabbed the thermos, downing a fair amount herself.

They’d passed the bottle back and forth, Allie taking only small sips, but Cam and Madison hadn’t seemed to notice. Despite limiting her intake, Allie had still dropped off to sleep in the back- seat, only waking when they had pulled up in front of the cabin.

“Where the hell are we?” she’d asked, sitting up straight. Cam and Madison were out cold on either side of her. Whatever Steve had put in that bottle had packed a punch. “This is not the beach.” “‘This is not the beach,’” Brad had said, his voice high and mocking. “I see why your GPA is so high. Nothing gets by you,

Brockman.”

Cam had stirred beside her, then sat up and looked out the window. “Are we there yet?”

“Well, we’re somewhere,” Allie had said, trying to draw on her patience. She’d had no idea where Brad had driven them, and since he was the only one in the vicinity with a car, she needed to convince him to stop fucking around and take them to the cottage.

“Is this the woods?” Cam had said. “A cabin in the woods?”

“Just like the movie!” Madison had squealed, jumping out and slamming the door behind her. Steve had followed, chasing her around the clearing in front of the cabin’s porch.

“Everyone died in that movie,” Allie had muttered. “Like, actually everyone.”

Excerpted from Good Girls Don't Die by Christina Henry Copyright © 2023 by Christina Henry. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Christina Henry is a horror and dark fantasy author whose works include Horseman, Near the Bone, The Ghost Tree, Looking Glass, The Girl in Red, The Mermaid, Lost Boy, Alice, Red Queen, and the seven-book urban fantasy Black Wings series.

She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on, and watching movies with samurai, zombies, and/or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son. Learn more online at www.christinahenry.net.

Published July 14, 2023 by Three First Names

When the dead return to abduct the living, the living turn into monsters…

Jarod Huntingdon wants more than anything to start a family, yet he’s unable to commit to his girlfriend and isn’t sure why. When the father of his childhood best friend, Scotty, passes away, Jarod takes the opportunity to return home to the remote rural community of Annastasis Creek for a season of soul-searching.

But overnight, a violent rainstorm traps everyone in the valley, blocking roads and severing communication with the outside world. And one by one, the residents of Annastasis Creek go missing.

While helping with the search efforts, Jarod learns of a curse as old as he is, one tied to the reappearance of the cicadas, first placed on the community after five young people perished in a house fire decades before. To temporarily appease the curse, defrocked Pentecostal pastor Uriah Zalmon must find a sinner to sacrifice.

The dead are returning to Annastasis Creek…

Can Jarod break the curse for good, save the innocent from the homophobic Covenant Trustees, and vanquish what the screaming cicadas have awoken?

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Lee Allen Howard, MA, MFA, writes horror, LGBTQ horror, supernatural crime, dark mystery, and psychological thrillers.

His pubs include THE COVENANT SACRIFICE, DEATH PERCEPTION, THE SIXTH SEED, THE ADAMSON FAMILY, PERPETUAL NIGHTMARES, THE BEDWETTER, MAMA SAID, DESPERATE SPIRITS, NIGHT MONSTERS, and SEVERED RELATIONS.

Published October 31, 2023 by Koehler Books

In 1818, Cillian Valour, an Irish rebel's son with limited prospects, is determined to marry his longtime love, Martha Ashworth, daughter of a local landlord. When her father forbids their engagement, Cillian turns to the heavens for help in an act of desperation-but it is a mysterious stranger that answers his call. After accepting an offer too good to refuse, Cillian and Martha are forever changed. Together, the star-crossed lovers turn away from the light and cut a swath of horror and misery across the land-until one night in Rome, the unthinkable happens.

Emily Corvo's life in modern-day Boston is upended by the murder of her mother and the disappearance of her father. Learning that her mother was callously slaughtered by something not of this world, Emily vows to rescue her father and avenge her mother by hunting down those responsible. But she may find that only by trusting the enemy can she quench her thirst for vengeance.

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Fionn Mac Meldrum was born and raised in Cork, Ireland. His passion for storytelling stems from a childhood immersed in Irish folklore and Celtic mythology, along with the Victorian classics. The Shadow of Banshee Hill is his debut novel. He is currently working on its follow-up, The Doldrums of the Damned. He lives in New England with his wife, daughter, two dogs, cat, and his ever-growing vinyl collection.

Published September 5, 2023 by Timber Ghost Press

Valerie Miller and her younger brother have spent their entire lives in the dreary town of Seven Sisters, where most people are resigned to a bleak future of debt and despair. But when a mysterious woman with a dark past arrives, she brings with her a gift that could transform the town's fortunes - and the lives of Val and Danny.

This extraordinary woman's power is both awe-inspiring and terrifying, capable of unleashing a force that will shake Seven Sisters to its core. The stakes are high, and danger is omnipresent. Can Val and Danny rise to the challenge and seize the opportunity to finally break free from the suffocating grip of their hometown? Or will they fall victim to the terrors unleashed by this enigmatic figure? One thing is certain--when the sun rises on Seven Sisters, nothing will ever be the same again.

Part creature-feature, part survival story, What Doesn't Kill You will keep you on the edge of your seat as Val and Danny fight for their lives and all of Seven Sisters.

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Published May 15, 2018 by Rockhill Publishing LLC

She's back and this time she brought a friend...

The story continues: the sequel to The Mistress of the Rock, is The Revenge.

Still smarting from Richard Cole's rejection, Aphrodite plans a series of events that will bring about his return to the island. Only this time, his welcome will not be so warm, as he will have to battle bureaucracy and the islanders' contempt for the devastating aftermath of his chance discovery and his sudden departure. In addition, he confronts his internal demons, and with his return to Cyprus, might completely consume him.

For Aphrodite is set upon a path of cold vengeance and summons the Scylla, a legendary cryptid of the deep, to do her bidding. The creature wreaks havoc on the once idyllic coast of Cape Greco and the tourist resorts of Ayia Napa, Protaras, and Paphos.

Richard must not only face his devils but also the goddess, if he is to stop the terror that now lurks in the Mediterranean's crystal-clear waters.

But how is he going to do it?

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Itching to write! 

by Myron edwards

Writing is like an itch, you know you want to scratch it, but you are afraid if you do it might bleed. That would be messy, so you ignore it. Till the next time. 

The problem is to use a much-overused metaphor that itch won't go away. Once the bug bites it is difficult to ignore. So what do you do about it? 

The best possible solution is to write down your thoughts. They may not have anything to do with your story, but what they do is get you used to putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. This is a good way to start the whole writing process. 

Some folks are fortunate they can just sit down and write without any pre-planning. But for new writers practice is essential. 

Look not everyone can write, in fact, most give up before Chapter Two. Why?

Because it is not easy. Writing like all things in life is a skill. 

Of course, the rules can be taught, that is the practical side, but the creative side is something different. Everyone has a story they can tell or a book in them so they say.  The difficult part is bringing that out. 

How to begin! The first question you ask yourself is why do I want to write this book? Is it to bring me fame and fortune or is that my story needs to be read by someone other than myself? If your answer is in the former fame and fortune, then you will need to have something unique and original. Plus, you will need an agent, a publisher, a promoter, an editor, and be in demand. 

So let’s go back to basics, what is your book about? Is it a true story, sometimes these stories are very popular and work well, is your book fiction and what genre is it?  Horror, fantasy, romance, war, history, to name but a few. Whatever the subject you will need to do some research. Why? because the more depth you can put into your story the more compelling it is to read, it is like building a house it won’t stand without the right foundations, the same is true when writing your book, build the story bit by bit. 

Now some people are lucky they can just sit down and type away, building the story as they type for most of us we need to gradually build the story chapter by chapter, introducing characters as we build.  

So plotting the book can be very useful, this way not only can you introduce characters into your story but you can integrate the action so that you can see what dialogue the character would use. 

Another useful tip is to use what they do in the movies and create character ARCS, this is basically the story of the character, from his or her beginning through the plot line, and shows what happens to them and how it affects the story and how they react with the other characters in the book. 

This way you will become more involved in the book because you are starting to see how the character and action evolves. Each chapter has a beginning middle and end as with the whole book so you want to make sure that what you are writing is a page-turner. Keep dialogue and action smart. 

This type of planning will help you become linked to the characters in your story and you will find it easier to write about them, it also is invaluable to the plot.  

Unlike the movies where everything is available to see and hear, a book is all about imagination, you must be able to conjure the feeling of what you are writing about, and believe it because if you don’t believe it how do you expect the reader too?  

Which brings me to my next point and probably the most important one of all? Writing is hard, no matter how talented you are, and no matter how good you are, you will at times struggle, you will doubt yourself, and you may even experience writer’s block, which means you are not able to write anything at all. 

But set aside these thoughts for a moment and consider this, once you start down the road to writing your book be it fiction or fact, you will need to sacrifice your time and your friends and family because writing is a solitary experience, for me it is the only way I can write.  Some people are fortunate that they can work with others around them and it doesn’t affect them, but from what I have learned most writers are solitary figures, with one aim to finish their story.   

So before embarking on this adventure consider what writing means to you and what is your objective.  And if you feel that itch coming on, scratch it.  

Born in 1952 in Orsett, Essex in England, the youngest son to Welsh parents Iris and Bill Edwards. Upon leaving school, he went into the travel industry, where he travelled the world, working in travel agencies, tour operators and airlines for some 30 years. In 1976 Myron began freelance writing for BBC, radio and television, his credits include the Two Ronnies, Week Endings, and the News Huddlines. In 1980, he joined JWT advertising, as a copywriter writing his first TV commercial for dog food inside 10 days.  His love for the creative never left him and in 1987 he created Tubewalking, a new map concept, to help people get around London easier on foot, which still operates today. In 1990 he married Niki, whose family background is Greek Cypriot.  On a family trip to Cyprus, visiting Aphrodite’s Rock for the first time, the beginnings of his passion to write the story of Mistress of the Rock came into fruition. Moving his family in 2005 to Cyprus to live, gave him the opportunity to write, as during this time he worked on campaigns for TV and Radio in an advertising agency in Limassol. The first manuscript of the book was completed in 2007, released by a local publisher it had a limited audience, but was well received by those who had read it. He has now completed the sequel and is working on the third part of this story. Myron has three children, two sons and one daughter all grown up.