Elderfly Press is seeking submissions for a new anthology of stories and poetry exploring an unsettling question: What will become of us?
Submissions for What Will We Become of Us? are open through December 15, 2026.
We are living through a period of enormous uncertainty. The world around us is changing rapidly, and the future can sometimes feel impossible to predict. The institutions we rely on are shifting. Technology is transforming how we work and communicate. Economic pressures affect where and how we live. The environment is changing. Political and social divisions seem increasingly difficult to bridge. At the same time, individuals are constantly navigating their own smaller transformations: growing older, falling in love, losing someone, starting over, becoming parents, leaving home, changing careers, discovering who they are, or realizing that the person they thought they would become is no longer who they are.
So, we want to ask the question: What will become of us?
Kathy Hess writes with a sense of devotion to both story and craft, weaving together fiction and poetry that linger in memory long after they’re read. Her short story “First Drink” and three accompanying poems in Beautiful and Terrifying reflect her fascination with the supernatural, the emotional depth of relationships, and the quiet rituals that shape a creative life. In this interview, she shares the literary works that first sparked her imagination, the discipline behind her daily writing practice, and the ways in which memory, family, and imagination continue to guide her work across forms.
Kathy Hess is the author of “First Drink” and three poems featured in Beautiful and Terrifying. Her work blends the supernatural with deeply human moments.
Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today? A: One early literary influence that has stuck with me was when I read Les Misérables in high school. It was the summer project, and I loved it. I bought a copy myself and read it so much the following years that the cover broke off and the binding split in half. I would keep the two halves of the book tied up with a ribbon. I have other copies of the book now, but I still have the crumpled, warped, coverless version with the pink ribbon holding it together.
Emily J. Weisenberger writes speculative fiction that blends curiosity, humor, and sharp observation, creating stories that feel both imaginative and grounded in real human experience. Her short story, “Marrying Age,” featured in Beautiful and Terrifying, reflects her interest in exploring culture, identity, and the complexities of the worlds we build—both real and imagined. In this interview, she discusses the authors who shaped her early love of storytelling, how her background in anthropology informs her approach to character, and the balance of absurdity, heart, and insight that drives her work across genres for both children and adults.
Emily J. Weisenberger, speculative fiction author and contributor to Beautiful and Terrifying, whose story “Marrying Age” explores the complex boundaries between culture, identity, and imagination.
Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today? A: Eva Ibbotson (Which Witch?, Island of the Aunts, Journey to the River Sea) and Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events) were authors I came back to again and again as a child and have continued to draw from as an adult. Their stories were so strange and so full of heart. Goodness persevered in Ibbotson’s books, while life was harsh but weatherable in Handler’s. Both gave me important and different ways to view the world, and lessons in how to capture young people’s sense of curiosity about life. These are still among my favorite books.
In this contributor interview, William M. Chippich—author of the upcoming novel Nevermore: The Heir, The Witch, and The Fool and contributor to Beautiful and Terrifying—shares the literary influences, writing habits, and creative philosophy that shape his character-driven fiction.
William M. Chippich brings a deep love of character-driven storytelling to every page he writes, whether he’s crafting the darkly atmospheric short story “Three or Four Miles, Mostly Flat” for Beautiful and Terrifying:Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny or building the richly imagined world of his forthcoming novel, Nevermore: The Heir, The Witch, and The Fool. In this interview, he reflects on the writers who first shaped his imagination, the discipline and creativity behind his process, and the themes of love, hope, and the unknown that continue to guide his work. From comic book legends and literary classics to the quiet rituals of everyday writing life, Chippich offers thoughtful insight into what it means to tell stories that truly connect with readers.
William M. Chippich, contributor to Beautiful and Terrifying and author of the upcoming Nevermore: The Heir, The Witch, and The Fool is pictured at Dunnottar Castle in Scotland.
Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today. A: My earliest influences were writers like Stan Lee, Chris Claremont and John Byrne of Marvel comics. The great comic book writers of that era are very overlooked. Stan Lee in particular made comic writing and stories legitimate. After that, everything from Mary Shelley to Steinbeck, Hemingway, and too many classics to name. Guys like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Christopher Moore are definitely stand outs for me as well. Every one of these great writers build amazing worlds, but I think the real influence on me were their characters. They make fantastic, fictional beings seem real to people. You love them, you hate them, you feel for them. That’s the real magic of these greats.
In this contributor interview, poet Emily Persichetti Schuster discusses her work in Beautiful and Terrifying, the themes of grief and memory that shape her writing, and the creative process behind her deeply personal poetry.
Emily Persichetti Schuster writes with a quiet intensity, exploring grief, memory, and the fragile threads that connect identity, family, and place. Her work in Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny reflects a deep attentiveness to both the emotional and the everyday, drawing inspiration from poets like Marie Howe and Mary Oliver while carving out a voice distinctly her own. In this interview, she shares how early reading shaped her imagination, how she balances writing with the demands of daily life, and why poetry remains a powerful way to hold both individual moments and larger, unfolding stories.
Q: What’s a memory of a story or book that made you realize you wanted to be a writer? A: Roald Dahl’s The BFG is the first book I remember reading completely on my own, when I was in early elementary school. I loved all Roald Dahl’s books when I was a kid, and I love reading them to my kids now. Through all the creepy, uncanny, and seemingly hopeless events of his books, the heroes always prevail because they’re never willing to give up. His books taught me to face my own fears and build resilience in the face of adversity.
The best way to understand a city is to walk it—and on my first morning in Indianapolis, that’s exactly what I did. I’m currently on my very first house sit through TrustedHousesitters, caring for two incredibly sweet, easygoing dogs. While they’ve been wonderful company during my downtime, this trip has also doubled as something I want to be intentional about moving forward: a writing retreat. Building travel around writing time—quiet mornings, unstructured afternoons, space to think—feels less like a luxury and more like a necessary shift in how I want to move through the world.
Much of downtown Indianapolis can be seen from the canal walk.
That mindset carried into my first full day, which started with a solo walk along the downtown canal. The full three-mile loop offers one of the most immersive introductions to the city you could ask for. The path winds past water, public art, and a cluster of museums that practically guarantee I’ll be back. It’s the kind of place where you don’t feel rushed. You notice things. You let the city unfold at its own pace.
Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny, the newest anthology from Elderfly Press, will be released on April 23, 2026, bringing together haunting fiction, poetry, and black-and-white artwork that explore the strange space where beauty and fear collide.
The cover of Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny, Elderfly Press’s upcoming anthology of eerie fiction, dark poetry, and black-and-white art, releasing April 23, 2026.
I’m thrilled to finally share the release date for this collection, which has been such a meaningful project to bring into the world. From eerie woods and submerged cities to folklore retellings, grief-soaked landscapes, and intimate encounters with the supernatural, this anthology embraces the unsettling and the sublime in equal measure.
In Mother Is Watching by Karma Brown, releasing March 17, 2026, a routine art restoration spirals into a chilling exploration of surveillance, bodily autonomy, and the quiet horror of a society that thinks it knows what’s best for women. What begins as the story of a haunted painting becomes something far more insidious—a dystopian nightmare hiding beneath a gothic veneer.
Get your copy of Mother is Watching from my independent online bookstore today!
Mathilde “Tilly” Crewson, a thirty-nine-year-old art conservator and mother, is hired to restore The Mother, a fire-scarred painting rumored to be the lost fourth work of a female surgeon-turned-artist. Not long after the canvas arrives in her home, Tilly discovers she is unexpectedly pregnant. Then the insects come. The whispers. The visions of her long-dead mother. The line between psychological unraveling and supernatural intrusion blurs as the painting’s influence tightens around her.
A viral video destroys one young woman’s future in The Plans I Have for You by Lai Sanders, and what follows is a gothic-tinged descent into revenge, obsession, and the perilous gap between justice and annihilation.
Releasing March 17, 2026, Sanders’s debut has already been named one of Publishers Weekly’s Most Anticipated Thrillers of 2026, but this novel resists easy categorization. It blends psychological suspense with sharp social critique and an undercurrent of supernatural ambiguity that keeps the reader unsettled from the first page.
What happens when escaping your marriage means hiking into one of the most dangerous stretches of wilderness in America? In How to Survive in the Woods by Kat Rosenfield, released March 10, 2026, survival isn’t just about the forest—it’s about the stories we tell ourselves to stay alive.
Set in Maine’s infamous Hundred Mile Wilderness, the novel follows Emma Sharp, a woman raised by a doomsday prepper and later shaped by the ruthless startup world. Now trapped in a suffocating marriage to Logan Grant—a charismatic, image-conscious tyrant—Emma has come to see her relationship as both prison and protection. A cage keeps you in, but it also keeps you safe. Until it doesn’t.
