Writers on Writing

Valley of the Bees: The novel I wrote in 16 days—and the story that refused to end

Valley of the Bees is the book that taught me I could actually finish a novel—or at least something very close to one. I wrote it right after finishing my creative writing graduate program, at a moment when I had plenty of ideas, plenty of ambition, and absolutely no completed long-form fiction to show for it.

Get your copy of Valley of the Bees from my independent online bookstore today!

Up to that point, I considered myself a pantser. I wrote by instinct, followed my curiosity, and trusted the story to reveal itself as I went along. The problem was that nothing ever made it to the end. Clearly, my preferred method wasn’t getting me where I wanted to go.

So, I set myself a challenge.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Wind Witch Murders by Casey Dunn — A haunting coming-of-age in southern gothic

The whole town was just waiting for the death of the Wind Witch before moving forward, and it held Raven back all along. In The Wind Witch Murders by Casey Dunn, that tension becomes the engine of a story about inheritance, fear, and the struggle to claim your own life when everyone around you believes they have a right to it.

Get your copy of The Wind Witch Murders from my independent online bookstore today!

Raven has grown up under the heavy hand of her devout Christian grandmother, the woman who took her in after her mother, Deanne, was convicted of the ritualistic murders of two boys. Deanne never confessed, never explained, and never stopped haunting the edges of Raven’s identity. Now that she’s dead, the town seems to exhale—almost as if it had been waiting for permission to move on. But Raven doesn’t get that luxury. Not when a stranger places a single feather on her mother’s casket, a quiet signal that whatever Deanne was mixed up in is still alive.

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