Fantasy Books – Write on the World

From gothic horror and tragic romance to epic fantasy and southern folklore, Laura Holt writes with a deep love for stories that blur the line between myth and reality. Holt is also featured in Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny with her short story “After Alice,” a fitting addition to a collection shaped by eerie beauty and unsettling imagination. In this interview, Holt reflects on the authors who shaped her creativity, the unexpected lessons she’s learned about storytelling and publishing, and the themes she returns to again and again in her work. She also discusses writing authentic stories in a trend-driven world, finding inspiration in mythology and folklore, and why coffee, cookies, and carefully curated playlists remain essential parts of her creative process.

Author Laura Holt discusses mythology, horror, storytelling, and her short story “After Alice,” featured in Beautiful and Terrifying.

Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today?
A: Some of my earliest literary influences were authors like Roald Dahl, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, R. L. Stine, and J.R.R. Tolkien. For me, Dahl’s book The Witches was my gateway read to the fantasy genre, likeable villains, and morally gray characters, so he will always hold a special place in my heart. Poe and Shakespeare introduced me to poetry and short stories, as well as tragic love and darker subject matter, both of which play a big part in my writing today. And there is one author who has cracked the code on how to write the perfect story every time, it is Stine, so along with reading his books for a good scare, I study his writing style a lot.

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Author Interview

Inside The Girl with a Thousand Faces: Sunyi Dean on Gothic horror, Chinese folklore, and morally complex characters

May 26, 2026May 8, 2026 Mandy Webster

From the haunted corridors of Kowloon Walled City to the restless spirits woven through Chinese folklore, Sunyi Dean writes horror that unsettles as much as it mesmerizes. In this interview, Dean discusses the cultural history behind The Girl with a Thousand Faces, the challenges of balancing myth with historical inspiration, and why morally complicated characters fascinate her as a writer. She also reflects on grief, forgiveness, experimental narrative structure, and the Gothic and speculative authors who helped shape her distinct voice in contemporary horror fiction.

Sunyi Dean discusses Chinese folklore, Gothic horror, and the layered themes behind her haunting new novel, The Girl with a Thousand Faces.

Q: The Girl with a Thousand Faces blends Gothic horror with Chinese mythology and the real history of Kowloon Walled City. What drew you to that setting, and how did you approach balancing historical inspiration with the supernatural elements of the story?
A: Hong Kong is the place I grew up and learned Cantonese in (though I’ve since lost that language.) I have a complicated relationship with both the city itself, and my family ties there. It is a place of contrasts and contradictions, of extreme modernity and old traditions. I loved portraying it, and tried to keep the ‘important’ aspects of history as true as possible. A lot of trial and error was involved, and many rounds of edits. Whether the balance is right I will leave to the reader to decide!

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Children by Melissa Albert is a haunting story about the danger of becoming someone else’s myth

May 22, 2026May 15, 2026 Mandy Webster

There’s something deeply unsettling about the idea of growing up inside a story that never really belonged to you. In The Children by Melissa Albert, releasing June 2, 2026, childhood becomes both a performance and a prison as two siblings struggle to survive the legacy their mother built from their lives. The result is a darkly hypnotic literary fantasy that feels as though it’s flickering between reality and nightmare the entire time you’re reading it.

Guinevere and Ennis Sharpe grew up as the unwilling inspirations for their mother Edith’s wildly beloved Ninth City fantasy novels. To the world, they were magical children adventuring through an enchanted realm. In reality, they were neglected kids growing up isolated in rural Vermont, half-feral and largely abandoned while their mother disappeared into the mythology she was creating around them. Albert builds both timelines—the children’s traumatic upbringing and adult Guin’s unraveling in the present day—with a sense of inevitable catastrophe. Every chapter feels like a countdown toward something terrible waiting just beyond the firelight.

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Author Interview

Author interview with fantasy and contemporary adult fiction writer, Abby Lattanzio

April 1, 2025January 2, 2025 Mandy Webster

Hello, and welcome to this week’s featured author, Abby Lattanzio! Her work includes fantasy (The Elementals) and contemporary adult fiction (Remember Me Tomorrow).

Abby Lattanzio hails from central Illinois and has been writing since junior high, when she learned the stories in her head could become something more. She graduated from Northland College with a degree in writing and is a cellist in her local orchestra. She can often be found hiking, reading, watching New Girl, or crafting, and is owned by two cats who barely tolerate each other.

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Author Interview

Author interview with romantasy writer E.A.M. Trofimenkoff

March 25, 2025February 20, 2025 Mandy Webster

Inspired by Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two of her all-time favorite female pirates, E. A. M. Trofimenkoff is the author of the Dark Depths duology as well as their contemporary romance, You and I Collide.

In A Kiss of the Siren’s Song, two women disguised as men board a pirate ship: one set on revenge, the other escaping land and the bounty on her head. The two of them quickly find themselves in the middle of a voyage to find the world’s most dangerous weapon: the Kraken’s Fang.

Even worse, their evil captain has a far more nefarious plot in mind. Can the two unravel the sea of secrets, and save the world? Or will their budding feelings for each other result in their downfall?

Q: What/who were your early literary influences, and how do you think their writing has shaped you as a storyteller today?
A: I think The Hunger Games was the first book to make me truly fall in love with reading. So much so that I still remember exactly where I was when I read it for the first time, and every year when it snows, it reminds me of that trip, and I have to pick up the series and re-read it. To this date, I’ve read the original trilogy over thirty times, and it remains my favourite series of all time. Now that I am writing my own stories, I am inspired to write complex characters who aren’t always loveable, who go through their challenges and come back with scars to show for them, and it’s given me the courage to explore difficult narratives that involve impossible decisions and the consequences that accompany them.

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Author Interview

Author interview with J.L. Mathews, prolific writer and president of the St. Louis Writers Guild

February 18, 2025January 28, 2025 Mandy Webster

Jessica Mathews published her debut picture book, The Old Man and the Pirate Princess, in 2017. Since then, she has published more than twenty seven books, including picture books, early reader chapter books, and several adult works under her pen name J.L. Mathews.

Mathews began writing stories for children at a young age. Her father would write down all of the stories she told him, and they would read them together at bedtime. She hopes her books will inspire others as much as her favorite books inspired her when she was growing up. She wants her work to motivate others to create something of their own to share with the world.

Jessica is the current president of the St. Louis Writers Guild. She recommends every writer join a literary organization to network with other writers and find their people, reading as much as you can and doing what you love. Jessica lives in St. Louis with her two cats, Storm and Knight. She also recommends adopting as many cats as you can.

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