Tag: Horror

Call for Submissions

Submissions open for Beautiful and Terrifying: Tales and Visions from the Edge of the Uncanny

Mandy Webster

There’s beauty in the things that unnerve us. Beautiful and Terrifying is the next anthology from Elderfly Press—an exploration of the eerie, the intimate, and the in-between. Submissions are now open for short stories, poetry, and black-and-white art that linger in the shadows of the strange and the sublime.

There’s beauty in what haunts us.
Submit to Beautiful and Terrifying today!

This collection seeks work that blurs boundaries—between beauty and fear, humanity and monstrosity, love and decay. We’re drawn to dark, literary narratives and haunting imagery that leave readers with a sense of wonder and unease. Not every story needs to fit neatly into horror or realism; the best pieces often live in the uncanny space between.

What Elderfly Press is looking for:

This anthology invites a wide range of voices and forms with themes of transformation, obsession, decay, beauty, violence, or the supernatural:

  • Genre fiction: horror, speculative, gothic, dystopian, weird, sci-fi, supernatural—anything that chills, disturbs, or unsettles
  • Literary fiction: moody, shadowed, emotionally raw
  • Poetry: rooted in chaos, shadow, or change
  • Visual art: black-and-white art that captures the eerie, surreal, or dreamlike
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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce is a haunting #spooktober thriller that cuts deep

Mandy Webster

Daisy Pearce’s Something in the Walls is the kind of book that makes you glance over your shoulder while reading. Equal parts folklore horror and psychological suspense, it delivers a chilling blend of witchcraft, mob mentality, and small-town secrets that feel both timeless and terrifying. If you’re looking for a gripping #Spooktober read, this one absolutely delivers.

Get your copy of Something in the Walls from my independent online bookstore today!

The story follows Mina, a young psychologist still finding her footing, who takes on the case of Alice Webber, a troubled thirteen-year-old girl in the remote village of Banathel. Alice insists she’s haunted by a witch, and her symptoms grow more alarming as the days pass. Mina, desperate to prove herself and help the girl, joins forces with journalist Sam Hunter. But Banathel is a place steeped in superstition, and the villagers have their own brutal methods of “dealing with” witches. The deeper Mina digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes—especially as echoes of her own past begin to surface.

Continue reading “Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce is a haunting #spooktober thriller that cuts deep” →
Author Interview

Interview with horror writer, Bryan Alaspa

Mandy Webster

Every anthology begins with the voices that bring it to life. As I launch this new series of interviews with the authors featured in Bad Moon on the Rise: An Anthology of the Unsettling, I’m excited to start with Bryan Alaspa—a writer whose love of horror runs deep and whose storytelling continues to unsettle, inspire, and keep readers turning pages late into the night.

This Halloween, Bryan Alaspa unleashes The Witch of November, where something ancient and deadly has awakened in the Great Lakes. As boats sink and body parts wash ashore, survivors Logan Field and Mike Quinton must confront a force even more destructive than the Piasa Bird. But can anyone stop a creature that commands the storms themselves?

Pre-order your copy now!

Bryan has been writing since his early fascination with sharks led him to discover Jaws and the idea that authors could create entire worlds from imagination. From there, he dove into horror with Stephen King’s Cujo, the gothic tension of Shirley Jackson, and the psychological unease of Poe. Those influences have shaped his own ability to build characters readers care about—and then, as he says, “do dastardly things to them.”

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Bad Moon on the Rise: An Anthology of the Unsettling is Here!

Mandy Webster

The wait is over! Bad Moon on the Rise: An Anthology of the Unsettling is officially released and ready to haunt your bookshelves. This collection brings together an extraordinary group of writers, artists, and creators who explore life under a dark sky—whether literal or metaphorical. From chilling short fiction to thought-provoking essays and striking black-and-white art, this anthology dives into the unsettling, the eerie, and the uncanny.

We are thrilled to showcase the work of our incredible contributors:

Continue reading “Bad Moon on the Rise: An Anthology of the Unsettling is Here!” →
Find Your Next Read

Kindle pre-orders now open for Bad Moon on the Rise: An Anthology of the Unsettling

Mandy Webster

The moon has turned dark, and something is stirring—Bad Moon on the Rise: An Anthology of the Unsettling is now available for Kindle pre-order!

What stirs when the moon turns dark? A secret long buried, a shadow at the edge of vision, a reckoning that cannot be avoided.

This collection gathers stories, essays, poetry, and art that explore the uncanny corners of life. Within these pages, you’ll encounter merpeople and vampires, terrifying nights in the wilderness, the quiet horror of domestic violence, poisonous plants, the extremes of human appetite, and all the small and large ways life can unsettle us.

Continue reading “Kindle pre-orders now open for Bad Moon on the Rise: An Anthology of the Unsettling” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Empty Cradle by Lisa Rookes is folklore-infused horror at its finest

Mandy Webster

What happens when the dream of a family turns into something dark and uncanny? The Empty Cradle by Lisa Rookes blends psychological suspense, folklore, and magical realism into a story that unsettles you in the best possible way.

Get your copy of The Empty Cradle from my independent online bookstore today!

The novel follows Amy, who has been going along with her husband Joel’s dream of starting a family—even though she’s never been completely sure motherhood is what she wants. Joel, more than Amy, is the one determined to have a child. But when she discovers he’s having an affair with her best friend, Amy flees to a dilapidated cottage in a Yorkshire village. Originally, she had bought the cottage with plans to flip it as a short-term rental, not to make it a home. Yet once she’s there, she begins to imagine that maybe she could create a life for herself in the village—if only the unsettling occurrences around her would stop.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Why Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan is the best novel I’ve read so far in 2025

Mandy Webster

Every once in a while, a book comes along that completely captivates your imagination and refuses to let you go. Salt Bones by Jennifer Givhan is that book for me—the #1 best novel I’ve read so far in 2025.

Get your copy of Salt Bones from my independent online bookstore today!

Set against the stark, blistering backdrop of the Mexicali borderlands and the eerie Salton Sea, Salt Bones is a darkly lyrical story of mothers and daughters, folklore and truth, justice and horror. Malamar Veracruz has lived her whole life in El Valle, raising two daughters while carrying the pain of her sister Elena’s disappearance years ago. When another girl goes missing, Mal is thrust back into that old nightmare, haunted by visions of a horse-headed woman tied to local legend. But as Mal and her daughters uncover layer after layer of family secrets, folklore, and lies, the story reveals what women have always known: men are the destroyers, and the women who try to protect others are too often turned into monsters themselves.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Haunted, cursed, and divided: exploring race and privilege in Del Sandeen’s This Cursed House

Mandy Webster

When Jemma Barker leaves 1960s Chicago for a new life in New Orleans, she doesn’t expect to uncover centuries-old curses, deadly family secrets, and the brutal realities of colorism and privilege. In This Cursed House, Del Sandeen takes readers into the dark, secret-laden corridors of a New Orleans family through the eyes of Jemma Barker, a young Black woman fleeing her life in Chicago. Desperate for a fresh start and haunted by the spirits she’s always been able to see, Jemma accepts a job with the enigmatic Duchon family—only to discover that their charm hides centuries-old curses and shocking prejudices.

Get your copy of This Cursed House from my independent online bookstore today!

Sandeen’s debut is steeped in Southern gothic flair, with a plot that twists around supernatural secrets, family betrayal, and the fraught complexities of race. The novel does an especially striking job of exploring how white-passing Black characters navigate privilege and fear, often at the expense of their darker-skinned relatives. It’s a sharp and unsettling examination of racism, colorism, and the extremes some will go to protect a tenuous hold on societal acceptance.

Continue reading “Haunted, cursed, and divided: exploring race and privilege in Del Sandeen’s This Cursed House” →
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Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez is a haunting epic of grief, power, and inheritance

Mandy Webster

Mariana Enriquez’s Our Share of Night is not an easy read—and that’s what makes it unforgettable. This sprawling, terrifying, and deeply layered novel moves through decades of Argentina’s history, entangling grief, family, colonialism, and the occult in ways that feel both intimate and vast.

Get your copy of Our Share of Night from my independent online bookstore today!

The novel begins with Juan and his six-year-old son Gaspar, reeling after the death of Rosario—Juan’s wife and Gaspar’s mother. They set out on a road trip to Rosario’s ancestral home, but this is no ordinary return to family. Rosario’s family belongs to The Order, a secretive cult that will stop at nothing in its pursuit of immortality. Their devotion is not to god or country, but to the Darkness, a supernatural force that demands unspeakable acts in exchange for power. Gaspar is their legacy, and Juan knows it.

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Facing the demons we inherit: a review of This Is My Body by Lindsay King-Miller

Mandy Webster

Shame is a demon—and sometimes it takes more than holy water to drive it out. In This Is My Body, Lindsay King-Miller delivers a gut-punch of a horror novel that fuses family trauma, queer identity, and religious extremism into a story that’s as unsettling as it is compulsively readable. At its core, this is a book about how the shame we inherit can twist us, haunt us, and, if left unchecked, destroy us.

Get your copy of This is My Body from my independent online bookstore today!

Brigid, a gay single mom, has spent years keeping her daughter Dylan far from the influence of her fanatically Catholic family. But when Dylan begins experiencing violent, terrifying fits that seem eerily familiar to an incident from Brigid’s childhood, she does the unthinkable—she goes back. Back to the home she swore she’d never return to. Back to her manipulative, self-righteous Uncle Angus, the priest who once “saved” a girl through exorcism.

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