Elderfly Press

Introducing Mother Monster, Father Fiend: An Anthology of the Monsters Who Raised Us

Some monsters live under the bed. Others tuck you in at night.

I’m excited to announce the publication of my newest anthology, Mother Monster, Father Fiend: An Anthology of the Monsters Who Raised Us, edited by me and published by Elderfly Press. This collection has been a particularly meaningful project because it explores something that can be difficult to talk about: the ways the people who raise us can also hurt us.

We tend to think of childhood as a time of safety and parents as the people who are supposed to provide that safety. But families are complicated, and not every child grows up in a home where love is unconditional or protection is guaranteed. Sometimes the people who are supposed to nurture us become the source of our deepest wounds. Sometimes those wounds follow us into adulthood. And sometimes breaking the cycle means confronting what happened and refusing to let it define what comes next.

Continue reading “Introducing Mother Monster, Father Fiend: An Anthology of the Monsters Who Raised Us” →
Find Your Next Read, Poetry by Mandy Webster

How Do You Spell That Sound? My new picture book is here!

I’m excited to announce the release of my new picture book, How Do You Spell That Sound?—a playful celebration of language, imagination, and all the wonderfully strange sounds that don’t always fit neatly into words.

Have you ever heard a sound and thought, “How do you even spell that?”

A sneeze. A crash. A buzzing bee. The sound of something squishing, popping, rattling, or roaring. We have plenty of words for sounds, but sometimes the best way to capture a sound is to invent one of our own.

Continue reading “How Do You Spell That Sound? My new picture book is here!” →
Writers on Writing

It Had to Happen: Time, grief, and the illusion of control

It Had to Happen begins with a devastating, almost clean fracture in a man’s life: Jack Utley loses his daughter just as his business is finally about to take off. In that moment, success and loss become entangled in a way that feels almost transactional—like one has been traded for the other. Jack is left doing what many grieving parents do in fiction and in life: trying to assign meaning to something that refuses to make sense. Then the story shifts into something far less predictable.

On the eve of his daughter Callie’s funeral, Jack encounters a mysterious woman. After that meeting, he wakes to find that time has somehow rewound itself to the morning of the accident. Suddenly, he is given what grief never allows in reality: a second chance. He saves his daughter’s life. But the novel is not interested in treating that as a simple gift.

Continue reading “It Had to Happen: Time, grief, and the illusion of control” →
Writers on Writing

Occult satire, unreliable men, and a very bad cat: A deep view inside the novel, One Bad Cat

One Bad Cat is a novel that grew out of a simple premise and ended up somewhere far stranger, funnier, and more psychologically tangled than it first appeared. At its core, it’s an occult satire built around two intersecting storylines: a psychology professor who is turned into a cat by members of his coven, and a man trying to keep his life from falling apart after he lets a persistent stray cat into his apartment.

Dr. Stephen Scott begins the story in a position of intellectual authority. He’s a psychology professor with an interest in the occult, someone who believes he understands systems and people well enough to stay a step ahead. That control collapses when a group of female coven members cast a spell that transforms him into a cat. From there, his storyline tightens into something immediate and claustrophobic: a mind trapped in a body that no longer obeys it, focused on revenge, survival, and the recovery of a charm bag that contains the source of his power.

Continue reading “Occult satire, unreliable men, and a very bad cat: A deep view inside the novel, One Bad Cat” →
Events

Meet me at the Midwest Holiday Market to get signed book copies for the reader on your shopping list!

Join me this Friday and Saturday, November 1st and 2nd at the Village Square Mall in Effingham, Illinois for the Midwest Holiday Market! If you have book nerds on your holiday shopping list, then you HAVE to stop by my booth and check out my books and other bookish gift ideas.

The 2024 Midwest Market Holiday Show takes place this Friday and Saturday, November 1-2 at the Village Square Mall!
Continue reading “Meet me at the Midwest Holiday Market to get signed book copies for the reader on your shopping list!” →
Conventions & Conferences, Events

Meet the author at Nightmare on 2nd Street in Chillicothe, IL!

Join me this Saturday, October 26th for Nightmare on Second Street at Chillicothe City Park (Chillicothe, IL) in support of brain tumor awareness. I’ll be selling and signing my books along with lots of other bookish and spooky gifts at my vendor booth.

The 2024 Nightmare on Second Street takes place this Saturday, October 26, at Chillicothe City Park.
Continue reading “Meet the author at Nightmare on 2nd Street in Chillicothe, IL!” →
Author Interview

Author interview with thriller/suspense author, Mandy Webster

As I’m promoting my latest novel, It Had To Happen, it occurs to me that it might be fun to answer some of my own author interview questions so my readers can get to know me a bit better. The list of questions is quite long, but I typically ask authors to choose their favorite ones. I’ve probably gone a bit beyond what the average author would provide, but hey– it’s my blog!

Q: When did you first catch the writing bug? What drove you to persist?

A: As far as I can remember, I’ve been writing stories since I learned to write. The stories themselves are often what drive me to persist. Most of my story ideas that have become novels have been ideas that got stuck in my head and wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote them. At times, it seems I might be a hostage to my own muse! It’s okay though because we get along well—most of the time!

Continue reading “Author interview with thriller/suspense author, Mandy Webster” →
Writers on Writing

I have a dream. And a goal. Lots of writing goals. But I need your help to get there.

I’ve been writing for a long time. I have published a handful of novels that honestly haven’t been widely read. It’s really hard to get people to read your books if you don’t have a big name or someone like Oprah or Reese or Jenna promoting your work. Sometimes, I can’t even give them away. Needless to say, I am not earning a living from my writing.

Before you start to feel too sorry for me, I must admit that I am no starving artist. At least not since I started working two full-time jobs (don’t worry, they’re cake jobs: it’s not as bad as it sounds). We are a dual income family, so we’re not exactly hard up for money. Unfortunately, both incomes must be earned by one person, me. I officially got my single-parent family out from under the poverty line about two years ago, and things have steadily improved for us since. Where I’m going with this is that money is no longer the issue, per se. But the time I am spending making money instead of writing is getting to be an issue.

Continue reading “I have a dream. And a goal. Lots of writing goals. But I need your help to get there.” →
Novel Writing

Even Google Bard has read One Bad Cat!

I asked Google’s new artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Bard, if it had read my latest book, One Bad Cat, and it turns out it has! Not only that, but Bard gave it a glowing review. Here’s what it had to say:

“Yes, I have read One Bad Cat by Mandy Webster. It is a humorous fantasy novel about a psychology professor who is turned into a cat by his female coven members. The novel follows Stephen as he tries to adjust to his new life as a cat, while also plotting revenge on his coven members.

Continue reading “Even Google Bard has read One Bad Cat!” →
Novel Writing

New Book Title: One Bad Cat by Mandy Webster

In case you missed it, I released my latest book, One Bad Cat in 2022 with little fanfare. This was one of those pieces you write and then are afraid to share because it’s almost like lifting your skirt and showing everyone your underwear. I had a lot of fun writing One Bad Cat but was a little afraid of the reception it might receive. So, I quietly put it out there and waited.

After having a few people read the book and getting a lot of (unexpected) good feedback — from some of the most unexpected readers, no less — I took some time to add a new cover and decided to do a re-release. So here it is!

One Bad Cat by Mandy Webster

Dr. Stephen Scott is a psychology professor who dabbles in the occult. When his female coven members cast a spell to turn him into a cat, he vows to seek revenge. But first Stephen must find a way to open his safe so he can get to the charm bag that is the source of all his power.

Continue reading “New Book Title: One Bad Cat by Mandy Webster” →