That Cosmic Horror Life
So, I'm about a third done on the writing in a new book. I love genre-bending, and this time I'm smashing together folk horror and cosmic horror. There was this random idea I had for years now, and after doing some more research, I realized I had a way to combined both genres. Stuff like this is fun for me. Horror is fun for me.
Authors like Clive Barker and Brian Lumley were essential early influences, along with Warren Ellis, who sadly turned out to be an asshole. Today I'm inspired by the likes of Mary SanGiovanni, John Claude Smith, Michelle Garza & Melissa Lason, Adam Cesare, Livia Llewellyn, Laird Barron, Somer Canon, Edward Lee, and many more. It seems like every week I find a new author who blows my mind with their talent.
My first few books were a mess. It took me a long time to find my voice. I still consider removing those early works off Amazon every day. It wasn't until I took a few years off to concentrate on writing short stories that everything started to come together. I had already read everything Lovecraft had to offer, dipped into many of his contemporaries, then began exploring modern cosmic horror. So much of what I found were simply Lovecraftian knockoffs. Then I discovered the likes of John Claude Smith and Laird Barron, and this changed everything for me.
This type of cosmic horror made sense to me, especially when supported by my own early influences. If Barron was noir, and Smith was artsy, I could add in whatever flavors I wanted. Cosmic horror wasn't about the monsters, it was about the nihilism, the epic scope.
THERE IS DARKNESS IN EVERY ROOM from Sinister Grin Press was an alien abduction story on the surface, but is a sci-fi/cosmic horror tale about Outer Gods using us as puppets. CELESTIAL SEEPAGE from Alien Agenda Publishing is a urban fantasy/cosmic horror tale about higher entities using a small town on earth as a prison. BLEED AWAY THE SKY from Bloodshot Books (the 1st in a series) is also a urban fantasy/cosmic horror story about a young woman with powers fighting again nightmares from another dimension. HUNGRY RAIN from Severed Press is my creature-feature/cosmic horror tale, a camp resort turned into a bloodbath. The just released OUR CARRION HEARTS from Bloodshot Books had the tag line Wendigo vs. Witch, and while it's marketed as a supernatural splatterpunk, there's definitely cosmic horror in there.
Oh, and I finished a 72K novel during quarantine that's slashers/cosmic horror. It's super weird.
I started writing a straight up futuristic sci-fi/cosmic horror novel with starships, aliens, and colony planets - but I shelved it for now. The whole thing needs reworked and streamlined. There were too many info dumps in the first 10k words, and I didn't know how to work around that in its current setup. I really like the idea though, so I'll ruminate on it for a few months while I write this one now.
This new book has been a lot of fun to write. When I'm not hammering away on it, some of you may have noticed I've been wasting time over on TikTok. Yeah, I know... but it's actually entertaining, and I've snagged a few sales out of it. There aren't that many authors over there, and I honestly think I'm the only one that writes horror.
The dumbass stuff we do so people will read our books, eh? But that's ultimately the point. I've never cared about the cash, I just wanna share my stories.
I love cosmic horror. I love how chaotic and vast it can be. No rules, no answers. It's disappointing when authors think this genre has to be a, b, c. Cosmic horror is a feel, and if anything, a lack of details. I have outlines for like seven more novels, not counting whatever nonsense I come up with, so you're stuck getting more from me. Sorry.
