J. Neira - cozy horror author & slush reader

I was a slush reader (slushie!) for this issue & I promise the stories included in here are amazing.

Ty! 🖤 😊

I like that title.

Thank you for the fun questions! I am honored that my cozy horror submission to @thatwilliambeck.bsky.social charity anthology honoring Matt has been accepted. It is one of my favorite stories & has never been published before. Looking forward to reading everyone's stories. ❤️

All's Well That Ends Well Read it now

Thank you, always! Grateful for this each week.

Come read my fiction. It's kinda cool. That's it I think.🖤

mybook.to/AllsWell

Thanks for another great #HorrorWritersChat, Eryn. As for what I have to promote, that would be my now public January featured story for The #ShadowBoxArchives. Given current events, I hope readers find it cathartic. If anyone likes my work, consider supporting us
open.substack.com/pub/shadowbo...

Here's a free one for you today: "The Mind Plays Tricks" with Dark Recesses Press. darkrecessespress.com/2022/04/27/t... The story was reprinted as part of my Shadow Hill collection (lucky number 13), so if you like it, consider trying the rest: books2read.com/ShadowHill #HorrorWritersChat

Thanks for another great chat! I just wanted to let you all know that Little White Flowers is now available in ebook on Bookshop, and Hallowed Deadly Seeds is available for pre-order there. (Link is an affiliate link and has all formats.)

bookshop.org/lists/books-...

#HorrorWritersChat

Thank you for the fun questions! I am honored that my cozy horror submission to @thatwilliambeck.bsky.social charity anthology honoring Matt has been accepted. It is one of my favorite stories & has never been published before. Looking forward to reading everyone's stories. ❤️

I love the gentleness of this one.

The mirrors in her house had been covered for years; she hadn’t seen her own face in so long. As she stared at her reflection, she realized she no longer looked like the doll in her hands. The girl staring back at her resembled her beloved older sister. Time had changed her.
#HorrorWritersChat

Her palms sweated as she clicked send. She closed her eyes. There, done.

She looked back at the screen, and her heart clambered into her throat. Already a reply?

She swallowed heavily as she opened the message.

"Thank you for reaching out. I am away on vacation ..."

#HorrorWritersChat

Yes!

I wake up. I shower, brush my teeth, I avoid. THE MIRROR. I didn't mean to see. Most days my eyes blur reflection. But today I saw. The scars, my monster. My skin sheds, my head throbs, my eyes focus. It's coming, my revenge. It's ugly. It's beautiful. I'm ready. They're not.

#HorrorWritersChat

I'm cheating a little…I didn't write this today. But it does seem to fit. #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWritersChat

It can’t be. I made sure. There was no doubt. No room for error. I don’t make mistakes. And yet, somehow, here I am. Still alive. I look at the day and I think ‘please, not this again’. I’m not supposed to be here. And now I can’t face another attempt. Just in case I fail, again.

#HorrorWritersChat "You can't escape it anymore!" No, please! I'll do anything! "It's too late!" I have to run! "Damn it, Steve, you put off cleaning your closet for months, and look what happened! There's a fucking junk monster terrorizing the neighborhood all because you hate doing chores!

#HorrorWritersChat

Deep breath. Hold it. Let it out. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Don't open your eyes yet. No need to see her yet. This is all time only in your mind, all time just for you. Hold it. You can do this. Open your eyes and say it.

"Hi, I'm..."

Oh. She's gone.

Sonia's sister avoided entering the basement of her house because her sister's ex told her he saw a wild man hiding in there. When she finally descends, she realizes there is no beast & the ex was just trying to get back at her for her sister's ghosting him!

#HorrorWritersChat Q4

The thing stares at me with all of its eyes, the eye-mouth splitting into a smirk, spilling glutinous fluid down its chin, still humming. I know the tune, but I can't name it. When I finally turn to the thing, that wet eye-grin widens. "It's your next hit song," it says. #horrorwriterschat

Sonia's sister avoided entering the basement of her house because her sister's ex told her he saw a wild man hiding in there. When she finally descends, she realizes there is no beast & the ex was just trying to get back at her for her sister's ghosting him!

#HorrorWritersChat Q4

#HorrorWritersChat

Anything to do with mental decline and psychosis. It terrifies me, because I've seen the effect of it - I've worked in it and had some personal experience from a loved one.
But to see things that are real, that yet are not: it bothers me. I write about PND and PPP a lot. Brr.

I remember writing Woman in White and I just could not write one scene. At that point I'd written the dark, terrifying stuff.
To write where Emily 'saved' the people she thought were most at risk? By god.
It broke me. It broke me to write it. it broke me to edit. It still does.

#HorrorWritersChat

I keep putting off my goblin fantasy book but it's not because of fear, it's just I'm busy with my horror novel heh. But I am squeamish about killing too many characters, so there's a scene in one book I'm putting off just in case I change my mind.
#HorrorWritersChat Q3

As a survivor of DV, I find that I often return to the topic of violence against women/femme-presenting people, gaslighting, and downplaying reasonable reactions to things or using those reactions against them. It’s a very real horror, and that’s what makes it scary.
#HorrorWritersChat

I don't think I've discovered one yet. I write vastly different kinds of plots and horror genres but I've yet to find any that actually make me uneasy #HorrorWritersChat

Agreed. 👀

It's a fair concern. I think Stephen King has written some very intense gross scenes too, so hopefully most people in horror wouldn't judge you. Trigger warnings can be helpful to those who would mind imo

Understandable. I used to worry about my dad reading my stories & ranting at me. But he doesn't read anymore so I'm safe there, lol. Though my mom did once chide me for one of my progressive storyline.

Abuse, be it emotional, sexual, or physical. Having suffered this in my life from more than one person, I feel the need to write it in fiction using different forms to articulate it. It is hard to write, but I have the past wounds so I use them for the present.
#HorrorWritersChat