Ever read a horror story or watched a horror movie and felt your stress just melt away? If you’re outside the genre, you might not. But if you’re inside the genre, it might happen quite often. In fact, I’ve often talked about the soothing effect of horror on certain fans, both here and on YouTube. And now, I’m pleased to announce that an essay I wrote about the subject, “Scary Catharsis,” has been published on The Horror Zine!
I’m very pleased, as this is a subject I’m quite passionate about, and The Horror Zine is a well-known publication and website among horror fans and horror creators. So, to have the essay published in such a cool magazine is an honor. And who knows? Maybe this article will get people who would never have considered it to try horror to relax. You never know.
I’ll include links to the article and to the October issue, in which the article shows up, below. If you like what you read, please let me know what you think. Also, let me know what horror films or books you consider very cathartic and relaxing. Personally, I find Prince of Darkness never fails to put me in a good mood. And when I was moving, Needful Things by Stephen King helped keep me somewhat sane during the transition.
Also, thank you to Jeani Rector for publishing my essay and for being so patient with me. I know it wasn’t easy.
That’s all for now. Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares, and 35 days till Halloween. Remember, chupacabras need homes too.
I wasn’t planning on writing a blog post just a few hours after the last one came out. But like the title says, I had some unexpected good news (as well as permission to share the good news), so I might as well write a post.
As some of you may remember, last year I wrote an article about writing romantic subplots in my stories while being aromantic. If you’re unaware, that means I can’t feel romantic desire or attraction. It’s a real thing, is experienced by possibly one-percent of the world’s population (the research into this is still in its early days), and is coded into our DNA. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to share my experiences writing romance when I have no experience nor desire to be romantic, so I wrote an article about it.
That article was published last year by Interstellar Flight Press in their online magazine, and continues to get reads to this day (trust me, I get stat updates regularly). And I just found out from the editor of Interstellar Flight Press, Holly Walrath, that my article will appear in Interstellar Flights Best of the Year anthology, Volume 6.
I cannot say how honored and excited I am about this. Not only does Interstellar Flight Press publish some really great fiction and non-fiction, they publish a lot of it. So, the fact that they were impressed by my essay enough to include it in their annual Best of anthology means a lot to me.
At the moment, there’s no word on a release date. However, given that the anthology covers material published in 2024, and we’ve got about four months and two weeks left of 2025, I would assume they would be releasing it in the near future. Whenever if comes out, I’ll be sure to let you all know.
In the meantime, if you would like to read the essay yourself, I’ll include a link below, as well as a link to Interstellar Flight magazine. I hope you’ll give them both a look, and let me know what you think about the article.
And until next time, Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares.
I’ve been meaning to write and post this all Saturday. But I slept in way later than I meant to, and then my day got busy, and…oh wait, it’s Sunday? Shit. Well, might as well get to the good news, then.
So, you might remember back in January, I got my first acceptance of the year, a non-fiction article about how people move on after learning their favorite celebrities have monstrous sides. That article, “Being in the Fallout: Options to Take When Your Heroes Reveal a Dark Side,” was released on March 1st by Trollbreath Magazine. Which, at the time this blog post came out, was yesterday!
I’m really proud of this article. A few times of year, we find out a celebrity we love is evil or has some really dark stuff in their history, and it’s not always easy to move on or even to figure out how to react. This article goes over the most common methods, while also incorporating some well-known examples of problematic or even horrible celebrities.
If you’re at all interested, please consider giving the article a read. Like I said, I’m quite proud of it and would love to hear your thoughts on it. Plus, reading it, or even purchasing a copy of the magazine, would help Trollbreath immensely in the long run. I’ll leave a link below.
I would like to thank Trollbreath for publishing my article and being my first publication of 2025. Especially with this article. It really means a lot to me. And I would like to thank my critique group, who helped me get this article into shape prior to submitting it. As I tell people, writing is a solitary act, but getting that writing into print takes multiple hands.
Now, before I go, my Followers of Fear, there’s some more news/reminders I want to share:
First, I have another non-fiction article coming out later this year. Not sure exactly when, but it might be sometime in summer. I’m really looking forward to it, as it’s going to be from a well-known horror publication. I can’t wait for you to read it.
This Saturday, March 8th, I will be at the Akron Book Fest at the Akron Downtown Library in Akron, Ohio. I’ll be there representing HWA Ohio, so I won’t be selling books or doing Tarot readings, but I’ll be happy to talk to you about the books our members put out and how awesome horror is. So if you’re in the area, please stop by!
And that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll probably have something out again very soon, so keep an eye out for it. But until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
So, I’ve mentioned it here and there, but I am aromantic. I cannot feel romantic attraction or desire, and I frankly have no desire to (though I love writing romantic subplots into my stories) I even wrote about being aromantic in a post on Valentine’s Day last year. And not too long ago, I wrote an article about writing romantic subplots while being aromantic.
That article just came out today!
Interstellar Flight Press is a small science fiction and fantasy press that publishes both books and a magazine. The latter publishes both flash fiction and essays, with the essays ranging in topic from geekery and pop culture to the publishing industry and, as you can see, personal essays on writing. They expressed an interest in my essay when I mentioned it on Twitter, back when I was still on Twitter, so I sent it to them. And today, it’s been published.
The article is on the magazine’s website, which is published through Medium. You may need to create an account to access it, but I tell you, it’s worth the read. Yes, I’m biased, but I get to discuss aromantic representation, writing horror, and even Sailor Moon, all in one article. If that’s not worthy of reading, then I don’t know what is!
Anyway, I’ll leave a link below. I hope you’ll check out the article and let me know what you think. I’m excited to read your comments on it. It’s my first article and my first new published piece of work for 2024, so I have high hopes for it. Not to mention, I hope it’s the first of many pieces released this year (or accepted, I’ll take that, too).
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I really can’t wait to discuss the article with you. Until next time, good night (or good morning, I guess? It is 10 AM my time when this is releasing) and pleasant nightmares!
So, if you haven’t heard of Ginger Nuts of Horror, it’s a huge website dedicated to horror and the horror community. Reviews, interviews, scholarly articles, you name it, they have it. Previously they’ve published a few articles of mine, and I’m happy to have another article on their site. This one is called “From Slender Man to the Backrooms,” and explores how horror folklore such as Slender Man and the more recent Backrooms goes viral.*
If you have a few minutes available, you can go and read the article online now. No paywalls, so you can read it without any issue. And if you like what you read, or disagree with my ideas, I hope you’ll let me know what you thought. I’d be happy to continue the discussion with you all.
Just be respectful if you disagree with my opinion or if you have a thing against Slender Man or anything. I know it’s all the rage to rage at people who disagree with you, but this blog is a place to show respect.
Anyway, link’s below. I look forward to hearing what you think of the article. In the meantime, I’ll be writing during the commercial breaks. Are you watching American Horror Story tonight? God, this season is really good! I hope they can keep it up for the rest of the season.
This post is going all over the place, isn’t it? Oh well, it’s my blog, so a little randomness is to be expected. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!
You know, I meant to get this out earlier, but a lot has happened today. My apologies on that.
So, as you can tell from the above title, I had two acceptances for publication! And get this, the confirmation emails came this morning after I woke up! How about that? Nice thing to wake up to, all told. And it gave me something to tell people when I was out seeing people I hadn’t seen in a while earlier today.
Anyway, the first acceptance is from House of Stitched magazine, the same magazine that published my article on the character trope of the broken child (links below). It’s another article with them, but this time it’s a review of Stephen King’s first Richard Bachman novel, Rage. Yeah, it’s an old novel, but it’s out of print nowadays and as far as I’m aware, no one from the millennial generation, my generation, has ever written a review of it. Thus I read the book and wrote one. I’m interested to hear what people think of my thoughts of the one book King let fall out of print.
The second acceptance is from the Dublin Creative Writers Cooperative. No, not Dublin, Ireland, though that would be cool. Dublin, Ohio (you may recognize it as having been mentioned in my novel Rose). Anyway, last year I co-wrote a short story with my fellow author and Member of the Tribe Richard Gerlach called “The Hanukkah Massacre.” The story follows a pair of feuding Jewish families whose rivalry suddenly escalates one Hanukkah. The anthology we wrote it for originally passed on it, but we kept looking, and now it’s being published in the anthology Dead of Winter from the Dublin Creative Writers Cooperative. We’re both very excited for everyone to read the story.
Man, what a year it’s been. I still can’t believe how many of my stories and articles have been accepted for publication. And there’s always a chance that more stories will get accepted.
It’s funny, but just the other day, I decided to make my writing goal for the rest of the year to ensure I get a few more acceptances before 2022. And now I have two. That was fast! I didn’t even have time to agonize how close the end of the year was coming and how little progress I’d made! I’m sure the brooding would have been epic.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m probably going to watch and review a horror movie soon, so keep an eye out for it. And, of course, I’ll be working on new stories and letting you know if there are any pieces of big news to share. Or random thoughts. Plenty of that, too.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares!
Kid you not, July was a tough month. Yes, there were plenty of acceptances and publications that happened, but there was also a lot of shit that hit the fan in my personal life. I’m really hoping August is a much better month for me. Luckily, there’s something already improving the state of things: an article I wrote was published!
You may remember back in May that I announced I had a couple of acceptances, including an article in the Fall 2021 issue of House of Stitched magazine. Well, I’m pleased to announce that the House of Stitched magazine Fall 2021 issue is now available, and it contains, among many great stories from a variety of talented horror authors, my article “The Horror of the Broken Child.”
What is “the broken child,” you may be wondering? Well, I would tell you, but I would rather you read it in the magazine. I will tell you that it is a character trope I’ve noticed quite a bit in horror stories but nobody is talking about. So, I decided to talk about it in the form of an essay. And House of Stitched magazine liked it enough to publish it. I’m very hopeful that the article will be well-received and maybe spark some further conversation and debate on the trope I’ve identified.
Hell, I’m even hoping some people disagree with my assessment. I think more scholarship on horror writing is a good thing, and if people disagree with me and want to write about it, then good. As long as it brings more understanding about the horror genre and leads to new stories and ideas, all the better.
Just be nice if you disagree with me or you disagree with those who disagree with me. There’s no reason to get nasty over certain things, is there?
Anyway, I hope you’ll check out House of Stitched magazine. Besides my article, there are short stories and articles from numerous other authors, including Brian Keene and Maxwell Ian Gold, the latter of whom is a friend of mine and quite the talent. Not only that, but supporting the magazine will allow for more issues to be made in the future, which will allow more writers to publish their work in the magazine. I can’t think of a better reason to buy a copy, can you?
The purchase link is below. I hope you enjoy reading the magazine and that you find my article illuminating. Thanks again to Lisa and the team at Stitched Smile Publications for publishing my article. Now, if you need me, I’ll be spreading the word over social media and then taking care of various other things in my life. Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares!
Also, “next time” will be tomorrow morning. Something big is coming, and if you’ve been paying attention, you likely know what it is. Looking forward to seeing you there!
I know you all are desperate to hear about ParaPsyCon went after this past weekend. And believe me, I want nothing more than to tell you about it. However, getting that post out is going to take time. Especially when you have a day job and need to sleep.
But I didn’t want you to think I had fallen off the face of the Earth or anything, so I thought I’d let you know about a piece of good news. I recently wrote and had another article accepted by Ginger Nuts of Horror, the same website that published my article on that the spider scene in 1958’s The Fly. This article, however, is quite different. This article is about THE THEATER!!!
“When The Theaters Reopen, They Should Do More Horror Stories,” is about how Broadway and the West End, as well as local and regional theaters, should consider putting on more horror-themed productions. Why? Because theater is going to be very popular once the pandemic is over (let’s face it, we love the experience), both theater and horror are escapes for their respective audiences, and after the horrors we’ve experienced during this pandemic, we could use a double escape.
Of course, I go into more detail as to why we should have more horror productions and even give some suggestions as to stories that I feel would make great stageplays or musicals. Obviously, I avoided my own work,* as well as the classics and Stephen King (he’s had more than a few stageplays based on his work). What works did I suggest? You’ll have to read the article yourself to find out.
And then, if you can and willing, I hope you’ll help me make this pitch a reality. I would love to see some more horror stories on stage. Whether it would be a Broadway show or something more local.
Also, a big thanks to Ginger Nuts of Horror for publishing another article by me. I’m happy you like what I have to say and feel it’s worth sharing. Hopefully, I can send you something else in the near future. Especially with at least one story coming out this year (fingers crossed for another one at some point or another).
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I am tired, so I’m going to go to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I can at least start on my recap of ParaPsyCon. Until then, good night and pleasant nightmares.
*Though I would be flattered if someone wanted to adapt my work for the stage.
**I mean, you could mention my work if you wanted. Just remember, flattery won’t get you anywhere with me.
Pour the drinks! Start the party music! Feed the dragon bats a little extra blood and meat with their dinner tonight! I’ve had two acceptances! That’s right, you read that correctly. Two. And I am so excited that the editors loved them enough to include them in upcoming publications, let alone that you will get to read them.
So, the first acceptance actually came last week, but I only just got permission to start screaming from the high heavens. A short story I wrote is being accepted by “The Jewish Book of Horror,” an anthology from the Denver Horror Collective coming out this holiday season in time for Hanukkah. That’s right, a book emphasizing horror from a Jewish slant. When I first heard of that, I knew I had to write something for it, which I did: a short story called “The Divorce from God.”
I’m adding to Jewish literature! It’s not typical Jewish literature, but I’m not complaining!
“The Divorce from God” is a story that was inspired by the New York divorce coercion gang. For those of you who haven’t heard, the New York divorce coercion gang was a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews who forced men into divorces. Yeah, even the Jews have our fair share of fanatics, and they do bad things sometimes. In this case, they meddled in divorces. In traditional Judaism, divorce has to be granted by the husband, and occasionally that’s held over the wife’s head to hurt her. Normally, non-violent means are sought to encourage the husband to grant a divorce, but in this case, the gang members went to violent means. It’s pretty sick and twisted stuff and I encourage you to read up on it if you’re curious.
Anyway, I took the case and put my own fictional spin on the story. After letting some beta readers give me some feedback, I made some edits and submitted it. And I’m happy to say it’ll end up in the anthology! Woo-hoo! I get to be part of a big contribution to Jewish literature while still being scary! I’m sure my parents and teachers and rabbis are proud of me.
Also, apologies that I didn’t write a blog post for this story like I usually do. The subject matter and the targeted anthology was so specific, I didn’t want to post about it only for it to maybe get rejected. But I’m telling you now, so it’s all good, right?
And today, I got some more good news! I wrote an essay recently on a character trope I call “the broken child.” What is that? Well, you’ll have to wait till August to find out. It’s going to be published in the August edition of House of Stitched magazine (don’t you just love that name?). They were looking for articles on the craft and process of horror writing, and I’d been turning over some article/essay ideas in my head, including an examination of the broken child. I wrote it and sent it in, keeping my fingers crossed. And today they sent me a contract. I signed and now I’m on cloud nine!
I mean, wouldn’t you be? Last year, I was only able to release one story. But two months ago, I was able to get an article published on Ginger Nuts of Horror and release a new scary story. And in just one week, I was able to get a short story and an article accepted as well! It’s very encouraging and makes me hopeful for what’s to come.
I’ve been writing up a storm lately. Glad to see it’s been worth it.
A big thanks to the Denver Horror Collective, who will be putting out “The Jewish Book of Horror,” for accepting “The Divorce from God.” And an equally big thank you to the team of Stitched Smile Publications, the publisher of House of Stitched magazine, for accepting “The Horror of the Broken Child.” I’m so excited to be working with both of you and I hope your readers enjoy my contributions as much as I hope you did.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you’ll pick up a copy of the August issue of House of Stitched magazine and “The Jewish Book of Horror” once they’re released. I’m off to enjoy a walk in the nice weather. I’ll probably also have a beer or two tonight in celebration as well. And I’ll be working on my next short story as well. Gotta keep up the writing and submitting so I can get a few more stories out there.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, stay safe, pleasant nightmares, and don’t approach my dragon bats! They may be cute, but they’re alpha predators for a reason.
A small screenshot of the website article I took on my phone earlier today. It’s had nearly twice as many shares since then.
You’re probably looking at that title and thought, “Oh, he published an article and–wait, what?” Well, let me explain.
Ginger Nuts of Horror is a well-known and well-regarded horror website on the net. They do news articles, reviews, and the occasional essay or feature, among others. Not too long ago, I sent them a copy of Rose for them to hopefully review in the near future, and their editor encouraged me in the meantime to consider sending them an article for their website. I liked the idea, but I couldn’t think of anything to send them that would be worth their time…until recently, that is.
I recently saw Kurt Neumann’s 1958 film The Fly for the first time. I wasn’t expecting to be scared, but I was expecting to be entertained. And I was…until I reached what could be considered the second climax of the film, the spider web scene. And I. Was. TERRIFIED!!!
Which, honestly, I didn’t expect to happen. It’s a B-grade science-horror film with dated effects that, even when it was released, were more goofy than scary. And yet this one scene left me in terror. Which made me ask, why? Why did this scene scare me (and presumably others) so badly.
This led to me writing my article, “Why the Spider Web Scene in The Fly is Actually Terrifying.” As you can tell from the title, I break down why that scene is so terrifying element by element. It’s a bit longer than some of my blog posts, about fifteen hundred words, but I think you’ll find it worth the read. I’ll include the link below. At least, nearly a hundred people have shared the article across social media since the article went live this morning, if that’s any metric.
I would also like to thank Jim McLeod and the team at Ginger Nuts of Horror for publishing my article and even giving Rose a shout out after my bio at the bottom of the article.* It was great to work with you guys, and I hope I can send you guys something you would be proud to post again very soon. I’ll also make sure to post a link to the website and the associated Twitter account in case any of you want to check them out.
This scene may look hokey, but to many people, including myself, it’s quite terrifying.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you’ll let me know what you think of the article once you’ve finished reading it. I’m also curious to know if any of you were as scared of the 1958 version of The Fly as I was. I’m not alone in that, right? Right?!
Until next time, pleasant nightmares and be careful when doing teleportation experiments. You never know what’ll happen if you don’t do the proper safety checks.
*This also counts as my first publication of 2021. I’m quite happy about that, especially after how sparse 2020 was.
Rami Ungar The Writer 