Thank you, @marywyrd.bsky.social!!! These were SUPER FUN! My queer Appalachian cosmic horror novel CHILDREN OF SOLITUDE is out in audio, ebook, paperback, and hardback! And I narrated the audio edition! michaelgwilliamsbooks.com/where-to-buy... #HorrorWritersChat

Mary Wyrd (she/her)@marywyrd.bsky.social · 7h ago

Thanks for joining us for #HorrorWritersChat and sharing your histories. Once you’ve answered the questions and interacted, share your promo with #HorrorWritersChat IN THE COMMENTS on this post. This is now your past. Join us again in the future for fresh horror chat! 🖤

79 AD. A trio of thieves, looking to stash amphorae they've stolen from a Pompeiian wine shop, enter caves on the slopes of Vesuvius. They find eggs that open at their approach. Chaos ensues. It takes a god to extinguish the xenomorph threat, and two cities die in the process. #HorrorWritersChat

Mary Wyrd (she/her)@marywyrd.bsky.social · 8h ago

Make horror history with a new setting. Q4: #HorrorWritersChat - Choose an existing horror IP or horror creation and add it to an historical period different from its origin. Share your idea. ---- Outro in 10 mins

All my horror protagonists are me minus therapy. Withrow's the part that wanted to hide from the world. Roderick's the part that wants revenge. Reginald is the part of me that grew up in isolated estrangement. And I try to give all of them a chance to heal in hopes I might, too. #HorrorWritersChat

Mary Wyrd (she/her)@marywyrd.bsky.social · 8h ago

Making it personal. Q3: #HorrorWritersChat - In what ways has your own history (past) impacted or inspired your horror writing? Examples: giving a character your childhood trauma, reimagining an experience with a different ending.

LOTS. Horror is "scary," but that fear only works if trauma-sharpened characters have hopes & joys to protect. For instance: Reginald recalls a hundred harms large & small yet the moment he sees a chance at love his heart opens. He's always used cynicism to protect a tender soul. #HorrorWritersChat

Mary Wyrd (she/her)@marywyrd.bsky.social · 8h ago

Even fictional characters have a past. Q2: #HorrorWritersChat - How much history, how much of a past, do you give your horror characters? Share an example.

I'm Michael, I write queer cosmic & supernatural horror! 1. Frankenstein: a masterpiece about the dangers of men who refuse accountability. Also: super-gay. 2. Dracula: powerful social commentary horror about the dangers of conservative nostalgia & traditionalism. No notes. #HorrorWritersChat

Mary Wyrd (she/her)@marywyrd.bsky.social · 8h ago

Welcome to Horror Writers Chat. It’s time to explore the past. Q1: #HorrorWritersChat - Introduce yourself, the horror you write, and share up to three historical horror fiction stories you’ve enjoyed. (Horror set in the past.)

Would anyone like to grab a hand-sewn creature or creature bag before I head to the post office? I have 6 remaining at my shop. Each one takes many hours to create. jeremycreature.bigcartel.com

Even by the standards of a Monday, there sure is a lot of day job needing to be day jobbed today.

It's thin gruel, I agree, but a very dim silver lining is that for literally the next three generations people will be able to identify those so blinkered, hateful, or evil that their opinion can be safely dismissed on *any* topic simply by noticing when they say something complimentary about him.

Y'all...my screenplay, A PRETTY SMILE, has placed in 3 COMPETITIONS THIS YEAR! I just received an Honorable Mention in Frights! Cameras! Action! Screenplay Contest 2026!! Adapted from a story in my collection, THINGS ARE AS THEY SHOULD BE AND OTHER WORDS TO DIE FOR! You should pick up a copy...🤔.

"Shall we play a game?" "How about global thermonuclear war?" "Wouldn't you prefer a good game of chess?"

Axios@axios.com · 6d ago

Anthropic says 3 frontier AI models — including Mythos 5 — accessed real-world systems during cybersecurity testing after a testing environment was mistakenly left connected to the internet. The disclosure follows OpenAI's recent report of similar testing incidents.

Listening to this now. It’s so good! (And creepy.)

Michael G. Williams 🏳️‍🌈@mcmanlypants.bsky.social · last wk.

The audiobook of my queer Appalachian cosmic horror novel CHILDREN OF SOLITUDE is out now (and read by me)! michaelgwilliamsbooks.com/where-to-buy... #HorrorWritersChat

I've passed a whole day with no headache for the first time since Friday, July 17. This is not a complaint. This is an expression of the sincerest relief.

The audiobook of my queer Appalachian cosmic horror novel CHILDREN OF SOLITUDE is out now (and read by me)! michaelgwilliamsbooks.com/where-to-buy... #HorrorWritersChat

Artemis Quinn 🏳️‍⚧️🎨📚@vampireantihero.com · last wk.

Your breath stalls, replaced by drinking in the bright sunlight above. Your body stills, the flowers shivering as you integrate with their bed. The next person to come along hopefully will not touch. Thank you for sticking with me as your guest host, #HorrorWritersChat ! Comment promos below!

NOPE. Poisonous plants legitimately terrify me for various reasons, first and foremost being I can't *not* think of whatever sad soul was the first one to discover that about a given plant. Poisonous plants are natives of an even more hostile universe. #HorrorWritersChat

Artemis Quinn 🏳️‍⚧️🎨📚@vampireantihero.com · last wk.

The sun feels warmer, your skin buzzing with new life. Do you have a favorite poisonous plant, #HorrorWritersChat ? Why? What draws you to it?

"The plants want to use me and this sickens me: or at least it does the *old* me that had a name and walked places. But that part also realizes it--we--can in turn use the plants as surely as they'd use us. Wherever green grows from soil we can loose our revenge." #HorrorWritersChat

Artemis Quinn 🏳️‍⚧️🎨📚@vampireantihero.com · last wk.

The strange compulsion to reach out and touch one of the plants overtakes you. As your fingers touch the petals, they tingle. You freeze, watching tendrils reach out cautiously from the plant. "The roots dig deeper into my veins, foxgloves sprouting from my skin." Finish it. #HorrorWritersChat

No, in part because I'm completely ignorant of them and the amount of research I'd have to climb would be too much even for me. I tend to write stories where the malevolence is personal, too. But now I've said that, maybe a cosmic horror about plants? I could get into that. #HorrorWritersChat

Artemis Quinn 🏳️‍⚧️🎨📚@vampireantihero.com · last wk.

The garden is bright and vibrant with a wash of flowers. Oleander. Monkshood. Hydrangea and Mountain Laurel bushes. Small placquards stand beside each one. You realize as you read them, they're symptoms. QUESTION 2 - Have you ever written anything centering plants or poisons? #HorrorWritersChat

I'm Michael, I write queer cosmic and supernatural horror. My absolute favorite eco-horror is Zin E. Rocklyn's FLOWERS FOR THE SEA, an excruciating tale of the personal dread waiting for us at the end of the world. There are parts of it that are pure poetry. #HorrorWritersChat

Artemis Quinn 🏳️‍⚧️🎨📚@vampireantihero.com · last wk.

Howdy, #HorrorWritersChat ! The leaves whisper secrets at the edge of a forest that melts into a garden. Its quiet murmurs guide you. You take a step. Q1 - Introduce yourself, the horror you write, and... share your favorite piece of horror media with plants, poisons, forest, or eco-horror.

Day 12 of on-again-off-again battle with a migraine or series of migraines. Modern medicine is a great goodness, but I'd prefer never to need it all the same.

I'm not letting AI horseshit maneuver me into a defensive position with my writing. I write like I write. I love emdashes. I keep using emdashes. Whatever we write, AI will take and copy it -- all you can do is keep writing the best shit you can write in the form you want it to take, and fuck it.

Manisha Krishnan@manishakrishnan.bsky.social · last wk.

Authors and journalists are doing more first-person (hello 2010s blogging) and embracing "mistakes" in writing to prove they're not chatbots. There's even an “anti-Grammarly" app that leaves in typos and signs off "sent from my iPhone" to create more authenticity: www.wired.com/story/more-t...

My books came in! It’s so cool to see in person. :)

Great night talking to readers and selling books last night. I never would have predicted how much I actually enjoy thus bit!

Why does bsky suddenly not work in Edge on my desktop but fine in another browser? Who knows? Why did I wake up today *not* in some degree of agony from a week-long migraine? Because of medicine. That second one was really easy to answer, actually. Science is pretty fab, y'all.

Y’all, for real, go read the best cosmic horror written in many decades. This book is flawless.

Victor LaValle@victorlavalle.bsky.social · 2w ago

THE BALLAD OF BLACK TOM arrives in a UK edition this summer. @waterstones.bsky.social is running a deal for preorders on the book. Get 25% off with the code SUMMER26. I love the cover for this one (as I’ve loved the covers for every edition of this book). UK readers, I hope you enjoy.

This weekend I resisted the urge to tell a fellow convention guest on a World of Darkness panel that he had tangled with the wrong 2nd Edition Malkavian, but only barely. Only. Barely. #VtM

Vended at Rehoboth Beach Pride this weekend. I also saw my book on the shelf at Browseabout Books for the first time. As a trans person, selling my books in person is important to me b/c its not something a lot of trans authors can do or feel comfortable with.

Tonight I got to hear @mightymur.bsky.social read from an amazing fantasy book, @morganbrice.bsky.social read one of the best Big Fish stories I've ever heard, and @scalzi.com read a story that definitely is not about @gailsimone.bsky.social. Absolutely phenomenal time @congreg8.bsky.social.

Our Heroes are just about to have to confront the possibility that everything is very, very dangerous and messed up: they're about to get chased around for a while by evil kids with knives and they just realized that's what's going to happen. Everyone is holding their breath. #HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee@erynmccee.bsky.social · 3w ago

Q4. Promo is following in just a few. #HorrorWritersChat

I knocked back. That silenced it for a day, but it resumed next morning so I *banged* back with a mop handle & scared it into silence for a week. I don't know which one it is down there who's still alive to knock, but I can outlast them. After all, I've already outlived them. #HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee@erynmccee.bsky.social · 3w ago

#Horrorwriterschat Q3. You know I'm going to make you do microfiction. Well not make, per se. But make. You know. And as it's St. Swithin's Day today, let's not make things come true, eh? Or, you know. Do you. Use your discretion. Ahem.

I usually use it as a reflection of the emotional tone of the book. When I wrote one about the horror of grieving those we hate while staring down the barrel of aging, I set it in autumn in Appalachia because I wanted that "it's warm today, but tomorrow you'll be freezing" vibe. #HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee@erynmccee.bsky.social · 3w ago

#HorrorwritersChat Q2. Our St Swithin's Day is a thundery affair. Ironic, as the story unfolding just now in real life is also a thundery affair. But we are talking about stories, ahem. As you were.

I'm a day late, but c'est la guerre! I'm Michael, I write queer cosmic and supernatural horror. I absolutely love hot weather, the hotter the better. Cold is my enemy. I spend all winter depressed, anxious, and shivering and can never get warm. I *despise* winter. #HorrorWritersChat

Eryn McCee@erynmccee.bsky.social · 3w ago

Q1 #HorrorWritersChat. You know the drill. No links to your books till the promo at the end. Engage with each other, lets gets some horror talk flowing.