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This month’s newsletter is short and sweet, as I have a cover reveal to share with you today for my latest poetry collection, Gods Always Eat Their Children.

Quick Facts about GAETC

• Publisher:

• Release Date: 17 November 2026

• Cover Artist: Drew Huff

• Genre: Poetry

Book Description

Set against a burning world, Gods Always Eat Their Children is a sharp collection of poems that interrogates grief, survival, and the role of power in humanity’s undoing. Through the echoes of ancient deities and the immediacy of our neighbors’ screams, these poems braid Roman myths with the violence of modern headlines. What emerges is an unflinching body of work that insists on a resilient, rebellious hope in a world shaped by greed, corruption, and indifference.

How You Can Help

Pre-orders are vital for the success of any book. I am immensely proud of this collection and am thankful for my publisher taking a chance on me! If you are interested in purchasing the collection, please click here.

If you cannot purchase at this time, sharing information about the collection would be appreciated! Word of mouth is still very powerful in the world of independent publishing. Reposting graphics, newsletters, or reels on Instagram are very helpful at getting the word out!

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.

Stay safe, stay spooky.

—G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, appeared in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

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The last month has been a whirlwind. Where to begin? I suppose we should kick things off with some updates about my most recent release.

One Month of Neon Moon

My honky tonk slasher, Neon Moon, has been out in the world for a little over a month! Despite hiccups with distribution through Amazon, we’ve made it work. My book is holding steady with its ratings on Goodreads and there seems to be, overall, positive feedback about my little book of guts, blood, and country music.

The life cycle of a book for a small author like me is short. So, I am still seeking opportunities to chat about Neon Moon on blogs or podcasts. If you would like to purchase my book, please consider purchasing through my publisher, Dark Matter Ink, at the link here.

StokerCon AKA Horror Prom

I’ve got quite a few new readers on Substack here who are not a part of the Horror Sphere in publishing. So let me give you a quick rundown of what StokerCon is.

In short, it’s an annual literary convention for creators in the Horror genre but is also inclusive of other subgenres such as Dark Fantasy. There are academic conferences, classes, librarian days, a film festival, and the Bram Stoker Awards. Think of it as the Oscars for Horror.

I enjoyed seeing so many friends this year, though I did have to miss a day due to traveling for my grandmother’s funeral. I am very thankful to friends Bridget Brave and Elizabeth Broadbent for offering to drive me to and from the airport on Friday.

I was fortunate to be a panelist for the dark poetry panel hosted by Stephanie M. Wytovich where we discussed the history of dark poetry. My background is in Russian poetry so I stuck with Akhmatova, Pushkin, and Mandelstam for the discussion.

After that I moderated the Be A Dear: Trad Wife Horror panel. Wow, this was so well attended, thank you to everyone who came! The panelists were rock stars, and we had such an intriguing discussion. I’m still thinking about the threads to pull with respect to Trad Wife horror and culture on social media.

Pittsburgh is a dream. It was my first time there and I want to go back already. I even got to check out a mural I’ve been wanting to see by artist Lord Cardak, who is from one of my ancestral villages!

Multi-Book Deal Signing

Check out my wares! I’ve sold my forthcoming collection Gods Always Eat Their Children to along with my comedic horror novella Date Night, and first novel Night Hag!

Seeing as my collection will be coming out rather soon, you can expect more chatter about that on main. If you follow me on Instagram, you can catch a few readings of some of the pieces before release day.

I’m incredibly proud of Gods Always Eat Their Children. I feel that this poetry collection forced me to improve my craft and better examine the world around me beyond the headlines. So much of this collection is a response to what is going on in the world. How does one cope with the constant onslaught of information? I’d argue that we weren’t meant to consume media the way that we do now through social media…and this is something I try to grapple with in the poems I write along with my feelings and observations around war, environmental collapse, and the political structures around them.

I am also so thrilled to share that my friend and fellow poet, Pedro Iniguez, was kind enough to write the forward. It is very thoughtful and made me tear up when I read it.

So much of poetry, regardless if it is fictional or not, is an act of vulnerability. Knowing there is someone out there who understands my voice as a poet and sees what I see makes the world feel a little less lonely.

I can’t wait to share this collection with the world!

Book Signing at Lahaska Bookshop!

If you live in the Philadelphia metro area, come meet fellow author and friend, Emily Ruth Verona, and myself as we sign our books at Lahaska Bookshop in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on July 11!

That’s it for now. I hope you all are having a peaceful June. I’ll be writing and editing this month and trying to hide myself in a hole to get all the things done.

Stay safe, stay spooky.

-G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, appeared in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

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It’s been one week since the release of Neon Moon! I am so thankful for the support I’ve received from readers, old and new, and the traction it’s been getting online. Neon Moon was recently featured in Cemetery Dance by and I am over the moon!

Let’s get the big thing out of the way, first…

Amazon is a Lint Licking Cootie Queen

We love supporting small presses and independent bookstores here. Hell, Neon Moon is published with a small press! But it would be naive of me to believe that readers won’t purchase my book through Neon Moon. Accessibility and affordability matters, and unfortunately Amazon is the number one retailer to deliver on that front.

At present, the paperback version of Neon Moon is not available through Amazon. This is frustrating for both my publisher and I. The reason for this, in short, is that Amazon and IngramSpark do not play well together in the sandbox.

Amazon prioritizes its own service, KDP, and is known to adjust the prices and availability of titles distributed through IngramSpark. This results in lower visibility and fulfillment for these titles.

In short, we are aware of this issue and my publisher is working with IngramSpark to resolve this issue!

In the mean time, if you would like to purchase a physical copy of my book, PLEASE consider purchasing it directly from my publisher Dark Matter Ink, through Bookshop.org, or through your favorite independent bookstore. You can also purchase it through Kindle or Kindle Unlimited.

Thank you for your understanding and patience on this front!

Thank you Bookstagrammers

I love Bookstagrammers. They are the best. It truly makes my day to see Neon Moon tagged in so many cool and creative posts. I just want to feature a few bookstagrammers who have supported Neon Moon recently.

Thank you Podcasters

I have been so fortunate to appear on a few podcasts to talk about Neon Moon and Texas horror. Most notably you can catch me on

• Horrifically Well Read, Bled, and Said with Rebecca and Adam Allen

• Blood on the Typewriter with Robbie Dorman

• Books in the Freezer with Stephanie Gagnon

• Winterviews Series with Katherine Silva

And I will be recording with the lovely next week! I will drop a link to that episode when it airs, but you can catch us talking about music and horror recently on our episode with William Sterling and Keith Rosson to celebrate the release of Punk Goes Horror 2!

What I am Up To!

I have a big announcement on the horrizon that I can’t talk about yet. I am itching to share! Let’s just say a few of my projects have found a home and I am so thankful to work with folks who understand my voice as an author.

I also have another short story that will be published later this year. I can’t talk about that quite yet either, but stay tuned.

What I Am Reading and Listening To

Books: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

Music:

Zjerm by Shkodra Elektronika

• This is an Albanian singer, and wow I love this song so much!)

In My Room by Julia Wolfe

• Do you love Twilight?

• Do you love Paramore?

• Were you also a fucking mess when you were broken up with by your shitty high school boyfriend? (What's' up Ari, this song is for you lol) Just kidding I am fine and happily married. This man just dragged my seventeen year old heart through the mud and back and tried to cozy back up to me to ask for relationship advice with another girlfriend of his when we went to the same college and made it all so weird! I could write a whole messy saga about the toxicity of first loves y’all lol If you see him in Brooklyn throw a bagel at him for me.

That’s it! I’m getting tremors in my hands because of my stupid chronic illness. I have circulatory problems, hooray!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Stay safe, stay spooky.

=G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, appeared in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

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Today marks the 7 day countdown for the release of my honky tonk slasher, NEON MOON! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I’ve received quite a few new subscribers recently thanks to a recent post of mine celebrating the author copies I’ve received in the mail. Welcome! This is where I tell you I am a horror author! I hope you will stay and join our vibrant world in the horror space.

I’ve loved this genre for as long as I can remember. I am heavily influenced by dark poets of the past such as Sylvia Plath and Anna Akhmatova. Contemporary works I adore are The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas and Smothermoss by Alisa Alering.

In a recent feature on This Is Horror, I mentioned that my novella Neon Moon is a love letter to Texas. I was fortunate to have lived there for four years in the wonderful city of San Antonio. I miss my Texas friends dearly! Neon Moon is an homage to Texas culture, Western literature, and beloved slashers such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th.

So, pub day is one week away! And here’s where I will be vulnerable and ask my friends for a little bit of help.

If you’re an ARC reader

Please consider requesting Neon Moon on Netgalley! You can read the reviews there to decide for yourself whether you would like to pick up my little book of terror.

If you’ve read Neon Moon as an ARC

Please consider leaving a review on Goodreads or The StoryGraph.

Adding a book to your review accounts helps small authors like myself! It increases a books visibility, generates reviews, boosts search engine rankings and encourages list placements. Different ways to say it helps our books find their readers!

Pre-order Neon Moon

If you’d like to support my writing and the small press that I work with, please consider pre-ordering Neon Moon before pub day. Pre-orders are vital for small authors like myself because they tell to a publisher the demand for a book’s release and directly impacts a book launch’s success. It also signals demand to booksellers who are considering titles to carry in their shops.

You can support my publisher Dark Matter Ink by pre-ordering a paperback, signed or unsigned, before pub day. You can also pre-order the e-book through Kindle on Amazon. On pub day my book will be available to order in paperback on all the typical online bookseller platforms (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org, etc…)

You can also support your local independent bookstore and request a copy of Neon Moon, as it is available to purchase through Ingram Sparks.

This is me saying please shop small if you can!

If You Listen to Podcasts

Well I have good news for you! I have a few appearances coming up in the near future:

April 30, 2026: Catch me on Horrifically Well Read, Bled, and Said with Adam and Rebecca to talk honky tonk horror, life, and more.

May 4, 2026: Listen to Robbie Dorman and I chat about the writing process and southern fried horror. on his podcast Blood on the Typewriter. Maybe there are some sage words of wisdom. It’s a lot of silly. Everyone thank Robbie for his patience!

Date TBA: A SECRET EPISODE WITH A VERY COOL PODCASTER AND I CAN’T WAIT TO SHARE THE DETAILS. I had SO much fun chatting with this host, she is the best!

Thank you for reading my shameless promotion for Neon Moon. I love this book and I hope my readers, old and new, will love it too.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Stay safe, stay spooky.

—G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

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I say that because I am the mother of two small children. Space to myself is not something I get very much of! So I’ve converted this space into a place where I can hide away in the evenings when there’s a chance and head straight to bed after. It’s very convenient, and friends, I am a night owl. Mornings are not my cup of tea. I wish they were!

Practicing Gratitude Post Retrograde

I don’t know about you, but the latest iteration of Mercury in Retrograde wrecked me. I did everything wrong. All those things the witches on Etsy tell you not to do. I emailed people I hadn’t talked to in years. Mentally I was unwell and successfully requested an increase in my anxiety medication (if you’re not on an SSRI or SSRNI, with the way the world is right now, and you don’t need to be on one, hi, what is your secret?) and overall I just felt so — panicked? Pressed? Shoot. Definitely pressed at least once this retrograde cycle.

On top of that, I pulled out of an event I was invited to later this summer. I don’t get invited to be a featured guest to much of anything, and events are important considering I have a new book coming out in two months, but the situation made me very uncomfortable. It’s a sad situation all around, but I know things will be okay.

Despite this, I’ve had a really wonderful month connecting with my friends. People who make me feel safe, both emotionally and physically. This means a great deal to me in friendship and is not something I take lightly. If you’re there for me, I will be there for you because that’s what friends do.

I especially had a really wonderful conversation and post-podcast hangout with the amazing, incredible, oh so wonderful on their Youtube channel. You can catch our conversation on Texas Horror here and watch us laugh and be silly together. I’ve been fortunate to know Kat for a few years now, and finally got to meet her last year in person at Stokercon! She is also trying to convince me to go to Authorcon in 2027. Have you been to Authorcon? What was your experience?

The thing about conferences is that, while I am a very extroverted person when placed in a setting of a lot of people, outside of that I am a hermit. This is, in part, because I am chronically ill and have lived with POTS, among other health maladies, over the last 20 years. I am always tired. I drink too much coffee. My sleep schedule is not great. There is never a moment where I am not fatigued to some degree. And when I go to conferences my battery runs out quicker. I talked about this with another friend who assured me crying for a moment at your first Stokercon is totally normal because it is SO overwhelming, and I really needed that!

But overall, what I want to say is that this volatile astrological season had me coming out of it with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the friends I do have in the author and reader community. It’s important to remind folks you care about that you do in fact, care about them, because sometime it’s easy to forget.

Who are you thankful for in this season of your life?

Prophecies

Someone cue up that song by Taylor Swift here.

Who else has had absurd and/or prophetic dreams lately? I have and there's been a feeling overall of a collective consciousness waking up. We are tired of the systems of power that harm us. We’re pulling out Leviathan from that PoliSci 101 course we all had to take and wondering if now’s the time to rise up. It’s a lot! But there is change happening, for the good, even if we don’t see it come across the algorithm as we doom scroll out way into a crash out before taking a melatonin gummy before bed.

I had two interesting dreams recently, one this past week about being in a salt cave underneath of a crappy 1970s bed and breakfast, and the other I was in Ancient Greece, singing songs and dreaming of memento mori. I wrote a little poem about it.

This has all led me to renaming the poetry collection I’ve been working on to “Gods Always Eat Their Children.” Yes, this is a nod to my poem “Uranium Girl” I published with Radon Journal last year. Much of the collection explores dystopian themes, like eco-horror, transhumanist narratives, and who doesn’t love blaming the old gods and the new? I sure do.

So, if you like that sort of thing, stick around. My collection is with beta readers right now and I hope to have a path forward as we move into the second half of the year. I’m proud of this collection and believe it shows my continued growth in the craft of poetry. That last bit is important to me considering that I have no formal education in poetry and often feel like I’m not a ‘real’ poet because of it.

Other News

I've been extended a very cool opportunity this upcoming June that I have to keep my lips sealed shut about. I can’t wait to share. I’ll get to use my fridge degree in Labor Studies and Employee Relations and talk about a subject I am fascinated by and one that I know all too well.

I also have a short story coming out later this year hopefully. I sent a first draft in to an anthology invite that I am hoping will work out. More on that to come.

I’m in a weird reading slump. It’s been awful. But I think i’m finally coming out of it by reading a ridiculous story about smutty veggie tales for adults. It is absolutely absurd and hilarious.

I am listening to my usual rotation of R&B, Emo, and Folk. Gotta stir up some of the old bands for a podcast that is coming up with some friends.

And this weekend I get to hang out with one of my besties up in New York! I can’t wait. We’re going to be absolute menaces running around in gothic gowns. If you see us, make sure you scream!

As always, this newsletter was longer than I meant it to be. Wow. Anyway, tell me what’s new with you. What are you working on? What are you reading? What song makes you feel alive right now?

I hope you have a great week.

— G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

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The Vibes Are Off

Everyone can thank Bridget Brave for that header. It’s true though! The vibes are not good. Some would say bad. Terrible even. Worse than ever, in fact. Mercury is in the microwave for ~14 more days, everyone is at war, and we are watching the downfall of humanity unfold in real time on our phones. Doom scrolling the free entry to the rise of artificial intelligence Claude and its bff Timothee Chalomarmalade.

I rebuke it, I tell you. As should you. God, what can we even do under these circumstances?

1. Go outside to touch grass, unless you live in the Mid-Atlantic, then don’t do that. It’s raining today. There are tornado warnings. A straight wind could topple a tree on top of you (ask me how I know about straight winds and tumbling trees.)

2. Look up meaningful ways to engage in your local communities, if that is what you care about. Your inability to transmute your stress into something that directly benefits people in need helps no one. Go be brave.

3. Yell at your congressman. It’s scary, but it also feels good. They will not answer your many voicemails. But an intern somewhere has to listen to your grievances and maybe that will turn into resentment and inspire them to quit.

4. Read a book. God, read POETRY. READ IT. DO IT, NOW. Go feel something that touches your soul in these horrific times. Read poetry on war. Read poetry on love. Bridge the gap in your understanding of another person’s point of view. Pick up a random poetry book that has come across your feed, whatever the subject may be. Or better yet, WRITE POETRY. Even if its shitty poetry. I implore you to give it a try. We live in a society that is so avoidant of its own feelings we don’t properly process how or why we feel the way we do when we see scary things on the news. There are truths to be found in the world of poetry. GO FIND THEM.

Back to Our Scheduled Programming: Publications

I have two new short stories out in the world! Or, almost. Let me tell you a little about them and why you should pick up these anthologies:

PUNK GOES HORROR VOLUME II: HARDCORE FOR THE ENCORE

PROMPT:
Choose a punk, or a punk adjacent song to use for inspiration, and then creatively channel that song’s ‘energy’ into a horror short story. You can draw inspiration from the lyrics, the message, or just the overall ‘vibes’ of the song, and the resulting short story should have the same title as the song you’re writing for, to help readers make the connection.

PRIMARY THEMES:
Righteous Anger, Anti-Establishment, Rebellions Against Authority, Rock and Roll Lifestyles, etc. But, of course, feel free to expand outside of this, if the song/story warrants it!

Thank you to curator and editor, William Sterling, and publisher, Osborn of TRUBORN PRESS, for letting me be a part of this kick ass anthology. Add reading this book to the list I wrote above. Punk never dies.

My story “Veins,” inspired (but not affiliated with) the song of the same name by legendary San Antonio Chicana punk rock band, FEA, is a splatter punk short that highlights the unfortunate reality of objectification and sexualization of Eastern European women. This story is graphic, poetic, and is a face off with the Western male’s gaze.

The line-up is absolutely stellar! I implore you to support small presses by ordering this book through TRUBORN, today.

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO

Coming March 31st, 2026 from Sobelo Books, an anthology of suffering and revenge, perseverance and submission. A neon splattered landscape painted by your favorite horror authors.

It’s your fault, world. You made us believe we could, so we did.

Just look. Look what you made me do.

Join some of today’s most dreadfully talented horror writers for thirteen horror stories inspired by the dark undertnes of pop culture phenom, Taylor Swift.

My story “Sweet Nothing,” also inspired by but not affiliated with the song of the same name, is a cosmic dystopian grief horror story about a the last woman on earth facing off with the void, affectionately named Inanis.

(Looking at you, students of Latin.)

Many thanks to and LP Hernandez of for letting me be a part of this fantastic anthology. As I continue to work on my craft as a story teller, I am always thankful to work with editors who help me grow as a writer. Marino and Hernandez are some of the best in the business and I am grateful for their mentorship as well as their friendship in the writing world.

You can pre-order this book through Sobelo’s website and support their small business.

NEON MOON

Darlene Boone is a survivor. For more than a year, she’s been bartending at the famous Teegarden Saloon, a honky tonk in the Texas Hill Country, while attempting to put her life back together in the wake of an abusive past. But when an axe-wielding maniac descends on The Teegarden during one of the bar's busiest nights of the year, Darlene, along with everyone else in the crowded establishment, will have to put down their whiskeys and take up the nearest weapon if they're to survive this unexpected night from hell. No one knows if they'll make it out alive, least of all Darlene, but one thing's for sure no matter what: Texans don't go down without a fight.

Did I share with you the cover wrap already? If not, check it out! Katerina Belikova kicked this one out of the park! дякую, Katerina!

We are a little less than two months from publication day! Early reviews are starting to roll in, and I am so pleased to see my little honky tonk slasher connecting with readers. I love this book, and I hope you do, too. You can support my work and my publisher my pre-ordering through Dark Matter Ink’s website.

I’ve got a few podcast appearances lined up, to include one TONIGHT (12 March 2026) with in her Winterview Series where we will be talking about TEXAS HORROR. Yes, this is a thing, and I seek to define it as separate, but cut from the same cloth, as Western Horror. You can watch it on Youtube Live, or catch the playback.

I would still love future opportunities to share my indie slasher with readers. If you are a blogger, reviewer, or podcaster, please comment on this post so we can connect with each other! I’m not so great with technology and sometimes messages get lost in the sauce.

WHAT I AM READING

Too many books at once. Gah. I feel a little overwhelmed with all the wonderful books in publishing these days!

WHAT I AM LISTENING TO

I’ve been listening to some throwback music. Songs from J. Holiday, The-Dream, and Zedd. I LOVEEEEDDDD “Suffocate,” in highschool, “Rockin’ That Shit,” In College, and when I was in my twenties, “Find You,” was always on repeat.

I hope you have a great weekend. Tell me something good! What are you reading? What are you writing? What shows do you enjoy right now?

— G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

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Isn’t she a beaut? The machine came from my aunts house. She was looking to downsize, and I appreciate she remembered my love for antiques. I also loves singers, not because I am an avid sewer, but because in highschool I had one in my room and used it as a vanity. I plan to use this as a little station to sit down to write at in the early mornings or evening hours, and even began a new project last night on it. A cosmic horror story WIP that ties in monsters, history, and war.

Monster stories are not my usual go-to, partially because my brain tries to rationalize them too much. I get in my own way, and somehow end up figuring out what the monster is an allegory for. The last monster story I really loved writing “God’s Watchful Eyes” published in Dark Matter Magazine’s Halloween Special Issue 2, is about a man sentenced to be eaten by God on the coast of the Laptev Sea. You can read it for free online here.

In this story I explore a perhaps not so distant future where monsters of the deep awaken and in order to survive humanity turns into bloodthirsty cannibalistic cults offering the criminals of their society to said monsters to keep their hunger at bay. But it begs the question, who gets to decide what is a crime and why? I make it no secret my character, Ruslan, is absolutely deserving of his fate, but it still choose to mull over the culpability and responsibility we have over one another in reference to crime and punishment—

(see what I did there?!? Gah, what a novel. Dostoevsky, you son of a gun. Coming back to haunt me once again, you silly goose.)

I’ve been thinking about this story of late as I continue to work on my forthcoming poetry collection. The collection itself is a mix of horror, science fiction, roman mythology and bugs, because of course there are bugs. With everything going on in the world, it’s hard not to shift back to my projects that focus on topics of war and murder.

Where do these topics fit into your work as a writer? Or, if you are a reader, how do you consume these topics in a way that leaves you with a truth you were not aware of before?

I process these feelings through poetry, mostly, be it reading through the poets who lived through terrible times such as Anna Achmatova, revisiting my own work like Uranium Girl, or reading through publications like Radon Journal that do not shy away from the horrors of tomorrow.

Happy Women in Horror Month

Let’s kick it off with a divisive discussion that surrounds the subgenre that is “pink horror.”

Man, people hate this term, none more than other women who write in the horror genre. And for the folks reading this who are just learning of this term today, the short explanation of it is any form of horror that centers the experiences of women/femme presenting persons through the lens of horror.

This has been adapted by readers, perhaps well-meaning and perhaps not, to slap it as a label on any and all horror fiction written by women as pink horror to which I say, “what the hell? No wait—oh goddammit, here we go again.”

That leaves a hell of a lot of room for error when categorizing someone’s work.

Believe me, I get it. It would be remiss of me to say that I, too, at one point rejected this term. It lends itself to that broader argument that surrounds Women’s Fiction and Women’s Literature as double-edged sub-genres outside of horror. On its surface, Pink Horror conjures imagery of sexist marketing tools like pink Bic razors or pens. It can feel icky, like its meant to devalue a writer’s work because they are a woman, or pigeonhole a writer into writing a specific type of fiction. Since the term’s inception, there’s discourse around it once, twice, or dare I say multiple times a year.

So my question for the folks who dislike this term today is “how do you feel about the terms women’s fiction/women’s literature?”

And to the authors who write/read pink horror, women’s fiction/women’s literature “what do you think? Where can the disconnect be bridged?”

Is is through education? Hot takes that drive engagement? More panels? Or is is through a reclamation of gendered terms in publishing?

I don’t know! I’m asking you. Because while I would not categorize my own work as pink horror, other readers might. Does an FMC of a honky tonk slasher who reclaims her sexual agency and bodily autonomy fit into that label?

Friends, I say again that I do not know. But, I do know that it is entirely unhelpful to undermine and devalue other women (authors and readers included) as a result. When we do that we’ve lost the plot and some crusty man behind a keyboard has won.

And don’t give me that “it shouldn’t be a label” at all nonsense, not when it’s clear larger publishers are taking a bite and monetizing off of it. The cat’s out of the bag. Pandora’s box is open.

Let’s engage in friendly discussion, criticize what ought to be criticized, find how this emerging label can be more inclusive, and get back to work because we’ve got more monsters to write.

Or if you hate all of it and want to burn it down, that’s fine too. Whatever. I’m not tying to yuck your yum. If you’re a hater with ethics, nuance, and psychological analysis, let’s grab lunch and hang out.

That was a lot! I have feelings! I’ve only had one cup of coffee this morning and have to get my kids ready for school.

What I’m Reading

The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers

I’ll Make A Spectacle of You by Beatrice Winifred Iker

What I’m Listening To

Find You (feat. Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant) by Zedd

Runaways (feat. Bonnie Mckee) by The Midnight

I hope you all have a wonderdul day, and happy Women in Horror Month! Pick up something written by a woman. Hell, pick up my own books or pre-order my honky tonk slasher. Keep an eye out on other women whose work you enjoy and lift them up!

— G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

If you’re new here, this is not a Substack on motherhood. Go elsewhere. There are mothers out there with advice to give that is far more succinct in thought and organization that I can give. But if you’re one of those “Type C” parents (I still don’t know what this means!) then what’s up, I see you, and we are kin.

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Today I want to share a bit of what I’ve been reading this month, what I’m working on. This will probably be a longer read. Go grab your coffee and I’ll go reheat my cup real quick…

What I Have Been Reading

I should preface that I am a slow reader. I am not one of those who reads 100+ books a year. I applaud those people and also want to know what speed they have their audio books set to. What I lack in speed I make up for with intention, I believe, and I like to take my time with a book to ascertain what it is I think the author might be trying to convey. This is especially true with poetry.

So far I’ve read three books this month; a novella and two poetry collections. The intersectionality of these selections seem to be grief, of which the world is so full of right now, how can we possibly continue to consume it? And yet, we do. We have to. We need to. Grief is a shared human experience and we should process and endure it together.

SHIVA by Emily Ruth Verona

Sibling relationships in literature is something I am fascinated by, partially because I am an only child raising two children, and also because my Gothic fantasy novel centers the relationship of sisters. It is a type of relationship that has felt largely inaccessible to me growing up, something I wanted to and continue to want to understand. I was fortunate to blurb this fantastic novella, which I will share below:

Grief, trauma, codependent toxic sibling relationship? And ghosts? Yeah, sign me up, I am there.

SHIVA comes out March 3, 2026. You can pre-order it through Dark Matter Ink, find it on NetGalley to early review, or do both! I love Emily’s work and will shout it from the rooftops. SHIVA is so smart, witty, and damn will it cut deep when you least expect it.

SONG OF MY SOFTENING by Omotara James

I try to stay up to date on contemporary poetry collections, and will read just about any recommendation you put in front of me when it comes to the genre. SONG OF MY SOFTENING was published in 2024 and has received a wealth of accolades since. Below are some excerpts that stuck with me, personally:

“/In Lagos, we name our girls Darling, Sincere, Precious, because A name is a stake in the grave.” —Half Girl, Then Elegy

“They remind you how you are American, which you learn is slur for fat” —Autobiography of Thud

“No one gives a damn about a poem until they need a poem.” —On Repetition

“Black poems show you everything about the world you claim to love.” —On Repetition

“I have loved you every day with a resistance I have spared my enemies.” —Equilibrium as the Day After

“Tell me what’s louder: the pluck of the arrow, or the bang of the gavel, or the ever-lasting gaze of the first-born daughter.” —Closure

There are so, so many more. This is one of those collections I’ll be thinking about for a long time. The grief of the self, relationships to others and the world around them, and this element of rebirth; love for the self the author imbues in the pages of this collection—I will probably go back and reread this collection more than once.

I believe poetry is the best medium to understand the perspective of someone else. It offers a nearness of emotion, one that you may not or will not understand, but can almost through the medium of poetry.

TEAHOUSE OF THE ALMIGHTY by Patricia Smith

This collection is so visceral. From poetry on abuse, to blues singers, to a son in prison, to the absolute power found in the intimacy we share with others, wow wow wow. I loved the word play, the sound that Smith evokes when you read her work aloud. The spectrum of human emotion lays itself bare here. I’d recommend this collection to anyone and will be seeking out more of Smith’s work.

What I’m Working On

Besides trying to stay away from the novel WIP I discussed in last month’s post, I am back at it working on my own forthcoming poetry collection. I’ve reorganized it more than a few times, feeling nearly there each time only to implode it and reorganize it all over again. I’m even considering a title change! I think this has to do with the fact that it is a more politically charged collection centered on real world violence, a violence that is shoved down our throats and pressed to our screens with every scroll and news notification.

It’s a lot. Too much. And somehow, not enough. So much so that we are desensitized to it. How to you bring a violence that feels so far away to the page to personalize it so a reader can assume it as their own? To feel what ought to be felt; that rage; that grief we must share? I will share one piece I have titled “Our Anthem of War,”

A bevy of measures strung together / haphazardly /strangled in e minor / sponsored advertisements / daily horoscopes / black fringed tulips / uncensored gore / gaza / “celestial core” decor / suggested reels / a free ford bronco / burning tents / rafah / childhood trauma /online tests / herb rocks / renaissance looks / the race for u.s. senate / chappell roan / student encampments / eden goen / eurovision / a cardboard head of the governor / blood stained tears / “don’t fucking touch me” / taxidermy vibes / death by design / the exposition an entanglement of thousands /upon thousands / terrible / single notes / the legato a vibrato of apathy and culpability / an aria of sorrow / the final staccato / bloodthirsty /violent / a sharp fervor / held together by a fermata of cognitive dissonance.

This was written about two years ago, as some readers may be able to tell. The absurdity of all that we consume online is something I touch on more than once in a few pieces similarly styled in the collection.

This morning i’m working on a poem that connects the Mother Wound to Bellona, a figure in Roman mythology I am keen on, alongside Janus, of whom I like to place blame on in my work. I love Janus, but dammit to hell he gets on my nerves. In “Dies Sanguinis” a poem that will be in the collection that I was also fortunate to publish in Star*Line Magazine last year, I posit Janus’s culpability in all crimes against humanity:

detonation. evaporation.

Ionized gas bathes roman ruins in a flash.

superheated matter, total erasure,

a barrage of airwaves

macerates bodies, crushes temples,

warps steel.

blackened trees reach toward the sky

like smoldering limbs, desperate for cover

in a desolate wasteland. the dark shadow

of the mushroom cloud casts a pall over the city,

sucks shards of glass, spitting

black rain.

you are its silent witness. this blood lust

the punishment of prometheus whose hands molded us

from clay. hands that can 3-d print bodies of our own now,

hands that can build satellites and starships, hands that can

build an arsenal of weapons, induce

nuclear holocaust —

did jupiter not give us the means to create

chaos; our own destruction?

does precognition of annihilation absolve

your responsibility to lord over all beginnings and ends

across time and space? open your gates, janus.

bellona has the nuclear codes.

To my knowledge, Bellona does not have offspring in the Roman mythos, but in the Greek, her counterpart Enyo, one of the fates and also sister of war is mother to another war god, Enyalius. I wrote the poem above before I knew of this mythology, and thus believe that perhaps Bellona’s thirst for blood and violence stems from an archaic mother wound all mothers must know somewhere inside, that disconnect from ancestral knowledge that has been kept from us in the name of Western modernity or patriarchal structures.

(Geez, that’s a little heavy, damn. My bad, y’all.)

What I mean to say is, maybe she has a point and Janus is an asshole. Maybe its mothers who will save the world. (We will. We always do.)

Alas, I must digress before I tangent any further. This collection is something I want to be mindful of how I deliver sentiments on war, death, and grief, and what we inherit. I’ve been working on it since 2024. It’s important to me that I feel like its done well.

Tell me what you’re reading. Tell me what you’re working on. How are you doing these days with all this noise? Where are you meeting yourself to find moments of softness so you, too, can endure the insanity of humanity in 2026?

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post. I hope my stream of thought provides some insight as to where I’m at with my work and headspace. If you are like me, then you are not alone.

Thanks again for spending your morning, or afternoon, with me. Wishing you all a better week than the last,

—G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

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In three months, my first long fiction work, Neon Moon, releases itself unto the world! That’s crazy!

What’s In a Honky Tonk Slasher?

But first, a moment for this insanely cool cover art by Katerina Belikova:

What’s in a honky tonk slasher? Music, mostly. I went into this project initially afraid to bring my usual lyricism to the forefront. Would readers mind poetic prose in the slasher genre? Who knows? My publisher encouraged me to stay true to my style, so I did my best to imbue this novella with all the beauty and grit the Texas Hill Country and this story had to offer.

It would be easy for an author to take a cheap shot and make fun of every aspect of this setting. I mean, who the hell thinks of a slasher at a honky tonk? Me. Because I initially planned to turn this into a comedy. But as the story progressed, I realized this was not supposed to be a comedic horror. This was a project I could use to showcase some of the positive aspects of Texas and the culture around country music. It was also my way of highlighting issues that still affect women today, such as gendered violence and bodily autonomy.

Do I have some fun with this one? Yes, absolutely. The main character has a pet opossum, for goodness sake. I guess what I’m trying to say is that just because an entire state looks like it took a red pill from the outside, that’s not always the case on the inside. Texas is very much a "purple” state.

You can wear cowboy boots and fight for civil liberties, too, and my Texas friends in horror taught me to fight like hell for the people and issues you care about. Simply put: y’all means all. Period!

If this sounds mildly interesting to you, please add Neon Moon to your TBR on Goodreads or The Storygraph.

And just for fun…here’s a set list from The Teegarden Saloon, the setting of Neon Moon:

Son of a Witch - Justin Johnson

Beer Never Broke My Heart - Luke Combs

Dios Bendijo Tejas - Kieth Nieto, Sunny Sauceda, Rico Gonzalez

Stay A Little Longer - Brothers Osborne

Dumb Blonde - Dolly Parton

Whiskey River - Willie Nelson

Too Hard to Say I’m Sorry - Charley Pride

Psycho - Jack Kittel

Something to Talk About – Bonnie Raitt

Neon Moon - Brooks & Dunn

A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey

When It Rains - Eli Young Band

The Devil Went Down to Georgia – The Charlie Daniels Band

It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels - Kitty Wells

Heartless - Camille Parker

Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind) - Loretta Lynn

Stay in Your Lane - Bronson Diamond, Greta Stanley

Pass Me By (If You’re Only Passing Through) - Johnny Rodriguez

Texas Hold ‘Em - Beyoncé

See any familiar songs? If you have any honky tonk stories of your own, please share them with me! I’d love to read them.

—Grace

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

(This is where I tell all of you to get an MRI before your back goes to crap like mine.)

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Today I wanted to share a fun writing exercise for you to try, thanks to the online Bookstagram community over on Instagram.

Book Spine Poetry

The explanation is in the name. Go to your bookshelf and scan the titles in front of you. Don’t think on it too hard, or you’ll lose the creative magic that’s brewing in your head. Pick out a few titles that stand out to you and see how you can arrange them. Let your mind fill in the blanks and see if you can find any titles that complete the thought for you. A couple of lines will do.

Here is what I came up with:

This house will feed

blood on her tongue

the lies we weave

even as we breathe,

where the dead brides gather

her wicked roots

the hurting kind

a complex accident of life—

the sorrow festival;

the bog wife

Or check out this one, by fellow author Carmen Catena (@carmcatena on Instagram)

the winter ghosts eat the ones you love;

they drown our daughters in the woods

the truths we wake,

what moves the dead—

don’t look now!

people are talking,

more than you’ll ever know.

And another, from a very favorite bookstagrammer Courtney (@pawsitivelybookish)

shy girl,

wake up and open your eyes,

let me in your window.

the night is not for you.

certain dark things

bloom

(under) the coffin moon

The point is to have FUN and get those creative gears turning! I hope you will try this exercise. If you come up with something, please share it with me! I’d love to read it.

—G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

(Suzy Karadsheh, I will go to battle for you.)

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Today I’d like to share a little bit about my journey as an author, discuss the importance of reading contracts, and offer some general encouragement to get your sh** together for the new year. But first, some happy updates!

I wrote a novel

Holy crap, I can’t believe it. I did it. I drafted my very first novel-length work (in the last 10 years; we won’t count that crime-thriller manuscript from college that will never see the light of day).

This is a story I’ve wanted to tell for quite some time, but didn’t know how until recently. I started writing this in September 2025. 3-4 months seems alright for a first draft! But now, I must force myself to wait a while before diving back into it with fresh eyes.

Right now, the current version of this book is Gothic Fantasy with elements of Slavic folklore and mythology. It also takes place in Philadelphia, in a historical setting.

Quite a few of my published short stories take place in Eastern Europe, featuring Slavic characters (Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Croatia, to name a few). And one day, I will complete a collection of short stories centered on Eastern European characters. I’d love to write stories set in Lithuania, Georgia, and Romania, too. Countries that are not necessarily Slavic, but are strongly Eastern European with vibrant cultures.

I enjoy writing these characters because it stems from my own perspective and helps me connect with my Croatian maternal heritage. My grandmother’s family lost almost all contact with relatives in Europe in the 1970s, and over the last 15 years, my aunt and I have worked hard to reconnect her with living relatives. This is a challenge because 1) my grandmother is 100 years old, and 2) we are not fluent in the language.

Being part of any diaspora can instill a sense of longing, purpose, or identity in someone. Americans, despite our in-your-face version of patriotism and rising sense of nationalism, feel this too. While in other countries your nationality is also your ethnicity, many Americans don’t see themselves in this light. When asked “what are you?”, you’re more likely to hear someone mention their Irish or Italian heritage, even though they’ve never lived in either country. And if you’re a reader who lives or grew up outside of the United States, I would love your perspective on this!

My novel is loosely based on my own family’s history, too. I wanted to envision Croatian Americans in the Age of Industry, successful in their own right, and not just the labor behind other giants of industry like the Vanderbilts, Astors, Rockefellers, or Carnegies, because, unfortunately, there are very few examples to draw from. But I also wanted to examine the attitudes of the time towards Slavic peoples and my main character’s desire to connect with her father’s heritage.

More on that to come, of course. Can you tell how passionately I feel about this already?

Lady of the House turns 4

On December 15, 2015, my narrative horror poetry collection, Lady of the House, turned four years old! As both my husband and I were in mourning over the loss of both our grandmothers (10 days apart from one another, I might add), but as I said in my post over on Instagram, this book is the one that started it all for me, and that is worth celebrating.

You can purchase Lady of the House just about anywhere books are sold. Still, I encourage you to support small presses and order it through Curious Corvid Publishing directly in paperback or ebook. You can find the hardcover version of my collection on Amazon.

Get it Together

The new year is the perfect time to donate gently used items or throw out your crap. It’s more than just making your living space more bearable; it’s also about setting intentions for the year. So, if you’re a writer, tell me when the last time you cleaned up all your files was?

My husband and I are on one of those kicks, the kind where we do our annual finances and evaluate what we did well and what we can do better at. Recently, we both read Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins and Nobody Wants Your Sh*t: The Art of Decluttering Before You Die by Messie Condo. (Hopefully you can tell which of these two books was my pick for us to read!)

Overall, the message both these books drive home is that we die with our memories, and we should do all we can to maximize our life experiences while our health allows us to. In Condo’s book, she talks about how a messy computer can be just as daunting as a house full of stuff for those we leave behind. Our loved ones can come to resent us. So I asked my spouse, “Hey, if I die, do you know anything about my writing? Do you know where my contracts are? What can I do now to better help you in the event of my untimely death on a train over a rickety bridge exploding over a canyon out West?”

I realized I hadn’t shared much, if any, of the administrative work behind my life as an independent author with small presses. And no, I don’t have an LLC, but I do have goals for myself. So, yesterday, I took the day to go through it all—the royalties, the contracts, the POCs, etc, and organized it into a folder in my Google Drive.

I’m glad I did it, because now my Drive doesn’t look like a crime scene with a bunch of random documents titled “Untitled.” I know exactly how much I am making and spending to be able to better manage my goals as an author. I’m also embarrassed to admit how little I actually knew about my contracts! Most of my contracts are short stories. It’s easy to think a story is “one and done” when there still might be life left in it and new readers for it.

“Grace, what the hell, you should know better.” You’re so right, friend, I absolutely should, considering I used to work in contracting specifically for the government, once upon a time! But, later is better than never, and after 5 years at this, I have all my bodies of work, short stories, and poetry organized in a fancy sheet that details contractual relationships, rights, royalties, and even tabs that follow the production and editorial process of a book. It’s important to have good data when entrusting your work to someone. Tracking what worked and what didn’t better prepares you to work with the same or new professionals down the road.

And when it was all done, I got to show my spouse. Now they know exactly where everything is, should I disappear into a cloud of noxious vapors.

Sure, that sounds morbid. It is. But nothing lights a fire under your ass to get your shit together than the idea of your own mortality. Wouldn’t you rather spend a day organizing it all now than ten years down the road when you’re getting your prescription for gabapentin upped for that herniated disc in your back?

What’s something you can do now to better prepare and educate yourself as an author?

Current Reads

Galloway’s Gospel by Sam Rebelein

Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester

Currently Listening To

Here We Are by Durand Bernarr

30 For 30 by SZA (with Kendrick Lamar)

coney island by Taylor Swift (feat. The National)

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful new year!

—G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.

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This is my second go-around with Substack after a two-year hiatus, but I’m back. So, if you’re new here, welcome, and if you’re a returning reader, thank you!

Let’s talk about SOUP

Last year, I co-edited and curated Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved, and Insane: An Anthology of Nostalgic Terrors. Now say that five times fast. It was my first time doing so, and it was an absolute joy.

It was important to Wendy and I to bring something warm, nostalgic, and thrilling to the horror community, and community was what we had in mind from the start. We asked for anonymous submissions, except for invited contributors, and the anthology was better for it! We ended up with familiar names and new-to-us authors, including folks whose first publication ever was in this anthology. Check out this lineup:

So much of being part of an anthology on the contributor side of things can feel like a waiting game, one that is very silent, and everyone’s wondering what’s happening next. Wendy and I made it a point to send updates to our contributors and vowed to do our best to market the anthology with the resources we had. From podcasts to a feature on This Is Horror, I think we’re doing alright for ourselves, but would still love any opportunity to discuss our contributors’ works. Anthologies are a great way for new authors to get their names out there, and we want to help our contributors find new readers of their own. We felt we owed it to them to do everything we could to increase the anthology’s exposure.

So, if you feel inclined to pick up a copy, I’d like to encourage you to order it from your local independent bookstore or from online retailers like bookshop.org, which support independent bookstores. You can also purchase an e-copy of the book through Kindle.

Meet Me at The Teegarden Saloon

What are you doing in May? NOTHING? Great! Join me as I release my first novella, Neon Moon, through Dark Matter Ink.

I love this book, and I hope its readers do, too. It’s gritty, sexy, fun, and heart-filled, with a few scenes that’ll make you scream. You can add it to your TBR on Goodreads or The StoryGraph (thanks to the tremendous help of The Last Call Crew, the official street team for Neon Moon!)

As the publication date gets closer, I’ll be talking more about my book and sharing the behind-the-scenes that inspired me to write it!

Looking Ahead

I am fortunate to say that I’ve been invited to contribute short stories to a few anthologies this year! I can’t speak on all of them just yet, but I can share that I will have a short story in Look What You Made Me Do, a Taylor Swift inspired horror anthology from Sobelo Books. My story, “Sweet Nothing,” inspired by the song of the same name, is a story on grief and, I believe, my first foray into cosmic horror.

I enjoyed writing this story, and it was a privilege to work with L.P. Hernandez, who is a fantastic editor and author, alongside his co-owner and editor, L.C. Marino. If you’re not reading their work, what are you doing? Leave and purchase one of their books, and tell me how their words haunt you.

Look What You Made Me Do releases March 31, 2026. Pre-order it now for the Swiftie in your life!

Current Reads

Poisoned Soup for the Macabre, Depraved, and Insane because I finally get to hold the manuscript in my hands and read it all over again!

The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy who has instilled in me an obsession with Eureka Springs that none of my Arkansan in-laws understand. I will go there one day, gosh darn it!

Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester. I picked this one up as a potential comp read and am enjoying it!

Currently Listening To

I love R&B. For whatever reason, this time of year is when I lean into R&B artists I love or are new to me.

Wherever I Go by Jacob Collier (feat. Lawrence & Michael McDonald)

This one has a gospel feel to it; there’s just something so feel-good about this song, I keep coming back to it.

Baby Steps and Man I Need by Olivia Dean

Olivia Dean runs my life. That is all.

Where You Go by Kiana Ledé & Khalid

Kiana Ledé is a very favorite of mine. Her music has gotten me through a lot the last few years!

What To Expect…

When I previously had a Substack, I was pushing out a newsletter per week. I want to work towards this again, so let’s stick with that and see where it goes. If I’m behind, you have full permission to yell at me.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful new year!

—G

Grace R. Reynolds is an American speculative fiction writer. She was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Rutgers University. Having lived in seven states, she currently calls Maryland ‘home,’ where she writes dark fiction and poetry. In addition to her short fiction, she is the author of Lady of the House and two other collections of poetry. These include The Lies We Weave, which was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Awards, and Midnight Blue. Her debut novella, Neon Moon, will appear in the Spring of 2026 through Dark Matter Ink. Grace is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association.