I’m in autoimmune hell. Aka trying to get diagnoses etc. Andddd apparently (both unrelated and related) my thyroid meds need increased again even though we found the “right dose” literally 3 months ago. I feel like shit. Look like shit. And I’m over it, friends.

Here's a shout-out for my #90s #kidsonbikes #strangerthings #comingofage #anthology that's entirely set in #connecticut and written mostly by local authors. PB or KU. amzn.to/3IRWLtU #horrorwriterschat A few stories from it were in the #stokercon2025 anthology.

Thanks for another great #HorrorWritersChat! If you’re into dark folk/Midwest Gothic, follow along! I am also launching a YouTube video podcast—Nightmares and Narratives. Just interviewed Joe R. Lansdale! Also, i have a novella—KILLING MY FLESH WITHOUT YOU.

#HorrorWritersChat Putting my horror subgenre quiz here in the quotes, too, because it’s good and you should try it! uquiz.com/eltq2D The rest of my stuff from today’s chat: bsky.app/profile/theo...

If you're interested in a touch of madness, or how a nearly ageless woman finds her place in a world that's always changing: Check out my double feature, The Price of Peace which contains a short story about the former and a novelette about the latter senkaheksum.carrd.co#pub #HorrorWritersChat

Thank you once again, #HorrorWritersChat! For some quick little spookems, my #horror #poetry book, The Shadow on the Wall, is out there in the world. Free on ko-fi and Itch.io! I'm also looking for follows for my #BookBazaar25 project, Fairy Seasons. Link to all- linktr.ee/spookypickle

#HorrorWritersChat End. Thanks again for hosting this @erynmccee.bsky.social! My name is Dave Bruno, and you can come on down to Goodreads and enter a Giveaway for a chance to win 1 of 50 copies of my Dinosaur Horror Novel, just in time for Halloween! www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Lovely questions, #HorrorWritersChat! Thank you for hosting, @erynmccee.bsky.social! I have links on the tree here to promote as I try to wrestle words out this very tired brain: linktr.ee/dyrewrites

Thanks for another great #HorrorWritersChat It's ALIVE y'all! Celebrate with me! My new collection of short stories debuted today! Stories from Shadow Hill includes 13 weird tales set in a neighborhood suspiciously like the one I live in. books2read.com/ShadowHill

My Perfect Prophet series is great horror for the season, but I think this Tiny Terrors Anthology by Graveside Press is better. And there are many authors other than me who are worth a follow. Find mine —The Body and the Blood— among many! graveside-press.com/product/tiny... #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWritersChat What do I have to flog now? I guess that would be the anthology Harvest Moon! My story "Sirens Don't Sing Underwater" waits for you within. It's a sexy little aside from the adventures of Odysseus. www.moonlitgetaway.com/product-page...

In line with today’s theme, I do have a short story you might like. It’s more of a folkloric style. But it touches on aging, sorta. :) Sorry being super late #horrorwriterschat. Health issues.😣 But this was wonderful @erynmccee.bsky.social !! Such good questions! open.substack.com/pub/theumbra...

I mean, at some level, isn't that what vampires and other eternal characters are all about? Fear of aging and dying? But getting older can also make a person bolder, less fearful and more willing to do what "needs" doing. So much story fodder. #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWritersChat It varies based on what story I want to tell. All might deities who are literally toddlers are just as terrifying as ancient unspeakable horrors, and the wise old shambler is just as if not more deadly than the young dragon whelp

I don’t think a character has ever spoken on it out loud, but I think narration has at times. I think on some level my stories speak to the fear that trauma won’t be resolved until death. #HorrorWritersChat

the older you get, the more your fears morph. death is imminent and surrounds you in loved ones & family slipping away. priorities change therefore the idea of losing what matters means more. you hold on in a gentle caress more than a grip in order to let your connection breathe. #HorrorWritersChat

having worked as a caregiver, there is horror in the way the elderly are treated, in the way dementia makes you lose bits of yourself, in the frustration of no longer moving the way you once could my nana turns 95 today and loves to tell people that she shouldn’t be here anymore #HorrorWritersChat

Gods yes. My characters talk about getting older all the time. It's unavoidable for me, because it's so present in my experience of the world & in turn informs my characters' as well. I already know a specific observation about aging a character will say aloud in my next book. #HorrorWritersChat

I forgot: I HAVE written three elder characters in my work: The Archmasters Porthos, Marianna, and Hesha Morninglade from the Mage series. The first was essentially insane, the second an enlightened sensualist, and the third a compassionate yet outspoken mentor. #HorrorWritersChat

One thing that is synonymous with age is loss of memory or dementia. For me, as a writer, the idea that my mind would begin to fade or betray me is the scariest prospect of all. So, in my work, I'll often experiment with threats that steal or devour your memories. #HorrorWritersChat #WriteSky

"Growing up is a process of getting chainsawed hollow and filled with crows." share.google/aCCeXTVTKvWF... #HorrorWritersChat #Horror #BookSky

To me, this is about humanity’s battle with mortality. Some people accept it & some do not. Either is okay. I don’t like dichotomous thinking. Not everything has a right or wrong. That’s what got us where we are. I try to show various perspectives. Empathy is important. :) #horrorwriterschat

Trauma, oh yes, the trauma. I crawled into that one deep as I could and let it carve out a place for itself in my MC's chest. It quite literally shaped the story, beginning to end. It's the reason why the MC does what he does, and partially why the story is a horror story. #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWritersChat the oldest character in TBOAD is Antoine, a vampire who appears as a 22 yr old black man in Paris. Without giving too much away, Antoine was last a human in 1600’s Africa and his experience with colonization brings a new chilling perspective to what is actually evil in this book

For A Mother's Porcelain, the mother channelled her own trauma into the relationship with her daughter. In A Survivor's Eye, the therapist used her own traumatic experience to help others find the right path. And similar for my new project about grief #HorrorWritersChat

Coming-of-age doesn’t just belong to the young. Older characters can still have rites of passage—retirement, loss, confronting mortality, even facing the ghosts of choices they made decades ago. Their “becoming” may be smaller, subtler, but no less terrifying. #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWritersChat Brigid, in Trinity, is a mentor figure. She’s Isis’s mother and she tries to help both Isis & her granddaughter Maeve understand their witchy heritage. But she’s on her own quest too; to face and finally destroy the Neolithic blood god, Cayn.

#HorrorWritersChat, perhaps it's something a now older character has faced before but now must face again. Or perhaps their knowledge of past events helps figure out to stop the horror. Heck, maybe they learn how to shut that stuff down before it can be a huge problem.

#HorrorWritersChat Most recently, I've written about justifiable rage felt by an elderly woman, and how that energy l transforms her into a monster. I wrote another story where another elderly woman is filled with rage and puts in motion an event which will change the entire world forever. RAGE

Well, in my Perfect Prophet series, Toussaint is the older character. He has a lot of regrets. It has made him more accepting of a lot of things. And people. He’s not great with technology though, and I play that up a few times. #HorrorWritersChat

Ooh! Well, #HorrorWritersChat, many of mine are aloof about most things. Their experiences have made them numb to danger and blind to oddities. That creak was just my knees, no need to examine it. So the real scare in the story is less for them and more for the reader who can see it for what it is.

Every phase and change of life brings new things to be afraid of, new dangers, new worries. Who has more skeletons in their closet than older folks? We've had more time to need to hide something :-) #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWritersChat When even the elderly badass who has seen it all is worried, then you know things are bad ...Doesn't stop the youngsters but hey, would be a dull story if it did

There’s usually some aspect of trauma or loss they’re dealing with. #HorrorWritersChat

I think we're always learning, always finding more about ourselves, or at least that's the way it should be. growth is essential to wisdom and there's nothing wrong with discovery at an older age. #HorrorWritersChat

Without spoiling anything, the short answer is in "The Woods" Callahan is righting the wrongs of his youth and in "Heliruna" Oma is finishing her unfinished business before she dies. #HorrorWritersChat

Statistically, they have likely seen others cut down too soon and know the pain firsthand, the way absence can be a wound. They've had time to find and love those they want to protect, and more appreciation for the potential tomorrows they might save by fighting today. #HorrorWritersChat

The one story I tried writing from the perspective of an elderly character came across mawkish and self-pitying, so I abandoned it. While that was an honest reflection of how I felt at the time (I'd just lost several loved ones to mortality), I didn't like the results. #HorrorWritersChat

Trauma is a huge theme in my work, especially in my horror stories. Older characters are often affected by scars you can't see, but they manifest in how they carry themselves, the way they talk, who they trust, etc. #HorrorWritersChat #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

Well, going off my previous post about a Christmas horror wip (FMC inspired by my late grandma)… The horror is amplified, HOPEFULLY, because I’m it’s clear she’s wise from the beginning due to life). So, when she encounters something she doesn’t understand, it’s extra scary. 1/2 #horrorwriterschat

I mostly write older characters, if by older you mean 30+. But who they are and how they drive the narrative is too dependent on who they are as a person. Are they anxious or calm? Does age change that? Maybe, but I definitely don't rely on age as a way to figure them out. #HorrorWritersChat

In TBOAD, Madame Blanche is an old woman—we don’t know how old, but she has gray hair. She’s lived long enough to know many old, dark secrets and monsters in the world, and she patiently guides Ehren at the start of his journey to Hell—while still being a businesswoman who protects her own first

Older characters in horror aren’t just mentors—that's why I love writing the young challenged. They are haunted houses themselves — every wrinkle a hallway, every scar a locked door. #HorrorWritersChat

#HorrorWritersChat One of the recurring themes in my books is the selfishness of the parents breaking family bonds, where the older characters tend to be antagonistic, sometimes even being the main villain. The exception is Isis the MC in Trinity, who’s trying to rediscover her witchy self.

#HorrorWritersChat, I think many things can shape a story differently when it comes to older characters. I think we also need more stories with older characters. Things you did in your youth can come back to haunt you: physically, mentally, and / or emotionally. And that's not including regrets

#HorrorWritersChat I have characters ranging in age from childhood to senior years. I've written about nonbinary people dealing with menopause and with elderly witches who act without forethought. I don't think I've ever had a wise old mentor character.

Not a wise mentor? Well…uh…we’re all wise mentors after a certain age, right? But yes, the current WIP has older characters—late 40s—who are the MCs! Modeled after my grandparents, lol! #HorrorWritersChat

See this one's funny to me, #HorrorWritersChat, because I don't really write young characters. Age tends to shape how one approaches situations. Younger characters are more willing to risk and fight, for instance. Older ones force you to work harder to get them moving. So I like them more >.>

I write a lot of older characters and they are the best! So much history to pull from, surprising hidden skill-sets and knowledge, and the power that comes from being overlooked and underestimated. #HorrorWritersChat

A lot of the older characters in my books tend to be antagonistic when the parent of an MC or kindly if a grandparent. Oldest MC in a WIP is a 135 year old vampire, but I’m not sure if that counts since they don’t look their age. 😅 #HorrorWritersChat