The Fourth Corona Book of Horror Stories includes “Sunday Supper”!

I am over the moon to have my story “Sunday Supper” in this fantastic collection! Thank you to the wonderful Corona Books, especially editor Lewis Williams.

With tales that will spook, unnerve and chill, and perhaps spark a wicked cackle from the reader, THE FOURTH CORONA BOOK OF HORROR STORIES is a thrilling anthology book that will surely delight fans of the genre. – This Is Horror

“Sunday Supper” by Vanessa Reid – This grim and dark story kept me guessing. I loved the inclusion of the church hymns adding a unique atmosphere to the story. Great characters. – Author Robin Knabel

Release of Georgia Gothic Including “The Woods Are All I Need”

I am excited to share the news of the release of Georgia Gothic, which includes my short story “The Woods Are All I Need.” It is an honor to be included with these amazing writers in a collection that embodies the paradoxical charming and sinister nature of the South and its stories. Thank you to the editors Alex Hofelich, Vicki Greer, and the late Peter Adam Salomon who is very missed.

“The Southern façade of perfection holds up politeness as a chief virtue while sheltering ugly truths. In these twenty-four stories and poems, the authors will take you behind the veneer of manners and on journeys you might think you know all about—but you’ll find soon enough that you’re in uncharted territory. Where alligators and cicadas might be more than they seem, creatures of nightmare might be sitting next to you in church, and humans will always be worse than you’ve imagined. The façade gets stripped away, the body count rises, the dead have their say.

Because some things just won’t stay buried.”

“The Short Straw” is in Gutwrench Journal!

I have been remiss. I haven’t blogged since the end of April. In fairness, I was caught up in the end-of-school year wind-down, a trip to Alabama to care for my mother-in-law who had her knee replaced, and my daughter’s sixteenth birthday festivities. June is always a marathon to the prize at the finish line: the lazy, unscheduled days of July. However, another thing happened. An amazing thing. My story “The Short Straw” was published in Gutwrench Journal last week. I am over the moon about this development and honored to be a part of an amazing group of authors whose work is featured in this fantastic anthology. Many thanks to Daniel Lamb and Benji Carr for including my work in their labor or love and for being generally awesome. I hope you enjoy this little tale.

Southern Nightmares and the Terror of Sharing

Well, I did it. I read an excerpt from my short story “The Short Straw” at the April Southern Nightmares Reading Series event. I was honored to read with such amazing talent and to be a part of this awesome monthly event, but I also wanted to throw up. I’ve never read my work in a public forum and these writers – these amazing writers – have books and agents and stuff. I read from a Google Doc print out.

But…I survived. And I LOVED it! It was an enjoyable, rich, memorable experience, and I felt like a real writer. I know, I know. I am a real writer, but you know what I mean. So, I broke the seal, and next time…I might only be slightly nauseous.

I am the girl who loves monster.

I am a dark speculative fiction writer and have loved monsters since I can remember. Just not all of them.

I love the misfits, the disenfranchised, and ones on the edges of things. I love the underdogs, the misunderstood, and the rebels. I love the unloved. Always have. Always will.

And now, I write about them. A too small boy who is picked on but gets his revenge. A lost young woman whose innocence was stolen, but designs a reality she can live in. A child who loses her beloved mother, only to get her back…as a ghost.

These monsters I love. Join me and meet them.