The Archivist Abroad
- Archivist in the Wild: Spooky Season Readings
If you’re based in North Carolina, consider checking out one of these events! More potentially to come; I will keep this post updated.
First In Fiction | Thursday, September 17, 8:00pm – End
Berkeley Cafe | 428 S. Dawson, Raleigh, NC
I’m joining the First in Fiction reading series! This is the second quarterly event, with more to come. Check out Thalia Press for more about the event series.
“Join your fellow Triangle book lovers at the Berkeley Cafe for First In Fiction, a multi-genre reading series featuring award-winning North Carolina authors. Experience literature as it should be — accompanied by booze and good company. Readings span rich contemporary prose, mystery, humor, and speculative fiction. Appropriate for ages 16 and up. A full menu of food and drinks will be available throughout the readings.”
Adult Nights: Tales of Woe | Friday, October 23, 6:30pm – 10:00pm
North Carolina Museum of Natural Science | 11 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
Come hear me read or find me floating amongst a few of my favorite horror booths: HWA-North Carolina, Necksnap Magazine, and The Laughing Man House Publishers!
“The hour grows dark and strange sounds echo through the halls — it’s time for Adult Night: Tales of Woe. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences transforms into a realm of gothic mystery this October as we uncover the science behind your darkest fears, test your knowledge of cursed literature, and let the spirits of Poe and beyond haunt your evening at this exclusive, 21+ event.
Enjoy a unique opportunity to experience the Museum at night while exploring the uncensored side of science. The event features interactive science stations, music, games, local entertainment and special activities. Beer, wine, themed cocktails and food will be available for purchase. Costumes encouraged (but not required).”
- Book Announcement: Flame A-Kindle
Announcing my Debut Novella, Flame A-Kindle
I’m incredibly grateful to Sirius, EIC of The Laughing Man House, for giving this strange little book a home! My first novella will be released in October 2027. Flame A-Kindle is a seventeenth-century folk horror story with supernatural elements for fans of Robert Egger’s film The Witch, and crosses Brom’s Slewfoot with Lee Mandelo’s The Woods All Black. It is about monsters, mythology, patriarchy, and the devils we make ourselves.
When the Devil comes to the sheep fold as an enormous Wolf, Tace is sure He has come to drag em to Hell as punishment for er sin: that e secretly shirks manhood and womanhood both. Bursting into the churchyard to warn of the beast, Tace sets tongues wagging, and to prevent disaster er parents pledges em to the butcher’s philandering son.
Furious that e might be held to account while er betrothed’s sins are dismissed, Tace reasons that none know a man’s sins better than the Devil Himself and late one night ventures into the wood in search of the Wolf. But what hunts between the trees cares not for sin and cannot be kept at bay with prayer. Tace must choose: accept the life that others have made for em, or face what prowls the wood.
Look out for more in the coming months, and follow me on social media for further announcements!
- In the Field: StokerCon 2026 Retrospective
I attended StokerCon, the annual convention of the Horror Writers’ Association, for the first time this past weekend. I remembered that I’m the loudest shy person you’ll meet, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who didn’t comment on my awkwardness as I waited beside them, looking for an opportunity to introduce myself.
I do not photograph well! Nevertheless, here is photographic evidence of my reading. It was a lovely weekend, busy and exhausting but also fun and incredibly productive. I met soooo many wonderful people and made new writer friends. I got the opportunity to tell two of my favorite authors, James Tynion IV and Caitlin Starling, how much I love their work (and then restrained myself from trailing them down hallways). I met the wonderful Ellen Datlow and was able to thank her in person for including me in her next Best Horror of the Year volume.
I’m so grateful to everyone who came out to my reading Thursday. I think that might be the most people I have ever read to, and I was really gratified to receive so many wonderful comments afterward about what people enjoyed. It was a fun group to read with, and both Jacques Mersereau and Kathleen Palm had fun and varied readings that made for a lot of contrast!
From left to right: Rachel Bolton, TT Madden, Ryan Van Ells, and me, the archivist! I also had the chance to meet with a few other members of the online writing group I have been with for years. These are AMAZING writers who all have incredible things coming out (Temple has SIX BOOKS this year!?!?!?!), and they’re incredibly kind, lovely, and generous with their time. Rachel (author of the Bram Stoker-nominated “And She had Been So Reasonable“) read from her already-incredible-but-not-yet-finished novella tentatively titled “HouseMaggie,” about a woman whose wife becomes their house. Temple has an incredible number of books already out and forthcoming, but the most recent is The Neon Revelation. And Ryan will have a novella out next year with Laughman House Publishing, No Future to Be Had.
Just like everyone else, I came home with way too many books. The list of panels was brilliant and almost too much. I could not make it to everything I wanted because there was so much overlap, but it was so cool to see multiple panels on BIPOC and queer/genderqueer authors and literature. The Gothic was a common theme of panels this year, and it was very cool to hear multiple conversations about ways that the gothic subgenre evolves in the hands of authors who are queer or of color. I could not make it to all of them, but I attended “Female Asian Gothic: Fury and Metamorphosis,” and “The Ghost in the Margins: Queerness in Gothic Horror.”
These panels both discussed all the ways that isolation and anxiety shift within their version of the subgenre. Panelists in “Female Asian Gothic” mentioned a lot of elements, but a lot of conversation focused on being diaspora authors reaching for their heritage and also on the unique ways in which family dynamics make for a kind of isolation that happens without really being alone. The “Ghost in the Margins” brought in historical queer gothic books such as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Haunting of Hill House, but also on the power of the gothic for queer and genderqueer authors to talk about their unique experience of isolation and anxiety around bodies and relationships. Both panels addressed the current political climate, from the attacks on queer and trans people by public and private entities to the upswing in anti-Asian racism since the arrival of COVID. The gothic has new contexts and offers potential for exploring them.
I could probably talk about a lot more, but I am tired, I’ve got a book to write, and I’ve got a lot of new books to read.
- Archivist in the Wild: June-July Panels & Readings
You can find me at quite a few events over the next couple of months.
Stokercon 2026
First, I’ll be in Pittsburg at StokerCon! Some details are still forthcoming, but I’ll update this post when I know places and times. (Consider subscribing to get updates!)
I am reading Thursday at 2pm alongside Jacques Mersereau and Kathleen Palm. We’ll be in the Fayette room.
I’ll also be participating in an amazing panel on “Nonbinary Authors in Horror” with Eric LaRocca, Saratoga Schaefer, and Rook Riley on Saturday at 3pm in Somerset! It will also be available to virtual attendees, so you can watch even if you’re not there in person. I’m so excited to chat with these incredible writers.
Pride Month Horror Panel
Later in the month, I’m joining Michael G. Williams and Natania Barron for a panel celebrating Pride Month! More details to come, but you can find us the evening of June 18 rocking out at Arcana bar in Durham.
Summer Chills with HWA-Carolina
Jon Carroll Thomas, co-chair of the HWA Carolinas chapter, has put together a fantastic reading lineup! Join us at 6:30pm at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh for readings from six HWA members. Folks will have their books on sale and it should be a fun night! Please RSVP to help Quail Ridge get a head count.
“Summer in North Carolina is a beast from Hell. Allow yourself a temporary reprieve in the cold embrace of the NC Horror Writers Association. Wednesday, July 1, six cold-blooded writers from across the state will descend on Quail Ridge Books to send shivers up your spine and chill you to your marrow. Moderated by John Hanley of Necksnap Magazine with an author Q&A to follow. Support Indie Horror created by living, breathing humans, Shop local.”