And Just Like That, It's February

Well, we made it to February. That’s something, right?

The past month has seen a tremendous amount of tumult and tragedy across the US and the world, and it feels…odd…to be looking for bright spots in such utter darkness. But in the immortal words of Samwise Gamgee “even darkness must pass,” and so we move ever-forward, because we must.

Thanks for reading Evans Funeral Parlor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

On the writing front, in December I turned in revisions on a brand-new, standalone novel to my editor at Minotaur Books. Last week, I received her response, which read, in part: This was so pacey and tense… It had real heart to it amidst all the ghoulishness and gore of this wild and amazing book! Obviously, I can’t wait to tell you allll about it. SOON.

On the editing front, we’ve just wrapped edits on HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women in Horror, forthcoming in November from Black Spot Books! This is my third WiH anthology, and believe you me, this one is going to knock your socks off. We’ll soon be able to share the cover and ToC, and I am chomping at my fingernails to tell you all about it and the freakin’ amazeballs women and their stores; I am so excited.

Lastly, on the Something to Celebrate front, voting is underway for the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards® Preliminary Ballot, and I’m gobsmacked to be considered in two categories for three titles:

In Anthologies, for THE DARKEST NIGHT (Crooked Lane Books) and MOTHER KNOWS BEST (Black Spot Books), and in

First Novel, for BLESS YOUR HEART (Minotaur Books)

All three of these are near and dear to me, and I’m incredibly honored and grateful that they’ve found their way into the hearts of my beloved horror community. This year’s official Nominees will be announced at the end of this month, and whichever way it swings, there are no bad apples here. We are truly living in the golden days of horror literature, and the works on this ballot prove it. Long live horror!

On that note, the Horror Writers Association included BLESS YOUR HEART in this month’s issue of the Seer’s Table. For those unfamiliar, the Seer’s Table highlights promising stories and authors within the genre. It's a platform for discovering fresh voices in horror literature—so, it’s a tremendous honor to be spotlighted.

Coming Up Next

I am so so so so so so so so so excited for this Spring, because not only will the next ghoulishly fun adventure for the Evans women arrive with ANOTHER FINE MESS in April, but readers who haven’t yet met this motley crew of sassy Southern monster-slayers can get caught up before the sequel drops when BLESS YOUR HEART arrives in paperback in March!

Pre-orders are the best way to show love for your authors, and both of these are available now. I hope you’ll read along. Come for the horror, stay for the fun!

2025 Events are Coming!

New Jersey! Pennsylvania! Connecticut! Texas! Virginia! Massachusetts! More!

My 2025 Events Calendar is filling up! February kicks off my annual travel schedule, but as of March, I’ll officially be on the road visiting bookstores and libraries—and attending conferences and conventions!—around the country. I am so excited to meet readers, and hope you’ll come out and say hi. We can chat about the Evans women, or swap fun Southernisms, or gab about our favorite books. WE CAN DO ALL THREE.

The 2025 tour schedule officially kicks off on March 21 at Inkwood Books in Haddonfield, NJ—easily one of my favorite indie stores in the area, about a stone’s throw from Philadelphia. The booksellers are awesome, the area is a charming little destination, and last time I visited, the store was fostering kittens named after publishers. Simon, a very sweet black kitty named for Simon & Schuster blended in so nicely with my dress, and he helped me sign lots of books!

At Inkwood Books in Haddonfield, NJ - Halloween Night Market (October 2024)So, I’ve Been Reading…

January is always a crazy busy month, and this last one was no exception, but it wasn’t without its perks on the reading front. My first read of the year was Joe Hill’s USHERS, a short story about a young man who has improbably escaped death twice, and the terrible secret he carries, and if you have not read it, you should. My never-ending love of shorter works led me to Lisa Unger’s THE SLEEP TIGHT MOTEL, following a woman on the run who finds refuge in a motel at the edge of the woods, and then to Unger’s THE DOLL’S HOUSE, wherein a widowed mother moves into her fiancé’s old family home with her teenage daughter—both solid reads. I took a break from the dark side of horror-thrillers and went even darker, into non-fiction, with Rebecca Solnit’s essay collections MEN EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME, which details what often goes wrong in conversations between men and women, and HOPE IN THE DARK, a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable.

From the arc pile, I dipped my toes into Laura Leffler’s upcoming debut TELL THEM YOU LIED (May 27, Hyperion Avenue), the unraveling of tumultuous friendship that gets turned on its head on fated 9/11, when one friend goes missing and the other may be to blame. It’s a taut slow-boiler that will appeal to readers who enjoy alternating timelines and unreliable narrators.

The dark early days of the New Year sent me to the sweeter side, where I treated myself to MURDER BY CHEESECAKE by Rachel Ekstrom Courage, the first in a brand-spankin’-new Golden Girls series of cozy mysteries. Picture it: the gals back together, this time on the page, and this time: there’s been a murder. Obviously, it was right up my alley, and, equally as obviously, I am already (impatiently) awaiting the next installment. I also happened upon NOBODY’S PERFECT by Sally Kilpatrick, and—as a woman of a certain age, with a certain distaste for social media, with a certain number of very large recent life changes—very much enjoyed a playful romp through suburbia with this one.

That’s it for now, friends. Until next month, stay safe, stay strong, and, as Mother Atwood reminds us: Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.

Thanks for reading Evans Funeral Parlor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.