L.S. Young's Blog

A warm welcome to queer fantasy, horror, and supernatural fiction author Stephanie Rabig! 1) What's the scariest novel or story you've ever read?Short story: The Boogeyman, by Stephen KingNovel: Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson2) Who is your favorite horror novelist?Kealan Patrick Burke3) Are you a fan of the horror genre or does it scare you too much?Been a fan since I was too young to read most of the things I read (that'll teach dad for keeping his Stephen Kings on a low shelf) ;...

I'd like to welcome historical and fantasy author and poet, Shannon Barnsley, to my Halloween-themed Author Q&A.Thanks for having me!What's the scariest novel or story you've ever read? I think I have to say Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale for scariest novel. I once made the mistake of reading a good chunk of it, going to see Get Out, and then immediately falling asleep, all interspersed with emergency alerts about the current administration. Holy Nightmare Fuel, Batman. Do not recommen...

Welcome to my Halloween-themed Author Q&A. I interviewed myself first. Contact me if you want to be featured this month!What's the scariest novel or story you've ever read? It's a toss up between 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. 'Salem's Lot made vampires scary for me again after Twilight almost ruined them, and The Little Stranger kept me up for most of a night. Shirley Jackson's short stories always make my jaw drop, too.Who is your favorite horror nove...

I’ve been angry and frustrated for a while. And I’ve finally decided to just embrace it. Writing is a brutal effing business, HIghness, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. After I signed my debut novel with a small pub I found out that a lot of people don’t take you seriously in the business unless you have a huge online following and an agent. I was also, admittedly, out to prove to my family that I was a “real writer.” (Note: If you write, you're a real writer.) So I decided...

"England was alive, throbbing through all her estuaries, crying for joy through the mouths of all her gulls, and the north wind, with contrary motion, blew stronger against her rising seas."E.M. Forster, Howards End"I do not mean him, or any man or woman, to be the whole of my life." -Margaret SchlegelThe Starz adaptation of E.M. Forster's 1910 novel Howards End is both a faithful adaptation and a respite from the year 2018, but it is also a troubling portrayal of how little has changed since...

The year we got married, my spouse and I were paying $400 a month for a 450 sq ft apartment in our city’s historic district. We lived within walking distance of bars, diners, a library, and a swan-laden lake. We'd never had it so good, but we didn’t know. I think our white privilege and millennial ennui blinded us. We were both stuck at soul-crushing dead end jobs, tired of driving through horrible traffic every day, and of living in a tiny, cramped apartment. And of course we were neck deep...

My two year old loves babies. She likes to point them out in public, and she likes pairs of things that are big and small to be a mama and baby.There are days where I badly wish I could give her a younger sibling. When we first bought our house, I had just finished six weeks of physical therapy, so my chronic pain from a spinal injury and hypermobile joints was greatly improved. My mental health was also good. We’d gotten out of my in-laws’ house: our goal for a whole year. I had weaned my da...

If you find yourself perusing Netflix in your leisure time, please check out Alias Grace. I am a sucker for a good period drama as it is, but as this one centers on true crime and a complex protagonist, it drew me in completely. Earlier this year, I found myself entranced by Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale. And now it has happened again in a different medium via the Netflix adaptation of her novel Alias Grace. This story explores not only the evil that repression and mistreatment...

Please welcome Rhonda Frankhouser sharing an excerpt from her upcoming release Health Nut Cafe:Lost souls fall in love at the Health Nut CaféImagine recognizing someone you’ve never seen before…Becka Clemmons’ one true passion is running the Health Nut Café. Awakened every morning by the same nightmare, Becka sees the world through tainted eyes. She’s never believed in fairytale romances until Jonathan Parker walks through the café door one cool, foggy morning. She struggles to understand why...

Please welcome my second guest blogger for the month of September: Viola Russell. Viola blogged about writing her work in progress for her historical series The Jude Mooney Saga.The Jude Mooney Saga:When I wrote From Ice Wagon to Club House: The Life of Jude Mooney, I thought that I’d put the characters to rest when I typed the last sentence.  A few months later, I was writing about those characters again.  They wouldn’t let me sleep; they whispered to me in my dreams.  Ice Wagon had left Jud...