As a child, I was a nerdy weirdo who hung out in libraries for fun. There, I discovered horror and true crime at an inappropriately early age. Once I was exposed the joys of late-night syndicated shows like The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, I was ruined. I was fascinated by how these stories, so slow and quiet, would make me feel: sad, angry, confused, or vaguely creeped out. I loved it. As a tween I began devouring Stephen King, binging entire novels in an afternoon. From there I moved on to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson, and William Faulkner, who helped me discover and refine my Southern Gothic voice.
Since then, I followed my passion for writing by earning a Bachelor’s, then a Master’s, in Journalism. As a freelancer, I’ve written dozens of articles and essays from topics ranging from school lunches to the study of human decomposition – the weirder, the better.
But my true loves are horror and true crime, where I can explore the theme of justice – who gets it and who doesn’t, and why.
My first novel,
The Devil in Black Creek, is a retro thriller set in the 1980s told from the perspective of a 12-year-old girl. The plot unfolds with the gradual revealing of the evil that has moved into her small town, and the narrator’s efforts to expose it. Critics call it “…brilliant, creepy, and totally trendy…” and say “I would recommend to all horror fans, especially fans of Stephen King’s early work…” and “Five stars are not enough. I give it eleven.”
My latest works are long-form blog posts about true crime, featuring unusual or particularly relevant crimes from the past. Follow me on
Medium to get your weekly true-crime fix.
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1986 is the year everything blew apart …
Twelve-year-old tomboy Cassie lives a pretty boring life in small-town Black Creek, Arkansas, until her mom and dad divorce, throwing her into poverty and shattering her sheltered life.
Then the rich, elderly Henson sisters take pity on her, taking her under their wings and into the church. Except the handsome, charming new preacher has something strange going on in his shed.
When Cassie starts snooping around his property looking for her lost dog, she discovers something so awful, no one will believe her – and that may put her own life in danger.
Medium...https://medium.com/@delanirbartlette...