ABOUT REN
I started writing at a young age (poems inspired by Reading Rainbow), but came to horror late, since I used to feel guilty about my dark side. Now I understand that my inner darkness is a natural offshoot of my empathy, and accepting that part of myself—even loving it—is what allows me to still laugh and smile very easily in spite of… well, life, and the general state of the world.
Horror exists everywhere, whether we admit it or not. It’s inescapable, standing shoulder to shoulder with beauty, and friendship, and all the more presentable aspects of existence. For me, horror, no matter how otherworldly, is at once the most authentic and escapist of genres.
In “real life” I live in Columbus, Georgia with my amazing daughter Willa, and my bibliophile mother Margie. I work full-time as a Marketing Content Writer for Imprivata, and fit in novel writing whenever I can. I’ve been published before, but my horror fiction is represented by my fabulous agent, Stacey Kondla.
You can find me on social media (rarely at the moment, but I’m trying to do better), on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Slasher.
A CABINET OF WONDERS
My first published book wasn’t horror. It was a realistic novel set at a traveling carnival in the late 1920s. The novel follows a freak-run freak show where people born different create their own space away from the brutal world, taking their power back from the rubes by making them pay for the privilege of staring. You can buy it in paperback or e-book from Lake Union Publishing.
To be clear, I wrote this years ago when I was very young, and I haven’t read it for a while, so I’m not sure how well it holds up. Still, some people I’ve never met (including reviewers from Library Journal and Kirkus) said that it’s good, and I can’t say I wouldn’t be pleased by an uptick in royalties…