I love words. I always have. I remember being five years old at Christmas and my parents gave me a crazy set of "Children's Classics." Black Beauty, Water Babies, The Man in the Iron Mask. I couldn't read any of them, but the potential was heady. By 8th grade, I knew I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I had landed in honour's english class, which was all about words. I learned about Shakespeare and wrote my own Greek myth. And I never looked back.

If you let me, I'll share that love with you, in ways you may not have explored before. We'll go on journeys into dark, forbidden places. We'll sigh and smile and turn the page and hold our breaths. I promise to bring you safely home.

I was born in Hull and I've loved books from an early age. I read English at The University of Hull before graduating in Social Sciences with The Open University. I'm really pleased that Hull won the U.K. City of Culture 2017 as I saw what it did for Liverpool.

I never thought I'd write poetry. But I was drawn to a book on Haiku in 2014. I started working with this form towards the end of that year. I had 'Hearts of the matter' commended in a National Magazine. Some of my other poems appear in a 2016 International anthology with all proceeds to Rescue animals.

In 2018, I've contributed to the album 'Safe and warm' by 'Musicians for homeless' with a monologue kindly read by the actor Ian Ralph. Please support those less fortunate.

WINNER: November 2019 - 'The Hermit' - Blue Animal Literature @BlueLiterature .

Poetry can be just as weighty as a novel. It's condensed but not watered down. I'm currently working on fiction projects. Short stories and poems have appeared in The Horror Tree: Trembling With Fear, Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Aphotic Realm, Rune Bear, Detritus, Fiction Kitchen Berlin, The Cabinet of Heed, Nymphs, Spelk, Eerie River, Dodging The Rain, InkPantry, Red Cape Publishing and more.

I hope you enjoy reading the fictions and poems as much as I did shaping them.

Horror Anthologies:

Red Cape Publishing - 'A - Z of Horror': Aliens through to Genies.

Eerie River Publishing

Nocturnal Sirens Publishing

Macabre Ladies

Facebook:

Mark Anthony Smith - Author

Twitter: @MarkAnthonySm16

Www.markanthonysmith.com

@SpelkFiction , @Truly_U_ , @DetritusOnline , @CabinetOfHeed , @pphatinyjournal , @nymphswriting , @FictionBerlin , @BlueLiterature , @EerieRiver , @RedCapePublish , @dodgingtherain , @FeversOf , XmasIR , @fatcatmagazine , @InkPantry , @StoriesAlt , @commuterlit , @_IdleInk_ , @ns_publishing , @Runebearmag , @PlanetRaconteur , @HorrorTree , @PenumbricMag , @AphoticRealm , @theboldmom @DemainPubUK

C.L. Williams is an independent author from central Virginia. He is a writer of poetry, short stories, recently released his first novel, and is a contributor to multiple anthologies. When C.L. Williams is not writing, he is reading the works of other independent authors

Eric is a Philadelphia native and self-styled horror hunter who's a fan of all things weird. A graduate of Temple University, Eric has spent years studying the inner workings of the macabre in both fiction and nonfiction. Influenced heavily by the works of Lovecraft, Koontz, Preston, King, and others, Eric's works seek to provide new perspectives on and approaches to the finer, darker things in life.

Short-fiction author, and poet, Nerisha Kemraj, hails from Durban, South Africa. She is the mother of procrastination, and two beautiful girls.

Alanna Robertson-Webb is a rising star among short story writers, and one of the anthologies she is featured in (Monsters, by Black Hare Press) has been nominated for a 2019 Bram Stoker Award. Additionally, the novella she co-wrote (Storming Area 51: Horror at the Gates) reached the #1 spot in Amazon's sci-fi books in October of 2019.

Her stories are often infused with hair-raising horror, and her paranormal tales in particular add just the right amount of darkness to keep her readers intrigued.

For Alanna the spooky side of writing is a riviting journey through the human psyche, so whether you are looking for some of her wholesome horror (Monstronomicon by Haunted House Publishing) or wish to be transported into one of her grimmer worlds (Death and Butterflies by Suicide House Publishing) then grab a book and embark on a thrilling read!

Luis Manuel Torres went in search of El Dorado but instead found an old curse which should remain buried. He escaped Raccoon City after it suffered a biological outbreak. He participated in the mages rebellion in the city of Kirkwall. Okay, maybe he did all this in video games but they have inspired his writing.

Luis Manuel Torres was born in Puerto Rico, lived in Boston Massachusetts for thirteen years and currently lives in Springfield Mass. He has a love for stories in all forms they come in, from books to television to video games. His work can be found in multiple anthologies. He is always working on multiple writing projects.

You can follow him on twitter at https://twitter.com/Luis1989Manuel

The stars align, eldritch monstrosities awaken and somewhere in England, K.T.Tate is struck with feverish creativity. Inspired to write weird fiction, dark tales and strange stories, she commits them to paper in the hopes of enthralling her readers. Or at least appeasing her abominable muses and having a nice cup of tea.

Michelle hails from Ontario, Canada where she is lives with her wonderful husband, fearless daughter and newborn son. A lover of hot black coffee and everything dark and terrifying, she spends her nights writing, publishing and dreaming about all things that go bump in the night. To her husband's dismay, she thrives on multiple projects, tight deadlines and revels in the chaos around her.

She runs Eerie River Publishing, focusing on promoting indie authors and publishing high-quality dark fiction anthologies, novels and novellas.

Follow her adventures in publishing and writing here:

www.EerieRiverPublishing.com

Twitter: @EerieRiver

Twitter: MRiver_Writes

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/EerieRiver/

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/MichelleRiverAuthor/

Chris Bannor is an LGBTQIA+ speculative fiction writer who lives in Southern California. Chris learned her love of genre stories from her mother at an early age and has never veered far from that path. You can find her serial novels on Kindle Vella. Chris has also been published in over 50 anthologies. Her stories range from horror and science fiction, to romance, fantasy, and steampunk.

When Chris isn’t writing, she enjoys movie marathons, binge-watching TV shows, musical theater, and road trips with her family. Otherwise, she is a general homebody who lives with her two teenagers, a cat, and two dogs. You can follow Chris on Facebook @chrisbannorauthor or at her homepage at www.ChrisBannor.com

Callum Pearce is a Dutch storyteller, originally from Liverpool.

Lover of the magical as well as the macabre. He lives in a foggy old fishing town in the Netherlands with his husband a cat shaped sprite and a couple of fabulous rescue dogs.

Callum also runs House Of Loki. publishing books for young people as an Imprint of Nordic Press.

You can follow and see what's coming up in these places:

house-of-loki.com

https://m.facebook.com/calmpeace13

https://mobile.twitter.com/Aladdinsane79

Amber M. Simpson is a dark speculative fiction writer from Northern Kentucky with a penchant for horror and fantasy. Her fiction has been featured in multiple themed anthologies as well as online. She has acted as Assistant Editor for Fantasia Divinity Magazine since 2017, where she's gotten to work with many talented authors from all over the world.

While she loves to create dark worlds and diverse characters, her greatest creations of all are her sons, Maxamus and Liam, who keep her feet on the ground even while her head is in the clouds.

To learn more, visit: https://ambermsimpson.com.

Ariana Ferrante is an #actuallyautistic speculative fiction author, screenwriter, and playwright. Her main interests include reading and writing fantasy and horror of all kinds, featuring heroes big and small getting into all sorts of trouble. She has been published by Brigid's Gate Press and Eerie River Publishing, among others. On the playwriting side, her works have been featured in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, and nominated for national awards. She currently lives in Florida, but travels often, mostly to ride roller coasters. You may find her on Twitter at @ariana_ferrante 

C. Marry Hultman (born 1977) is an expatriate Wisconsinite. He currently works teaching High School, yet still finds time to write all forms of genre fiction. He hosts the podcast W.A.R.G -The Guild where he talks to various indie authors about the craft of writing. You can follow him on https://wisconsinnoir.wixsite.com/wisnoir and delve into the cosmic horror of Wisconsin. He currently lives in Europe with his wife Marie, two children and the cat Fizzgig.

J. M. Staley was born during a full moon and a hurricane. That explains a lot. She lives in Bucks County with her cat, Jiji, and her partner Gene. She is a voice actress in an upcoming drama podcast and has had her work featured on The Word Count Podcast. She enjoys writing dark fantasy and unusual romances, especially with characters that are witchy and queer like herself. When she isn’t writing, she’s songwriting on her harp or playing tabletop games at cons. She loves spa days, mountain mornings, and the first bittersweet sip of coffee.

David Green is a neurodivergent, internationally best-selling writer of the epic and the urban, the fantastical and the mysterious.

With his character-driven dark fantasy series Empire Of Ruin, or urban fantasy noir Hell In Haven starring Haven's only supernatural PI Nick Holleran, David takes readers on emotional, character-driven, action-packed thrill rides that leaves a reader needing their next fix.

Hailing from the north-west of England, David now lives in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland with his wife and train-obsessed son.

When not writing, David can be found wondering why he chooses to live in, and write about, places where it constantly rains.