I love “history behind” posts… It’s been a while.
My last book/short story is one that I wrote for an anthology, and luckily I was selected. Actually, they asked me to be in it. That didn’t mean my story was good enough for selection.
The anthology is called, “We’re Still Here.” It’s an LGBTQ+ Horror collection composed of thirteen thought-provoking, emotion-inspiring, and highly entertaining tales released by Gloom House Publishing.
I was super excited to be among some of the popular indie horror writers, especially Chisto Healy, who someday I’d love to co-write with.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The idea for “Heartbeat of Madness” came into fruition when the co-writer of “Love In The Shadows,” GA Rea was in the hospital having her ticker replaced. We joked while she was there about all the “oops” that could happen, such as replacing the wrong body part or getting charts mixed up.
At the same time, I was working on another piece about a stalker/roommate situation gone wrong. So the idea of jiggled in my mind for a while and I bounced ideas of GA, because when you are laid up in the hospital, what is there really to do but to listen to your friend ramble.
I’ll be honest… I used Chat GPT for ideas. Dropping in clues such as hospital, a murderous heart donor, and lesbian romance stalking. Trust me, Chat GPT tossed out some horrible ideas. BUT…
If you take all the bits and pieces from each summary it vomited out, there were enough gem ideas to place them all on post-its and spread them out on a table like a puzzle.
No… Chat GPT did not write the book.
Once I could clearly see the beginning and end of this story, I wrote it myself. Of course, there are twists and turns and AI ideas were dumped in the trash… And while I might not consider it my best work ever, I feel it turned out well.
For me, writing is a labor of love — I must be in love with a story and it’s characters for me to believe in it. Was I in love with “Heartbeat of Madness?”
Not at all.
This is one of the reasons I don’t usually submit to open call anthologies. Writing on demand where I am guided and limited to a theme, word count, and deadline, I freeze up. I’m forced to narrow my focus which in turn gives me writers block. That’s when I struggle, hence not producing the quality of work I like to see from myself. BUT… they liked it and published it with other amazing authors.
The story is about a woman who is on the donor list for a new heart. A match is found—a murderer on death row. As the new heart brings life into her world, it also brings darkness that pushes her over the edge and into madness. It’s a dark Sapphic horror with a few spicy sex scenes. Typical me.
While you can buy the entire book on Amazon, you can also just grab a copy of my story on eBook for just 99 cents.