To my mother and father, Jeanne and Rick, thank you for being the most loving, supportive, and encouraging parents a girl could ask for. Everything I’ve ever been able to accomplish has been because of your belief in me. To my sister, Lauren, who displays my horror anthologies on the desk at her prestigious Miami law firm, no matter how gory or gruesome the cover... I love you, Shashu Ba-bay!
To my wonderful husband, John, who begins most evenings by asking me, “Do you still have writing to do?” and is patient, supportive, and understanding, regardless of what the answer is (it’s usually, ‘yes’). A line from “The Girl Who Loved Bruce Campbell” seems fitting here: “You’re cute, babe. I love that you love blood and guts as much as I do.”
To Unnerving editor/publisher, Eddie Generous, thank you first for publishing “Red Room” in Unnerving Magazine Issue #5, and second, for being such a beast of an avid reader—consuming mainstream and indie horror fiction with inhuman consistency—and listening to the Tales to Terrify podcast episode that featured the short story version of the “Liquid Handcuffs” novella in this collection. That this helped convince you to publish Something Borrowed... tickles me pink as the pig on the haunting, hypnotizing cover you designed. Your work ethic is contagious, and it’s an honor to be among your 2018 catalogue of authors.
Thank you to Stephanie M. Wytovich, Ben Eads, and Joe Mynhardt of Crystal Lake Publishing. The insight with which you provided me over the course of my mentorship was invaluable, and I will carry your professionalism, enthusiasm, and expertise with me wherever I go in my career.
Thank you to Jessica Wick for convening each week for Writing Day, and for your help with a great many of these stories, from listening to “Thirsty Creatures” at Open Mic Night to beta reading “Red Room” and providing last-minute edits on “Flowers from Amaryllis.”
Julia Rios, thank for driving all the way to Westerly for Writing Day! Thank you for your keen eye for detail, for your assumption that I’d have some Halloween-inspired flash fiction lying around, and for publishing the eponymous story of this collection in Fireside Fiction. Not only does my work always get stronger after we’ve toiled through something together, but we have a grand old time in the process… amirite, bears?
I think the Savoy Bookshop and Café had been open for all of five minutes when I materialized before Event Coordinator Elissa Englund-Sweet, introduced myself as a local ‘writer,’ despite having but a handful of publishing credits to my name, and started chatting about upcoming events and local authors. Thank you for seeing my mildly manic enthusiasm for what it was: unadulterated excitement at having a bookstore—and book-minded people—in a town that can sometimes feel light-years away from the bibliophilic culture of a bigger city. Your friendship and the introductions you facilitated to other writers in the community have been my saving grace since returning to Westerly.
Thank you to Claire Cooney, the first writer Elissa put me in touch with, and a gracious, graceful, and inspirational human being. Thank you for your advice, your time, your passion, and most of all, thank you for being an enchanted beacon of light and creativity.
I was struck with a lethal bout of imposter syndrome upon having this collection accepted for publication. Soon after, Carlos Hernandez provided me with a letter of recommendation for several MFA programs I was applying to. Your generous praise of my work, and acknowledgment of my ambition, helped me overcome that self-doubt, and your ongoing support is unparalleled.
Thank you to my original ‘editor,’ Lazaryn McLaughlin, i.e., the first person besides my immediate family members who showed any interest in my stories, even the early, less-than-stellar ones.
Thank you to Sarah Itteilag for never batting an eye at the text messages I’ve sent, texts that, in requesting her nursing expertise, must seem like I’m either planning a murder, or have just committed one.
Thank you to the astoundingly talented, remarkable women who blurbed this collection: Gwendolyn Kiste, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Christina Sng, and Jessica McHugh. I am in awe of your collective body of work, and am inspired daily by your commitment to your craft.
Hearty thank-yous to Juliana Rew, George Somers, Randy Chandler & Cheryl Mullenax of Comet Press, E.J. Wentstrom, Anna Reith, Shane Staley, Scott Silk, Weasel “The Dude,” of Weasel Press, Brett Pribble, D Chang of Space Squid, for first publishing ten of these thirteen stories.
Thank you to Sarah Cleto and Brittany Warmen for the feedback on “Wolves at the Door...” at the culmination of a magical Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic Legends course, and to my fellow students in the Harvard Extension School’s Creative Writing and Literature Master’s Program for critiquing additional drafts of that same story.
Lastly, and perhaps needlessly, for she has no reason to pick up this book, having lived the inspiration for each of these stories with me (and, well, the whole no opposable thumbs thing), a thank you to my Maya Bear for remaining faithfully by my side, ever patient while I click away at my keyboard or stare off into space, letting me know when it’s time to take a break for dinner or a walk outside. She is my Amaryllis, my expanse of flowers after the rain, the light that chases the shadow wolf away.
And the shadows do come, no matter the pains we take to keep them at bay. A final thank-you to the reader who picks up this book, and finds something within its pages to shed light on their own shadow wolf. Those things have teeth, but they back down quickly when you show a little mettle.
Christa Carmen,
May 1, 2018
Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked Page 19