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Read Me A Nightmare

Read Me A Nightmare

De: Angelique Fawns
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Season 2 of "Read Me A Nightmare" shifts its focus to conversations with writers, editors, and creators working in and around dark fiction — about craft, career, and the realities of making stories in the world.Visit www.fawns.ca to learn more. Please --if you enjoy the episode, leave a review!

angeliquemfawns.substack.comAngelique Fawns Arte Historia y Crítica Literaria
Episodios
  • Making Horror Movies with Robert Stahl

    Making Horror Movies with Robert Stahl
    Jan 11 2026
    Prefer to WATCH this interview? CLICK HERERobert Stahl is a long-time writing friend of mine and we met because he follows my monthly short story call lists. This Texan native also makes the most blood-chilling (and fun) little horror movies.Check them out! You Better Watch Out (trigger warning: gory)Trick (trigger warning: really spicy and gory)Think Robert Rodriguez.I saw his latest Christmas horror short on YouTube and decided a catch-up in 2026 was a must-do. Learn more about Robert at www.robertestahl.com.We also talk about his recent anthology Show Me Where It HurtsAngelique: One thing that really stands out about you is that you’ve actually made horror movies—something many writers dream about. Can you tell us about your short films?Robert: I’ve done two short horror films, both under ten minutes. I wrote and produced them and worked with a very talented local director. The first was a gay slasher short called Trick, and the second was You Better Watch Out. The second one won Audience Choice at a local film competition, which I’m very proud of.Angelique: Is filmmaking something you see as profitable, or is it more of a passion project?Robert: Those films were definitely passion projects. They’re more expensive to make than they are profitable. For me, they were a way to learn the process and train myself. I do have ideas for full-length screenplays, but with a full-time job, it’s all about finding the time.Angelique: Your production quality is impressive. It feels like the industry should be snapping this kind of work up.Robert: Thank you. I think it’s possible to get there eventually, but I have to focus on one project at a time. Right now, that focus is writing fiction.Angelique: Let’s talk about your short story collection. Why did you choose to work with JournalStone instead of self-publishing?Robert: I wanted the experience of working with a publisher. I liked the reputability and the extra validation. I shopped the collection around for about a year and a half, got plenty of rejections, and eventually connected with JournalStone after seeing other authors I respected working with them.Angelique: What did that publishing process look like?Robert: They handled formatting, cover art, ebook versions, and distribution. It was a very smooth process, and I’d recommend them to other writers.Angelique: Was it financially worthwhile?Robert: I’m not retiring anytime soon, but it did reasonably well. It’s a profit-split model, not an advance, and everything was very transparent. I’d happily work with them again.Angelique: There’s a lot of talk online about big numbers and writing income, but not much honesty about expenses. What’s your take?Robert: Exactly. There are many ways to lose money in publishing. My experience with JournalStone was straightforward and fair, but writing—especially short fiction—is rarely career-changing income.Angelique: Do you see novels or novellas as the next step?Robert: Definitely. When you go to conventions, authors with more books have more opportunities. I want to build my inventory—novels, novellas, maybe comics or screenplays.Angelique: Are you aiming to make writing your full-time career?Robert: I made peace with the fact that I do this for love, not money. If something big happens, great—but that’s not my focus. Having a day job lets me create without pressure.Angelique: I think we write horror for similar reasons—processing difficult things in the world. Is that true for you?Robert: Absolutely. I’ve had a dark inner world since childhood. Writing horror helps me channel it. My mother had dementia, and that experience directly inspired one of my stories, Family Time. Writing gives me a way to work through those emotions.Angelique: That comes through in your work. Your film You Better Watch Out barely has dialogue, which I didn’t even notice when watching.Robert: That was intentional. We wanted to challenge ourselves and rely on visual storytelling. There are maybe a couple of spoken lines, but it’s mostly pure action and atmosphere.Angelique: What’s your main focus going into 2026?Robert: Building more work—hopefully another short story collection, a novel or novella, and continuing to explore screenplays and comics. I just want to keep getting better.Angelique: And where can people find you?Robert: I’m on all the socials, and my website is robertstahl.com, where people can also sign up for email updates.If you want to hear my ORIGINAL interview with Robert, check it out here. He also reads his short story “Treats.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit angeliquemfawns.substack.com/subscribe
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    19 m
  • Writing Stories with Eda Easter

    Writing Stories with Eda Easter
    Jan 6 2026
    Welcome to SEASON 2 of Read Me A Nightmare!We are shifting the focus of this podcast a little and focusing on interviews and insights to help YOU sell stories in 2026. The Last Girls Club is OPEN for submission right now.Prefer video? WATCH the interview here.Horror - Theme for Spring’s Issue: Haunted - Jan 1-15 - 2500 words or less - pay .015 cents per word, $15 USD max - sub sims welcome - no reprints.Haunted. In the night; in the dark. We’re going old school Shirley Jackson “and the furniture laughed” creeping dread. It doesn’t have to be a house, it could be a submarine, a tent, a treehouse, a rabbit warren, whatever. Save the monster until the very end. We want growing shadows, days lost, locked doors that are suddenly ajar, lost journals in random cabinets. Do your worst, but give us your best.More about this market: I want stories from the female gaze (think Aliens, Resident Evil, Hereditary, Tank Girl). I’m tired of reading what men want to do to us. I want to read what we want to do to them. Bring me smart female protagonists whose first inclinations are not to seduce the guard to get out of situations; they’ve got skills, they can get violent easily. I’m fine with them developing over the course of the story into someone like that, but please don’t revert to clichés unless you have your tongue firmly in your cheek. Please don’t use graphic rape for fridging purposes. If it’s part of a character’s backstory or development, fine, but don’t shoot the damn dog just to piss off your main character.My focus is horror, supernatural, and creeping dread. I’m not averse to extreme/slasher horror. I always love a bit of sci-fi or dystopia, but it’s not our focus, so if it’s your venue, make it scary. If you spackle a layer of women’s issues into it, even better; such as disenfranchisement, slut-shaming, violence against trans people, racism, misogyny, sex work exploitation, inequitable emotional work and housework, whatever exists in this world that pisses you off, feel free to put a metaphorical ax between its eyebrows.SUBMIT HERE(Listen to the podcast to hear more about this particular call.)I volunteer my time helping the short story world for free. But if you could join the next tier, not only will you get free books (with market insights), you get extra content to accelerate your fiction career!My Insights: I sold a story to Eda for the Fall 2021 issue, The Gay 90s, and through the editing process became fast friends with this truly gorgeous human being. There is only one Eda Easter in the world, and I don’t know if that is a blessing or a curse. I just know I absolutely love her. Lucy and the Cosmic Comet ride was my way of processing the Heaven’s Gate mass cult suicide. As always, I like to take something dark and put a positive spin on it.At the bottom of this post, you’ll find links to the last two episodes I recorded in Season One with Eda. This includes little excerpts from her writing, including a chapter from Killer RV.Cool things referenced in the interview.Last Girls Club PatreonVillian ClassAngelique: I’m here today with one of my favorite people, Eda Easter of Last Girls Club magazine. Let’s chat.Eda: We’re live!Angelique: You wanted to talk about the spring theme for Last Girls Club, which is “Haunted.”Eda: Yes—and haunted can mean a lot of things. Haunted treehouse, haunted suburb, haunted warren—I don’t care. I wanted to do something lighter, because the winter issue was secret police, ice, and desperate times.Angelique: Very dark. Very serious.Eda: Very boots-on-the-ground. So I thought, let’s shift toward something more Shirley Jackson–style haunted. Let’s lighten it up—which is funny, because that’s what counts as light for us.Angelique: I love it. Ghost stories are the most fun. The Haunting of Hill House is one of my favorite books and movies of all time.Eda: My favorite line is “and the furniture laughed.” That moment where you realize everything is coming for you—even the ottoman. An evil ottoman!Angelique: Now you’re staring at your ottoman, aren’t you?Eda: Absolutely.Angelique: So tell me, what is it about Last Girls Club? You really embrace the feminine gaze. Punk rock feminist.Eda: Angry women. I realized that’s the core of it. Angry women are not crazy. So many of my favorite characters are women who would burn things down—or had to be killed off or “fixed” so they could be happy and get married.That’s why I hated Cruella. They framed her as evil because she was ambitious, great at her career, and didn’t want to give it up for a kid. That really got under my skin.Angelique: Okay, note to self: don’t watch if I don’t want to be enraged.Eda: You should watch it because it’s enraging. Disney is insidious about enforcing norms for girls.Angelique: And we’re all Tank Girl around here.Eda: Always.Angelique: I love evil heroines. They’re my favorite. I spent so many years caring if...
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    17 m
  • 55 Strategies for Short Fiction with Mark Leslie, Matty Dalrymple and Angelique Fawns

    55 Strategies for Short Fiction with Mark Leslie, Matty Dalrymple and Angelique Fawns
    Nov 23 2025
    This episode was originally created for the Stark Reflections podcast and hosted by Mark Leslie. I’m rebroadcasting it here on Substack for my short fiction writing friends. If you're a short story writer, or would like to be, you can’t miss this episode!Mark and Matty wrote an absolutely wonderful guide called Taking the Short Tack: Creating Income and Connecting with Readers Using Short Fiction, and this conversation is based on advice from that book.I consider Mark one of my mentors, and I learned so much from a consulting session with him (you can book your own HERE). It was on his advice that I reused my shorts in collections and braved a Kickstarter.Matty is a new find for me, and not only have I fallen in love with her, but I’m also obsessed with her character, Ann Kinnear. (This protagonist solves mysteries AND talks to dead people.)Here is a bit of what you’ll hear…Mark’s Take: Short Fiction Builds Careers Over TimeMark started writing in the 1980s, when selling short stories to magazines was the way to break in. Editors looked for proof you could deliver clean, compelling writing in a tight format.But decades later, Mark still finds short fiction valuable because:* You can sell it multiple times (first rights, reprints, anthologies)* You can collect stories into themed mini-books* You can serialize audio versions on YouTube or podcasts* You can use them in Kickstarters or special editions* You can pair them with long fiction for reader magnets or bundlesIn Mark’s world, a single story has many lives.Matty’s Take: Short Fiction Serves Your Existing ReadersMatty didn’t start in short fiction—she added it after she had two suspense novels out. But she realized:* Readers wanted more stories in the same world* Short fiction let her keep fans engaged between novels* Standalone shorts sell surprisingly well as ebooks* Holidays & seasons create perfect mini-launch momentsHer readers binge a full series… and then can keep getting a fix with the shorts.Short fiction becomes continuity glue.But Angelique, I’m not ready to do a full novel series? (Yup, I’m not quite there yet either.)This is my method and how Mark grew his career:* Write a story* Start with the highest-paying markets* Work your way down* Track your submissions* Push for pro rates when possible* Sell reprints after first publication* Later, collect the stories into minis or anthologiesWhy this works:* You build credentials quickly* You build relationships with editors* You grow an audience organically* You can resell the same story multiple times* You keep building a library of IPA 3,000-word story at pro rate (8 cents/word) earns $240—as much or more than many books earn in a full year.Short fiction can pay.Matty uses short fiction a little differently:* Standalone stories for $1.99* Available on Amazon, her website, and especially Curios* Seasonal releases (Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.)* Shorts tied directly to her existing series* Audio editions added for bonus valueWhy this works:* Readers already love her worlds* They will pay small amounts for more content* Direct platforms give better revenue splits* Audio + ebook bundles add high perceived value* No waiting months for rejections* No rights tangles, no contracts to decodeTools, Platforms, and ServicesHere are the most useful tools that came up in our conversation.So, I’d never heard of Curios before, but it’s Matty’s fav tool. (Here is her store) https://www.curios.com/creators/mattydalrymple-X449BRCURIOSPerfect for direct sales.* Writers keep 100% of the list price* Readers pay the fees* Has its own e-reader and audio app* Allows ebook + audio bundles without price-parity issues* Costs around $20/yearI personally use Gumroad, but in two years, I’ve earned a total of $3.74, so I’m not sure it’s working for me. BOOKFUNNEL Matty, Mark, and I use BookFunnel to:* Deliver reader magnets* Deliver short story collections* Send ebooks securely* Reduce tech headaches for new subscribers* Host downloads for Kickstarter backers* Track who actually downloads the bookDRAFT2DIGITAL For print copies of short stories:* D2D Print auto-builds your wraparound cover* As long as you reach ~24–30 pages, it works* Great for in-person events, swag, bundles* Extremely low print costThese are powerful as:* giveaways* Kickstarter add-ons* “buy-two-books-get-a-short-free” convention dealsRights, Risks, and PitfallsWatch out for:* Markets that count public drafts as “published”* Anthologies grabbing all rights forever* Ambiguous language around audio or film rights* Submission platforms that default to “public”If you want to learn more about short fiction contracts, Michael La Ronn has a great video HEREUsing Short Fiction to Build Novels Matty writes short pieces inside her Ann Kinnear world.Mark has reused stories across platforms for 20+ years.And I’m now writing my stories inside the universe of my novel-in-progress. (You can join the adventure! I’...
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    1 h y 4 m
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