Jes Malitoris (Updates)

ALT Against a bright pink background, neon text reads: "Read Along Part 2: Sources and Stories. How do we read stories as historical sources? How do we fill gaps in the written record?" Below, the logo of the blog "The Scrawler Tapes." Also features the bright-red cover of John Blair's book "Killing the Dead."

ALT In neon shades of pink and blue, text reads, "Read-Along, Part I: Intro. Join me for a history of the 'dangerous dead' on my blog, the scrawler tapes." The cover of the history book, "kIlling the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World," by John Blair features a pair of illustrated skeletons against a red background.

ALT A wood stands in silhouette against an orange background. Bright text announces the title "Flame A-Kindle," coming October 2027 from Laughing Man House, with the publisher's grinning logo to one side. A deer the same color as the sky lurks in the background, and a wolf hunts among the trees in the foreground.

ALT A dark wood is encroaching on an orange sky. Bright text announces the title "Flame A-Kindle," with the grinning logo of the publisher, Laughing Man House, to one side. Text describes the story: "When the Devil comes to the sheep fold as an enormous Wolf, Tace is sure He has come to drag em to Hell as punishment for er sin: that e secretly shirks manhood and womanhood both. Bursting into the churchyard to warn of the beast, Tace sets tongues wagging, and to prevent disaster er parents pledge em to the butcher’s philandering son. Furious that e might be held to account while er betrothed’s offenses are dismissed, Tace reasons that none know a man’s sins better than the Devil Himself and ventures one night into the wood in search of the Wolf. But what hunts between the trees cares not for sin and cannot be kept at bay with prayer." A deer the same color as the trees lurks in the foreground, and eerie, sketched eyes float throughout the wood.

ALT The dark wood has blotted out the sky. Bright text announces the title "Flame A-Kindle," with the grinning Laughing Man House logo to one side. Text describes the story as "A seventeenth-century folk horror tale about monsters, mythology, patriarchy, and the devils we make ourselves," and it is for fans of Lee Mandelo's The Woods All Black, Brom's Slewfoot, and Robert Egger's film The Witch. A wolf the same color as the trees runs through the foreground, and eerie, sketched eyes float throughout.

ALT A wood stands in silhouette against an orange background. Bright text reads, "The wilds held wolves, aye, but other things besides." Inside a text box outlined with twigs, more text announces "For fans of religious horror, folk horror, old gods, and supernatural queerness. Watch this space!"

ALT A wood stands in silhouette against an orange background. Bright text reads, "I've got a secret for fans of..." and then pictures the covers of Lee Mandelo's The Woods All Black and Brom's Slewfoot, and a movie poster for Robert Egger's film The Witch. "Watch this space!"

ALT Image represents types of edits in relation to the "can't see the forest for the trees" idiom. Layered over an image of forested mountains, "developmental edits" include the peaks of character arcs, stakes, plot flow, and payoff. "Line edits" and "copy edits" reference individual trees of punctuation, style, grammar, diction, voice, and that line on page 54 that you've been trying to get just right.

ALT At the heart of the image, a black stick figure stands silhouetted against a fire. This image is surrounded by the title, "Flame A-Kindle" and the author's name. Around these, forest critters, mushrooms, and plants cluster together in bright red on a black background. The centerpiece elements are a wolf and deer in opposition to each other. Additional text advertises the QuestPit event, with the hashtags from the post.

ALT The cover of "The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 18," edited by Ellen Datlow, features a horned and winged being that looks more like an ancient, fossilized alien than a demon. Featuring stories by Laird Barron, Grady Hendrix, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Benjamin Percy, Robert Shearman, A.C. Wise, and many others.