Origins: A conversation I had in 1999 with a man who had the misfortune of finding not one, but two dead bodies on his property. Completely unrelated crimes, ten years apart, but the victims were discovered in almost exactly the same place. What these discoveries had done to him psychologically was terrifying.
Joe and Shelly are composites of some of the art students I’ve taught over the years in my photography classes. I’ve always been interested in the differences between the kids who felt like they were artists, like Shelly, and the ones who felt they were “art-adjacent,” like Joe. I began by shifting view points between Shelly and Joe, but as I worked on it, it felt more and more like Joe’s story.
Number of drafts: Several—the first sketches go as far back as 2001; a complete story formed around 2019. I revisited it as part of I Would For You, workshopped and polished it, and began sending it off in October 2023.
Published in: Bowery Gothic.
Rejections: 2. I got very lucky; I was looking specifically for a Gothic magazine or journal and there aren’t that many. I am especially lucky because Bowery Gothic is my favorite, but it has a very, very short submission window. When it opened, I pounced.
Length of time between submission and acceptance: 143 days.
Music that inspired me: Tom Waits, “Murder in the Red Barn”
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, “These Remains”
The Cure, “A Forest”
R. Renee Branca 