Good morning horror fans!
Today we have a roundup of obsession based horror for all you romantics out there. Explore love so deep that you would do anything to have it. Die for it. Kill for it even.
Finish off your day by throwing your vote for one of the writers in J Wirrowac’s Author Arena. Two stories face off against one another, and your votes decide their fate.
Enjoy :)
Announcements
Author Interview Series:
We have another episode coming out in NEXT WEEK. This time, I interviewed Thomas Clark Schecter, author of The Shieldbreaker Saga. Don’t miss out!
(Psst! If you have missed our previous author interviews, you can find them here on Macabre Monday)
Macabre Monday’s Summer Drive-In Contest:
Macabre Monday is in the midst of a summer-long community event: the Summer Drive-In. Every week through the end of August, we’ll post a new horror prompt. Write something inspired by it (2,500 words or less), post it to the Macabre Monday chat, and it’s in the running. The team will curate favorites along the way, and at the end of summer, the community votes on the best of the best, and the winners get a shot at being featured in a limited-run Macabre Monday anthology.
Submissions are open all summer, so jump in anytime. You don’t have to start this week to participate later.
Excited about our summer event? Spread the word! Share this post.
(To submit, simply link your story in the weekly chat. This allows us to easily facilitate community voting and keep track of things on our side.)
Prompt:
Finale: The last drive-in theater on the West Coast is slated to close at the end of the summer. For the final showing, the crew decides to play the first film ever debuted. At midnight the film starts to roll, but the audience is faced with something so horrifying, they can’t look away.
Track the prompts via the post below!
Have an announcement to share (releases, calls for submissions, or milestones)?
Let us know in the comments or the chat, and we’ll help spread the word.
Featured Stories
Standout posts from last week.
Jeanona Dias gave us a twisted love story. Derek is at his brother’s wedding, when he finally gets the nerve to ask Ariana to marry him. But as the moon rises over the reception, it seems that fate has other plans. For readers who like their slow burn romance with teeth.
R.J. Herzig wrote a chilling short story, fragile. Some problems require elegant solutions… When Jason is summoned to his long time lover’s remote cabin, he expects a secret romantic weekend getaway. Instead he finds something that shatters him. Only a forensic hypnotist can drag the memories from his broken mind to help police piece the events together. A brilliant revenge story.
J Wirrowac gave us another challenge from the Author Arena. Two authors enter, only one emerges. Check out Ellis Wiens Vs. Kerr Martin. Read their stories based on the prompt — Write a 500 word horror story about something that calls to you — and then vote for your favorite!
Community Recommendations
Have a story you think deserves more readers?
Reply to this post or respond in the chat we’re always looking for pieces the community loves.
Recent Publications
M.A. Knight published their novel Feverchain. Currently (as in 8/17/26) Dylan Bosworth’s Drek Death and Doom publishing is sold out. I’ll include links for all of you who stumble on this post at a later date (when books are back in stock). In the meantime, find it at these other retailers!
About the book:
Bianca Panco lives in a lonely world, waitressing at her mom’s diner. Everything sucks until Gwen Dyer returns, retired from her collegiate soccer stint. Gwen is super hot, and not just figuratively-she’s feverish and suffering from a mysterious, mind-altering disease.
Bianca and Gwen instantly crave each other, but when Bianca’s curiosity causes her to clash with Gwen’s gun-toting family and a feral biker gang, she must decide how much she can sacrifice for a love that might eat her alive.
Have a book or a story in a magazine or anthology published recently?
Post a link in the comments, and we’ll include it in an upcoming issue.
New Voices
New to the Macabre Monday community?
Post a link to your Substack in the comments! We’ll feature your work in an upcoming issue!
The chat is open. Bring your stories, your poems, your freshly published pieces and your works-in-progress. Bring the thing you wrote that you’re not sure anyone will understand. Someone here will. Come say hello.
Thank you for including Moon! 🙏🏽 You guys always motivate me to keep writing ❤️
Thanks so much Shaina! Yeah, the showdown between Ellis and I in the Author Arena this time round is one heck of a tough battle. The spotlight on what we're doing means a lot. 🙏🖤