Author: R. Saint Claire

R. Saint Claire is an author of adult and young adult horror and suspense fiction with a background in theater and filmmaking. Honors include a 2020 Watty Award, winner of the Dazed for Horror film festival for best screenplay, and a Webby honoree for her 2009 web series, Gemini Rising. Check out Regina along with her alter ego, Batilda Belfry, at Regina’s Haunted Library.

Got an Hour? Write a Story.

After a bit of a hiatus, I’m back on Wattpad. I jumped ship for about a year while I tried out Kindle Vella (I decided it wasn’t for me), and now I’m back. I may try Vella again if I have a story that will do well on that platform. I sum up my thoughts on the subject below.

One of my writing goals for the year is to honor Heinlein’s Rules and to finish what I’ve started. Hear James DeFeo, and I discuss this topic on the Writing Fiction Podcast. Like many writers, I have a desktop folder filled with incomplete outlines, false starts, and more pre-made book covers than I care to admit. But at one time, all of these ideas held enough interest for me to at least start. Instead of moving on to the next shiny object, do I have the discipline and fortitude to discover what attracted me to this idea and find fresh inspiration in a forgotten project?

If I treat each of these projects like an epic novel (I do have one of those that I plan to finish this year), I might feel overwhelmed and discouraged, but if I treat some, not all, of these half-baked ideas as orphans worthy of love, I might get somewhere. First, some of these ideas and book covers may flourish as short stories or novellas. Yesterday, while scrolling through Wattpad, I discovered a creepypasta story contest with an approaching deadline. Did any of my unfinished projects fit the bill? It turns out one did. Galvanized by the approaching deadline, I gave myself an hour to write the flash fiction story. By hour’s end, I had a 1900-word draft I was happy with. I gave it another hour for editing, and voilá, I not only completed the two-hour writing challenge I set for myself daily, but I wrote and completed a new story. Not only that, I found a home for one of my orphans.

It feels good to finish something, mainly because it helps clear the deck for a treasure trove of more shiny objects. If you give yourself an hour (or two), you have a story. You may read mine here on Wattpad.

In Defense of “Unlikable” Characters

Every day (or nearly every day) on the internet, we are treated to yet another unmasking of an insufferable a-hole. It’s usually a guy, and when he’s effectively canceled, the inevitable internet auto-da-fé ensues. Until he’s forgotten about–Russell Brand, anyone? –and the next insufferable a-hole enters stage left. The main character of my latest horror novel, CARNI, is that guy. Dag Altan, a successful journalist, gets canceled after his ex-girlfriend exposes his “abusive” behavior. I’m using scare quotes because it takes two to tango, and everyone has their side to the story. And because I’m writing from my character’s point of view, I’m on his side, at least for the story’s duration. And also, because I’m a woman who’s been accused of being “too nice” in the past and have certainly been stung by a few a-holes in my day, I quite enjoyed crawling inside the skin of an arrogant man and experiencing his side of things.

While I was tapping into my shadow self, exploring Dag’s character, or lack thereof, and having a damn fun time doing it, I was aware that I was composing the dreaded “unlikable character.” Does it help that Dag gets his in the end–big time? Apparently not. The readers have spoken and, except for a few outliers: they hate my main character, and therefore, some of them don’t like my book.
Fair enough, but despite this (small) chorus of disapproval, will I censor my creative impulses moving forward and consciously create more “likable” characters? Hell, no. For one thing, I love Dag. Yes, he’s an a-hole, but he has his weaknesses: mainly women. Behind the confident veneer, he’s a scared little boy. Does that make him somewhat lovable? Apparently not. Suddenly, I’m reminded of all those romance books with the “cocky” love interest.

Anyone remember #cockygate? Why are those books featuring insufferable a-holes so immensely popular? To quote Nigel from Spinal Tap, they “did a twist on it.”

In that time-tested formula, the female character tames the wild beast, reining in his wild ways until he’s fully strapped into double harness and driven down the aisle toward wedded bliss. My story doesn’t quite turn out that way. It’s horror, which means it ends in death–like life. Mwahahaha!

Is Drac cocky?


I write flawed protagonists. I always have. It could be because I am all too aware of my own flaws, fears, and, at times, incapacitating insecurities. But these are the treasures I mine when I write. So, no. I won’t stop adding to my stable of gargoyles. I can’t wait to release the next one from their lair.
Do you require a “likable” main character to enjoy a book, or do you, like me, realize we’re all pretty unlikable at our cores? I’d love to know what you think.

Curious about CARNI? You can pick it up for FREE today on Amazon Kindle.

New Release!

Get Your Ticket to a Terrifying Thrill Ride!

My new novel CARNI is out and available on Amazon in print and ebook. Here’s the premise:

Meet Carni, your master of ceremonies in a carnival of terror!

In the grip of public disgrace and desperate to resurrect his career, journalist Dag Altan stumbles upon a compelling lead that could be his ticket to redemption. A captivating encounter with a bewitching young woman, consumed by an eerie fascination with a once-thriving amusement park now desolate island, ignites Dag’s journalistic instincts. Drawn to the enigma of the abandoned location and the unnerving series of deaths surrounding it, Dag plunges headfirst into the heart of the story, utterly unaware of the peril awaiting him.

As his investigation intensifies, Dag becomes entangled in a treacherous web of dark secrets, where the line between reality and nightmare blurs. At the center of it all stands the elusive figure known only as Carni. Initially perceived as a mere legend, Carni soon sheds his mythical cloak, morphing into a living, breathing embodiment of terror. With each step Dag takes closer to the truth, Carni’s presence grows more palpable, and the menacing game he plays becomes grimmer.

As the carousel of confusion spins ever faster, Dag finds himself ensnared in a captivating yet chilling spectacle. Can he outmaneuver the sinister forces at play, or will he join the ranks of those consumed by the sinister grip of Carni? In this heart-stopping tale of suspense and terror, Dag Altan races against time to expose the true nature of Carni before he becomes the latest victim in this nightmare realm.

Book Worms Call For Submissions!

Poetry, Fiction, and Essays for My Bloody Valentine Winter Issue

Book Worms Zine is selling out on Etsy and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. We have another issue planned for Winter 2024. This time around the theme is My Bloody Valentine: dark love stories, Tinder dates gone horribly wrong, bitter romance, a lover’s revenge, tragic love, etc. Dark humor is okay, but it should fit the themes of horror and romance. Specifically looking for original poetry (any length).

Submission Guidelines

Deadline: January 1, 2024

Payment is 8 cents a word for fiction and essays (1500 words or less). $25 – $50 per poem (depending on length). Includes one contributor copy.

No reprints or multiple submissions please, including poems. Exclusive rights for six months after publication.

ACCEPTING MAIL-IN SUBMISSIONS ONLY!

Mail your submissions to: La Regina Studio/Grundy Commons/925 Canal Street/Bristol, PA 19007

*In the past, we’ve made some special allowances for writers living outside the USA. But due to the overwhelming amount of submissions we receive, we are now only accepting mail-in submissions.

Acceptance notices are sent through email so there is no need to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Please include your email address with your submission. All submissions must be typed (cover letters preferred but not mandatory) and be properly formatted.

Be sure to check out the Book Worms Horror Podcast and follow us on Instagram.

The Mysterious Quakertown Pyramids

When I was a kid and visiting my aunt’s farm in Quakertown, I recall passing the strange stone pyramids located on a rural stretch of road and always being intrigued by them. As I grew up and became curious about occult topics, I learned that the site was connected to the Rosicrucians, which only deepened the mystery for me. Just last week, I visited the area and soon found myself drawn, once again, to Clymer Road. George Clymer was one of the three founding members of the brotherhood in the American colonies, whose good company also included Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. The organization, which appears to comprise a good section of the road, is still active today. The website, soul.org, is worth a look, even if it obfuscates as much as it reveals about the mystical religion with ties to Free Masonry and Theosophy.

The Rose-Croix brotherhood was founded in the early 1600’s in Europe after the several “inflammatory tracts” were published proclaiming the existence of a secret society led by one Christian Rosenkreuz, by most accounts a fictitious creation. But according to some legends, the mystery school goes back much further, beginning in AD 46 with an Egyptian sage and mystic called Ormus (meaning light) who claimed possession of secret mysteries from Atlantis. This “underground stream” of arcane knowledge was passed through the secret brotherhood, including famous members the likes of Frances Bacon, Goethe, and even Abraham Lincoln. But what exactly is this path to illumination? Perhaps the symbol of the rose offers the best clue. The many petals indicate an ongoing process of initiation. To quote Manley P. Hall (The Secret Teachings of All Ages) on the subject: “Only to him who has found his life by losing it is the mystery comprehensible.”

This might exclaim why I’m still quite baffled by this unlikely shrine in the woods of Quakertown. You may view my recent visitation near the end of this video. If you have anything to add to help illuminate me and my readers on this topic, please drop a comment below.

Book Worms – New Horror Zine

Book Worms, a new mail-order only horror zine, is now available for purchase online and at selective indie book stores. If you like old-school fan zines, check out Book Worms for only $5 an issue (USA shipping cost included). In Book Worms you’ll find engaging articles, reviews, short stories, puzzles, art, and all kinds of (cheap) horror fun!

SCAN CODE to BUY or click
on image to access link!

Write for Book Worms!

Currently accepting submissions for our Halloween issue.

Deadline: September 15, 2023

Payment is 8 cents a word.

No reprints or multiple submissions please. Exclusive rights for six months after publication.

Mail new horror fiction and essays (Halloween themes please) under 1500 words to:

La Regina Studio/Grundy Commons/925 Canal Street/Bristol, PA 19007

Acceptance notices are sent through email so no need to include self-addressed, stamped envelope. Please include your email address on your submission.

Check out our new Book Worms Horror Writing Podcast!

I Feel Sorry for Madonna

Anyone who knows me personally knows I’m not a fan of Madonna. That’s putting it mildly. I can’t stand her–the pop star, not the person, although I’m sure she’s as gross in person as she appears in interviews. Does anyone remember how rudely she treated her childhood friend in her 90’s “film verité” Truth or Dare? I do. Not to mention in the same film, when Madonna’s brother (his book is fun, by the way) informs her that a female crew member suspected she’d been drugged and raped the previous night, the pop star’s first instinct is to burst out laughing. When someone shows you who they are…

In a word, she’s ghastly and always has been. And yet she remains the most successful pop star of all time, a fact I must acknowledge.

Even though I blame her for destroying my generation’s pop music and pounding another nail into rock and roll’s coffin, I will concede that Madonna produced some interesting, even ground-breaking, videos back in the day. She had a knack for appropriating the avant-garde and underground New York art scene and repackaging it for mainstream consumption. She deserves credit for that and her tireless work ethic. I also wouldn’t mind borrowing a few items from her Take a Bow era closet. But that’s it! That’s all the charity I can muster for the lady. And yet, when I saw her face–what had become of it–plastered all over the media the day after the Grammys, after an initial flush of schadenfreude, all I felt for her was intense pity. She finally passed the point of no return with the–ahem–surgical “enhancements” she’d indulged in throughout her career, erasing her fresh-faced beauty into something else, something creepy, inhuman even. She had become the shape-shifting lizard and it honestly made me sad.

About a decade ago, I wrote a screenplay that I then turned into a novel called UNMASKED. It wasn’t based on Madonna–wouldn’t want the material girl to sue me–but I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t an inspiration. UNMASKED is about an aging pop star who will stop at nothing to enhance her fading looks. At that time, I predicted in my prose that said pop star would so destroy herself with bad plastic surgery that she’d lose her mind and go murderously berserk in an attempt to regain what was lost forever. I had great fun writing those scenes of Grand-Guignol mayhem. I confess I’d sometimes pump Madonna’s most monotoned songs through my headphones to fuel my writing sessions. What came out of it was a story that’s won many screenwriting awards and continues to garner good reviews. It’s my first novel, showing some flaws, but I’m still proud of that story. It certainly was inspired.

When Elton John famously ripped on Madonna and her “disastrous” career, bitchily claiming that “it couldn’t happen to a bigger c***,” I howled with laughter. But after this most recent revelation, I’m shedding a few tears. And it’s not because I’m buying Madonna’s feel sorry for me statement about ageism and misogyny. Other stars have played that routine to a packed house and played it better. It’s because I realize, with a knife twist to my gut, that the reason Madonna looks the way she currently does is not about trying and miserably failing to stay young and beautiful. It’s because the devouring beast inside her- some demon that long ago took hold of her soul- will do ANYTHING to get noticed, stay “relevant,” and keep people talking about her. When youth, beauty, and giving water bottles blow jobs no longer work, try self-destruction in real-time. Ah! What a glorious spectacle. When she quotes Beyonce (giggle), declaring, “You won’t break my soul,” I honestly believe it’s the demon inside her talking. It’s taken over, and no amount of crucifixes around her neck will save her.

Eureka! I found the plot for the sequel to UNMASKED. Madonna, I appreciate you after all. Here’s praying that stuff in your cheeks “settles” and you deliver a stunning and glorious third act. If you pull that one off, even I may be a bitch and bow down.

You can find UNMASKED on Amazon for only 99 cents or download if for FREE on Smashwords.

Book Review – Gothic by Philip Fracassi

Cemetery Dance – Feb. 2023

Tyson Parks, a washed-up horror writer huffing the last fumes of his former successes, endures a humiliating meeting with his editor. His new novel is crap, unacceptable. Why can’t he produce the hits like he used to? Tyson promises a rewrite but knows he doesn’t have it in him. Worse, he’s already spent the advance. Pushing sixty, bordering on alcoholism and debt, how long can Tyson hang on to the comfortable life his fading talent secured for him? Desperate men are dangerous in fiction. So are long-suffering women who only want to help.

Enter his live-in girlfriend Sarah, a woman of taste with money of her own, whom Tyson worries will any day now see him for the fraud he is. But Sarah hasn’t given up on Tyson. In fact, she surprises him with a gift for his 59th birthday: a valuable antique to replace his worn-out writing desk. This piece of Gothic artwork, an 18th-century occult altarpiece, may give him the inspiration he needs. Of course it does, but as in all good horror fiction, there is a heavy price to pay. Flush with his second-act success, Tyson becomes a willing vehicle for an ancient, unspeakable evil.

Fracassi’s Gothic is awash in familiar horror tropes: the Faustian bargain, the cursed object with a dark history. I was instantly reminded‑gleefully so‑of In the Mouth of Madness, Trilogy of Terror, and Rosemary’s Baby. Even the setting feels like something out of an Ira Levin story, evoking the simple pleasures of a bygone New York: jaunts through the Strand bookstore and Met museum, martini-fueled power lunches, sparkling cocktail parties at tony townhouses. The novel’s historical section, brief but effective, references M.G. Lewis and Horace Walpole with its damp subterranean crypts, dripping vaulted ceilings, and creaking iron gates. The altar, black basalt stone with unusual carvings, is the creation of a powerful magician who has an equally powerful adversary. Back in the present, a mysterious woman is desperate to retrieve her family’s lost artifact before its evil can be released into the world. Words have power, we are reminded, and destruction can be communicated through the latest bestseller—that is, if the public even reads anymore. We can only hope.

Horror fans will appreciate the homages to King and Poe, among others, but the winks and elbow nudges never eclipse the spine-tingling suspense or moments of glorious gross-out gore. Built on a solid structure, Gothic holds up the weight of its more giggling-inducing moments with aplomb. I laughed at the climax, but in a good way—the laughter at the final bend in the roller coaster. I know a book is good when I want to start the ride all over again. Minor characters are skillfully drawn, padding out a believable world in which I was happy to lose myself for a few days. I can easily see Gothic made into a blockbuster movie, bolstering my faith that classic horror can always be revived. Five enthusiastic stars!