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Out now. My story “Jellies” is in the latest issue of Midnight Tales, along with stories by Terry Alexander, Maxwell Shepherd, John Monsees, Stetson Ray, and others, with gorgeous art by Allen Koszowski, Gerrod General, and Steve Bejma. You can pick up your copy here. 
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Recently I attended the Con-Tinual Panel Room with Gini Koch, Marx Pyle, Fraser Sherman, Carole M Stokes/Ellis Colton, and host James P. Nettles III as we looked at Lovecraft stories, adaptations, inspired works, and the themes driving cosmic horror. You can find the discussion on the Book of Faces as well as YouTube. Via Mr. Midnight Eric Wright's Facebook page. Midnight Tales #9 is now at the printers. Once we review the proof copy and approve it, the presses will be rolling! This issue will be the best yet. I can guarantee you'll want a copy.  StokerCon 2025 is now two weeks behind me, and I now feel comfortable writing about what was, for me, my personal high point. I was at the Joyce Carol Oates signing table, where she sat with writer and editor Rebecca Rowland (who is president of the Boston HWA chapter, and edited my story “Movie Call” for the anthology Generation X-Ed). As she signed my copies of Night-Side and Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque, she spotted my nametag and said, “Oh, are you a writer?” My mind blanked. Look, part of the reason I became interested in horror fiction was reading her story “The Bingo Master.” I picked up a copy of Night-Side almost immediately, and continued to read her work steadily. I’ve learned much by studying her work, though I’m hardly a completist. This was one of the great women of American letters acknowledging me as an actual writer. “Oh, are you a writer?” My mind was bereft of a single thought. And then suddenly, my mouth made sounds, even as my brain waved at it and shouted, “Dude, don’t do that!” “Uh,” I uhhed, “not a good one.” And Rebecca Rowland proffered a kindness I can never repay. She leaned to Ms. Oates’s ear and said, “He’s being extremely modest. He’s an outstanding writer.” I managed to mouth a thank-you to her, then collected my books. I was paid a compliment by an amazing writer and editor to Joyce Carol Oates. I’m going to live with that for a long time.  I received an email response to a query stating that I've sold a story to one of my favorite venues. Details to follow.
On CrimeReads, Laura Elliott talks about monsters and how they are created in horror fiction. I like her view of monsters being an offshoot of the Uncanny that branches into what she calls "the abject". This construction of monstrosity relies on the notion of the abject, which literary scholar Julie Kristeva defines as something that moves beyond the simply uncanny, into something which disrupts the established order and so threatens a sense of identity and meaning. The abject is the thing that jeopardises the borders of self and society. It challenges the boundary between what is Us and Not Us, forcing who we are into battle against something that we are not. It's a rich article that also includes insights into how the abject is incorporated in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", and River Solomon's Model Home. It's worth your time.
My story "The Babysitter" is Story 14 of 16 in Crystal Lake Publishing's Flash Fiction Contest. This theme focuses on the Satanic Panic and appeared on June 17, 2025. You'll need to be a Patreon member to read it, but if you enjoyed it, consider giving it your vote.  Horror offers the unique opportunity to experience and feel, in a controlled setting, all the things you would definitely want to avoid in real life — fear, violence, and death. It is like a simulation. It allows us to take a deep plunge into the darkest depths of our existence, while being assured that no real harm can come of it. I post this paragraph because the real-world seems passive in the unfolding never-ending horror show. It’s part of the reason people gravitate toward horror. We can make sense of it when it’s confined to a controlled environment.
The subtitle of the article reads “On twisting the human form to make a point” and discusses Shelley’s Frankenstein, Dali’s “Surreal Drawers of Psychoanalysis”, Munch’s “The Scream”, Caos Diz’s “Story Twist”, as well as the works of David Cronenberg, Julia Ducournau, and Coralie Fargeat. At its best, body horror confronts our fears of change, especially through age, and challenges us by suggesting we aren’t much more than mobile meat. Body horror also is one of the subgenres willing to “go there.” Sam Freedman in the Guardian seems to think so. If sci-fi’s influence was simply on product design, it wouldn’t be a problem. If Zuckerberg wants to burn his own cash in pursuit of a personal fantasy, or Musk wants to build hideous cars, that’s their call. It may even inspire something genuinely useful from time to time. As a kid, I really wanted the future offered by Star Trek. I thought we might achieve something far more grand than the PDKian world we're stuck in now...and that we may never get out of.
On the Book of Faces, I was nominated to take part in the ABCs of Horror. Each day, I’ll post a favorite horror movie in alphabetical order. Day 5: E Is for The Exorcist III. My understanding is that William Peter Blatty hated Friedkin’s adaptation of his classic novel to the point that neither would speak to each other for decades. When Hollywood decided to adapt his novel Legion, Blatty signed on as director. Friedkin’s The Exorcist remains a classic, a terrifying picture that has lost none of its power. General consensus states Blatty’s picture suffers only by comparison, but I don’t think it’s a fair one. The Exorcist III is a thoughtful, uncanny horror effort, with terror deriving from its intellectual approach to the material as well as visuals that just feel…off. Some of it is extremely funny—I cannot hear George C. Scott’s Kinderman complaining about the fish in his bathtub without cackling—which only amplifies the terror—the screams from a confessional as the camera slowly zooms in on onlookers never fails to fill my veins with Freon.  |
Derek Austin Johnson has lived most of his life in the Lone Star State. His work has appeared in The Horror Zine, Rayguns Over Texas!, Horror U.S.A.: Texas, Campfire Macabre, The Dread Machine, and Generation X-ed. His novel The Faith was published in 2024.
He lives in Central Texas. Archives
July 2025
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