Two years ago I got my first rejection letter. I sent my horror story ‘Bone Peyote’ for a submission call for an anthology of Lovecraftian horror. Me being me, I decided to mix eldritch horrors with the ‘Day of the Dead’ celebration of my Mexico. It was easier than I thought, because:

a) I contend that Mexico is one of the most haunted countries in the world and…

b) If you have read anything about Aztec or Mayan mythology or some of the witchcraft rites around here in Mexico, you can see a lot of cosmic horror elements embedded in them.

Alas, the story got rejected.

But that rejection started good things. With some rework and editing, ‘Bone Peyote’ eventually saw the light published through Inklings Press. Technically that rejection letter was the motivation for the creation of Inklings Press. That rejection was as well the kick in the ass I needed to take writing more seriously and finish my novel (currently being edited in order to query agents and publishers). See, when I get rejections on my stories or design projects, I just become more stubborn. It’s a family trait.

But I digress… again.

‘Bone Peyote’, is not only based on the ‘Day of the Dead’ and cosmic horrors, but also in a few experiences I had during college with a good friend, when we talked about the occult and the mystical. As much as two naïve, aspiring comic book writers could get into it safely anyways. The story just takes those late coffee afternoon chats and amps it into a warning tale about messing with the veil that divides the dead from the living and works within the frame of Mexico’s lore and history.

For us in Mexico, the Day of the Dead takes place during the 1st and the 2nd of November. It is even a national holiday (yeah, wrap your head around that for a second). And so my story takes place exactly during those days.

I have to say, writing it was really fun (the first draft took me a day) and I had the wicked fun of ‘killing’ the character based on said friend (the perks of being a writer) while testing my skills at keeping tense atmospheres.

Talking about wicked things… now, this year, a few months ago (when I was still setting up this blog), the good folks at the Wicked Library recorded it as an audiobook a few months ago and put it available on their podcast. It includes an interview, for which I apologize in advance for my awful pronunciation. I’m out of practice. The results of their work on my story, for lack of a better cliche are bewitching.

You can listen to it here:

Wicked Library Website episode 720

I do recommend you to subscribe this podcast. It has countless hours of fun.

 Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Play | Stitcher | TuneIn

So if you want to a cool story for these spooky days, please consider giving both the anthology and the podcast a chance.

P.S: Don’t carry out any obscure rite these days. It could be awfully dangerous. You never know what’s waiting outside the realms of the living. Bwahahahaha.