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Maura McHugh
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Excerpt
A frigid wind sliced down the forest path from the direction of the Ossuary and ripped Sedlek's hood off his head. His numb fingers fumbled with the coarse material and yanked it back over his shaved pate. On either side of the track the desiccated pine trees heaved and thrashed in the sudden gust, which set the thousands of bone chimes dangling from their branches dancing and chattering. Sedlek shivered and tried not to glance at the skeletal remains that winked and waved at him. The failing winter sun illuminated his way just enough to pick out the occasional grotesque detail: bunches of rat skulls clustered like grapes from vines of human vertebrae. He hurried his step, and gagged on the stench of rot and mould.
- from the short story "The Ossuary"
Bio
Born in the USA, Maura McHugh was transplanted early to the West of Ireland. She haunted the local library (it was next door) and can't remember a time when she didn't read fantasy, science fiction, or horror. Eventually she completed a couple of university degrees, lived in New York on and off, returned to Ireland, got into IT, recovered slightly, and finally quit faffing around to own up to her ambition to write. She went to Clarion West in 2006 and found it a remarkable write-enhancing experience.
Publications
"Who Hears Our Cries in Forgotten Tongues?" in Flash Me Magazine
"In the Woods" in Cabinet des Fées
"Bone Mother" in the Fantasy anthology, edited by Sean Wallace and Paul Tremblay
"Tattoo Destiny" in the Jabberwocky 3 anthology, edited by Sean Wallace
Forthcoming:
"Home" in Shroud Magazine
"Vic" in Black Static
"Homunculus" in Aoife's Kiss
"Moments on the Cliff" in All Hallows: The Journal of the Ghost Story Society
Writing Description
I'm fascinated by the mythic underpinnings of the stories we tell ourselves, and this is something I explore in a lot of my fiction. Plus, there is a thread of horror in everything I write.
Goals
My plan this year is to write a complete feature film screenplay within the six weeks. That's probably going to involve a couple of weeks of prep and research before I get down to outlining and writing. I generally write screenplays quite fast, once I have the emotional core of the story clear in my head.
Fundraising Goals: Whatever people will donate. However, I'll do my best to entice as much loot as possible from people.
Website
My web site is: http://splinister.com - my blog is at http://splinister.com/blog and it's cross-posted to http://splinister.livejournal.com.
