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October Focus on Horror: Jessica McHugh
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October Focus on Horror: Jessica McHugh
Created by Bob Helmbrecht, collection development librarian
Our Focus on Horror author for today is Jessica McHugh.
McHugh is perhaps best known for three collections of blackout poetry. If you’re not familiar with this form, which has become increasingly popular in the past decade or so, it is created by starting with an existing text from a book, article, or other piece of writing by another author. Then, the poet redacts or “blacks out” sections of the text to create an original poem. The individual pages often become works of art themselves.
McHugh’s first collection of poetry was "A Complex Accident of Life: Blackout Poetry Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein," published by Apokrupha in 2020. It was a finalist for the 2020 Stoker Award for Best Poetry Collection. Stoker Award-winning poet Sara Tantlinger said of this collection: "True spirit, passion, and creativity live within every piece; the book is not only an exquisite tribute to Mary Shelley, but also cleverly showcases McHugh’s own beautiful poetic talent."
"Strange Nests: Blackout Poetry Inspired by The Secret Garden," published by Apokrupha in 2022, was McHugh’s second collection. It was a finalist for the 2021 Stoker Award for Best Poetry Collection. Bestselling author Jonathan Maberry wrote of the book, it "is a brilliant collection of poems that speak in a subtle voice of deep darkness. Jessica McHugh conjures real magic here."
McHugh’s most recent collection is "The Quiet Ways I Destroy You," published in 2023. This horror tribute to Louisa May Alcott’s "Little Women" was also a finalist for the Stoker Award for Best Poetry Collection, to be awarded in June. Author Stephanie M. Wytovich said of the collection: "These poems are a homage to the witch and a prayer to the monstrous feminine. Drop into their well of sisterhood and wildness and let the haunting begin."
McHugh also writes prose fiction. If you like dark fantasy, try the novel "Nightly Owl, Fatal Raven." You can also find some of McHugh's short stories in the anthologies "Beyond the Bounds of Infinity," "Mother Knows Best," and "Not All Monsters."
Check out a book by Jessica McHugh today!