Small Spec Book Awards - 2026 Semi-Finalist Feature #2
The rain is pouring pretty hard outside today as I put together this post, casting the sky in darkness and gloom. It's a perfect day to feature three of the SSBA Horror Semi-Finalists:
- Hazel Zorn, author of Reef Mind
- Jacy Morris, author of We Like it Cherry
- M. Christian, author of Running Dry
Every Sunday between now and when the finalists are announced (or until I run out of mini-interviews), I will be highlighting the semi-finalists at a time. More information on the awards can be found here. The full list of the 2026 semi-finalists can be found here. Each author has been asked the same questions:
1. What inspired you to write this book?
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
3. Where can we find you and your work? (socials, blog, website)
Reef Mind by Hazel Zorn
The coral reef rose from the seas, spreading across the land with incredible speed. A rapidly evolving invasive species.
It transformed the landscape. Mutated every living creature of the surface world.
We never suspected it had a plan.
REEF MIND is a startling work of Body Horror and climate revenge.
1. What inspired you to write this book?
The experience of overwhelming grief after a trip to La Jolla.
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
I felt a bit of a rush after the sea butterfly scene. It was like I'd gotten away with something. But the part that was most cathartic was Amanda's "death." Every marriage ends in death. Horror has the ability to amplify and accelerate a natural process that people tend to ignore. I’ve never been able to ignore things, to not worry.
3. Where can we find you and your work? (socials, blog, website)
Author Website. Instagram. Bluesky. Goodreads.
We Like it Cherry by Jacy Morris
Documentarist Ezra Montbanc thinks he's hit the jackpot when he receives an invitation to document the rites of a mysterious, hitherto unknown tribe: the Winoquin, who reside in the harrowing, inhospitable Arctic.
It’s a shot at the prestigious journalism career he's long envisioned, and a path out from the borderline-exploitative series detailing the celebrations of Indigenous tribes he’s been mired in with his life and filmmaking partner, Stu.
Buzzing with possibility, Ezra and his crew depart for the home of the Winoquin, only to find themselves in a frozen and bloody battle for survival atop an inaccessible glacier ritual site, where men and mythical horrors hunger for sacrifice.
Read my review of this book here!
1. What inspired you to write this book?
The idea of We Like It Cherry came to me in a literal dream filled with fantastic imagery and brutal savagery. At the end of the dream, I died (in a brutal way, I might add), woke up, jotted down some notes, and then I was off.
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
Sometimes writing is hard. This story poured out of me, pure as driven snow and just as cold. A writer gets a few magic stories like this, and when I think about the ease with which We Like it Cherry flowed from my fingertips, that is my favorite part, like looking back on the best vacation of your life and smiling.
3. Where can we find you and your work? (socials, blog, website)
You can find my work at my website http://jacymorris.com
If you'd like to connect on social media, here is the list:
Instagram: @jacymorrisauthor
Threads: @jacymorrisauthor
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jacymorris.bsky.social
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacyMorrisAuthor
Substack: @jacymorris
Running Dry by M. Christian
A new kind of vampire…
Artist Ernst Doud has been living with his secrets for over a century: feeding, killing and creating art to assuage his guilt. All of that is about to change. Sergio, the lover that he turned decades before, the lost love that he thought he had killed to prevent him from turning into a monster, is back and hunting him. Fearful that Sergio will destroy his friend Shelly, Doud takes her and goes on the run, only to find new dangers closing in. Even being a monster himself may not be enough to save them.
Catherine Lundoff of Queen of Swords Press, responding on behalf of author M. Christian (Chris passed away unexpectedly in January, 2026)
1. What inspired you to write this book?
Chris was looking for something new to work with in vampire mythos. They weren’t drawn to the standard immortal bloodsucker and they wanted to create something that reflected a more modern time period and environment. In Running Dry, they created a monster that reflects the landscape of Southern California: a dry desert kind of vampire, spawned in Hollywood, who’s drawn to moisture and liquids in the human body, not just blood. Chris’ vampires are a kind of immortal drought personified, though they can fall, make friends and live a seemingly normal human life. As long as the thirst is quenched regularly
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
I think Chris enjoyed creating something different and unusual in place of what they saw as a tired trope. The book is very atmospheric – the characters spend a lot of time driving on the high ways and byways of some iconic landscapes and those become almost a character all their own. I think that Chris enjoyed stretching their writing muscles in new ways to subvert standard vampire tropes as well as tweaking a version of the roadtrip novel. This novel isn’t like any of Chris’s other work and I think that was one of the things they loved about this book.
3. Where can we find you and your work? (socials, blog, website)
You can read more about Chris’s work at the Queen of Swords Press site. Most of Chris’s social media presence has been taken down, but there is a tribute anthology in the works.
Thanks for reading!
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