On a treelined suburban sidewalk, a man wearing a white mask and blue coveralls steps out from behind a hedge.
  • A black and white image of an owl statue as part of an ornate building

    Beware the Owls' Herald by Matt Shadbolt


    “But in New York, when you tear down a building, you always leave its ghosts.” Here’s where the story takes a turn, and the owl eyes begin to pulse green. Today we present Matt Shadbolt’s hyperreal neo-gothic mystery, “Beware the Owls’ Herald.” Be sure to clock the video version linked at the end of the story.

  • Janet deep in thought while driving in the movie Psycho

    Sprial by C.M. Dreibelbis


    What shadows do our daily concerns cast over us, become monsters, and what common things do we fear? C.M. Dreibelbis is not afraid to place this question, in its many ordinary forms, on the table. Today we present a poem called “Spiral.” Read the poem.

  • A line drawing of a vintage projector

    Friday Feature


    Mini-reviews of horror movies, books, albums, and other cultural artifacts dropping every Friday.

    Now Screening: Puppet Master (1989)

Recent Work

Vampire Poem
by Sylvia Gorelick

Creatures of the night do not cease to exist in the light of day. Sylvia Gorelick reminds us that shadows are not the absence of light, but a form of lighting effect at play with bodies. Just so, this monster is both substance & projection, surface & interior condition. If the vampire resists representation, they are no less reflective. Their pleasure, & their queerness, are one.

Published April 29, 2024

A gremlin wears 3D glasses and drinks soda at a movie

from Dying at the Movies
by Jonathan Hayes

We watch ourselves watching movies as we go about our lives in new poems from Jonathan Hayes’ “Dying at the Movies.”

Published April 22, 2024

Burn On
by Andrew K. Peterson & Joseph Cooper

“The bats always come back.” This week we introduce CDSOB’s digital chapbook section with the debut of Andrew K. Peterson and Joseph Cooper’s Burn On.

Published April 15, 2024

Bride of Frankenstein and the Monster

Three Poems
by April Ridge

On the day of the solar eclipse in Aries, we offer a plea for “a kinder attitude toward botched necromantic experiments,” as The Bride gets her due in poems by April Ridge.

Published April 8, 2024

A scene from Slumber Party Massacre

Two Poems
by Nate Logan

What runs through our minds as we watch horror movies, or live through them, finds its way into poems by Nate Logan.

Published April 3, 2024

A scene from John Carpenter's Vampires

New Mexico at Night 
by Steve Roberts

Chainsaws galore! Also tuxedos, checkers, dollars, haircuts & more, all in the backseat of a movie about halloween. Lucky us! Today we present a poem by Steve Roberts.

Published March 27, 2024

From Rocky Horror Picture Show, bright red painted lips against a black background

Notes from Camp Uncanny, or Maybe Weird Movies Made Me Queer by Isaac Essex

About the weird films that make them feel weird, Isaac Essex writes, “I do not feel the need to discipline myself into categorizing my feelings into legible terms and this, to me, is a queer feeling.” We are proud to present “Notes from Camp Uncanny.”

Published March 13, 2024

Zarabeth from Witchboard

Haunt Tectonics
by Chris McCreary

“Language as slab, as slag // & magma bubbling up” as the seance gets cooking & we start to wonder what’s gotten into us while our fingers drift over the tablet, “the better / to encrypt you with” in this poem by Chris McCreary.

Published March 20, 2024

A black and white movie still from Nosferatu where the shadow of Count Orlok is creeping up the stairs
An image from the movie Candyman, where Candyman hovers vertically in the air near the ceiling in a hospital room
A still from the movie Carrie, where Carrie stares blankly with eyes wide while she is covered in blood against the blue curtain
A still from the movie Re-Animator where Dr. West is filling a hypodermic needle with a glowing green liquid