Blood Red Shadows

When I was in high school back in the 1970s, I weaned on Dracula and Dark Shadows, and have always enjoyed a good horror or science fiction flick. I did not begin writing until 1990, when a college professor encouraged me to try writing to process my grief over my mother’s death. A Stephen King fan, I began with horror fiction, and work through my grief I did, for many of my protagonists were grieving over deceased parents. My horror and science fiction short stories have appeared in The Vampire’s Crypt, Alien Worlds, Detective Mystery Stories, The Ultimate Unknown, and other small press magazines. Night to Dawn published some of my tales before the former editor retired. I’ve been editing the magazine for the last five years.

My first novel, Twilight Healer, has gone through three printings. After that, I collaborated with Tom Johnson on a three-year short story collection, Blood Moons and Nightscapes. Tom and I  collaborated on two others: Alien Worlds and Starship Invasions, and now my zombie / revenant anthology is out: City of Brotherly Death. It’s available in eBook and paperback. My SF book, Steel Rose will come out February 1.

I’ve worked full time as a respiratory therapist over twenty-five years. In City of Brotherly Death, Twilight Healer, Steel Rose, and my other tales, I bring my medical background to the printed page, blending it with supernatural horror. Happily, the hospital where I’ve worked treats patients much better than the ones featured in my stories. That goes for most of the nursing homes too. Sad to say, some of the abuses described have happened, although I’ve taken artistic license to conceal identities.

In 2008, I began publishing books through the Night to Dawn imprint. Novels by Tom Johnson, Neil Benson, Rod Marsden, and a few others have gone to print through the NTD imprint, and most of them enjoyed four-star reviews. I’ve been pretty active in the authors’ online and in-person communities such as Horror Writers Association, www.facebook.com, WorldFictionWriters, Writers’ CoffeeHouse, and others.

I live in Pennsylvania. When I’m not working on my projects, I’m collecting Mylar balloons or enjoying a great fright flick.

To contact me, e-mail me at barbara.custer@aol.com and put Night to Dawn on the subject line. My snail-mail address is: Barbara Custer, P. O. Box 643, Abington, PA  19001