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I’m Kay Hanifen and I’m a queer horror author. If you’re interested, check out my work!

My Author Website:

Kay Hanifen Author, English Tutor, Queer Nerd About Kay Hanifen was born on a Friday the 13th and once lived for three months in a haunted c

My debut novel, The Last Ballard, published by Miravalle Books:

THE LAST BALLARD — Miravalle Books Online Store

“There’s more than one way to be haunted.”

After the deaths of her abusive grandparents, prodigal daughter Rhiannon “Rhea” Ballard ends her self-imposed exile and returns home to the stately Ballard House for one last goodbye. She expects to pay her respects, field awkward questions, and let her family name die with her. But when she discovers that she had inherited everything, she must stay in the house and act as the caretaker while it is under probate to put her family’s affairs in order.

As she digs into her family’s dark secrets, the spirits of the house reawaken and her own traumatic memories resurface. With the help of the family cook, Morgan Reyes, an alluring woman with her own dark secret, and the supernatural skeptic groundskeeper, Andy Higgins, she must solve a century old mystery and put the spirits of the estate to rest before she becomes one herself.

And my first anthology as an editor, Till the Yule Log Burns Out (now with a fully cast audio adaptation)!

Till the Yule Log Burns Out by Kay Hanifen, David Washburn, Greta T Bates, Julia Lewis, Nick Aucoin, Zach Swasta, Loki Dewitt, M. Rook Grims

No rest ye frightened gentlemen

Full of horror and dismay…

When the St. Wenceslas Episcopal Church choir bus gets trapped in a snowdrift on the way to a Christmas Eve competition, the eleven members find their way to an inn run by the mysterious Innkeeper. Though disappointed that they won’t get to the competition, they decide to make the best of it by opening their Secret Santa gifts.

But the gifts they open are not the original presents they bought for each other. Every one links back to a dark secret in their past, one that they are compelled to share: stories of Christmas monsters, cursed objects, and vengeful spirits. Featuring stories by David Washburn, Nick Aucoin, Julia C. Lewis, Nikki Kossaris, Zach Swasta, Loki Dewitt, Greta T. Bates, M. Rook Grimsley and a wraparound and story by Kay Hanifen, these travelers will tell their tales Till the Yule Log Burns Out.

iskippedthepartaboutlove

fictionadventurer

One of my biggest literary pet peeves is when historical or history-inspired fiction pretends that "courting" is a synonym for "dating". Usually it's just a one-to-one word swap--in a modern context, these characters would be dating, but this is olden times, so they call it courting instead. Sometimes they'll pretend there's a shade of difference, and that courting is a more serious exploration of marriage or something. But I read a lot of fiction that was actually written during these historical eras, and the word "courting" is never used like that.

Two people do not decide that they are "courting". One person decides to "court" someone else. It's an action, not a stage in the relationship. A man decides to court a woman because he wants to encourage her to have romantic interest in him. He's trying to win her favor. It's not an exclusive relationship--a woman could be courted by multiple men at once. She'll spend time getting to know the guy who's interested in her, but they won't officially define their relationship as one where they only show romantic interest in each other. If they reach a point where they want it to be exclusive, that's when you propose.

There's no middle ground--either you're getting to know each other, or you're committed to marrying each other. This idea of a period where you kind of commit to each other until you decide you definitely want to get married is a modern one, and it occurs in eras where they use the word "dating" to describe it. The closest equivalent I can think of are times and places where they'd talk about a couple "stepping out together", but they're still not calling it "courting". Words have meaning, and the word "courting" has never meant that, so stop using it that way!

starfieldcanvas

the other mild historical disjoint i run into is when people talk about dating in the fifties like it automatically meant exclusivity. the whole reason we have the expression "going steady" is because the default was to or "go around with" or "go out with" multiple people. not in the sense of being in a stable polyamorous vee, but in the sense that archie is actively "seeing" both betty and veronica during the entire time the two girls are competing for his attention and they're both seeing other guys to make him jealous, and nobody involved considers this "cheating."

bizarrely, America has in many ways gotten more conservative about dating since World War II.

penrosesun

I ran into a truly wild cultural misunderstanding with my father some years ago, when I had to explain to him what “hookup culture” actually was, and that the thing he assumed it was was actually what we call “cruising culture”. His response was “how is that different from dating?” and when I explained how it was different, he said, and please note that this a direct quote: “That’s ridiculous! You can’t expect a woman to stop fooling around with other guys for anything less than a marriage proposal. I mean, she’s not a prostitute, you can’t buy her.” Now obviously there’s like… a lot to unpack there, but I think it’s pretty darn illustrative of a substantive cultural shift around the assumption of monogamy!

Also, following this, I asked my mom what her thoughts were on the matter, and she said that while she “wouldn’t put it in those terms” she broadly agreed, and thought that anyone expecting any sort of exclusivity when a marriage proposal wasn’t at least on the very immanent horizon was “nuts, honestly.” I hesitantly asked if she was including relationships with premarital sexual activity in that, and her response was “Of course. I mean, gosh, you know your Aunt Terri used to have a guy for every day of the week before she finally settled down.”

And this was when I learned, to my shock, that the oft-repeated story of how “Aunt Terri used to have a guy for every day of the week” didn’t just mean “Aunt Terri had a full dance card” but rather meant that Aunt Terri had a period of her life where she literally dated exactly seven guys at once, all of whom she was sleeping with (or, my mom was quick to disclaim, “well, fooling around with, I don’t know how far she actually went with any of them, but they were definitely all fooling around behind closed doors”), on a literal weekly rotation. Like, they had a schedule. A schedule that all seven of the guys knew.

America has gotten a lot more conservative about dating, actually.

grumpysskatesncrafts

quarterly reminder to the white folk that just because you know racism is bad doesn’t mean you’ve stopped internalizing racist standards or ideals

take some time to consider the racial biases society has conditioned you to subconsciously subscribe to and have a good day 👍

isitdonproof

Man, I’m beat. Maybe I’ll just crash at you guys’ place tonight?

mr-deep-downer

meanwhile on Twitter

you could make the argument that it’s foolish that everyone in the world should know what the Odyssey is but if you’re from a western country that literally has Greek history stolen away in your museum then well, really a child left behind.

mr-deep-downer

Greek Architectural Treasures in the British Museum

“The world doesn’t revolve around America” the illiad was actually a pseudo historical/mythological text about the first game of baseball

thedragonitus

Its a metaphor for the drive through

sauteedkapi

I dunno what you guys are talking about, seems pretty American to me.

mr-deep-downer

only 8 dollars and 12 cents huh? What the fuck was Odysseus problem then

thatiswhy

there was road work

sweeneydino

Wtf did i just watch

sweeneydino

I’m still thinking about it.

austaylian

why are you such a faggot

Just lucky I guess!

dragon-hoard

if you are going to need some kind of sedative for 4th of july fireworks for your pets NOW IS THE TIME TO SCHEDULE THOSE APPOINTMENTS TO ASK FOR THEM

NOT WHEN ITS 2 DAYS AWAY

alex51324

I feel like to really get this circulating as it should, we need it superimposed over the picture of the turkey going in the fridge. (I can't do it I'm on my phone.)

amaditalks

figtreeandvine

With the 250th anniversary it's likely to be especially bad this year!

reasonsforhope

This applies to people too!!

Protect yourself and your community from the fascists's celebratory bullshit!

Any meds that you or a loved one might need*, or any other preparations, e.g., earplugs, N-95 masks for smoke, arranging to stay the night with a friend who lives somewhere quieter, etc.

Check in on your loved ones if they might need something like that as well.

*Note: Includes inhalers!!!!

And keep in mind that if you have long COVID or any other new source of lung/immune issues, you will be vulnerable this where where you might not have been in the past!

You can also protect your community by only buying LEGAL fireworks, which are compliant with laws on wildfire protection and heavy metal exposure!

Condemning USA nationalism and protesting the 4th of July can be compatible with protecting the public health of our community - not at odds with it!

allthingswhumpyandangsty

you don’t have to be kind to your blorbos. you just have to be kind to yourself ♡

bardjulus

like i know gnomes are an invasive species but this feels a bit overkill to me

mousiebites

i am forcing everyone to be polyamorous for pride month. not your style? wait 11 days, crybaby 🙄

mousiebites

your government issued wives will comfort you through this time

jame7t

whgy did they just put me in a box with your adress labeled on it Can U let me Out

mousiebites

WAIT 11 DAYS CRYBABY!!

mousiebites

HOWWWWW DAREEEE YOUUUU, POLY MONTH IS CANCELLED. MY WIFE! MY WIFE!!!

unashamedly-enthusiastic

tumblr not using profile pictures or legal names or linked to your job allows you to say things here you could not waterboard out of me in public

unashamedly-enthusiastic

I'm using this to say Captain Barnacles is hot

cassettetapecryptid

This guy???

unashamedly-enthusiastic

He is very calm and commanding in an emergency! And he prioritises the safety of all the animals! he sounds like a 1940s RAF pilot!

Would I admit this aloud under any circumstances? No

Would I choose Captain Barnacles over the train tiger from Zootropolis?

Yes, yes I would

nothing-an-iratze-cant-fix

Sorry, did you want to circle back to the … “train tiger from zootropolis”?

unashamedly-enthusiastic

Did we not all decide this was the hottest animal in Zootropolis?

nothing-an-iratze-cant-fix

I think I missed that sacrament…

pansy1993

“How does one hate a country, or love one? Tibe talks about it; I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one’s country; is it hate of one’s uncountry? Then it’s not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That’s a good thing, but one mustn’t make a virtue of it, or a profession…” Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness