Welcome to my online home! I am a person who writes horror stories under the pen name Cassandra Daucus. I write a bit of everything – body horror, gothic, psychological horror, cosmic horror – and I love it all. I grew up reading Stephen King, and other authors who have inspired me over the years include Shirley Jackson, H. P. Lovecraft, China Mieville, and Robert Aickman. I’ve also spent the last ten years or so reading a ton of fan fiction, leaving me with a soft spot for romance.

I’m still new at writing fiction. I’ve had drabbles published in Trembling With Fear and in Hungry Shadow Press’s Deadly Drabble Tuesday. My first short story, “Teething,” was published in Ooze: Little bursts of body horror edited by Ruth Anna Evans. I have two forthcoming short stories: “The Collecting” in Kangas Kahn Publishing’s Halloween Anthology, and “Kiss it Better” in Mouthfeel Fiction. I have also self-published a small collection, The House on The Beach and The Unicorn, and a short story, Auld Annis. You can find them and more over on Stories.

At the moment I am working on a collection of short historical horror which I plan to self-publish later this summer, I’m thinking about a future collection of medieval manuscript-focused short horror, and editing my first novel – a romance between a necrophile and a slash-and-burn serial killer. I also spend way too much time contemplating my next novel, about a man who falls in love with a butcher who may or may not be a cannibal, but I haven’t started writing it yet.

Check Stories for more information about forthcoming publications.

In my day job I work as a special collections curator and I am fanatical about my work, so if you ever want to talk about medieval manuscripts feel free to slip into my DMs; you can find me on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter (RIP). I’m also residualdreaming on Discord, and my friend requests are open.

You can also sign up for my newsletter, to keep up to date with what I’m writing, watching, or generally thinking about. I will never sell or share your email address and I won’t email you more than once a week (probably not even that, but a person can dream). If you sign up, I’ll send you a digital copy of my body horror story “Spiderling,” with a spider-rific cover by the uniquely talented Ruth Anna Evans!