Register to attend Writing Horror Fiction with Mike Thorn (Winter 2026)

Register here.

Where: Charlotte Street Arts Centre (732 Charlotte St, Fredericton, NB E3B 1M5, Canada)

When: Jan 29, 2026 to Mar 5, 2026, Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. AST

This course will engage with horror literature’s legacies and unique capacities for catharsis, allegory, and personal expression. We will discuss what scares us and investigate the psychology  of fear within the context of fiction, digging into the nuts-and-bolts processes of generating fear  in the reader. We will explore the wide range of horror’s sub-genres and aesthetic possibilities,  looking at tropes, traditions, and metaphors as opportunities for creative openings rather than  restrictions. We will discuss the importance of atmosphere, point-of-view, and convincing  characterization. Drawing on insights and fiction by some of horror literature’s most important  and exciting figures, we will dive into the genre with a focus on craft and technique. 

Kendall Reviews Guest Post: A Cinematic Mood Board for Peel Back and See

“As a whole, Peel Back and See is probably my bleakest book to date, with only a few diversions into more playful genre territory (e.g. ‘Mr. Mucata’s Final Requests’, ‘The Furnace Room Mutant’, and ‘Virus’). For the most part, these stories are awash in the personal affective experiences of chronic depression, anxiety, psychological ruptures, post-postmodern despair, addiction, loss, grief, nihilism, pessimism, and suicidal ideation.”

Read the full post and see the list.

Peel Back and See Now Available

In spaces both familiar and strange, unknowable horrors lurk.

From the recesses of the Internet, where cosmic terror shows its face on an endless live feed, to a museum celebrating the sordid legacy of an occultist painter, this chilling collection of sixteen short stories will plunge you into the eerie, pessimistic imagination of Mike Thorn.

Peel Back and See urges its readers to look closer, to push past surface-level appearances and face the things that stir below.

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