By Kevin Murphy Wilson • Photos by Matt Johnson
Chapter One: Jenny Kiefer
Local author and bookstore proprietor Jenny Kiefer told the VOICE-TRIBUNE that she has long been obsessed with certain shadowy elements of literature. In fact, she has been crafting original material in that realm ever since she first learned to read. “I remember voraciously reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Goosebumps, and Richie Tankersley Cusick books,” Kiefer said. “Later, as a pretentious teenager, I only read classics or anti-war books, but still gravitated towards darker works like southern gothic or things like [Kurt] Vonnegut and Jane Eyre. I think these works, especially [William] Faulkner, have definitely influenced my writing voice and style.”
According to Kiefer, there were other creative diversions along the way (including vocal lessons, guitar lessons, painting, knitting, and so forth) but ultimately writing edged out these artistic interests. “I have received a number of awards throughout my life for my writing, starting as early as the second grade, and I think that type of positive reinforcement probably encouraged me to hone my craft there and push forward more.” Additionally, Kiefer admits that it was a much more practical pursuit for her in the end. “Writing is inexpensive. When I graduated high school, for example, I actually wanted to pursue photography, but the costs associated with it definitely deterred me,” she said.
To her credit, Kiefer eventually picked up an undergraduate degree from Western Kentucky University in Creative Writing and a master’s degree from University of Louisville in English. This intensely focused education pointed her down a long and winding road toward a viable career path.
“It took a lot of time,” Kiefer said. “You have to let yourself create something bad before you can make something good. I have to tell myself that every time I am writing a first draft. It is going to be bad before it’ll be good. It’s not going to come out fully-formed. I think that’s the most difficult part.”
Her perseverance has more than paid off though. “I’ve had short stories published in magazines and anthologies and my debut novel, THIS WRETCHED VALLEY, was published through Quirk Books in 2024.” Notably, that particular release has been featured on NPR as well as in the New York Times Book Review, and it has received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal.
Although she has already completed a follow up novel for Quirk Books called CRAFTING FOR SINNERS that is scheduled to release next year, these days, Kiefer also busies herself with running Butcher Cabin Books, an independent horror-themed shop she opened with her mother, Martha Kiefer, on Barret Avenue in 2022. “I love being able to give shelf space to local authors and smaller indie presses that might not show up in a general bookstore whose horror section is very small,” Kiefer explained. “I also love that more and more genre-specific bookstores have cropped up in the two years since we opened. It’s been really cool to see the support of the store since its opening day. We still have so many people visit us from around the country.”
Chapter Two: Ben Young
Jenny Kiefer’s business model demonstrates that horror is really big in the Bluegrass State! As such, there’s a growing number of relevant authors based in the region, many of whom directly benefit from the support of Butcher Cabin Books. J.H. Markert, Andrew Shaffer, Nicole Cushing, Tony Evans and Ben Young are among them. As part of our October spotlight on literary darkness, we recently caught up with Young to discuss the journey that led to his two chilling novels, HOME and STUCK, the perils of publishing, and how he came to write “spooky stories” in the first place.
VT: Can you tell us a little bit about your background and early influences?
BY: I’ve lived in Kentucky most of my life, growing up in the Ft. Wright/Covington area just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. I also lived in Louisville for a few years while attending the University of Louisville. Aside from a few quick stints living in Cincinnati and NYC, I’ve always been here. As for early influences, I picked up my first R.L. Stine from the Scholastic book fair and never looked back. Before long I got into Bruce Coville, Christopher Pike, and Point Thriller titles by authors like Caroline Cooney, Diane Hoh and Rickie Tankersly Cusick, and then to more adult-focused authors like Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Robert McCammon, and Edgar Allan Poe.
VT: What put you on this path and what were some of the key occurrences in your artistic development?
BY: I don’t think this is particularly unique, but I first decided to try writing a novel because I hated my job and thought being a professional writer might be the only thing I’d enjoy doing for the rest of my life. It took me a long time to finish that first manuscript because I had no idea what I was doing and was forced to learn quite a bit about the craft of writing along the way. I tried shopping that first manuscript around and it didn’t go well. I eventually landed a much better job and moved to New York. While I was there, I renewed my focus on becoming a writer and attended some workshops and conferences, along with reading up on stuff that I thought would help me improve quickly. As a result of all that, I threw out my completed manuscript and rewrote the story from scratch in about three months’ time. I felt it was much better, but still couldn’t seem to get anywhere with agents or publishers, so I gave up and walked away. I knew there was the option of self-publishing, but I was honestly scared that it was akin to failure. A few more years passed, then I joined the Books of Horror Facebook group and saw how much support existed for self-published authors. All told, it was about fourteen years from start to finish, and in September of 2023 I published my first novel, STUCK. It’s since received quite a strong positive reception, generated hundreds of reviews, and made it into the Books of Horror Indie Brawl, which is a March Madness-style bracket competition the group hosts annually. There were almost 400 books entered, so I consider it a huge honor to have made it into the final bracket of just 32 based on votes from readers in the community.
VT: Why is this field special to you?
BY: I have a fascination with words and monsters, so they just kinda make sense together. When I come across a story idea that feels like it will work, it’s hard for me to stop myself from building it out in my head. Writing is hard, and I admire anyone that decides to make a serious commitment to it.
VT: What is the writing process typically like for you?
BY: I’m a plotter. I spend weeks building the scaffolding for a story before I sit down at the keyboard to start the actual writing. That includes research, outlining, character profiles, stuff like that. When I’ve tried to write anything longer than a few pages without all that plotting first, it doesn’t go well.
VT: How do you measure success as an author?
BY: As a newer and primarily self-published indie author, my main goal is to grow my audience and be a participating member of the indie horror community. Of course I’d love any sort of fast commercial success or recognition, but I also don’t want to get caught up chasing that. I see flexibility as the primary benefit to being independent. I’m not forced to write to market or follow trends so I can focus on writing the type of stories I want to read and hope that I keep improving with each one and that they’re finding readers authentically. I want my stories to have an impact on readers, and to stand the test of time. To me, that would be a good measure of success.
For more information on Kentucky’s horror scene visit: www.horrorbookstore.com.