Barbara Rein is no stranger to recognition for her hilarious and delightfully creepy short stories. In2ition Magazine named her “2021 Short Story Writer of the Year.” Now her book, Tales from the Eerie Canal, has earned her the 2021 Royal Palm Literary Award for Best Published Book of the Year.
2021 Royal Palm Literary Award for Best Published Book of the Year
According to Barbara, she “writes ‘horror lite’ short stories (more goosebumps than gore) filled with delightfully creepy twists. Reimagined nightmares concocted from a childhood diet of macabre fairy tales and endless episodes of Twilight Zone.” Tales from the Eerie Canal, a collection of 22 short stories, mixes horror, fantasy, science fiction, and romance into one hard-to-put-down book.
RPLA Showcase asks Barbara to share her reactions to winning, her writing journey, advice for other writers, and where we can find her wonderfully eerie tales.
What did it feel like to hear you won Published Book of the Year at the virtual ceremony?
I should know better — screaming at the computer never gets a response. Nevertheless, as I heard the moderator announce the tagline for my book, “Murder by toilet plunger. Revenge by pie…” I began shouting at the screen, “What? What? What?” I sounded like a parrot in distress. My husband came running into the room thinking something terrible happened. Just the opposite. Now, weeks later, I’m still stunned that my book, Tales from the Eerie Canal, took home the big win.
Can you tell us about your writing journey?
I first became a published author in second grade with a poem and a story printed in Junior Scholastics Magazine. Fourth grade saw the end of that budding career when my teacher admonished me for doing book reports on my own stick-figure-illustrated series, The Adventures of Cassandra McGillicuty in Outer Space. Telling me I should be reading “real” books when I’d read every book in the school library, sent creativity into hibernation. For years after, I wrote only in my head. Then one day I opened my laptop and out they poured.
What came out were all the nightmares I’d amassed from a childhood diet of macabre fairy tales, and endless episodes of Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. If it was twisted, ghoulish, and bizarre, I ate it up. Sleep suffered though. I found the only way to calm the beasts that followed me to bed was to write them. And if my writing scared me too much, I’d appease the monsters with humor. To this day, I write in the style of those TV shows: goosebumps, not gore, and always packing a punchline.
What writing advice would you give to your past self or other writers?
Join a critique group. We authors write alone, but we can’t edit alone. Even Stephen King has an editor who red lines his work. I’ve learned so much from the mastery and the mistakes of others. It’s not easy to have your words picked apart, no matter how kind the critique may be. It smarts. And it’s okay to sulk. But also listen. Keep an open mind. I know sometimes I get so close to my words, I don’t see what I’ve written. I need someone to point out the plot holes; the inconsistencies; the misspellings even Grammarly can miss. (“Vison” is a word. I typed it twice in a story, meaning to write “vision.” Thankfully, someone caught that missing second “i” that so many others read right past.) You don’t have to agree with all critiques, or revise to please, but be attuned to, and embrace, those bits of truth. That’s how good writing becomes better writing. And how writers win awards like the RPLA.
Where can we learn more about you and your writing?
In Rockland County, NY and Paramus, NJ, there are three Barnes and Nobles that have been only too happy to stock and promote my book as a local author. What a thrill to walk into a store and see a stack of my books sitting on a table of their own. And to find the reorders have been in the multiples.
If you can’t make it to my haunting grounds, my book and I can always be found on Amazon. Come check us out:
