Welcome!
Hello,
If you’re reading this, thank you for finding your way here.
I’m Martin A. McKee, a Scottish writer with an enduring fascination for the strange things that lurk beneath ordinary life. Not haunted houses or masked killers (although they certainly have their place), but the quieter horrors—the obsessions, compulsions and unsettling moments that leave you looking over your shoulder long after you’ve turned the final page.
This newsletter is where I’ll share that journey.
Some months there may be news about upcoming books or publications. Other times I might talk about the stories that inspired me, books I’ve been reading, films that have lingered in my mind, or the peculiar little observations that eventually become fiction.
No algorithms. No shouting.
Just a monthly letter from one lover of the uncanny to another.
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My debut collection
I’m delighted (and, if I’m honest, slightly terrified) to be preparing the release of my first collection:
The Peeler and Other Grotesqueries
The collection brings together stories of obsession, discomfort and the macabre hidden beneath everyday life. Among them is The Peeler, recently selected as a finalist in the Ghosties Horror Short Story Prize 2025—a tale involving a delinquent, his manager and a dangerous fixation with an entirely innocent potato.
The collection also ventures into writhing worms, uncomfortable dinner dates, summer festivals and encounters that begin ordinarily enough before taking decidedly darker turns.
I can’t wait to finally share these stories with you.
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What I’m reading
For each subsequent newsletter I’ll recommend something that has inspired, unsettled or simply stayed with me.
This month, however, I’d love to know what you’ve been reading.
Reply to this email and tell me about the last horror novel or short story collection that genuinely disturbed you. I’m always looking to expand my reading pile, and I read every reply.
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Until next time…
Thank you again for joining me at the very beginning.
Publishing a first book is equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. Knowing there are readers willing to take the journey alongside me makes all the difference.
Until next month,
Martin
