The Story Behind Myths After Midnight
Photo by Ruslan Sikunov on Unsplash
This book started in a salon chair, not at my desk.
My hairstylist has one of the coolest salons I've ever been in — Edward Scissorhands stuff, a nod to The Barber of Seville, plague doctor masks on the wall, hair a different color every time I sit down. She's into all of it, in the best way. One appointment, we were talking about my books and she said something like, "You should do one that's actually creepy, gory, dark." I sat with that idea for a while.
Why I Went a Different Direction
I already had a Halloween book — a good, standard one, nothing wrong with it. But gory horror was never going to fit how I write. LZ Books has always been the cozy kind of spooky, not the kind that keeps you up at night.
What I kept from her suggestion was the spirit of it: something darker and more atmospheric than a regular Halloween book. That's where cryptids and eerie legends came in. I already love that stuff — I've got a couple of YouTube channels I listen to for cryptid stories and spooky folklore, the kind of storytelling that's unsettling without being gross. So Myths After Midnight became my version of what she was asking for: gothic legends, classic monsters, cryptids, ghost stories, PG enough to hand to anyone, but with real atmosphere to it. A nod to her idea, filtered through how I actually make books.
Building the Book
Once I had the angle, the rest came together the way my books usually do — a lot of back-and-forth on which legends actually belonged, which cryptids were fun instead of obscure, and which words would look and feel right in a grid. I wanted it to read like a love letter to spooky folklore, not a rehash of my Halloween book with a different cover. Fifty-five puzzles later, in large print, Myths After Midnight was done.
It's become one of my favorite books to have made, honestly — and it exists because my hairstylist tossed out an idea I couldn't stop thinking about, and I happened to already love the same kind of creepy stories she does.
A Fitting Season
If you're already thinking about fall gifts, Myths After Midnight is an easy one for anyone who loves a good ghost story or the spooky season in general. My Halloween word search book is another solid pick if your person is more classic-spooky than gothic-legend. Both make for a cozy, low-pressure gift — no gore required.
