What scares you most?
Switch off the lights. Sit in the dark. Wait for fear to curl up in your lap.
Slowly, slowly. Your eyes adjust, and you will see what’s truly looking back at you.
Unsettling Tales for Death-Curious Minds
Catherine Herlihy was a weird kid. She liked horror movies and cult classics, various plagues, disasters, and tragedies from history, and arty surrealist foreign films. She once hosted a middle school sleepover where she screened a Jodorowsky movie. She was kind of scary. Growing up in a godless eccentric family in the strap of the Bible Belt, she made up macabre daydreams about underdogs and feared women as she rode her bike over brick roads and abandoned mines.
Now she is a rare bird living in the high desert among the sagebrush and casino lights. She writes rich gothic thrillers with plots that appeal to lovers of unsettling characters and strange underbellies. Her readers find beauty in decay or in the places where the wild creeps into the strip mall. She finds inspiration for her fiction from estate sales, true crime, news, conservatories, road trips, art museums, and truck stops.
She is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared on Appalachia Bare, Horror, Sleaze, Trash, in the short story collection, Ursa Minor, and as bonus content in the novel Cruel Summer by Michael Rowe. She has blogged for DirtyDishManifesto, Sparkjam, and DoulaSpot. She has a certification in Professional Editing.
When she isn't writing, she's hand-building clay heads, dancing, sewing clothing, and cackling with the people she loves. She enjoys adventures, both real and imaginary, and is endlessly curious about the places where the light hides.
Maybe you have questions
What genres do you write?
I primarily write gothic fiction. I enjoy creating stories with characters on the edges of society, and while it’s not always present, there can at times be elements of magic and slips of logic. I like stories that make readers a little uncomfortable.
What scares you?
Other people. Fear is a driving motivator for behavior, so it’s one of the main emotions I like to explore in my work.
I’d love to hear what scares you, too. Feel free to reach out and tell me about it.
What are you writing right now?
Right now, I am writing my debut novel. I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s about a wealthy family in San Francisco with a sadistic mother. The book explores themes of abuse, power, and what happens to the secrets we never tell.
Where can I find your work?
You can read my short story “Fasnacht” by ordering Michael Rowe’s book:
https://quillandleaf.org/product/cruelsummer
Read my short story, “Cass,” over at Appalachia Bare:
https://appalachiabare.com/cass/
Check out “Tippytoe” at Horror, Sleaze, Trash:
https://horrorsleazetrash.com/2025/01/31/catherine-herlihy/
And here are some blog posts at DirtyDishanifesto:
Confession Booth
Bless you, Reader, for you have sinned.
Morality is an interesting concept. For some of you, ethical dilemmas are straightforward. As clear as a bright blue sky on a Sunday morning. The birds are singing. Everyone loves each other. Good things happen to good people, and bad people go to jail or live in San Francisco. For the rest of us, morality is a liminal opportunity dictated by circumstance, brain structure, and economic systems.
We have all committed self-serving acts that have benefited ourselves and harmed other people. Be honest with yourself. You have.
If you have a conscience, maybe you think about those things when you’re washing your hair or driving down a hairpin in the rain. Dear reader, you are not singularly bad. You’re a person – an animal roaming amongst other animals. And I forgive you.
Submit your sin to the virtual confession booth to receive acceptance and a spiritual lobotomy.
