Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories

The Second City is second to none when it comes to terror.

From H.H. Holmes, America’s first serial killer, to the Jane Byrne Interchange at rush hour, there’s an ill wind blowing through the Windy City. In this new anthology, twenty stories by twenty authors from the Chicago area take you on a bloodcurdling tour of the best city in the world. Featuring new stories by Cynthia Pelayo, Nick Medina, Sahar Mustafah, LP Kindred, and Christopher Hawkins, Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories unearths the horrors, both real and supernatural, that populate the White City.

Featured Authors

Christopher Hawkins is the multi-award-winning author of Downpour and Suburban Monsters. He is the former editor of the One Buck Horror anthology series and the co-chair of the Chicagoland chapter of the Horror Writers Association. When he’s not writing, he spends his time exploring old cemeteries, lurking in museums, and searching for a decent cup of tea. For more information about his upcoming projects, visit his website, www.christopher-hawkins.com, or follow him on Twitter @chrishawkins and Instagram at @hawkinswrites.

LP Kindred is a Chicagoan-Angeleno writer, editor, teaching artist, and podcaster of speculative fiction from the axes of Black and Queer Identities. An alum of Hurston-Wright, VONA, and Clarion Workshop, Kindred’s words feature on Tor.com, Fiyah Lit Mag, Carnegie Hall website, Apex, Escape Pod, PodCastle, and Anthema Spec from the Margins. LP has guest edited issues of Speculative City, The Cosmic Background, and Haven Spec as well as co-editing and contributing Voodoonauts Presents: (Re)Living Mythology (Android Press). Kindred is a cocoa-founder of Voodoonauts, a grassroots collective addressing the underrepresentation and isolation of Black Creatives in Speculative Communities. LP is a co-host of Just Keep Writing, a podcast for writers by writers, to keep you writing. LP’s 2022 short story WANDERLUST is Ignyte Award nominated. linktr.ee/LPKINDRED.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Nick Medina is the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation and Indian Burial Ground. His third novel will be available in September 2025. Connect with him on www.nickmedina.net, Instagram (@nickmedinawrites) and X (@MedinaNick).

Sahar Mustafah’s first novel The Beauty of Your Face was named a 2020 Notable Book and Editor’s Choice by New York Times Book Review, and one of Marie Claire Magazine’s 2020 Best Fiction by Women. It was long-listed for the Center for Fiction 2020 First Novel Prize, and was a finalist for the Palestine Book Awards. Most recently, her short story “Star of Bethlehem” was awarded the Lawrence Prize for Best Fiction in 2022 by Prairie Schooner, and her short story “Tree of Life” won the 2023 Robert J. DeMott Prize, selected by author Kirstin Valdez Quade. Her latest story “The Peacock” is featured in Stories from the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction (City Light Books, May 2024). Mustafah was awarded a 2023 Jack Hazard Fellowship from New Literary Project, and a 2023 Illinois Arts Council Agency grant. She writes and teaches outside of Chicago.

Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award–winning author. Her novels include Vanishing Daughters, Forgotten Sisters, Children of Chicago and The Shoemaker’s Magician. She is also the editor of Ghosts of Where We Are From, a Latinx Horror anthology featuring today’s bestselling Latin American authors. In addition to writing genre-blending novels that incorporate elements of fairy tales, mystery, detective, crime, and horror, Pelayo has written numerous short stories and the poetry collection Crime Scene. The recipient of the 2021 International Latino Book Award, she holds a master of fine arts in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives in Chicago with her family. For more information, visit www.cinapelayo.com.

Twenty Stories by Twenty Authors

In addition to our five invited authors, we’ll be holding an open call for submissions during the month of February 2025 to fill out the rest of the book. We’re paying HWA pro rates for stories that take place in Chicago by authors who live or have lived in the following Illinois counties: Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will, as well as Lake County, Indiana. 

Kickstarter Planned

To help defray the costs of producing the book, which includes paying all authors and cover artist Daimon Hampton, we will run a Kickstarter in January 2025. Rewards will include signed copies of the book, bundles of older From Beyond Press titles, zine bundles, and some fun experiences.