Julie Hiner emailed Daniel years ago to ask if she could read one of his short stories on YouTube — in full Gothic makeup, to her own audience, for free. That's how they met. Now they're co-writing a novel together. It's a pretty good case study in what happens when you just reach out to people you admire and lead with genuine enthusiasm rather than an ask.
Julie Hiner is an author, storyteller, and self-proclaimed horror movie expert based in Calgary, Canada. She writes a fusion of heavy metal and horror fiction that is entirely her own — serial killers, demons, extreme violence, and the particular emotional logic of Black Label Society — and has built a fiercely loyal readership doing live events with actual bands. Her novel Infested won a Benjamin Franklin Silver Award. Her new novella Stella's Scream, published by Crystal Lake's Torrid Waters imprint, is out now.
In this conversation, Dan and Julie cover the long arc of building an audience for aggressively niche work, what seven years of in-person events actually looks like logistically, why Julie thinks extreme horror is therapeutic (and what the science says), and how her writing has gotten progressively more unhinged — in the best possible way — as she's stopped being afraid of what's on the page.
💀 What we get into:
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📚 About Julie Hiner
Julie Hiner is an author, storyteller, and blogger. She loves classic horror movies, books, and live music. Her favorite album to this day is Appetite for Destruction. Her favorite movie is Jaws.
Julie writes a unique blend of heavy metal and horror, weaving both psychological suspense and many types of rock and metal into a tapestry of musically infused storytelling.
She has published an 80s/90s metal murder detective vs serial killer series, a 90s nostalgic serial killer novella, a death metal demon possession novella, and co-curated a horror anthology. Several of Julie's horror short stories have been published in anthologies. Julie also had a deep sea horror novella published by Torrid Waters, a pulp and extreme horror imprint of Crystal Lake Publishing.
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