Welcome to the WordCrafter “Midnight Madness” Book Blog Tour

Posted: October 19, 2026 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Anthology, Author Interview, Blog Tour, Book Release, Books, Dark fiction, Fiction, Guest Post, Horror, Short Fiction, Stories, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, WordCrafter Press | Tags: "The Hopper Job", "The Mist on the Moors", Christian De Matteo, Mark Milstead, Midnight Madness: A Carnival of Nightmares, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, WordCrafter Press | 2 Comments

Welcome to the WordCrafter Midnight Madness Book Blog Tour and the send-off for Midnight Madness: A Carnival of Nightmares, volume 4 of the Midnight Dark Fiction Anthology series. We have a great tour planned for you, with guest posts from contributing authors, audio excerpts from their stories, promo excerpts, and of course, a giveaway that’s easy to enter; all you have to do is leave a comment at each stop.

We’ve got a great crew of 13 contributing authors for Midnight Madness, with a total of 15 stories, and on this tour, you’ll be introduced to several of them and you learn about their stories. Today, we bring you an interview with Mark Milstead, who the author of the winning story in the 2026 WordCrafter Dark Fiction Contest, “Mist on the Moors”, and a guest post from another newcomer to the WordCrafter author tribe, Christian De Matteo, about his story, “The Hopper Job”.

About Midnight Madness: A Carnival of Nightmares

“The Mist on the Moors”

Interview with Mark Milstead

Kaye: What prompted you to enter the 2026 WordCrafter Dark Fiction Contest?

Mark: Basically, I had a career change and am now retiring. I always wanted to write, but never had the time to focus. Once I finally had that time, I wanted to see if others would be entertained by my writing. I found the contest online, gathered my nerve, and submitted it.

Kaye: How did you make the jump from patent attorney to author?

Mark: I began my career as an organic chemist, then switched paths to become a patent attorney. I ended my patent attorney career at the end of 2025. I wanted to return to the creative side of myself that I left behind in high school.

Kaye: What’s the best piece of writing advice you have been given?

Mark: I am an avid reader of Stephen King and read his On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I was impressed by his work ethic. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” I have always read, so now it is time to write.

Kaye: That is an excellent book and writing resource. I read it back in graduate school. Highly recommended and great advice to follow. Where did the inspiration for “The Mist in the Moors” come from?

Mark: This story had its beginning in high school. It was a short story for a creative writing project. It won an award and terrified my teacher. The original story was much shorter—just a traveler on the moors at night with someone or something following him.

Kaye: What was your biggest challenge in writing, or in revising this story?

Mark: Making Ridge Kane real. He needed a backstory and a reason to be in Scotland. I also had to figure out how to convey that what is happening is real and not just his imagination. It took many rewrites to discover who Ridge Kane is. I wanted the audience to identify with him.

Kaye: What was the most difficult part of the story to write? Why?

Mark: Expanding the story so the reader could understand what my mind was seeing. I had to step back and read it as the audience would experience it. Law school helped here—I reverted to writing a statement of facts and then expanding from there. I also had to teach myself to write dialogue. But the most difficult portion of the story was the final confrontation. I must have written it more than twenty times. I had to slow myself down so the scene would slow down as well. I wanted the audience to feel every millisecond.

Kaye: What type of research did you do to write “The Mist in the Moors”?

Mark: This is where modern research is great. I used AI as an assistant. Instead of spending hours in a library researching, I could ask AI questions and get immediate answers while sitting at my computer—such as technical details about climbing, backpacking, or stone circles in Scotland.

Kaye: Who are your favorite authors? Do you feel your writing emulates any of them?

Mark: I am an avid reader of Stephen King, and I really enjoy his everyday guy versus evil themes. The Gunslinger series is my favorite. “The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.” Roland Deschain—what a wonderful character. I have read many diverse authors. I think my writing is more similar to Michael Crichton’s, because I like the technical aspect. I also admire Bernard Cornwell; his historical fiction is wonderful.

Kaye: What is next for you as an author?

Mark: I have several ideas that I want to pursue. I plan to write a novella-length story that is more historical fiction. I want to create a fully developed person with a complete story. But I also have a few shorter ideas that lean toward horror or the unexplained.

Kaye: How exciting. You may find a home for some of those darker stories in the coming Midnight series anthologies, or even some of the themed anthologies from WordCrafter Press. Is there somewhere where people can go to learn more about you as an author and your work?

Mark: Not really. I have spent my life in a career that kept me grinding away behind the scenes. I have no social media footprint to speak of. I have chemistry publications, published patent applications that I drafted, and even a few granted patents that I examined while I was a United States Patent Examiner. I am just starting a creative writing career.

About Mark Milstead

“Shadowmancer”

On Writing “The Hopper Job,” and my Somewhat Frightening Obsession with Noir

Hi, I’m Christian De Matteo, and if you’re wondering about my classic noir credentials, let me lead with this. My eldest son’s name is Dashiell. I figure that should cover it.

My father, Joseph De Matteo, introduced me to Humphrey Bogart and The Maltese Falcon in my early teens. The movie floored me. Then he gave me the complete collection of Dashiell Hammett’s novels. I devoured all five in no time flat, awed by the clipped tough-guy dialogue, the razor-sharp descriptions and the astounding number of moving parts Hammett effortlessly built into a smoothly oiled machine.

Reading and watching noir became an obsession. VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, I’ve never stopped collecting, never stopped looking for the rarest of the rare. Chandler, Goodis, Thompson, and more and more, I never stopped reading. If they gave degrees based solely on obsessive consumption, I’d have a Ph.D. in tough guys, rough dames, and the coldest crimes.

Oddly, however, through my entire writing history, I’d never written a noir period-piece. Plenty of crime and neo-noir, but never a good, old-fashioned 1940s humdinger. (Humdinger… I don’t know that I’ve ever used that word before. I like it.) One day I decided it was time and stared at a blank word document until the first line came to me.

Maria needed him to leave so she could plant the knife.

I put my fingers on the keyboard and followed her from there. I’m what some people call a discovery writer. I prefer the term “pantser.” I’m not a plotter. I couldn’t plot a story to save my life. I fly by the seat of my pants. I need to follow characters, watch them do things, see what the fallout is (they’re usually making bad decisions because that’s a lot more fun than good ones), and see what shakes out. Maria introduced me to a cast of characters I immediately fell in love with, from slimy to malevolent to charmingly devilish. The key is that I’m having fun and, dammit, I was.

Once I found out what the story was, I went back and planted all the bombs needed to make the damn thing explode at the end. Does it work? Lord, I hope so. I hope you have as much fun with “The Hopper Job” as I did.

If not, grab yourself a copy of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. No one will ever do it better.

About Christian De Matteo

Wrapping Things Up

That concludes today’s tour stop. Be sure to follow the tour through the links in the Tour Schedule below and leave your comments to get in on the giveaway. Tomorrow, you can find us on three different blog sites, hosted by Michelle Ayon Navajas: Poetry by Mich, Hotel by Masticadores, and Masticadores Phillipines, featuring a guest post by contributing author Robb T. White on his story, “The Pranksters” and an excerpt reading from my story, “In a Single Second”. I do hope you’ll join us.

The Giveaway

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment at each stop you visit, for a chance to win.

Three lucky readers will receive a free digital copy of Midnight Madness: A Carnival of Nightmares, volume 4 in the Midnight Dark Fiction Anthology Series.

Winners are chosen in a random drawing after the tour ends and will be announced in the “WordCrafter News” post on Monday, October 26, here on “Writing to be Read”.

**NOTE: “Writing to be Read” seems to be having technical difficulties with comments. If you are unable to comment here, you can still enter the drawing by sending your comment to KLBWordCrafter@gmail.com with MM Giveaway in the subject line. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Tour Schedule

Mon. 10/19 – Interview with Mark Milstead & Guest post from Christian De Matteo & promo for “Shadowmancer” – Writing to be Read: https://writingtoberead.com/?p=74385

Tues. 10/20 – guest post from Robb T. White & Reading from Kaye Lynne Booth –

Poetry by Mich: https://michnavs.wordpress.com/?p=16503

Hotel by Masticadores: https://hotelmasticadoreshouse.wordpress.com/2026/10/20/midnight-madness-book-tour-day-2/

Masticadores Phillipines: https://masticadoresphilippines.wordpress.com/2026/10/20/midnight-madness-book-tour-day-2/

Wed. 10/21 – Reading from “Headmaster Burns” & guest post from Lindsey Martin-Bowen & Promo for “L’Bonhomme Sept Heures” – Writing to be Read: https://writingtoberead.com/?p=74390

Thurs. 10/22 – Reading from Joseph Carrabis & guest post from C.R. Johannson – Roberta Writes: https://roberta-writes.com/2026/10/22/roberta-writes-book-blog-tour-about-midnight-madness-a-carnival-of-nightmares/

Fri. 10/23 – Guest Post by Abe Margel & promo for “The Shape of Denial” & Promo for “Apocalypse Family” – Writing to be Read: https://writingtoberead.com/?p=74393

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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!

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