About Vogue Horror (Updated February 2025)

…and just like that, the biggest challenge (so far) of my adult years has arrived, and it’s a gnarly one. If you’ve requested a review or a beta read, it may be some time off, as I find it difficult to absorb anything right now.

My wife and I, both academic librarians, were unceremoniously laid off this week for matters unrelated to our performance, alongside many of our colleagues. Both of us. Both. We are in shock, and after years of being nomads, the roots we put down a few years back look like they will almost certainly be torn up in the coming months.

Of all the fears I held about middle age, this dreadful, abrupt uncertainty was not among them. For the moment, it has found me wanting.

Mortgage and medical costs, with a young child in the house, and all this after an early-year flurry of unexpected expenses like car repairs and tax increases has depleted our meager savings. I feel like everything I’ve worked for, that I’ve cultivated, is disintegrating overnight. We have a little bit of runway, but not much.

When I started this site to write about horror in 2022, I had a small, lingering ambition that it might one day become what I did—or at least a stepping stone to something new. Now, that moment has both arrived and yet feels like the end of the road. As I work to regain my footing, I really can’t say if the future will leave room for pursuits like this.

When the shock passes, when I find a foothold, I hope to pick this up again, or to let it die with more dignity than it is getting right now.

If this is the end, know that I’m infinitely grateful to people like Ai Jiang, Pat Barb, Adam Nevill, Jacob Steven Mohr, Mia Dalia, Ellen Datlow, Christopher Houtz, Jordan Von Netzer, and a whole list of people that will just keep going if I let it.  You know how it goes; I’ve read your afterwords.

I want to believe this season will beget a brighter one, and I somewhat trust that it will, but right now I’m still looking for that foothold.

Wyatt

February 22, 2025

You can find the original About statement here.