Jessica Peter
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jessicapeter.bsky.social
Jessica Peter
@jessicapeter.bsky.social
1K followers 780 following 130 posts
Horror writer, Poetry Editor of Haven Spec, editor of Howls from the Scene of the Crime. Social worker, health researcher (under a slightly different name), health policy PhD student.

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

http://www.jessicapeter.net
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jessicapeter.bsky.social
Oh awesome! Yep, that's us too. I heard he was a favourite to win MVP so it's exciting that he landed it - and that a hometown guy got it! I think his mural should be done by now but I haven't been down that way...
Screenshot from The Hamilton Spectator. Man painting a mural of the back of Shai-Gilgeous Alexander as he gets a basket in a net (text says "Updated May 12, 2025; Work continued on a mural of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the north wall of Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School Friday)
May 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Had a lovely time moderating a panel on horror at @gritlitfestival.bsky.social last night with Cheryl Isaacs, Pasha Malla, and AGA Wilmot! Thanks to everyone who made it out to our later night session. #HamiltonReads2025
Jessica Peter sits in a conference room at GritLit
April 28, 2025 at 3:40 AM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Tomorrow is the provincial election! I encourage you to vote - against Doug Ford. Show him he doesn't deserve a majority.

To find out who is the most strategic vote against Ford and his PCs in your riding, see votewell.ca or smartvoting.ca. #HamOnt
Here are some of the worst things Doug Ford has done as our premier: - Promising that he would continue to protect the Greenbelt lands, and then turning over and selling off rights to his developer friends. Yes, we need housing, but this is not the only way! He did this even in cities like Hamilton where we’d just held a referendum with a strong winning vote to build UP, not OUT. He’s being investigating by the RCMP, but called this election before the investigation results are out. - Starving our public healthcare system of funds while trying to convince the public that a private healthcare system is the way to go. This includes passing Bill 124 which suppressed wages of nurses, the backbone of our healthcare system. - Closed supervised injection sites that were “too close to schools” without another option until some future time. Hamilton, for example, only had one supervised injection site. Now it has none. This is going to cause more drug use all over the city (including even in school parking lots) instead of in one place, and it will cause more deaths from overdose. - Spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to get the private European company Therme Spa to set up on the old Ontario Place grounds, and at the same time let the Ontario Science Centre conveniently (again) crumble (did you know it had to suddenly closed?) as they worked on its new location on the Ontario Place grounds Doug Ford has a pattern of using public money – our taxpayer money – to pour into private industry, especially to his friends, to the detriment of the actual public. He has a pattern of promising one thing and doing another. He called this expensive election in the middle of winter because he’s relying on voter apathy, and the confusion between federal and provincial elections, and maybe some that hope he’s can fight Trump (but don’t be fooled – he’s also been caught on a hot mike saying he was happy Trump won). Show him he does not deserve a majority government!
February 26, 2025 at 7:29 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
I literally screeched when I opened my email and saw Howls from the Scene of the Crime is on the Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot. So thrilled to make it to this first step along with my co-editor in crime @timaeusbloom.bsky.social through @howlsociety.bsky.social !
The 2024 Bram Stoker Awards Preliminary Ballot - Superior Achievement in an Anthology Ajram Sofia - Bury Your Gays Coleborn, Petetr and Chinn, Mike - Shadowplays Costello, Rob - We Mostly Come Out At Night Grassmann, Preston and Kelso, Chris - The Mad Butterfly's Ball Gyzander, Carol and Taborska, Anna - Discontinue if Death Ensues Murano, Doug and Bailey, Michael - Long Division Peter, Jessica and Bloom, Timaeus - Howls from the Scene of the Crime Ryan, Lindy - Mother Knows Best Ryan, Lindy - The Darkest Night Yates, April and Knowles, Rae - Scissor Sisters Book Cover of Howls from the Scene of the Crime: A Crime Horror Anthology, Edited by Jessica Peter & Timaeus Bloom with a foreword by Cynthia Pelayo
January 22, 2025 at 1:42 AM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
My annual tradition of producing my top 10 books in 2024! This year they leaned non-fic, though still plenty of fic. They were all amazing books I would absolutely recommend, though not if you're in a mood for something "feel good"

Photo below and in no particular order in the next messages.
Covers of The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen, Waiting for First Light by Romeo Dallaire, Fire Weather by John Vaillant, Whalefall by Daniel Kraus, The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown, The September House by Carissa Orlando, The Radium Girls by Kate Moore, Arboreality by Rebecca Campbell, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
January 1, 2025 at 5:17 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
It's a vibe!
Screenshot of a tweet from Merriam-Webster that says "Take a screenshot of this GIF, and whichever new word you land on is YOUR word for 2025." - My word is mythical
January 1, 2025 at 4:16 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Thrilled to see one of my poems on Ellen Datlow's recommendations list for building her Best Horror of the Year anthology. "Requiescat in Pace" is a little poem about famous women hauntings. It's in this issue of Star*Line: www.sfpoetry.com/sl/issues/st...
November 29, 2024 at 2:46 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Here is a selection I have up for award eligibility from this year! Two horror short stories that both happen to feature volcanoes, two selected poems - both speculative and apocalyptic, and one excellent anthology, if I do say so myself (as co-editor).
Jessica Peter: Award Eligibility 2024. Short Stories: Horror - "Pink Smoke" - Cosmic Horror Monthly, Feb. "The Ritual" - Calliope Interactive, May. Selected Poetry: Speculative - "Epitaph of a World on Fire: An Abecedarian" - Haven Speculative, Sept. "In the Urban Darkness, Something" - Apparition Lit, Jan. Anthology (Editor) - Howls from the Scene of the Crime: A Crime Horror Anthology, ed. Jessica Peter and Timaeus Bloom, Howl Society Press, May 2024.
November 21, 2024 at 5:33 AM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Part 2: it’s (golden) raspberries in NOVEMBER!
3 golden raspberries on a plant
November 17, 2024 at 7:31 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
It is late November and I’m eating fresh tomatoes from my garden. In Canada! (Granted, I picked them a little while ago and they were ripening in a windowsill, but still recent enough to be fresh). While I enjoy the tomatoes, it also gives me a bit of existential dread about the climate.
My hand, full of ripe cherry tomatoes
November 17, 2024 at 1:56 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Gathering has begun at #HamOnt City Hall for the vigil for Erixon Kabera, who was killed by police this weekend. #justiceforerixon
Flyer for “Justice for Erixon Kabera” with photos and description of an even at Hamilton City Hall, Thursday Nov 14 starting at 6pm
November 14, 2024 at 11:14 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Bookmail! This pulpy cover of @silviamg.bsky.social’s Mexican Gothic just arrived from the UK. I ordered it after @haileypiperfights.bsky.social posted about it back in the bad place (I have no self control… and I love this book, didn’t own one yet, and the pulp style spoke to me!)
Pulp art style Cover of Mexican Gothic “directed by” Silvia Moreno-Garcia
November 14, 2024 at 1:17 AM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Want to check out my anthology? Howls from the Scene of the Crime: A Crime Horror Anthology, co-edited by me and @timaeusbloom.bsky.social and published by @howlsociety.bsky.social came out in May! howlsociety.com/anthology/
Cover of Howls from the Scene of the Crime: A Crime Horror Anthology, Edited by Jessica Peter & Timaeus Bloom, with a Foreword by Cynthia Pelayo
November 11, 2024 at 12:39 AM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
I’m moderating a panel on writing ghost stories on Sunday at Fan Expo in Toronto, with a great list of panelists. Come on out if you’re around!
It reads “HWA panel at Fan Expo: I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost Story! Sunday, August 25th at 1:30pm, Theatre #7 (Room 715B), South Building. Moderator: Jessica Peter. Panellists: Ai Jiang, Tim McGregor, C.C. Adams, and Sephera Giron.” Picture of dancing skeletons!
August 22, 2024 at 11:20 AM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Hey have you heard about the antho I’m co-editing, HOWLS FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME? It’s crime, it’s horror, it’s 22 stories of gorgeous grit by amazing authors, and illustrated too!

We’re Kickstarting now so check it out or back it here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/how...
March 20, 2024 at 3:51 AM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
My top 10 reads of 2023! In no particular order and certainly not all published in 2023, but my favourites: and all great.
Covers of: - After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang - A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea James - Razorblade Tears by SA Cosby - Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice - The Marigold by Andrew F Sullivan - Moby Dick by Herman Melville - Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas - Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert - Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann - The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman
December 31, 2023 at 6:37 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
It’s release day for THE DARKNESS BEYOND THE STARS! Creepy space horror from an awesome TOC (including yours truly, with what I am calling a space gothic). Check out buying links here: www.saltheartpress.com/darkness-bey...
Cover for The Darkness Beyond the Stars: An Anthology of Space Horror
August 31, 2023 at 4:46 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Also at 2:30pm at Fan Expo Toronto, I'll be doing a reading with @aijiang.bsky.social and @sillysyntax.bsky.social - all the info here: https://fanexpohq.com/fanexpocanada/
August 20, 2023 at 4:51 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
A week today I'm moderating a panel at Fan Expo in Toronto.

Catch: "It's Alive! The Ever Evolving World of Horror" with panellists @aijiang.bsky.social, @afsulli.bsky.social, @timmcgregor.bsky.social, & @sillysyntax.bsky.social at 11:30am next Sunday.

https://fanexpohq.com/fanexpocanada/
August 20, 2023 at 4:51 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Two bundles of fresh books! The first 4 are from my Little Free Library (I’ve been seeding it with good stuff and it other good stuff is coming!), and 3 from the library.

I’ve already read the NK Jemison books (but needed to own them… and read the third). I’ve just started reading Story Genius.
Books: The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemison, The Fifth Season by NK Jemison, The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker, The Enigma of Room 622 by Joel Dicker Books: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas, Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Story Genius by Lisa Cron
August 20, 2023 at 3:35 PM
jessicapeter.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, where are you at mentally?
A portrait of an opossum that says “I’m not like other girls… I’m worse”
July 30, 2023 at 3:42 PM