01/10/2026 Fall & Winter Author Spotlight Series: William Sterling
- Candace Nola
- 17 hours ago
- 4 min read
This series will be showcased on my Patreon first, every Friday this fall and winter, through early 2026. If you are not a patron, look for the new author spotlight to appear here on the blog every Saturday! These will be for incredibly talented, but lesser known, authors that truly deserve a spotlight on their work!
As is our mission here at Uncomfortably Dark, we want to be a community support and while how we do that may change over time, we will always find a way to shed light on the many wonderfully talented people in this space. Please check out their interviews, click on their links, and check out their work for yourself. I promise you will not be disappointed.
This week, we have author William Sterling! He's another indie author that I highly recommend. His books are creepy, well-paced and atmospheric.
MEET WILLIAM STERLING!
Introduce yourself in 4 sentences or less.
My name's William Sterling. I'm a spooky positive author, editor, screenwriter, and sometimes actor from the Atlanta, Georgia area.
Describe your style of writing in 2 sentences or less.
I love playing around with...not quite horror comedy. I don't think I'm especially funny. But maybe lighter hearted horror. Things along the lines of Creepshow, with characters that will (not) "be right back!" and monsters that you can't help but root for a little bit.
What is your favorite type of horror to write?
Kind of going along with that last question. I've referred to it as popcorn flick horror for the longest time, and I feel like that gets the point across well enough. Spooky stories where you'll yell at the characters and throw your popcorn at the screen, with big set pieces and some twisted third acts that you (hopefully) don't see coming. I want to have fun more than I want to plumb the darkest depths of the human psyche.
What is your favorite book or character you’ve written so far?
I'm a big advocate of "get better with each book." I think every author grows and improves every time they release something, so...honoring that...let's say that my favorite book of mine right now is Our Beanie Beastie Nightmare, coming February 2026 from Mad Axe Media. Joey Powell (love him) and I workshopped the story a LOT in the development stages and came up with something that's like a YA version of Oz Perkins' The Monkey. Or Final Destination. I had a ridiculously good time with the kills.
Who are your top 5 favorite authors?
THIS QUESTION IS CRUEL. Gun to my head, right now, it's gonna be Joe Abercrombie (I'm 70% of the way through The Devils and loving it), Paul Tremblay, Abby Vail, Keith Rosson, and CJ Leede. But I know I'm going to look back on this list tomorrow and kick myself for leaving person off.
What most inspires you to keep writing when imposter syndrome hits the hardest?
Strangely? Writing is the best way for me to get off the imposter syndrome. When fingers are against keyboard, I can tune out all the rest of the noise. I don't worry about sales or cliques or anything like that. The cure for the wound, for me, is just continuously poking the wound, lol.
Is there a genre, sub-genre, or trope you’ve not written, that you’d like to try?
I REALLY want to nail a Mystery/Horror novel. Something that I pride myself on is trying to come up with big third acts that audiences won't see coming. One of my biggest pet peeves is knowing where a story is going and feeling bored, plodding along, trying to get there. So, I actively try to avoid that with my books. But I've still never written my MYSTERY novel where the protagonists are actively hunting that twist before it happens. I think I've got some of the pieces I need, to write the story eventually. A True Detective-ish romp that goes full horror by the end. But....yeah. Still very much in the concept phases with that one.
What is your hope for your writing career for the next five years? As in where do you see yourself?
I've learned to give up on my five-year plans, lol. Not because the long-term goals I previously set weren't valid. And not in a depressing way. But I've been fortunate to find that my career has become wildly non-linear. Out of nowhere, I've made a short film, CANDY, that's in film festivals and coming to streaming soon. I've got a Feature Length film shooting in February. I've gotten to edit PUNK goes HORROR with some of my absolute IDOLS in the pages, and there's just no predicting what will happen, or when it will happen. So, I'm just letting Cthulhu take the wheel and I'll ride whatever wave swells, whenever it swells.
Pitch your current WIP in three sentences or less:
The novel I'm shopping right now is called SICK SAD LITTLE GAMES. It's an escape room horror novel about two down-on-their-luck employees that get trapped in one of their games alongside four on-the-run thieves. As the 60-minute timer ticks down, the cat and mouse game of dodging, trapping, avoiding, and manipulating gets more and more brutal until...well, I said I liked blindsiding you with third acts, didn't I?
Where can we find you online and where can readers see you next?
I'm on Instagram and Threads @spooky_sterling and my website is https://thewilliamsterling.wixsite.com/main. Come say hey. 2026 is going to be a really fun year, in ways that I can't talk about yet, but all the updates will hit all the spaces as we go. Stay spooky!!!!
CHECK OUT THE SHORT FILM, CANDY, HERE!
CHECK OUT HIS BOOKS HERE:
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