02/04/2026 BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Eden Royce

Candace Nola
1 hour ago
5 min read

As we do every year in the month of February, Uncomfortably Dark takes time out to honor Black authors and Black history from every era, past and present. If you already read widely and diversely or want to get started; please add these authors to your Must - Read lists and to those TBR piles!

A massive thank you to fellow author Eliza Broadbent for this huge undertaking for this month, enabling Uncomfortably Dark to honor at least one author a day, or more!

Eden Royce is from Charleston, South Carolina, now living in Southeast England. She’s a Shirley Jackson Award winner for her adult fiction, which has appeared in various print and online magazines. Her debut middle-grade novel, ROOT MAGIC, has won multiple awards for outstanding children’s literature.

Her third middle-grade novel, THE CREEPENING OF DOGWOOD HOUSE, is a Bram Stoker Award winner and the first horror novel to become a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree in the award’s ten-year history.

Find her online at edenroyce.com.

Today, we honor Eden Royce!

1. What kind of horror do you write/publish, and what brought you to the horror genre in particular?

I write Southern Gothic horror mostly, although I’ve dabbled in other sub-genres, this is how I would categorize most of my work. I came to horror as a young kid because I’m from a horror-loving family. We watched horror movies together and talked about them. Once, I asked her why she wasn’t scared of a monster movie we watched, and she said that it was because the movie wasn’t real; it was real people you had to be scared of.

During one of the frequent trips to the public library I took with my mom, I selected Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies - an irreverent ABC book pairing Victorian-styled children with the various ways they died, including sketches of each one. My mom had to approve my books, and I was scared she’d say no to this one. As she flipped through it, she chuckled, then let me add it to my pile of books to check out.

2. Who would you consider your influences and inspiration?

My family and their stories, my heritage, my people’s folklore and traditions. Also, I’m a lifelong reader and I just adore the written word. For me, inspiration can come from anyone or from anywhere: a quiz show, a flyer, or an old photo.

3. What piece of writing has meant the most to you, and why? This can be both your own and/or another author’s.

Don’t compare yourself to other writers. It’s a hard thing to avoid, I know, but practice stepping away form those thoughts when they occur. You’ll be happier and less frustrated with writing and with the publishing industry.

4. What’s your writing/editing journey been like? What challenges have you faced?

It’s been a long journey, and it isn’t over yet. I started my writing career with short stories, but when I tried to submit to online speculative fiction and literary magazines, I constantly got rejections from editors saying they liked some things, but didn’t understand the magic system, or they didn’t get why a character would respond in the way I wrote. That’s when I self-published my first short story collection, Spook Lights: Southern Gothic Horror.

I promoted it on social media, along with everything else I was doing reviewing books, beta reading, sharing open calls for submissions. Sometime after that, I got my first acceptances from those online magazines.

When I was ready to tackle a full-length novel, I wrote what would become Root Magic. This time, I wanted to go the traditional publishing route, but I could not find an agent to represent my manuscript. I joined Justina Ireland’s Writing in the Margins mentorship program - sadly, now defunct - and worked with a seasoned author who read my manuscript and gave me excellent feedback. I rewrote the book over the summer and got two offers for agent representation by December.

5. Who do you think everyone should be reading right now?

Del Sandeen, Gianni Washington, L.D. Lewis, Fiyah Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Midnight & Indigo. Also, listen to Nightlight Podcast – an audio podcast of horror stories read by the World Fantasy Award-winning creator/producer Tonia Ransom.

6. What’s it like being a Black horror writer/editor at this particular moment?

It’s always difficult to be in publishing, but the current climate makes people fearful and hesitant. Understandably so. It’s of the utmost importance to keep writing, keep telling our stories, and keep supporting each other. I think of Toni Morrison’s words to keep me motivated: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

7. Do you do any writing or editing that’s not fiction? If so, how did you come to that space, and where can we find it?

I’ve written a few personal essays, most of which you can find on my Linktree. Among them are an essay for Nerdy Book Club “Kids Need Horror” and one for Lit Hub “What My Grandmother’s Death Folder Taught Me About Love and Duty” about how planning my grandmother’s funeral played a part in writing Psychopomp & Circumstance.

8. What advice do you have for Black horror writers who are just getting started in the genre?

Write what speaks to your heart of hearts, because you’ll have to spend a great deal of time with it and it will become part of your history. Read other Black writers, talk about and recommend their work to others because readers may not know about them as we do not always get the publicity other authors do. Don’t ignore history: read older books, watch older films, do your research into what has been hidden from you, especially when you feel stuck with your own work. Take breaks when it gets to be too much and enjoy your life as much as you possibly can.