04/14/2026 New Author Spotlight featuring Cindy O’Quinn!

This week, Cindy O'Quinn is Uncomfortably Dark's spotlight author. She is an absolute delight! Check out her interview below and be sure to pick up one of her books!

MEET CINDY O'QUINN

Introduce yourself in 4 sentences or less.

I’m Cindy O'Quinn, the youngest of three daughters. An Appalachian writer from the beautiful mountains of West Virginia. No, my dad wasn’t a coal miner. He was a bread deliveryman. Mom worked in a shoe factory. Childhood nickname, Little Joe, after my dad.

Describe your style of writing.

Someone near and dear to me has provided the following description of my work:

“Embroidered with fierce grace and faith transcendent, the poetic writing of Cynthia O’Quinn is an intoxication. The voices and regions are myriad, partially geographical…. West Virginia mountains her wise cathedrals, lives a multitude of the glorious and godless… the weary saints. O’Quinn’s voices are sublimely intricate, enough to fill a mystic sea with tears of loss and hope.

Her brilliant work is cloudless… often stormed by exquisite dread, a literary magnificence of rarest soul and golden future.” 

What is your favorite type of horror to write?

My favorite type of horror to write is psychological suspense that’s steeped in Appalachian mystery.

What is your favorite book or character you’ve written so far?

I connect most with my character, Afton, in DARK CLOUD ON NAKED CREEK

Who are your top 5 favorite authors?

R.C. Matheson, Candace Nola, Thomas Tessier, Linda D. Addison, and Stephen King.

What most inspires you to keep writing when imposter syndrome hits the hardest?

Imposter syndrome plagues most writers. I’m no different. I write every day regardless of insecurities. 

Is there a genre, sub-genre, or trope you’ve not written, that you’d like to try?

While living on the secluded northern Maine homestead, my friend and highly respected writer, Thomas Tessier, told me I was sitting in the middle of a New England Gothic Horror. And I should write at least one novel about my time there. I’d like to do that.

What is your hope for your writing career for the next five years? As in where do you see yourself?

Over the next five years, I hope to see the completion and publication of three novels I’m working on, and one collection of short fiction.

Pitch your current WIP in three sentences or less.

My current WIP focuses on a group of teenage friends and a killer.

Where can we find you online and where can readers see you next?

You can find me on Facebook. And on Amazon by typing in -- books by Cindy O’Quinn.

Cindy's Facebook can be found here.

Cindy's Amazon Author Page can be found here.