Jessica McHugh is an author of speculative fiction that spans the genre from horror and alternate history to epic fantasy. A prolific writer, she has devoted herself to novels, short stories, poetry, and playwriting. She has had ten books published in three years, including "Rabbits in the Garden", "The Sky: The World" and the first three installments in her "Tales of Dominhydor" series. More info on Jessica's speculations and publications can be found at JessicaMcHughBooks.com.
Welcome Jessica!
Where are you from?
I grew up in Hampstead, Maryland where imagination was essential. Well, I suppose I could've gotten into sex and drugs to combat boredom, but I was saving that for my twenties.
When did you begin writing?
I always wrote, but I started writing seriously when I was 19. I worked for 11 hours a day at a perfume kiosk that didn't sell much perfume, so naturally I had to find something to occupy the time. I read a lot, especially macabre short stories. One day, I just started writing my own. I still have that first notebook, filled with not-great but not-terrible short stories and the beginnings of my first novel "Maladrid".
Out of the Woods
A poem by Jessica McHugh
I walk the stone-fields of home, watching industry turn alpine
And craft too many houses with too few backyards.
The old manor at the foot of the knotted Hampstead hill is gone.
What happened to the squatter, I will never know,
But I imagine him somewhere below the pavement,
Knocking on the sidewalk's underside
And begging for something I still cannot give.
I stomp and he knocks back,
Letting me know we are likewise entombed.
Past the squatter's lot, the bramble-lined paths we cut with sticks-turned-swords
Are only roads now.
They turn with an ease that trees refuse
And lead travelers too readily out of the woods.
As a child, I hoped I'd never find my way out.
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