By Mo Moshaty

The best horror doesn’t shout. It lingers in quiet towns, in moral crossroads, in the uneasy feeling that something beneath the ordinary has begun to shift. Author Seth Voorhees writes from that threshold, where human vulnerability and the uncanny begin to blur. We sat down with Seth to chat about where horror lives, writing what you know,

What was your first published work?

My first published work was The Interim, a horror novel, released in October 2018 through Archway Publishing. It’s a terrifying tale of a town in South Dakota called Cooper. In Cooper, from October 20th at 10:05 P.M. to November 1st at 5:42 A.M., it is haunted by a maleficent force, and its citizens must follow a set of rules to survive. This time frame becomes known as the Interim. The trade-off, because why would people choose to live there, is that for the rest of the year, there is no crime or trouble of any sort, creating a utopia. 

Interestingly enough, I got the rights back and republished a second edition in the summer of 2025. Before republishing, I reviewed it once more and made some tweaks. It was an inspiring process for me. I had the chance to see my growth as an author and editor. I’ve always believed that in life, you’re either moving forward or going backward, and I saw how my craft evolved. I’m fascinated to see where I’ll be in ten years. 

Is there a story inside that you have seeds of but can’t seem to connect that’s dying to get out?

I adore a great ghost story. A haunted house, hotel, an environment, or those stories that manipulate you into thinking it’s about a haunting, but near the end reveal that it never was. They’re all great. However, I have yet to come up with a great ghost story. 

I love authors like Darcy Coats who have spun many great haunting tales. I feel that there is a ghost story within me wishing to be released. But I will not write one just for the sake of it, because it’ll come off flat and unimaginative. I want the inspiration to strike me like a slap in the face. I’m confident that it will reveal itself in the future. But until then, I’ll just keep reading my wonderful peer’s frightening tales.  

How do you handle a rejected story?

I remind myself that my writing is not for everyone and that the right audience will discover it. Failure is part of the game. To achieve your dreams, you have to love “what most hate” to stay open to growth. Everyone hates rejection, and I don’t have to approve of it, but accepting it, learning from it, and moving on are important. 

Depending on my decision, rejection can either push me back or push me forward. If anything, I wish people had more time to explain why they rejected it, because feedback is necessary for an author like me. I’m never afraid to keep improving. I often think of the quote by Benjamin Franklin: “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.” To write something worth reading, I need to keep improving and remember that failure and rejection are part of the journey. 

What does literary success look like to you?

In January, I will write down my yearly goals, which are usually built on the success of last year’s goals. So, really, success is always fluid, and I don’t look too far ahead. Therefore, success is when I can look back at last year’s goals and see my growth, achievements, and progress in my craft. 

Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with a bad or good one?

Honestly, I try not to read my reviews. However, because I’m human, if I do read a bad one, I take it the same way I handle rejection, reminding myself that it comes with the territory. 

The big question is whether I can learn from the review and use it to my advantage. There are times when I cannot, and if that is the case, I move on. But if possible, I will apply it to my next story. With good reviews, I try not to let them go to my head. I simply take the compliment and move on. To me, a finished story is just that; it’s finished, and I like to move on to other projects. I cannot control how it is received. 

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

This is going to sound obvious, but the most difficult part is not neglecting it while balancing work, family, hobbies, and friends. Would I love to live in a cabin on the shores of a beautiful lake and write and edit twenty-four-seven? Absolutely. 

Depending on the day, it’s not so much about balance as about which takes priority. I’m at my happiest when my writing takes priority. But there are times when it has to be set aside a little. Perhaps all I have time for is my daily word count, and I cannot work on other projects. At a minimum, I always try to dedicate at least an hour every day.  The next difficult part is financial; it costs money.

As in most times, the truth is stranger than fiction. What has been the hardest scene or chapter you’ve had to write if you were channeling a personal experience?

Until a few years ago, I never followed the advice “Write What You Know.” But I decided to change that. I have a project in the works that delves into my experience as a youth care worker, counselor, and supervisor in residential settings supporting troubled adolescents.

There have been many challenges in this project, such as maintaining confidentiality and adjusting events. Through this story, I had the chance to talk about secondary trauma. I wrote about my own experience with it and about some staff members I’d worked with. 

I also wanted to write a more accurate story about a residential setting. In horror, there are many elements I know are unrealistic. For example, the center used to be a hotel, filled with staircases, dozens of corners, and blind spots, which I understand is for the sake of fright and jump scares. But in reality, no honest organization is going to turn an abandoned hotel into a center for troubled youth. 

What has inspired your latest work?

My next novel, The Cottonwood Prestige, has an interesting beginning. I was fishing on a warm day in May on one of my favorite lakes, Angostura. A good portion of the lake has decent beaches where you can kick back in the sand with a book while watching your pole in its holder. 

On this particular day, I found myself thinking about sandcastles and how it would be a wonderful day for families with small children to build one. That led to another thought. My imagination conjured a story about a little girl who builds a sandcastle on a private beach in front of her father’s house every morning. The father would come out, and every day he’d notice the castle growing in size, eventually expanding beyond his child’s skills, who would probably be seven or eight. Then one night, he wanders through the castle’s front entrance, gets lost, and eventually, a bird helps him escape. 

Once I got home, I started with that scene, creating characters who eventually became Noah and his daughter, Violet. Both are secondary characters who affect the main character, Eugene. Over time, the story changed and was adjusted some more. 

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

I would have told myself not to wait until later in life to start pursuing my dream. My first attempt at writing a short novel was when I was eighteen, during my senior year of high school, which I also finished that year. 

After high school, I set aside writing, both as a livelihood and a genuine interest, and only dabbled in it for fun. It was not until I was thirty-one that the motivation to write and get a book published took hold. I felt behind in the game and needed to relearn the industry and the craft.

At times, I think that absence was both positive, in the sense of maturity, allowing me to write better, and negative, because I wish I had used my twenties to make mistakes and build a career sooner. But in the end, I cannot change the past and can only accept the present.

What was the best advice you’ve gotten from a fellow writer?

Once, while attending my state’s yearly book festival, I sat in on a workshop by a wonderful author. She talked about how, once she finished reading a story she loved, the kind that hooked her and that she could not put down, she asked herself what elements made it so good. Was it the writing, the themes, the pace, the action, or how the exciting elements were spread out, etc.? 

I think that was good advice because I hadn’t really thought about it. I think most of us, after finishing a book we love, simply put it down, feel grateful that our time and money weren’t wasted, and go on to the next book. We don’t dissect the books we loved as much as we do the ones we didn’t like, because it’s easier to point out what turned us off than the elements that sucked us in.   

What is your go-to comfort horror or sci-fi book?

I must confess I’ve never reread a horror or sci-fi book. However, if we’re talking about a book I often think about, one that left a lasting impact, tugged at my horror lover’s heartstrings, and inspired multiple projects, it’s I’m Legend by Richard Matheson. It’s a clever twist on the vampire-and-pandemic narrative, and its well-written emotional elements make Robert Neville’s struggles feel so believable.

If you were to genre hop, which genres would you most like to try writing?

I’d love to take a stab at writing in the Western genre. I’ve always been a student of the era, reading nonfiction about gunfighters, gangs, and lawmen. Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, and Seth Bullock are among my favorites. I love watching Western movies; they’re my guilty pleasure. I’ve read a few Westerns in fiction, and I especially love those that blend horror with the Western genre, like Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian, a great book I highly recommend. If I could, I’d love to test the waters of the Western genre. 

Stories of horror often begin with the fragile places where morality, vulnerability, and human choice intersect. For Rapid City–based author Seth Voorhees, those tensions form the backbone of his dark fiction, which moves between suspense, psychological unease, and the uncanny edges of everyday life. Drawing from his work as a counselor and educator in adolescent development and mental health, Voorhees brings a deeply human lens to the characters who populate his novels, allowing their fears, doubts, and moral crossroads to shape the horrors they encounter.
Voorhees is the author of four novels: The Interim, Immune: Rise of the Inflicted, Mid-Glow, and Question 17. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and Psychology from Black Hills State University and lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with his partner and stepdaughter.
You can explore more of his work at sethtvoorhees.com, or follow him on Facebook (@Seth T Voorhees), Instagram (@authorsvoorhees), and TikTok (@stvoorhees). His novel Immune: Rise of the Inflicted is available via Barnes & Noble.