Fiction

Bitter Karella is a genderfluid goblin from Maryland, best known as the creator of the Hugo-nominated microfiction comedy account @Midnight_Pals which asks what if all your favourite horror writers were to gather around the campfire and tell scary stories like in the classic Nickelodeon series “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” @Midnight Pals has had three successfully crowdfunded collections and is currently being adapted as an audio podcast.

Karella writes gonzo psycho-sexual body horror with a grotesquely humorous edge. Her short story “Low Tide Jenny,” originally published in Seize the Press magazine, was a winner of the Brave New Weird award for best new weird fiction of 2022 by Tenebrous Press. His work has also appeared in Bag of Bones’ “Step into the Light,” Tenebrous Press’ “Your Body is Not Your Body,” Ghoulish Books’ “Bound in Flesh,” and From Beyond Press’ “The World Belongs to Us.” He’s the author and artist of three graphic novels, including a comic adaptation of the Malleus Maleficarum, and co-host of the podcast “A Special Presentation, or Alf Will Not be Seen Tonight” about comic strips adapted into TV specials.

Karella currently lives in northern California with their partner, cat, and tarantula. When not writing, she also dabbles in text game design.