Delaney L. Mathew

Published Works

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

Poetry

Jenny Magazine

Issue 23

"I’ll write to you when winter fades,

and again at summer’s lament.

I’ll tell you tales of thawing sidewalks

and of dying leaves that kiss the ground’s cement."

Read Here

Aurora Sanguis

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

Flash Fiction

Minds Eye Publications

The Vampiricon: Imaginings & Images of the Vampire

“Biting into his lips, a small drop of blood trickled into my mouth. Notes of vanilla, and bergamot, and pepper, and raspberry played along our tongues, intoxicating me with its tannins and levitating me into the open air.”

Purchase Here

In the Name of the Father

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

Overnight at Sanctuary Square Shopping Center

Short Story

Wicked Shadow Press

Flash of the Dead: Requiem

“His soul had once belonged to God, but now his prayers were empty incantations, like sermons nobody is there to hear.”

Purchase Here

Overnight at Sanctuary Square Shopping Center

Short Fiction

Wicked Shadow Press

Spectral Spectrum: Queer Tales of the Macabre

"Cherry didn’t scare easily; when life at home was already a nightmare, trauma found a way to desensitize even the most extreme of circumstances. However they couldn’t deny that this was f****** weird."

Purchase Here

The Haunting of Idora Park

Overnight at Sanctuary Square Shopping Center

The Haunting of Idora Park

Short Fiction

Jenny Magazine

Issue 22: Reimagine Youngstown

"Listen, let me stop here for a sec…some shit happened that night. Shit that I’m legally not allowed to talk about; but the NDA I signed didn’t say anything about typing...and you seem trustworthy, right?"

Read Here

Work In Progress

and all of its stages

Adult Horror Fiction

After the death of his wife, renowned trauma surgeon, Dr. Joseph “Carter” Andrews self-medicates with whiskey and works long hours to distract himself from his grief. However his rigorous work schedule comes at a cost and after one too many sleepless nights, he crashes his car.

While on medical leave, Carter is desperate to return back to work when he finds himself once again able to touch, feel, and speak to his dead wife. Lost in these stolen moments, he jeopardizes his job, health, and those who care about him. When his wife's murderer threatens his sister's life, he must face his grief and all of its stages.

Status: Actively querying literary agents!

Writing Community

Gretchen McCarthy (She/Her)

Katie Passerotti (She/Her)

Karen Schubert (She/Her)

Gretchen McCarthy is a retail manager by day and a hopeless romantic writer and goofball of a wife by night. She and her husband reside in central Ohio where she daydreams of all her endless romantic story ideas. Working on her debut novel, this coffee obsessed millennial is excited for her future in publishing.

Learn More

Karen Schubert (She/Her)

Katie Passerotti (She/Her)

Karen Schubert (She/Her)

Lit Youngstown Founding Director Karen Schubert is author of The Compost Reader, five chapbooks, and poetry featured in the Butler Institute of American Art’s Art, Poetically; the 2023 Cleveland Humanities Festival; The Pinch; and the anthology This is Cleveland. Her awards include an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.

Learn More

Katie Passerotti (She/Her)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

Katie Passerotti is an educator by trade and an author by choice. She writes fantasy stories about fierce girls going on adventures to discover their truest selves and the found family that welcomes them. When Katie’s not writing, or fangirling over a favorite book or TV show, she’s exploring the woods with her Irish Wolfhound and looking for her own adventures.

Learn More

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

m.a.r.s. is a reader and writer of fantasy. She works in higher education by day and comes home at night to tales of crowns, magic, and inner direwolves. She is currently working on a series of short stories and learning to love the writing process again.

Mitchel Andrews (He/Him)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

Peyton Lohr (She/Her)

Mitchel Andrews is a prolific artist and adult literary horror author. As an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, he doesn’t shy away from giving a voice to the disturbing realities and flaws of human nature. When not writing, Mitchel can be found standing on the frontlines of protests advocating for queer rights, volunteering for local organizations, or perfecting his cupcake and buttercream recipes.

Peyton Lohr (She/Her)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

Peyton Lohr (She/Her)

Peyton Lohr is a freelance graphic designer and Pharmacy Technician from Columbus, Ohio. She received an Associates of Arts degree from Columbus State Community College, and is currently a student at The Ohio State University studying Social Work. She is a member of the media-credentialed Motorsports website Racing Refresh and in her free time she enjoys thrift shopping and painting.

Learn More

Rose Marry (She/Her)

Rose Marry graduated with an MFA specializing in fiction. Her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in several anthologies and literary magazines, including Straylight Magazine, Anomaly, and Laurel Review. When she’s not writing, she can be found drinking tea and trying to keep her horde of plants alive.

Learn More

RW Franklin (She/Her)

Rose Marry (She/Her)

RW Franklin lives in NEOhio with her incredibly supportive husband. Runner up in Lit Youngstown’s Short Short Fiction contest, her writing has appeared in Noctua Review, The Elevation Review, Jenny Magazine, and more. Since 2020, she’s enjoyed facilitating writing groups within her community.

Learn More

Samantha Ensminger (She/They)

Rose Marry (She/Her)

Samantha Ensminger (She/They)

Samantha Ensminger is a Marketing Manager at Trumbull County Tourism as well as a freelance editor and marketing manager. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English from Youngstown State University and has been heavily involved in event coordination and marketing within the Valley for years.

Learn More

Playlists

Carter's Top 25

Growing up in Seattle in the early 80’s and 90’s, Carter naturally became a fan of grunge music. His older sister, Nikki, would consistently have the mournful vocals of Eddie Vedder, Kurt Cobain, and Layne Staley playing from her bedroom. As he became an adult, the music stuck with him and became a foundation of their relationship

Delaney's 25 Influential Songs: and all of its stages

I began the early planning of my novel, "and all of its stages," smack dab during the 2020 pandemic. Carter reignited my love for writing and I’m lucky to have had a clear image of him since the beginning. A large portion of these songs helped inspire me to feel his pain, and to get a sense of not just he and his wife's relationship, but also just how heavy the weight of her loss was. “Hold On,” by Chord Overstreet was a song that immediately put me inside Carter’s grief as he looked over Vanessa’s dead body. The same can be said for “Last Kiss,” by Pearl Jam. Growing up in a house with my aunt, Kathie, and cousin, Peyton, introduced me to Eddie Vedder, but Carter and this book helped me truly feel the music.

Ask the Author

Did you always want to be a writer?

When I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” as a kid I usually responded with a variation of “a famous singer, who when she’s not touring, is a doctor/ painter/princess/ volunteer firefighter. Once I got into college and had to actually make a career decision, I had a similar mindset to my past self. Switching majors from education, to theater, law, nursing, fashion merchandising, and business, there was always a sort of uncertainty. It took the pandemic quarantine from my full-time management job to realize that as a writer, I can be all of the things I want to be. Through my characters I could paint masterpieces, or reign over a kingdom. I also could be not just a doctor, but a world class surgeon through Dr. Joseph Carter Andrews in my debut novel, and all of its stages. So while I might not have labeled myself as a writer for a long time, it was always inside of me, just waiting for the story to unfold.

What is your favorite book?

Favorite? Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Most impactful to my twelve-year-old self: Twilight—the first thing I ever wrote was basically fan fiction! Most eye opening and influential as an author? Pet Sematary by Stephen King.

Who or what influences your writing?

While he may not be an author, director Mike Flanagan's storytelling has made an everlasting impression on my work. His adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s Haunting of Hill House is an absolute masterpiece. The character’s are dynamic and their grief stuck with me for weeks after the show was over. Besides that, I pick up influences from all those I read. There’s a paragraph in my novel that’s clearly influenced by Dave Grohl in his memoir The Storyteller, another from Stephen King’s Firestarter, and another from my friend Mitchel Andrews. There’s inspiration everywhere, which I think is a wonderful thing.

Why do you only write about death and sad stuff?

Why not? To quote Vanessa in all of its stages, “What’s wrong with being sad? We all could use a little dose of melancholy once in a while, it makes you appreciate things more.” Like all of us in the world, I’ve experienced sadness and grief, and while I wish I could change things, I can’t—no matter how many OCD compulsions I do. But what I can do is write. Carter’s just one of the characters who has helped me put a voice to my grief. I love stories that stick with me and I love watching characters overcome pain and sadness—looking at you Loki—it makes them come to life.

Advice to fellow writers?

Don’t give up! Writing a book is hard! Poems? Hard. Short stories? Hard. Essays? Hard. But it’s worth it! Your story is worthy and just as important as classics like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird. So keep writing! Finding a writing community and friends who have become a support system and gained legitimate love for my characters has helped me more than I can express. Writing can seem so solitary, but when you are surrounded by other people who feel the same ups and downs, it’s all a lot less lonely.

Oh! And start calling yourself a writer…TODAY! I mean it!

OK, I’m a writer, where do I even begin to get my work out there?

The first website I discovered was Submittable but there are other great websites like Duotrope where I found Minds Eye Publication’s submission. There’s also a ton of great groups on Facebook I follow that post some great opportunities, that’s how I discovered Wicked Shadow Press.

Delaney L. Mathew

Delaney L. Mathew

About Delaney L. Mathew

Published Works

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

Aurora Sanguis

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

In the Name of the Father

I’ll Write to You When Winter Fades

Overnight at Sanctuary Square Shopping Center

Overnight at Sanctuary Square Shopping Center

Overnight at Sanctuary Square Shopping Center

Overnight at Sanctuary Square Shopping Center

The Haunting of Idora Park

Overnight at Sanctuary Square Shopping Center

The Haunting of Idora Park

Work In Progress

and all of its stages

Writing Community

Gretchen McCarthy (She/Her)

Katie Passerotti (She/Her)

Karen Schubert (She/Her)

Karen Schubert (She/Her)

Katie Passerotti (She/Her)

Karen Schubert (She/Her)

Katie Passerotti (She/Her)

Katie Passerotti (She/Her)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

Mitchel Andrews (He/Him)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

Peyton Lohr (She/Her)

Peyton Lohr (She/Her)

m.a.r.s. (She/Her)

Peyton Lohr (She/Her)

Rose Marry (She/Her)

Rose Marry (She/Her)

Rose Marry (She/Her)

RW Franklin (She/Her)

Rose Marry (She/Her)

Rose Marry (She/Her)

Samantha Ensminger (She/They)

Rose Marry (She/Her)

Samantha Ensminger (She/They)

Playlists

Carter's Top 25

Delaney's 25 Influential Songs: and all of its stages

Blog

Ask the Author

Contact

Delaney L. Mathew

For Questions and Inquiries

Social Media

Special Thanks

Thank you to Jacob at Zillinger Design Co for the logo design!

This website uses cookies.