Kathryn Healy

@khealy.bsky.social

1223 Followers 548 Following

horror author, narrative designer, weird doll collector, goth club haunter (she/her) kathrynhealy.com

A screenshot from Palia, where the player character is standing so close to Jel that their models have clipped into one another.
A fluffy tuxedo cat, blurry from moving mid photo taking. He’s standing on the couch and being petted by a skeleton hand.
A kitten tilting its head and winking, with the wink emoji below it
SATURDARK - Candle She climbed the stairs and entered her bedroom. Her bed was made, as if nothing had ever happened. The elusive maid must have come by while Koharu had been at dinner. Koharu changed, washed her face, and climbed into bed, relieved that it was both comfortable and empty of any unwanted men. She made the decision not to snuff out the candle at her bedside, though she felt very childish for indulging her sudden fear of the dark. Rolling over so that she wouldn’t have to look at the face in the locked door, Koharu nestled into the bedclothes and dropped into a deep sleep.
A black T-Shirt that reads “I Love Nosferatu.” In the middle of the shirt is an illustration of Nosferatu sitting in an electric chair. He is smiling, wearing a party hat, and holding a giant lollypop in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other.
A brown wedge-shaped doorstop with a white tassel and black hook tied to it. It kinda sorta looks like Pyramid Head if you’re moving quickly and inclined to see him in random places.
An “I voted” sticker stuck on a leather jacket
An old theatre intermission card from the Edwardian era. It features a woman bursting through the face of a clock and waving at the viewer. Text below the clock reads “Intermission of One Minute to Change Pictures.” The whole image is in black and white, and an ornate frame surrounds it.
A list of Victorian Gothic novels reads: Modern Standouts - Fyneshade by Kate Griffin - The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden - Affinity by Sarah Waters - The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater - The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling - anything Laura Purcell has ever written My Two Favorite Classics - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
A woman in a white wedding gown and veil. The gown has a splash of blood on the chest, and the woman is wearing ghostly makeup. She’s sitting in a chair with her hands folded, and is looking off to the side at something out of frame. (It was my friend’s cat)
The green and gold cover of “Beyond and Within: Folk Horror” held up in front of a bookshelf.
A long-haired woman in a red dress sits on a chair, smiling as she reads from a stack of paper. She has a run in her stockings that doesn’t look as intentional as she promises it was.
Annie, a dilute tortie cat, and Kafka, a longhair tuxedo cat, curled up together on a green couch.
Antoinette, a very small and very round dilute tortie cat. She is all bunched up in preparation to jump onto the back of the couch, and then to look offended when I yell at her to stop scratching it even though I yell at her to stop every single time she does it.
A photo taken inside the prison at Oxford Castle. It shows a mostly empty room with a few stone arches and candles. On the right side of the frame you can see the white, wispy silhouette of an old-fashioned gown. It’s both terrifying and quite fetching.
A hallway in an abandoned school in Pripyat. The windows are all wide open, the paint is peeling, and the floor is scattered with debris.
A photo taken inside the prison at Oxford Castle. It shows a mostly empty room with a few stone arches and candles. On the right side of the frame you can see the white, wispy silhouette of an old-fashioned gown. It’s both terrifying and quite fetching.
An e-reader case meant to look like a hardback copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It’s a dark green book with a faux-fabric texture reminiscent of antique binding. The classic illustration of Alice shying away from a wave of playing cards is bordered by the book’s title in loopy black script.
A photo by Scott LePage of an old gas station in the country. The side of the building has an old-fashioned Pepsi-Cola advertisement painted onto the side. It reads "Red Lyon: Join the swing to Pepsi-Cola. Bigger, Better. 5 Cents." The building looks weathered, and the sky behind it is cloudy and grey.
Screenshot of a Pinterest board titles “Book Launch Outfits.” There are four different images of runway models wearing eclectic gothic-inspired outfits.
The cover for “Spectacular, Spectacular: An Anthology of Circensian Horror” by The Dionysian Public Library. It’s a collage of scraps of paper forming an acrobat swinging on a trapeze. A spooky red and black vintage-style frame borders the collage.
Kafka, a long-haired tuxedo cat laying upside down on a blanket. He’s looking up at the camera with a very pleased expression. His tongue is sticking out.
A text thread between two people, OP and her mother: Mom: I posted on FB about the book so you are getting lost of impressed people OP: heheheheheh OP: they’re like “i didnt know she was being for real” Mom: Right Mom: You can be not normie and still survive successfully! OP reacted to the last message with a heart
A wooden side table with three legs carved into the shape of dragonflies. The tabletop is shaped like a flower and has a marquetry dragonfly across it, but you can’t tell because it’s covered entirely by a fluffy tuxedo cat. Behind the cat is the head of another, smaller cat, peering up over the edge of the table. There’s also a couch in the background with far too many black coats tossed lazily onto it.
A copy of of Crystal J. Bell’s horror novel, “The Lamplighter,” sitting on the music stand of an organ. The cover of the book features a young woman holding a lamp and surrounded by tree roots with skeletons entangled in them. Behind her are the masts of a few sailing ships, barely visible through the fog.
A woman with long brown hair wearing black makeup, black antlers, and a black evening gown. She has her hands up in a silly “monster” pose.
A frame from the NBC Hannibal TV show. An all-black skeletal figure with stag antlers looms above the camera.
Leah Lane from Rosegarden Funeral Party singing into a mic and playing a red guitar.
Three Books: “Posthaste Manor” by Jolie Toomajan and Carson Winter, “One Hand to Hold One Hand to Carve” by M. Shaw, and “His Unburned Heart” by David Sandner
A highly stylized black and white illustration of a woman spraying herself with perfume. She has light colored hair in an updo and is wearing a black dress with white ruffles. The background is gray with a white birdcage in the negative space.
A green and gold book sitting on the music stand of a wooden organ. The book is a short story anthology titled “Beyond and Within: Folk Horror”
A sleeping longhair tuxedo cat laying sideways on a towel, his tongue just barely sticking out
The left half of a spread of zines, featuring “Teenage Trash Party” by Marteani, “Here’s the Thing” and “Great Red Dragon” by Jacob Yeates, and “Pocket Cemetery” and “A is for Arsenic” by Landis Blair.
Tarman from The Return of the Living Dead, a delightfully disgusting zombie with a winning smile. He’s covered in goop, with one elbow resting casually on the wall and the other hand on his hip.
A woman in a black dress standing in front of a hedge
A screenshot from the Libby app, featuring the audiobook of “A Haunting on the Hill” by Elizabeth Hand
A dilute tortie cat stretched out across a bed
The cover art for “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” which looks like a weathered black book with a silver dragon crest on the front.
The cover art for “No More Little Match Girl,” featuring a sepia-toned stack of Christmas cards. The one in the center depicts a little girl in a tattered dress carrying a box of matches and a snowy umbrella.
A well-worn copy of the collected Gormenghast novels by Mervyn Peake. It has multiple sticky tabs marking pages and has been chomped on by a cat.
Kathryn, a woman with long brown hair and wearing a black dress sitting on a throne.
Tar Man from Return of the Living Dead standing casually against the wall. He looks confident and encouraging.
A purple pie graph with four wedges, showing a breakdown of story submission stats. The largest wedge says “Pending: 7,” the second largest wedge says “Accepted: 5,” the second smallest wedge says “Form Rejections: 4,” and the smallest wedge says, “Personal Rejections: 2.”
A moodboard for “Seeking Melanoma,” in a muted color scheme featuring abandoned buildings, overgrown gardens, and a woman in a speakeasy.
A moodboard for “Veilshatter” in a dark color scheme, featuring ghostly women, a haunted house, and lit candles.
A moodboard for “Spirit of the Goddess” in a muted pastel color scheme and featuring images of books, teacups, and women in elaborate, whimsically fanciful ensembles.
A girl smiling as she presses the “Immanentize” on a machine called the “Eschatron 9000.”
A black and white photo of the front of Hill House from the 1963 film, “The Haunting.”
six mice cookies with eyes and noses from m&ms and ears from peanuts
An ornate white frame surrounding info on a short story: Atomograd. It reads, “A Day in the Life of the Last Remaining Citizen of the Last Remaining Town… As Far as He’s Concerned.” Below that, “Elegant Literature Magazine Issue #021”. It features a photo of a drained swimming pool in an abandoned building.
“‘Thank you, Koharu. You’re…’ Elliot trailed off, and Koharu looked up. His mouth hung open slightly, and he seemed to be staring at something behind her. Koharu tensed, picturing the funnel cloud apparition from earlier swirling just behind her chair, but Elliot soon readjusted his gaze and gave Koharu a smile. ‘You’re a Godsend.’ Cautiously, Koharu smiled back at the man, and they both turned their attention to the food in front of them. Dinner continued in silence, and not a sound came from the rest of the house.”
“The hearse approaching her now was elaborate and imposing, almost tacky in its carved scrollwork and black drapery. As the carriage passed her, Koharu instinctively tucked her thumbs into her palms — an old superstition she’d never been able to shake. ‘Hide your thumbs when the hearse goes by, or your parents will be the next to die.’ She had failed in this simple task once, and her father had died soon after. ‘That’s two ways I killed him.’ Koharu squeezed her palms around her thumbs, watching the coffin glide past her, and thought of her mother.”
The cover of “December Tales II” a ghost story anthology from Curious Blue Press. The cover is red and features an image of a bird perched on top of a skull, with a crescent moon above it. The names of the contributing authors are listed below the image.
The header from an article on Victorian childbirth that reads “Chapter Two: Get Out” and an illustration of different models of forceps used in the era.
A fortune cookie slip reading, “Your original ideas will get you well deserved recognition.”
A collage of eights photos in a muted pink, white, and green color palette. The pictures feature antique books, teacups, jewelry, and women in 18th century gowns and dark, moody makeup.