On today’s episode we get to chat with Deirdre Swinden, a dark fiction author with a penchant for ghost stories. After twenty+ years as a leader in corporate communications, Dee took a leap of faith and set out to build her creative writing skills. She dove into the realms of sci-fi, horror and speculative fiction during her MFA. Her thesis novel, Somnium, offers readers a blend of psychological horror and high-tech science fiction via a fast-paced nightmare journey where dreams can kill. It’s a novel that explores the shadowy boundaries of fear and technology and is sure to thrill fans of cutting-edge psychological thrillers and high-stakes survival horror. But it is also a journey through the darkest corridors of the human psyche and the lingering effects of emotional and psychological abuse.

After extracting herself from an emotionally abusive marriage, Deirdre is now looking to give a voice to those who suffer verbal and emotional abuse in silence. She has chosen dark fiction as a means to explore that horror and the myriad beliefs and situations that can lead a woman to surrender her voice. She hopes that by exploring her own trauma via fiction, her readers will unearth the courage to rise and rediscover their own voices—as she has rediscovered hers.

You can learn more about her on her website www.deirdreswinden.com and follow her on Instagram @dswinden531

Support your local bookstore & this podcast by getting your copy of Somnium from Crystal Lake Publishing at Bookshop.org.

A little about today's host-

Kristi Leonard is a writer, community builder, and former president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Since co-hosting on the Author Express Podcast, she has started her own podcast, Pop Culture Plot Lab, where guest authors to turn viral pop culture moments into story sparks and give listeners a peek inside the creative process. Through her writing retreats and volunteer leadership, she’s dedicated to helping other writers find their voice and stay connected to the craft.

A former audiobook narrator, Kristi now spends most of her creative energy on her own fiction and on shaping programs that support women’s voices in publishing. When she isn’t writing or leading, she’s likely hiking Florida trails with her writer-hiker pals or reading with her Golden Retriever, Charlie, at her side. She’s currently at work on her next novel and building the kind of author career she’s long championed for others.

Link to follow me https://linktr.ee/kristileonardwrites

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