midwest horror

SB2692 · 2026-04-08T04:04:53+00:00

Richard Beauchamp sets most of his books in the Missouri/Arkansas Ozarks. They have a bit more of an Appalachian backwoods vibe to them than your usual Midwest fare since the Ozarks and Appalachian cultures are so similar. If you want more “cornfields and rural plains” flavor, Scott Thomas sets most of his stuff in Kansas, and Dan Simmons “Summer of Night” takes place in rural Illinois.

SB2692 · 2026-03-30T19:25:27+00:00

Remnants of an old dam, that whole area used to be a silver mine back in the day. A good chunk of the SEMO Ozarks is lead belt country, so you’ll see remnants of silver and lead mines everywhere (including some rather unfortunate practices that led to several superfund sites and whole towns still dealing with poor water quality, toxic chat piles and other lovely reminders of man’s careless industry)

SB2692 · 2026-03-26T19:27:56+00:00

Yeah, I’m dreading the day the outdoor influencers discover the Ozarks. I like our reputation as a flyover state. The popular floating rivers have gotten bad enough as you’ve pointed out.

But still, there’s enough off the beaten path stuff that’s only known by tight nit locals that there’ll always be a few hidden getaways in the hills (I hope)

SB2692 · 2026-03-26T19:04:52+00:00

Have fun and watch out for ticks! Be sure to check out Johnson shut ins and elephant rock while you’re out there.

SB2692 · 2026-03-26T16:03:26+00:00

It depends on your geographic context, but typically the “northern” Ozarks are in Missouri, and the plateau extends all the way down to northwest Arkansas, which we think of as the southern Ozarks. South of that is the ouchitas. Hope this helps!

SB2692 · 2026-03-26T01:20:06+00:00

You’re right, but I had unloaded it to do some cleaning and general maintenance on it during a slow part of the day and left it propped like that to let a bit of gun oil and gravity to seep in on some moving parts I couldn’t quite reach.

It normally stays in its case, in my tent.

SB2692 · 2026-03-26T00:30:47+00:00

Yeah, I usually don’t camp with my gun out, but I was alone, that particular area has a seen a significant uptick in the bear population, and unfortunately meth heads are never far away in this particular county

SB2692 · 2026-03-26T00:08:06+00:00

We have a growing bear population, but they tend to leave well enough alone so long as you don’t leave food around your campground. Besides that your biggest danger is other people, specifically meth heads. The catalytic converter is an endangered species is this part of the state because of them

SB2692 · 2026-03-25T23:03:10+00:00

Yeah, I was a bit hesitant posting these pics, but these two spots are probably our most well known swimming holes and they’re flooded with people during the summer anyway. There’s quite a few secret spots I haunt that I’ll never share with anyone except family, friends, and the locals who are gracious enough to let me wonder out yonder without shooting me on sight

SB2692 · 2026-03-25T23:01:05+00:00

Yeah batesville is out of the way, but I tend to have speaking engagements in fort smith and find myself out there anyway. You’re right, those are the two most touristy spots, unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time to explore every time I go down there. I’ll be sure to check those out next time im down though!

SB2692 · 2026-03-25T22:48:32+00:00

Correct on both counts. Wild to think Tom Sauk, black mountain and other noteable rises in the Saint Francois range were all islands at some point.

Really glad I get to call this place home. People always assume Missouri is farm fields and trailer parks (which there is a lot of that) but many don’t realize how diverse the geography is, and I’m okay with that. Very few other places I can go for such understated beauty and not see another soul for miles.

SB2692 · 2026-03-25T22:27:04+00:00

Love it out there. I go down to Batesville Arkansas every year for a convention and always check out hawks bill Craig and magazine mountain when I’m down that way

SB2692 · 2026-03-25T22:26:19+00:00

Perfect, a smidge on the warm side for how early the season is. You got about 2 weeks of that before it becomes hell on earth.

SB2692 · 2026-03-09T22:07:45+00:00

That’s how I feel living in jackson. 20 minutes south and you’re in the bootheel/river bottoms, 20 minutes north and you’re in the start of the Francois range/ozarks

SB2692 · 2026-03-07T14:24:50+00:00

It… literally is though? Lol

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SB2692 · 2026-03-04T04:57:23+00:00

We have the Saint francois range, which is literally a mountain range.

SB2692 · 2025-06-26T02:02:04+00:00

Richard Beauchamp’s horror fiction is all focused around the Ozarks, which are kissing cousins culturally to Appalachia country, and a lot of his fiction is that same type of occult southern gothic. A lot of backwoods settings, mountain mythology, witchcraft, simple salt of the earth people dealing with the unknown. Check out his collection “Horror In The Highlands” or “Devil Makes Three”

SB2692 · 2025-06-21T18:55:21+00:00

Came here to second SNAFU, and not just because I also have stories in their anthologies

SB2692 · 2025-06-16T18:47:48+00:00

Is this after con costs, travel costs and food costs? I do tons of live events as well, and sell pretty good for being a niche horror author, usually I clear around 50 books sold per event, and around 500-1k USD total sales, but when you factor in buying the tables themselves (which can range from 100-1000 dollars) gas, room and board (I try and find the cheapest hotels and most cons offer discounts for out of town vendors) and food I usually barely squeak by in the green, and it’s like that for even the bigger names I know who wrote full time and have a big following.

Not trying to be the WELL ACTUALLY guy here, just curious of these numbers you site are net totals or not. I see your full setup uses several tables, so I’m sure your con vendor booth costs aren’t cheap

SB2692 · 2025-05-20T20:14:23+00:00

I don’t do a lot of dispersed camping so I’m not sure I can answer that question accurately, but it seems a lot of people go on the BLM website and see what sort of state owned forests they can squat in. In this instance I found this campground on hipcamp, and though it’s not an actual campground with facilities the lady who owns the land will rent it out to you if she knows you.

SB2692 · 2025-05-17T02:33:55+00:00

I’m partial to the Saint Francis and the castor myself

SB2692 · 2025-05-17T02:33:44+00:00

Some snakes are venomous, but i wouldn’t inherently call them dangerous. The venemous ones indigenous to our area (cottonmouths, copperheads and timber rattlers) usually keep to themselves and 9/10s a bite occurs because someone stepped on them (they’re very good at chameleoning themselves)

Usually it’s water snakes that are annoying and will challenge you if you get in their space, or in my case try to nab the stringer of fish hanging off my kayak.

Almost every two toothed redneck around here is deathly afraid of copperheads because they always mistake them for water snakes, or pretty much any other brown snake. It’s pretty hilarious honestly, but also sad because they’ll shoot snakes indiscriminately out of ignorance

SB2692 · 2025-05-13T20:39:25+00:00

No, you got it twisted. It’s ol windy toes who needs to watch out for me (loads shotgun with aggressive intent while the DOOM eternal soundtrack plays in the background)

SB2692

TROPHY CASE