Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match" where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It's our great pleasure to present Dana Elmendorf!
Writes:
Southern Gothic stories steeped in magical realism with a kiss of supernatural kiss. A tale where ghosts show up in the form of birds and the dead whisper secrets. A place so real you’d swear it’s real. Dark family pasts full of twists and turns.
About:
Born and raised in the South, my life was colored by Granny’s recipes, cicada songs and lightning bugs, and stories handed down in half-truths. I write about polite towns with rotting foundations. I like a little haunting in my fiction—ghosts, omens, buried secrets, and people trying their best to pretend everything’s fine. I’m drawn to stories where the weather feels like a character and the line between good and evil is murky as the Mississippi River. When I’m not writing, I’m probably outside under some tree that looks like it holds a secret, wondering if the birds know.
What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match:
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Drawn to Southern towns that look pretty on the outside but hide something rotten underneath
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Likes their mystery with a side of magic realism and a touch of eerie
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Can’t resist a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers vibe (yes, even if he might be the devil)
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Enjoys the lighter elements of horror—ghosts, omens, dark secrets—without buckets of gore and terror.
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Wants female characters with backbone and buried trauma
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Believes ghosts remember what small towns want to forget
What to expect if we’re compatible:
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Atmospheric Southern settings, that’ll seem like a character itself
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Lyrical writing that’ll sink in your bones
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Magic realism stitched with supernatural elements
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Twisty family secrets, some decades deep
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Characters you’ll swear you’ve met before
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A kiss of romance that will make you wish for more
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And more Southern Gothic stories coming soon—where magic simmers just under the surface, and the dead are never truly gone
A Southern Gothic Mystery Novel of Full of Sinister Secrets
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampiresmeets Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil in this twisty, fresh take on a Southern gothic that follows a mysterious, charming bachelor as he makes his way into a small town, bringing a plague and the devil with him, from GMA Buzz Pick author Dana Elmendorf.
Grave birds haunt the cemeteries of Hawthorne, South Carolina, where Spanish moss drips from the trees and Southern charm is imbued with lies. Hollis Sutherland never knew these unique birds existed, not until she died and was brought back to life. The ghostly birds are manifestations of the dead’s unfinished business, and they know Hollis and her uncanny gift can set them free.
When a mysterious, charming bachelor wanders into the small town, bizarre events begin to plague its wealthiest citizens—blood drips from dogwood blossoms, flocks of birds crash into houses, fire tornadoes descend from the sky. Hollis knows these are the omens her grandfather warned about, announcing the devil’s return. But despite Cain Landry’s eerie presence and the plague that has followed him, his handsome face and wicked charm win over the townsfolk. Even Hollis falls under his spell as they grow closer.
That is, until lies about the town’s past start to surface. The grave birds begin to show Hollis the dead’s ugly deeds from some twenty-five years ago and the horrible things some people did to gain their wealth. Hollis can’t decide if Cain is some immortal hand of God, there to expose their sins. Or if he’s a devil there to ruin them all. Either way, she’s determined to save her town and the people in it, whatever it takes.
Fantasy [Mira Books, On Sale: July 1, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780778387473 / eISBN: 9780369762689]
Born and raised in small town in Tennessee, Dana now lives in Southern California with her family. After four years of college, she wrote a book.
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