Kat Davis Author & Literary Critic
Praise for "In a Dark Mirror"
Kat's Recent Work
In a Dark Mirror
A decade-old crime unites its devoted fans in a haunting novel about delusions in the dark and the dangerous games children play.
Twelve-year-old Maddie Thompson and her friend Lana share a love of horror stories and wild imaginings. But Lana insists they are too old for pretending. It’s time for a different game: serving Him, a figure she sees lurking in the dark, mysterious and demanding. According to Lana, she and Maddie must obey Him or else suffer the consequences. Maddie doesn’t want to lose her most important friendship, even if it means luring an innocent girl into the woods—as a sacrifice for Him.
Ten years later, Maddie is released from an institution and must reintegrate into society for the first time as an adult. While finding her first job and forming new friendships, Maddie struggles to determine what it means to forgive—or to trust—herself. Particularly when she discovers an online community that is not only eerily obsessed with her but committed to the cult of Him.
This is Maddie’s chance at absolution—to convince them not to follow in her violent footsteps. But the loyal devotees have a pull. And Maddie knows that these games often have deadly consequences.
Flash Fiction: "Scenes from the Life of Julia Pastrana, the Ugliest Woman in the World"
Oslo 1976
Karl unwinds the rusted chain from the knob with a muffled clank. A flicker of light catches his eye and he turns to see Jonas, lit cigarette in his mouth, twitching from foot to foot.
Leif hisses at Jonas to put it out, and Jonas shrugs, takes a long drag, and tosses the cigarette down at his feet, smearing it against the pavement. Karl gives him a look, eyes widened, mouth drawn into an exaggerated frown. All at once, hilarity threatens to overcome them and all three sway, stifling their laughter..."
About the Author
Kat Davis has an MFA in fiction from Washington University in Saint Louis and currently resides in the Boston area. Her fiction has been published in Wigleaf, Juked, Cosmonauts Avenue, New Orleans Review, and Monkeybicycle. Her work has also appeared on the longlist for Wigleaf’s Top 50, and her essays and literary criticism have been featured in the Chicago Review of Books and on the Ploughshares blog. Kat’s most recent piece of flash fiction, “The Babysitter,” was selected as a finalist for the Mythic Picnic Prize for Fiction and appears in The Best Small Fictions 2022.
