Shane Toogood and Kris Fosset seem like two normal, nice and respectable looking young people- no one would know that they peddle some of the darkest horror fiction on the net.
Shane Toogood and Kris Fosset, creators of the E-zine Tainted Tea. (Photo provided by Tainted Tea) The E-zine Tainted Tea was started in March 2009 by Toogod and Fosset, and has since received submissions from other authors of the macabre from all corners of the United States.
They started this publication because when they started submitting their work to professional sources they were hearing a lot of no’s.
“In my ... journalism career I was always at the bottom of the barrel” said Fosset “was either an intern or I was like the ‘new writer’ and always got all the s*#t stories.”
Creating Tainted Tea was a way for them to write what they are best at, and be their own bosses.
Both Fosset and Toogood are Delaware County College Alumni, as well as former executive editors of The Communitarian.
“I loved being editor here” said Toogood. He also said that being in charge of tainted tea is reminiscent of the communitarian- only with more responsibilities.
Journalism at DCCC gave Fosset a good foundation for when she transferred. She had an advantage over her new peers who didn’t have clippings [stories] and didn’t know the first thing about writing for a newspaper. Both Toogood and Fosset have had experiences with the paranormal, and have developed a keen fascination with the morbid, gory, and macabre.
“I just like being scared out of my mind” Fosset said. She also thinks that the pace of horror writing is a lot like news writing.
Toogood talked about his early love for the genre through the Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine. “They’re not that good... [but] they have a special place in my heart.”
The Magazine features different works of short horror fiction. They also have a blog of the same name on which they post reviews, short videos, and some featured stories. The site is designed to encourage “authors and readers to interact,” with writing prompts and other fun horror-themed activities.
There is a broad spectrum of different horror stories in the magazine, involving vampires, monsters, and serial killers. “we have a lot of psychopaths in this issue” Said Fosset. “ We’re open [to all ideas], except for Twilight.”
Submissions have come from all around the U.S. and Canada. They eventually want to compensate their writers for their work, but in the early days as a non-profit publication it is difficult to do so. For now they charge a low fee of $1.24 that goes to the cost of creating the magazine.
Fosset and Toogood have high hopes for Tainted Tea and its part in the horror writing community. With both of them being passionate and seasoned writers and editors, their path will most likely be a fortuitous one.
You can read Tainted tea’s blog and purchase a copy of the magazine at http://taintedtea.blogspot.com/. Anyone interested in submitting a story can check out the submission guidelines on the site, and contact Shane Toogood and Kris Fosset at TaintedTea.Editors@gmail.com.
Contact Katy O’Dwyer at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
