Hi, I’m RATH MERCURY. I write horror, fantasy, romance, and science fiction, always queer.
I’ve published in Reckoning, Small Wonders, Stance on Dance, DASH Literary Journal, Jersey Devil Press, and others. I’m a member of Codex and SFWA, and a first reader for Apex and Reckoning.
I’ve also worked as a choreographer, marketing consultant, web dev, open source leader, arts administrator, public speaker, and more. It’s been busy.
I live in New Mexico. When not writing, I play tabletop games, struggle with classical guitar and the Highland pipes, and stare at nature.
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Free to read: “Herkimer Inquiries”, Reckoning Magazine
My latest story, “Herkimer Inquiries” is now free to read on Reckoning Magazine. I’m quite proud of this one–it feels to me like the magical alignment of all kinds of bits and bobs in my psyche. I’m noodling on my next Max Herkimer story. My methods included talking to strangers, whether human, bird, tree, or…
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Find me at StokerCon 2026
Friends, I’ll be at StokerCon 2026, in Pittsburgh, PA. It’s my first time at StokerCon, and my first time in Pennsylvania, and I cannot wait. I’ve got a few appearances on the schedule: We’ve Always Been Here: Transgender Imagery and Characters Throughout Horror History (Sunday, June 7, 10 am) Transgender imagery and gender nonconformity have…
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New Poem: “tell us about doubt”
I’m delighted to have a poem out today in Small Wonders, issue 33. Free to read! It’s an erasure (a double erasure, if such a thing exists) — I took an existing article about the beginnings of the universe and erased two poems out of it, to create this one unified poem object thingy. A…