ABout

Rachel Horak Dempsey is a writer and editor of all things dark. Her debut novella, a retelling of Pinocchio with a terrifying techno twist, is forthcoming from M4L Publishing in summer of 2026. Her short fiction has appeared on Creepy Pod and in anthologies by Brigids Gate Press, Timber Ghost Press, Twenty Bellows and more. She is the winner of the Colorado Gold Literary Award, the Denver Women’s Press Club’s Emerging Writer Award, and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2024. Prior to moving back west, Rachel worked for several professional theater organizations in the D.C. area, including Studio Theatre, Imagination Stage, and ArtStream, where she performed, wrote and directed over a dozen musicals. She currently serves on the Executive Board of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and appears regularly on the Writers Who Read podcast as a guest host. Rachel holds a BFA in Drama and English from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, a Master’s in Journalism from Georgetown University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Regis University in Denver where she lives with her family.