In this special Halloween edition of From the Author’s Desk, Miles Beyond the Page host and author Michelle Miles trades the usual conversation for a story—a spooky warning tale from the world of her Enchanted Realms books.

By the fire, Aunt Hilde tells Marigold about an old rule in East Hallow: if a blue lantern appears in the forest after midnight, don’t follow it—and whatever you do, don’t answer when it calls your name.

Seventeen-year-old Sofia knows the warning. But grief has a way of making us listen to things we shouldn’t. When the mysterious lantern calls to her in the voice of her dead brother, Thomas, Sofia follows it deep into the woods and toward a ruined cottage. There, she discovers that the thing waiting for her isn’t her brother at all—and that some creatures know exactly how to use our deepest longing against us.

To escape, Sofia must do something far more difficult than running: she has to let go.

Michelle closes the episode with a look at why fairy tales and folklore make such powerful vessels for fear, grief, temptation, and the things we’re afraid to face. Because sometimes magic doesn’t hide the truth. Sometimes it makes the truth impossible to ignore.

🎧 Turn down the lights, settle in, and join Michelle for The Blue Lantern—a haunting little tale about grief, longing, letting go, and why you should never follow strange lights into the woods.

🎃 Happy Halloween from Miles Beyond the Page! Don’t forget to subscribe for more author interviews, creative conversations, and stories From the Author’s Desk.

In this special episode of Miles Beyond the Page, author and host Michelle Miles goes behind the scenes of Fall of the Forsaken with a collection of bonus author commentaries exploring the themes, relationships, and emotional choices beneath the second book in the War of the Brotherhood trilogy.

Michelle shares why this story continues to focus not simply on surviving trauma, but on what comes afterward. She explores Anna’s fight to reclaim herself, the Brotherhood’s obsession with ownership and identity, and the increasingly complicated line between protecting someone you love and trying to control the choices they make.

The commentaries also delve into the relationships at the emotional heart of the story: Anna and Kincade’s hard-won, lived-in love; Daphne and Ophelia’s fierce sisterhood as an act of survival and defiance; and the slow-burning chemistry between Ophelia and Ludwig, where attention, observation, and the things left unsaid begin to matter.

Michelle also explores why Walker Manor has become far more than a setting. It’s a fortress against the Brotherhood, but it’s also an emotional home built through found family, shared meals, ordinary rituals, and the choice to keep showing up for one another. Even as danger closes in, a thread of holiday warmth offers moments of light against the growing dread.

🎧 Join Michelle for an intimate look behind Fall of the Forsaken and discover the themes, relationships, and emotional layers woven beneath the battle against the Brotherhood.

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe for more author interviews, writing conversations, and special behind-the-book episodes on Miles Beyond the Page!

ABOUT MICHELLE:

Michelle Miles is an award-winning author crafting fantasy, paranormal, and young adult adventures where magic crackles, danger prowls, and love refuses to back down. Her stories brim with fierce heroines, unforgettable heroes, and the kind of heart-punch romance that makes happily-ever-after feel hard-won and utterly inevitable. From fairy-tale retellings to angels and demons to Fae, elves, and time travelers, Michelle builds big-hearted worlds full of quests, curses, kisses, and chaos—often in that order.

WHERE TO FIND HER:

Website and Blog | Newsletter Sign-Up | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube

WHERE TO FIND FALL OF THE FORSAKEN:

Direct | All Other Retailers

In this spooky-season episode of Miles Beyond the Page, host Michelle Miles welcomes horror author Alex Grass for a wonderfully strange conversation about weird horror, dark humor, cursed objects, grotesque transformations, and the bizarre ideas that make readers laugh one minute and squirm the next.

Alex shares the stories behind his collection Infernal Tramps, which ranges from quick, unsettling vignettes to longer novelettes filled with strange premises and unexpected consequences. He explains the very literal origin of the collection’s memorable title and discusses why consequence is such an important ingredient in compelling horror.

Michelle and Alex also dive into where horror ideas come from—and sometimes the answer is simply everywhere. Alex shares how inspiration can strike almost instantly, from an encounter with a pigeon to a Philadelphia story involving a spiked dog collar, blood, and gold. They also explore how editing can transform an initial idea, including when a story needs to be expanded beyond its original form.

The conversation turns to the craft of making written horror genuinely frightening without the visual and auditory tools available to film, why the short-story format works so well for horror, and how memory itself can become unsettling through a story involving a seemingly vanished video game. Alex also discusses the natural overlap between comedy and horror, including the darkly funny story “Odd Egg.”

🎧 Join Michelle and Alex for a delightfully weird Spooky Season conversation about bizarre horror, dark humor, cursed ideas, unsettling memories, and why sometimes the strangest stories are the ones that stick with us.

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe for more author interviews and creative conversations on Miles Beyond the Page!

ABOUT ALEX GRASS:

Alex Grass is an independent horror author born and raised in Pennsylvania and now living in Brooklyn with his wife and three kids. His 2022 novel A Boy’s Hammer was nominated for the Kirkus Prize. Alex’s short stories have appeared in Maudlin House, The Genre Society, Trembling With Fear, and many other places besides.

WHERE TO FIND HIM:

Website | Instagram

WHERE TO BUY HIS BOOKS:

Amazon