Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
Bram Stoker Award & Int’l Latino Book Award winning author| VANISHING DAUGHTERS, Thomas & Mercer| GHOSTS OF WHERE WE ARE FROM, Atria/Primero Sueño| LOTERÍA & CHICAGO SAGA, Hachette| School of the Art Institute MFAW, PhD English candidate | Rep-Lane Heymont
Pinned
Cynthia Pelayo blends horror and Chicago history in ‘Vanishing Daughters’ — including legend of Resurrection Mary
Cynthia Pelayo just wrote a novel weaving together a serial killer, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, a plane crash at O’Hare, Chet’s Melody Lounge in Justice and Resurrection Mary.
www.chicagotribune.com
“Pelayo’s horror novels do not read like a lot of horror novels…They read less like contemporary horror than Gothic thrillers relocated to a 21st-century Midwest, layering in detective fiction, melodrama…”
Reposting as I accidentally deleted my pinned post.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/08/c...
Reposting as I accidentally deleted my pinned post.
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/08/c...
Forever obsessed with the Portuguese version of Into the Forest and All the Way Through, a collection of true crime poetry.
Available from Dark Side Books in Brazil - www.darksidebooks.com.br
Available from Dark Side Books in Brazil - www.darksidebooks.com.br
November 26, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Forever obsessed with the Portuguese version of Into the Forest and All the Way Through, a collection of true crime poetry.
Available from Dark Side Books in Brazil - www.darksidebooks.com.br
Available from Dark Side Books in Brazil - www.darksidebooks.com.br
Reposted by Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo
Start building your 2026 #horrorbook TBR today!
@claymcleod.bsky.social
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
@amyjanestewart.bsky.social
@camillabruce.bsky.social
@kimboyoung.bsky.social
@ronaldmalfi.bsky.social
@davidbarnettuk.bsky.social
@claymcleod.bsky.social
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
@amyjanestewart.bsky.social
@camillabruce.bsky.social
@kimboyoung.bsky.social
@ronaldmalfi.bsky.social
@davidbarnettuk.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Great horror holiday shopping list guide below, including all things Ross Jeffery!
🎁🖤
🎁🖤
Horror authors you should be following:
@davebjeffery.bsky.social
@alanbaxter.bsky.social
@zacharyashford.bsky.social
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
@timlebbon.bsky.social
@laurelhightower.bsky.social
@timmcgregor.bsky.social
@cgolden.bsky.social
@kevharrison.bsky.social
Buy a book, leave a review!
@davebjeffery.bsky.social
@alanbaxter.bsky.social
@zacharyashford.bsky.social
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
@timlebbon.bsky.social
@laurelhightower.bsky.social
@timmcgregor.bsky.social
@cgolden.bsky.social
@kevharrison.bsky.social
Buy a book, leave a review!
Clown It GIF
ALT: Clown It GIF
media.tenor.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Great horror holiday shopping list guide below, including all things Ross Jeffery!
🎁🖤
🎁🖤
Reposted by Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo
Horror authors you should be following:
@davebjeffery.bsky.social
@alanbaxter.bsky.social
@zacharyashford.bsky.social
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
@timlebbon.bsky.social
@laurelhightower.bsky.social
@timmcgregor.bsky.social
@cgolden.bsky.social
@kevharrison.bsky.social
Buy a book, leave a review!
@davebjeffery.bsky.social
@alanbaxter.bsky.social
@zacharyashford.bsky.social
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
@timlebbon.bsky.social
@laurelhightower.bsky.social
@timmcgregor.bsky.social
@cgolden.bsky.social
@kevharrison.bsky.social
Buy a book, leave a review!
Clown It GIF
ALT: Clown It GIF
media.tenor.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Horror authors you should be following:
@davebjeffery.bsky.social
@alanbaxter.bsky.social
@zacharyashford.bsky.social
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
@timlebbon.bsky.social
@laurelhightower.bsky.social
@timmcgregor.bsky.social
@cgolden.bsky.social
@kevharrison.bsky.social
Buy a book, leave a review!
@davebjeffery.bsky.social
@alanbaxter.bsky.social
@zacharyashford.bsky.social
@cynthiapelayo.bsky.social
@timlebbon.bsky.social
@laurelhightower.bsky.social
@timmcgregor.bsky.social
@cgolden.bsky.social
@kevharrison.bsky.social
Buy a book, leave a review!
This is your reminder that if you live in #Chicago we have a free bookstore. YES, free bookstore. You can get free books here.
I donate all of my books here. So, they generally have a solid horror section because I keep them well-stocked.
www.books4cause.com/free-booksto...
I donate all of my books here. So, they generally have a solid horror section because I keep them well-stocked.
www.books4cause.com/free-booksto...
Books4Free - Free Book Exchange in Skokie - Books4Cause - Chicago
All of the books in our Free Bookstore are free for you to take and read. These books have been donated and we are passing them on for the love of reading.
www.books4cause.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
This is your reminder that if you live in #Chicago we have a free bookstore. YES, free bookstore. You can get free books here.
I donate all of my books here. So, they generally have a solid horror section because I keep them well-stocked.
www.books4cause.com/free-booksto...
I donate all of my books here. So, they generally have a solid horror section because I keep them well-stocked.
www.books4cause.com/free-booksto...
Day 113
Read books.
All sorts of books. Old books. New books. Big books. Little books. Indie books. Adventure books. Memoirs. History. Funny. Silly. Happy. Philosophical.
You'll take pieces of all of these into what you write.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Read books.
All sorts of books. Old books. New books. Big books. Little books. Indie books. Adventure books. Memoirs. History. Funny. Silly. Happy. Philosophical.
You'll take pieces of all of these into what you write.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
November 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Day 113
Read books.
All sorts of books. Old books. New books. Big books. Little books. Indie books. Adventure books. Memoirs. History. Funny. Silly. Happy. Philosophical.
You'll take pieces of all of these into what you write.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Read books.
All sorts of books. Old books. New books. Big books. Little books. Indie books. Adventure books. Memoirs. History. Funny. Silly. Happy. Philosophical.
You'll take pieces of all of these into what you write.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Day 112
Identity selection means you get to decide who you want to be.
So, if you want to be a writer, you don't say:
"I'll be a writer someday." Because when is that magical "someday"?
If you write, you're a writer. Say it. Believe it.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Identity selection means you get to decide who you want to be.
So, if you want to be a writer, you don't say:
"I'll be a writer someday." Because when is that magical "someday"?
If you write, you're a writer. Say it. Believe it.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
November 24, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Day 112
Identity selection means you get to decide who you want to be.
So, if you want to be a writer, you don't say:
"I'll be a writer someday." Because when is that magical "someday"?
If you write, you're a writer. Say it. Believe it.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Identity selection means you get to decide who you want to be.
So, if you want to be a writer, you don't say:
"I'll be a writer someday." Because when is that magical "someday"?
If you write, you're a writer. Say it. Believe it.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Reposted by Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo
LP Kindred is a talented writer and a kind-hearted human being. Please help him continue his studies. Literature needs him. Thank you!
LP Kindred is a non-traditional student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in need of help with tuition.
They're in their 40s & working on a BFA in Writing. Their work has appeared on LeVar Burton Reads podcast, Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism Festival & they're a 3x Ignyte Award nominee.
They're in their 40s & working on a BFA in Writing. Their work has appeared on LeVar Burton Reads podcast, Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism Festival & they're a 3x Ignyte Award nominee.
to stick with it!
Anything you could share is welcome! Any sharing with your network also helps! And I'm already grateful! Thank you so much!
gofund.me/ce21d48c2
Anything you could share is welcome! Any sharing with your network also helps! And I'm already grateful! Thank you so much!
gofund.me/ce21d48c2
November 24, 2025 at 9:37 AM
LP Kindred is a talented writer and a kind-hearted human being. Please help him continue his studies. Literature needs him. Thank you!
LP Kindred is a non-traditional student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in need of help with tuition.
They're in their 40s & working on a BFA in Writing. Their work has appeared on LeVar Burton Reads podcast, Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism Festival & they're a 3x Ignyte Award nominee.
They're in their 40s & working on a BFA in Writing. Their work has appeared on LeVar Burton Reads podcast, Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism Festival & they're a 3x Ignyte Award nominee.
to stick with it!
Anything you could share is welcome! Any sharing with your network also helps! And I'm already grateful! Thank you so much!
gofund.me/ce21d48c2
Anything you could share is welcome! Any sharing with your network also helps! And I'm already grateful! Thank you so much!
gofund.me/ce21d48c2
Donate to Keep LP in School Spring 2026, organized by LP Kindred
Hey y'all,
I'm LP Kindred, a Chicagoan-Angeleno writer/editor/teaching artist/culture work… LP Kindred needs your support for Keep LP in School Spring 2026
gofund.me
November 24, 2025 at 1:46 AM
LP Kindred is a non-traditional student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in need of help with tuition.
They're in their 40s & working on a BFA in Writing. Their work has appeared on LeVar Burton Reads podcast, Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism Festival & they're a 3x Ignyte Award nominee.
They're in their 40s & working on a BFA in Writing. Their work has appeared on LeVar Burton Reads podcast, Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism Festival & they're a 3x Ignyte Award nominee.
Reposted by Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo
to stick with it!
Anything you could share is welcome! Any sharing with your network also helps! And I'm already grateful! Thank you so much!
gofund.me/ce21d48c2
Anything you could share is welcome! Any sharing with your network also helps! And I'm already grateful! Thank you so much!
gofund.me/ce21d48c2
Donate to Keep LP in School Spring 2026, organized by LP Kindred
Hey y'all,
I'm LP Kindred, a Chicagoan-Angeleno writer/editor/teaching artist/culture work… LP Kindred needs your support for Keep LP in School Spring 2026
gofund.me
November 19, 2025 at 10:20 PM
to stick with it!
Anything you could share is welcome! Any sharing with your network also helps! And I'm already grateful! Thank you so much!
gofund.me/ce21d48c2
Anything you could share is welcome! Any sharing with your network also helps! And I'm already grateful! Thank you so much!
gofund.me/ce21d48c2
Day 111
Your brain treats statements as instructions.
You have to speak and think good things about yourself & your creative work.
Likewise, you must only surround yourself with people who uplift you and your creativity with their words.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Your brain treats statements as instructions.
You have to speak and think good things about yourself & your creative work.
Likewise, you must only surround yourself with people who uplift you and your creativity with their words.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
November 23, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Day 111
Your brain treats statements as instructions.
You have to speak and think good things about yourself & your creative work.
Likewise, you must only surround yourself with people who uplift you and your creativity with their words.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Your brain treats statements as instructions.
You have to speak and think good things about yourself & your creative work.
Likewise, you must only surround yourself with people who uplift you and your creativity with their words.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
The Neapolitan Crèche at the Art Institute of Chicago is only on display a few weeks each year. I saw it yesterday.
Items in the crèche were created between the 1700s & 1800s. It was compiled around 2011, a cabinet built and then shipped from Naples to Chicago.
What’s a crèche? A Nativity scene.
Items in the crèche were created between the 1700s & 1800s. It was compiled around 2011, a cabinet built and then shipped from Naples to Chicago.
What’s a crèche? A Nativity scene.
November 23, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The Neapolitan Crèche at the Art Institute of Chicago is only on display a few weeks each year. I saw it yesterday.
Items in the crèche were created between the 1700s & 1800s. It was compiled around 2011, a cabinet built and then shipped from Naples to Chicago.
What’s a crèche? A Nativity scene.
Items in the crèche were created between the 1700s & 1800s. It was compiled around 2011, a cabinet built and then shipped from Naples to Chicago.
What’s a crèche? A Nativity scene.
Reposted by Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo
new & restocked horror now available at b&n sioux falls!
November 23, 2025 at 12:47 AM
new & restocked horror now available at b&n sioux falls!
I enjoyed reading about Danish writer Solvej Balle.
Here is the gifted link.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...
Here is the gifted link.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...
She Has Taken 30 Years to Write a 7-Part Novel About 1 Day. It’s a Sensation.
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:47 PM
I enjoyed reading about Danish writer Solvej Balle.
Here is the gifted link.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...
Here is the gifted link.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...
Day 110
There are 40 days until Jan 1st. What do you need to write in those 40 days? What do you need to say? How can you commit time and space to yourself in those 40 days to complete a draft by the New Year?
Jot down that plan. Make it happen.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
There are 40 days until Jan 1st. What do you need to write in those 40 days? What do you need to say? How can you commit time and space to yourself in those 40 days to complete a draft by the New Year?
Jot down that plan. Make it happen.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
November 22, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Day 110
There are 40 days until Jan 1st. What do you need to write in those 40 days? What do you need to say? How can you commit time and space to yourself in those 40 days to complete a draft by the New Year?
Jot down that plan. Make it happen.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
There are 40 days until Jan 1st. What do you need to write in those 40 days? What do you need to say? How can you commit time and space to yourself in those 40 days to complete a draft by the New Year?
Jot down that plan. Make it happen.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
With the help of an Instagram fundraiser, I was able to donate $300 to the Greater Chicago Food Depository today. Thank you!
www.chicagosfoodbank.org
www.chicagosfoodbank.org
November 22, 2025 at 4:10 AM
With the help of an Instagram fundraiser, I was able to donate $300 to the Greater Chicago Food Depository today. Thank you!
www.chicagosfoodbank.org
www.chicagosfoodbank.org
The Count of Monte Cristo 🥰
November 21, 2025 at 11:53 PM
The Count of Monte Cristo 🥰
Whoever sent the high school kids in my neighborhood with food home for the school break ahead, thank you. Thank you for taking care of our kids ❤️
It doesn’t take much to be a light in someone’s life.
#Chicago
It doesn’t take much to be a light in someone’s life.
#Chicago
November 21, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Whoever sent the high school kids in my neighborhood with food home for the school break ahead, thank you. Thank you for taking care of our kids ❤️
It doesn’t take much to be a light in someone’s life.
#Chicago
It doesn’t take much to be a light in someone’s life.
#Chicago
Day 109
Control your subconscious mind or someone else will control it.
Curate who you allow to have access to you, what you read, watch, and listen to.
You’re not meant to be exposed to everything and everyone.
Protect your creative mind.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Control your subconscious mind or someone else will control it.
Curate who you allow to have access to you, what you read, watch, and listen to.
You’re not meant to be exposed to everything and everyone.
Protect your creative mind.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
November 21, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Day 109
Control your subconscious mind or someone else will control it.
Curate who you allow to have access to you, what you read, watch, and listen to.
You’re not meant to be exposed to everything and everyone.
Protect your creative mind.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
Control your subconscious mind or someone else will control it.
Curate who you allow to have access to you, what you read, watch, and listen to.
You’re not meant to be exposed to everything and everyone.
Protect your creative mind.
600 words every day from Aug 3 to Dec 31
#600X150
I saw this and I propose an idea —
Hear me out StokerCon … Coffee with Krampus AT StokerCon?
@horrorwritersassoc.bsky.social
Discuss amongst yourselves.
Hear me out StokerCon … Coffee with Krampus AT StokerCon?
@horrorwritersassoc.bsky.social
Discuss amongst yourselves.
November 21, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I saw this and I propose an idea —
Hear me out StokerCon … Coffee with Krampus AT StokerCon?
@horrorwritersassoc.bsky.social
Discuss amongst yourselves.
Hear me out StokerCon … Coffee with Krampus AT StokerCon?
@horrorwritersassoc.bsky.social
Discuss amongst yourselves.
I absolutely didn’t need to read that he was a School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum to know that … he is in fact, a School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum.
We’re certainly distinctive, SAIC alums 💗
#Chicago
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/21/c...
We’re certainly distinctive, SAIC alums 💗
#Chicago
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/21/c...
Chicago Artist Starts His Own Postal Service — And Will Deliver And Read Mail To Anyone For Free
A whimsical yet very serious public art project by Logan Square artist Charlie Dean is gaining traction as an alternative to a paid postal service, designed to be used for monumental conversations or ...
blockclubchicago.org
November 21, 2025 at 6:13 PM
I absolutely didn’t need to read that he was a School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum to know that … he is in fact, a School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum.
We’re certainly distinctive, SAIC alums 💗
#Chicago
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/21/c...
We’re certainly distinctive, SAIC alums 💗
#Chicago
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/21/c...
December 11th, if you're in Chicago join us at the 10th Annual CHIRBy Awards!
My novel, Vanishing Daughters, is nominated in the Fiction category, which is an absolute honor.
Let's celebrate Chicago and Chicago literature.
I hope to see you there.
www.storystudiochicago.org/chirby-awards/
My novel, Vanishing Daughters, is nominated in the Fiction category, which is an absolute honor.
Let's celebrate Chicago and Chicago literature.
I hope to see you there.
www.storystudiochicago.org/chirby-awards/
CHIRBy Awards - StoryStudio Chicago
StoryStudio Chicago & the Chicago Review of Books are pleased to host the CHIRBy Awards, a fundraising ceremony honoring writers of Chicago.
www.storystudiochicago.org
November 20, 2025 at 11:07 PM
December 11th, if you're in Chicago join us at the 10th Annual CHIRBy Awards!
My novel, Vanishing Daughters, is nominated in the Fiction category, which is an absolute honor.
Let's celebrate Chicago and Chicago literature.
I hope to see you there.
www.storystudiochicago.org/chirby-awards/
My novel, Vanishing Daughters, is nominated in the Fiction category, which is an absolute honor.
Let's celebrate Chicago and Chicago literature.
I hope to see you there.
www.storystudiochicago.org/chirby-awards/
Reposted by Cynthia “Cina” Pelayo
Thanks! I have enjoyed your countdown posts about 600 words a day. I am possibly more chaotic than you, I've been writing anywhere from 200 to 2,000 ish words a day according to TrackBear. Total weekend warrior here. Whatever works, right?
November 20, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Thanks! I have enjoyed your countdown posts about 600 words a day. I am possibly more chaotic than you, I've been writing anywhere from 200 to 2,000 ish words a day according to TrackBear. Total weekend warrior here. Whatever works, right?
Success! 🥹✨
Well… spookily I’d started a new idea a few days before I saw you were doing this. I actually finished first draft a few days ago and wanted to thank you for just nudging me every day to do something!
November 20, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Success! 🥹✨