Nikki Nelson-Hicks: Opening a Vein of Anger

In second-grade, Nikki was tagged as being gifted when she attempted to check out a book on bats and it was discovered she read at a fourth-grade level. The truth of the matter was that she believed bats could turn into people.

When Nikki was in sixth grade, she wrote and performed a play, The Hunt for Bigfoot, and later created the Monster Hunter’s Club which entered a cryptozoology exhibit, the first of its kind, in the annual school fair.

It won an honorable mention.

After that, things started to get weird. 

Meet Nikki Nelson-Hicks.

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

Since 2022, I have been working on a collection of short stories that circle around the theme of revenge titled, Politics of Children and Other Stories of Revenge. These stories range from the black and white vision of children in Politics of Children, to justice being meted out by the desperate in Brother Marvel’s Old Time Revival, to how the vengeance of a protector can last eons in A Beautiful Thing to a modern retelling of Poe’s Cask of Amontillado in Black Cherry. There’s also a quick bit of body horror in Sweet Revenge that I threw in there for fun. If the editing process continues for as long as I fear it will, I might also add the story, What the Cat Dragged In, that was published in 2023 by St. Rooster in the horror comedy anthology, Razor Blade in Fun Size Candy.

Hopefully this will come out sometime in 2024.  Sometimes, persistence is more valuable than talent in this game. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Years ago, a writing teacher told me during a review that everything I write has a vein of anger in it. “If you wrote about kittens, they’d be angry kittens. What’s up with that?”

So, yeah. There’s a lot of anger in my work. Also, loneliness, isolation and injustice.

Just like the real world which, let’s face it, is a shitshow.

SO, as the Creator of my own little worlds, I like to dispense justice as I see fit. Call me an Agent of Nemesis. In my stories, the bad get gutted and the good get what they deserve.

Oh, and monsters because they are fun. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

My therapist told me that most people who survived a childhood like mine ended up either as an alcoholic, a drug addict, or a prostitute.

I took another path. I became a reader. 

I read as a form of self-defense. I shielded myself in fantasy and story to survive. 

That’s why I write stories. To give people that sort of shelter and diversion to help them cope.  I write stories to give people distractions for when they need one, say, at the doctor’s office, riding the bus or on the toilet. It’s a lofty goal.

What inspires you to write? 

I’m not sure how to answer this. 

If you mean, “What inspires you to sit down, tap on the keyboard and write stories?” I guess it would be the simple answer of  “To maintain my sanity.” When I don’t write or pour myself into something creative, I tend to go dark and that isn’t good for anyone.

If you mean, “What inspires my stories?” Well, that is hard to answer cohesively. Many of my stories that are out there so far were created because I was challenged by a publisher to do them. 

“Give me a story about a fairytale creature versus a historical Wild West person.” The Problem at Gruff Springs 

“Take two cryptids and make them fight.” Rumble 

“Write me a pulp detective story that involves chickens.” A Chick, A Dick and a Witch Walk Into a Barn (The first of the Jake Istenhegy stories)

OR

I’ll read something and have a question: “Why do all the women in Poe’s life die?” The Perverse Muse

OR

A few years ago, my son popped his head in my office and asked, “Hey….if rats ate a golem, would they become the golem? Like a flesh golem made of rats?” Well, HELL! That story rolled around in my brain and I’ve been working on it ever since. It’s the core root of my story, A Beautiful Thing, that will be in the Politics of Children and Other Stories of Revenge. 

In the end, I must blame this compulsion on either poor mental health or just a stubborn competitive edge. 

What would be your dream project?

I don’t really have a dream project. I start every story as if it were my Breakout Work. So far, it’s not happened but, who knows….maybe the next one will be it. And if it’s not. Oh well. Keep on trucking. 

But, if we’re going to dream, let’s dream big.

My favorite daydream is where, out of the blue, I get a phone call from Mike Flanagan. 

“Hey, Nikki, this is Mike Flanagan. My brother, Jeremy, met you last year at Authorcon and was so impressed by you at the panel you two did together (editor’s note: this part is true. Jeremy Flanagan and I were on a panel together and I made him laugh. Twice. It was the highlight of the weekend for me.) that he bought all your books and, well, I read them and, damn, girl! You are good! Want to team up and make some movies from your books?”

We’d make movies that would be blockbusters and we’d become BFFs.

The end.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

It’s the Creator’s Dilemma, isn’t it? You look back on past work and see nothing but faults and how you’d do it better now because you’ve grown and changed since the time you created that story.

When I got all the rights back to my Jake Istenhegyi stories, I spent a year rewriting and recrafting that world. Trying to make it better and more polished. 

I suppose the same could be done for all my stories but…that’s okay. I like them to stay the way they are. They show my growth as a writer. 

They are all my babies, lumpy and imperfect as they are, and I love them.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Terry Pratchett, Flannery O’Connor, Stephen King, Rod Serling, Sharyn McCrumb, E.A. Poe, Octavia Butler, Josephine Tey (The Daughter of Time…excellent), Neil Gaiman, et al. 

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

Writing is a form of magic. Almost necromancy, in a way. I can talk to dead people, hear their voices in my head when I read their work. So, it’s a dab of art and a dash of science.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process? 

Getting out of my goddamn way.

Did you know, neuroscience has found the Sweet Spot of Creativity? And, yes, it includes alcohol. 

They found that a BAC 0.075 was the magic number when it came to creativity. Why? It was *just enough* to lower inhibitions, shut off your temporal cortex enough so it quieted the inner editor but left you still cognizant enough to actually create something worthwhile. 

AMAZING! 

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not? 

Healthy competition is a wonderful thing. However, more than not, my writer buds have talked me off the ledge more times than I can count. Writers need a special kind of tribe that keep them encouraged and strong enough to put up with the shit we get from publishers, critics and general trolls. 

Plus, it’s good to be with people that understand the struggle. They get how hard it is to create a world from nothing. 

What does literary success look like to you? 

When I was a kid, the idea of getting published was the cherry on top of everything. HAHAHA! Sweet summer child.

Now, as a grizzled old fart, I’d really like a royalty statement that has more in the front of the decimal than the back. 

Sure, I crave external validation, awards and opportunities but, but, in the end, it comes down to writing a story that you believe in, and you know, in your heart of hearts, is a *good* story.  

Although having someone give me the thumbs up is nice too. 

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?  

No, Politics of Children and Other Stories of Revenge is taking up a lot of 2024. I really want this collection to be good. Maybe even Stoker quality good. Aim high!

I’m not doing too much in the con circuit this year but I will be at Authorcon in Williamsburg, VA from April 11-14. 

OH! I am the Co-Chairperson for the Horror Writers Association, Tennessee Chapter and if anyone in the Tennessee would like to become a member, reach out! We are a new branch with 20 people strong and would love to add more members. 

For more information, visit: 

• My website www.nnhbooks.com
• Sign up to my newsletter, I Don’t Want To Be Here at Substack for FREE! I give away swag every so often and I promise to try not to be boring -- https://nikkinelsonhicks.substack.com/
• Contact me at my email: nikkinelsonhicks@gmail.com

Nikki's Altars:

Hecate

Bridgid

Maeve

Nikki Nelson-Hicks Feathers Her Crown

I first met Nikki Nelson-Hicks when she was dressed as Neil Gaiman's Death at a dance for writers. I'm not ashamed to admit that I fell in love just a little bit. Talented. Artful. (Yes, and beautiful, but I don't want her husband to shoot me so I'll just stop there.) 

If you haven't read her work, you really should. She's really, really gifted with the wordsmithing. 

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

I just released an anthology of short horror stories in an anthology called Stone Baby and Other Strange Tales.

I am currently working on a story called Crown of Feathers. It tells the tale of Eli Kohl who has to learn the hard way that death is sometimes better.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I was an anxious, nervous kid with a bad belly. Reading was an escape. A weird defensive reflex to get away from the pain. I want to give back, give people the sort of escape I needed when I was a scared kid.

What inspires you to write?

Anything fun, mysterious, or just plain weird. I listen to podcasts, read books, old newspapers…anything! You never know what can set you off down a very deep rabbit hole.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Grief, loss and family. 

What would be your dream project?

To write something as brilliantly nuanced as Terry Pratchett.

6. What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Terry Pratchett, Flannery O’Connor, Stephen King.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

Oh! I did it. I redid the WHOLE Jake Istenhegyi series. 

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

I think it’s a form of magic and therefore some weird crossroads between science and art.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Getting out of my own damn way and just writing. You never get over the fear of not being good enough. Freaking imposter syndrome.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

Oh yes! My writer friends have talked me off many ledges and I do the same for them.

What does literary success look like to you?

I’d love to write something that enflames the world and beats a path to my doorway. And then again, that sounds terribly scary.

The best things that have happened to me so far is when someone contacts me to let me know that my story softened some blow, comforted them when they were sick or just gave them some entertainment when they were alone and bored. 

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

Crown of Feathers but I can’t promise when that’s going to be done. I have another project on the stove that is about Djinns but that is for another day.

For more information, visit:

My Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B00I34EF3S
Or find me on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter: @Nikcubed

And you expect us to believe THAT, Nikki?!

THE ACCIDENTAL DETECTIVE VOLUME ONE DEBUTS!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIRST THREE JAKE ISTENHEGYI OCCULT STORIES IN ONE BOOK! FEATURING NEW DIGEST NOVEL LENGTH ADVENTURE!

In 2014, Pro Se Productions, a leading publisher of Genre Fiction, introduced an imprint of sorts within its line of stand alone digital short stories known as Pro Se Single Shots. The Pro Se Single Shot Signature line focused on either series or writer centered imprints of forty invited authors, who could in digital singles, tell either stories centered around a particular character or concept or could have different stand alone stories appear each time within their own imprint. The intent for most of the Signature Series is to take the individual stories and collect them into volumes to appear in print and digital format at the appropriate time for each series.

That time has come for Author Nikki Nelson-Hicks’ extremely popular occult detective period series, Jake Istenhegyi, The Accidental Detective. The adventures of Jake Istenhegyi are now available in a first volume, featuring the two original tales which appeared as singles and a third new story, itself a 30 thousand word digest novel.

“When I wrote the first Jake Istenhegyi story, A Chick, a Dick and a Witch,” says Nelson-Hicks, “it was a lark. I never expected it to go anywhere. Then I was asked to continue the Istenhegyi stories into a series and I figured, “What the hell. Could be fun”. So I whipped out Jake #2, Golems, Goons and Cold Stone Bitches, still in the mindset that all of this was just a game. When it was time to write the third story, a cold realization swept over me that was something real, something that people really wanted to read. So I hunkered down to give people what they had been begging me for since the beginning: more story, more mystery, more Jake.”

Desperate to get out of his debt to the Odyssey Shop, Jake Istenhegyi answers a quirky classified ad: TREASURE HUNTERS WANTED. He signs on with a crew that is looking for the Cross of Trismegitus, a relic stolen by Pierre Rameau, the Pirate King of Honey Island and lost during the Battle of New Orleans. According to legend, the Cross of Trismegitus holds a sliver of crystal called ‘Salt Vitam Aeternam’. The Salt of Eternal Life. This makes it more than just a pretty bauble to Istenhegyi. If it is a twin of the crystal that granted the Lombardi sisters immortality, he could use it to avoid their fate: turning to stone in a hundred years. If it there is only a slim possibility that the Salt exists, he has to take that chance.

Unfortunately, Jake doesn’t know that waiting for him deep in the dark bayou is his oldest enemy.

But first, Jake Istenhegyi has to cope with a surprise visit from home, clear his name for the murder of an Irish boxer, and continue the façade of Gunn Investigations, keeping the death of Bear Gunn a secret from Mama Effie and the mysterious owners of the Odyssey Shop.

Who knew what trouble could come from answering a simple classified ad? Find out in Jake Istenhegyi, The Accidental Detective, featuring the new digest novel Boo Daddies, Bogs and a Dead Man’s Booty as well as the first two Accidental Detective stories- A Chick, a Dick, and a Witch Walk into a Barn and Golems, Goons, and Cold Stone Bitches. From Author Nikki Nelson-Hicks and Pro Se Productions.

Featuring an exciting cover and logo design by Jeffrey Hayes and print formatting by Forrest Bryant, the first volume of Jake’s adventures is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store at for 15.00.

Jake Istenhegyi: The Accidental Detective Volume 1 is also available as an Ebook, designed and formatted by Bryant and available for only $2.99 for the Kindle and for most digital formats via Smashwords.

The first two Jake Adventures are also still available as digital singles for only 99 cents at Amazon, Smashwords, and most ebook outlets. The first Jake tale, A Chick, a Dick, and a Witch Walk Into A Barn is free through the month of September.

For more information on this title, interviews with the author, or digital copies to review this book, contact Pro Se Productions’ Director of Corporate Operations, Kristi King-Morgan at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

JAKE ISTENHEGYI, THE ACCIDENTAL DETECTIVE RETURNS IN SECOND ADVENTURE! ‘GOLEMS, GOONS, AND COLD STONE BITCHES’ DEBUTS!

Pro Se Productions, an innovative publisher of Genre Fiction, proudly announces the latest issue of one of its most popular series in its Pro Se Single Shots Signature line. Jake Istenhegyi, the scarred immigrant shopkeeper turned detective created by Nikki Nelson-Hicks, returns in his second adventure -- Golems, Goons, and Cold Stone Bitches now available for only 99 cents!

“Jake,” says Tommy Hancock, Editor in Chief of and Partner in Pro Se Productions, “was definitely a popular character in his debut adventure. It’s amazing what Nikki does with these stories. It’s like a mixed stew of genres and styles that somehow coalesce into something well-written, strongly plotted with characters that step off the page. Something both terrifying in a way, while also suspenseful and mystery minded. And definitely cover to cover fun!”

After being forced to put a bullet through the head of his best friend to end his suffering, Jake Istenhegyi is done and he wants to pack his bags and get on the next plane to anywhere but here. Goodbye to New Orleans, goodbye and good riddance to the Odyssey Shop, a business he never wanted anyway, and a big fat goodbye to the detective game that he barely knew how to play anyway! But it just isn't working out that way. A few hard, dirty truths are blocking his way. Like how he has inherited more than just a run down used junk store from his Uncle's sudden death-by-bus, the real business being conducted at the Odyssey Shop...and then there is the naked girl bleeding to death on his staircase.... and all before his first cup of coffee.

Jake Istenhegyi, the Accidental Detective’s second adventure, Golems, Goons, and Cold Stone Bitches, features stunning cover art and logo design by Jeffrey Hayes and digital formatting by Russ Anderson. This Pro Se Single Shot Signature short story is now available for the Kindle on Amazon and via Smashwords in most other formats for only 99 cents. This Pro Se Single Shot will be available via other Ebook websites in coming days.

For more information on this title, contact Morgan Minor, Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations, at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

Nikki Nelson-Hicks and Her Boys in the Back Room

Part 3 of my series of “Cool People I Met at Imaginarium.”

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

I just finished the second story for Jake Istenhegyi: The Accidental Detective published in the Pro Se Productions Single Shot Signature digital series.

In a nutshell, the story is set in 1930’s New Orleans. Janos “Jake” Istenhegyi is a young Hungarian immigrant who is dragged into the gritty world of the private eye by his best friend, Barrington “Bear” Gunn, a WWI Vet obsessed with living the life of Sam Spade in, well, spades.

After Jake’s first adventure in A Chick, a Dick and a Witch Walk into a Barn (involving zombie chickens, trust me…it works), we leave him splattered in blood and chicken shit, watching as the hellish barn burns to the ground. In the second story, Golems, Goons and Cold Stone Bitches, Jake makes  his way back home just wanting a shower and to get hopelessly drunk but is pulled into a power struggle between sisters fighting over a inheritance that ends up being more than a curse and leaving Jake with a gift he doesn’t want.

Intrigued? It will be available for digital download in November 2014.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Isolation and redemption. I’m a huge sucker for redemption.

What would be your dream project?

I am very proud to say that one of my dreams has been realized in that I have written a Sherlock Holmes novella to add to the expanding canon of the Holmesian universe. So, that is one thing checked off my Bucket List.

I would love to write a Doctor Who episode.

OR…ooooh, get involved with a group of super talented, sharp and horribly sick writers and create a universe where we play with each others' characters like they did with Thieves World back in the ‘80s. That would be awesome.

Or maybe just a book that sold well enough where I could buy everyone ice cream. That would be cool, too.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be and what would you do?

Ugh, the Creator’s Paradox. You are always better by the end of each story so that every story you have ever written is never as good as the one you are doing.

Yep. I have a character, Travis Dare, who is the main protag of a series of yet unpublished stories. He is such a fucking Mary Sue. Seriously. Heroes should never be boring. Ugh. I am going back, squeezing his nose shut and blowing into his mouth until his balls finally drop. The readers of that series are in for a surprise.

What inspires you to write?

I believe, in my heart of hearts, that all writers are trying to save…or kill…someone over and over again.
In my stories, I am a God of Action. I can right wrongs, save drowning people and heal the wounded and broken. I have power, tapping on this keyboard, I don’t have in real life. And, it has to be enough….for now.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Harlan Ellison, Hunter S. Thompson, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Yeah. I prefer to hang out with boys.

Where would your rank writing on the “Is it an art or is it a science continuum?” Why?

It’s kinda both….maybe? I don’t think I’m drunk enough to answer this question but I’ll try.

Look, years ago I would’ve been all “Fuck, yeah! It’s an art. It’s MAGIC. You either got it or you don’t.” Now, I’ve mellowed with age and while I still believe there is a certain amount of that Unknowable Something that imbues a story with a Voice, I think there must be something else to it. The will to sit for hours and carve out a world with words, it’s insane! I have seen so many authors come to my Fiction Group with more drive than natural talent and I have watched those bastards work, work, work so hard and DO IT. It’s brilliant, really.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

*Rolls up sleeves* Yes, thank you.

Okay, like I said before, Jake Istenhegyi: The Accidental Detective’s second story, Golems, Goons and Cold Stone Bitches will be out in November 2014. It’s a good story. So far all my beta readers have dug it. Now I’ve got my Boys in the Back Room (That’s what I call my muses. I envision four men in fedoras and rolled up sleeves, sitting at a square table, drinking whiskey and chainsmoking, cranking out idea on old school typewriters) working on story #3. Haven’t a clue as to what it will be yet. Isn’t that fun?

Also coming out in 2014:

Sherlock Holmes and the Shrieking Pits (humpbacked midgets, shillelaghs and Viking silver…what more could you want?) from Pro Se Productions.

I have a story in an anthology, Nashville Gothic, titled "Stone Baby," that made the publisher want to “bleach his eyeballs out.” I take that as a compliment. It is coming out in late October just in time for Halloween.

And I am currently working on a story that I am submitting to Capes and Clockworks Volume 2. The working title is "The Galvanized Girl." I hope it makes it in. It’s a cool story with time travel, trepanning and a six foot tall redhead.