Linda Kay Hardie

Linda Kay Hardie writes short stories in many genres, but not romance. She tried once, and everyone ended up dead. Tragic. Linda writes horror, crime, and SF/fantasy stories, as well as poetry, essays (often about cats but sometimes about baseball), and fiction for children. Her writing has won awards dating back to fifth grade, with first place for an essay on fire safety. She received a trophy, and the fire chief treated her to lunch and all the penny candy she wanted. In 2022, she was honored with the Sierra Arts Foundation’s Literary Arts Award for fiction in Reno, Nevada. That came only with a check. No candy. Linda is not sure where her ideas for crime and horror stories come from. Reading them in the published anthologies, she finds some of her stories very disturbing. Often when her friends read them, they look askance at her for weeks afterward and surreptitiously hand her the business cards of local behavioral therapists. But Linda throws those cards away, because murdering people is the best medicine sometimes. Fictitious murders, of course! No one can prove otherwise. She barely even remembers whatsisname that she used to be married to. He moved away years ago. Linda also writes recipes and is the reigning Spam champion for Nevada (yes, the tasty treat canned mystery meat). She won a trophy in 2002 for best rib rub in the amateur division of the Best in the West Rib Cook-off in Sparks, Nevada, and was invited to a chicken cook-off in Baltimore in 2003 as the Nevada winner of the National Chicken Cooking Contest. She’s a member of Horror Writers Association, Short Mystery Fiction Society, Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, and Cat Writers Association. Linda makes a living as a writer, writing coach, teddy bear builder, and as staff working for purebred rescue cats.