Horror Writer Elizabeth Massie Needs Our Help.

In June, Elizabeth Massie was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a blood cancer. Her treatments began in late July and will continue in the upcoming months. This includes chemotherapy and radiation, with PET scans every several treatments to monitor progress. The goal is to, of course, go into complete recovery and doctors are encouraged that that can happen. But now, she and her husband Cortney Skinner need our help.

I’m Larry Blamire, and some of you may know me as an artist and filmmaker. Renowned illustrator Cortney Skinner is one of my dearest friends, in fact, going back to our art school days. Over the years I’ve come to know his wife Elizabeth, not only as a talented writer, but as a wonderful, generous and extremely positive person (as anyone who’s read her captivating Night Benedictions can attest). These wonderful people are facing a major challenge. There have been and will continue to be frequent trips to the cancer center in Augusta County, Virginia, where Beth and Cortney live, with some projected trips over the mountain to UVA. With treatments, side effects, and exhaustion, Beth has found it very difficult to write, which is her source of income, though she is pushing through as best she can. Cort is taking good care of Beth during all this, but his income is also severely impacted. There is hope for the future and they are holding on to optimism.

Elizabeth Massie has been writing professionally full time since the early 1990s. Her works include novels and collections in the horror genre, such as Sineater, Hell Gate, Desper Hollow, Homeplace, Madame Cruller’s Couch and Other Bizarre Tales, Afraid, Naked on the Edge, and many more, and a number of her stories have appeared in Year’s Best Anthologies. She also writes historical novels, media-tie ins, educational passages, poetry, and mainstream fiction. She has twice won the Bram Stoker Award, for her novel Sineater and novella, “Stephen.” She also won the Scribe Award for her novelization of the third season of Showtime’s “The Tudors.”

Now, hearing of Beth’s considerable accomplishments, I’m afraid many might have a preconception that all published writers are financially well off. Some may be surprised to learn that that is quite often far from the case. I can tell you that Beth and Cort are hurting right now and finding it quite difficult to work, and it’s going to get worse. Though Beth has health insurance, there are medications and copays that are not covered by insurance and the copays are already rolling in, with thousands mounting up. Medical care, unfortunately, as most folks know, is incredibly expensive. Factor in the cost of transportation for treatments, and loss of income, and the need is truly dire. There is no way to know for sure how long treatment will go on or how much will still be uncovered.

When I heard what was happening, I offered to start this GoFundMe (I am a rookie at this) to help them meet this challenge. We’ve set a goal that seems reasonable for their needs, given the circumstances, and I ask that you please help with anything you can (no amount is, as they say, too small). I shall not be disbursing the funds myself, but rather all shall go directly to Cort and Beth. I thank you very much for taking the time. These two people have brought so much joy. Now let’s bring them some.