Chris McGinley‘s Coal Black (Shotgun Honey, 2019) is a collection of crime stories set in the hills of Appalachia. His fiction has appeared in Cutleaf, Reckon Review, Mystery Tribune, Mystery Weekly, Tough, Switchblade, Pulp Modern, and other forums. Non-fiction work–film and literature analysis–has appeared in CrimeReads, Mystery Tribune, Reckon Review, and elsewhere. “The Screech Owl,” a short story, was nominated for a Pushcart award, and “Hellbenders” made the “List of Distinguished Stories” in Best American Mystery Stories (2020).

His full-length novel, Once these Hills (Shotgun Honey, 2023) is set in late-nineteenth century eastern Kentucky.

McGinley teaches middle school in Lexington, KY where he lives with his wife.