We sat down to ask horror writer and editor, SJ Townend, our questions on the hearty and horrifying story, Kitchen Jesus. We recommend you read the story first as there may be spoilers ahead.

Q1. First off, how in the bloomin’ heck did you come up with this story?

Blessed with a spare half hour in between school runs and my teaching job, I’d just sat down at my kitchen table with the intention to write, when I heard a knock at my front door. I answered the door and found an overly enthusiastic chap who was going round house to house trying to get people to sign up with monthly payments to a children’s charity. I politely sent him on his way – times are tight and I have two kids of my own who eat me out of house and home. But, as he thanked me for my time and turned on his heel, I thought to myself – this young man looks a little bit like Jesus. Just a tad. In the dim light of dusk. It might’ve been the beard. Or perhaps, the leather sandals.  Or maybe it was the twelve foot olivewood cross he was dragging in his wake. Whatever it was, I drew inspiration from this unsolicited house call and knocked out the crude first draft of Kitchen Jesus. Jesus would be the most unlikely surprise kitchen guest, wouldn’t he? And here we are.

Q2. The other stories I’ve read of yours lean into religion and Christianity, is this something that appears strongly across all of your works?

I suppose religion does crop up in a few pieces of mine. Holes, Souls, a piece I had published through Eerie River Publishing in their fantastic The Earth Bleeds at Night anthology (2025) springs to mind, and One Lie for One Soul which is in my debut collection, Sick Girl Screams (Brigid Gate Press, 2024),  and was originally published by Gravely Unusual Press (In the Shadow of the Horns anthology, 2021).

Christian themes do crop up in some of my work. This is probably down to ‘writing what you know’ and due to my regular childhood attendance at Sunday school at the local C of E church. Sunday school attendance was the norm in the late 80s in Somerset, England. Regulatory. Or so my parents insisted. Does seem odd on reflection however, as they never went to church, not even at Christmas time… We didn’t even have a bible in the house… Coincidentally, Sunday school hours harmonised, conveniently, with the afternoon opening hours at my parent’s local pub.

I wouldn’t say I’m a person of faith particularly. Organised religion causes far more problems (wars) than it solves, doesn’t it? But I would like to believe there is a meaning to life, that someone or something knows what the Hell is going on. It’s perhaps scarier to consider that there might not be a point to anything and that life is just entropic chaos.

And, as an aside, the bible is undoubtedly one of the greatest short story collections out there – especially Revelations – great horror inspo, if anything.

Q3. There’s a lot happening in this tale. The wanting and hurting of the mother, the sickness of the daughter, and, of course, Jesus ‘himself’. How did you come up with this? Was it difficult for you to write in any way?

I allow myself to therapeutically deep dive into some dark places when I write as a way of processing the trauma of existence that all of us trawl through and I’ve witnessed several friends succumb to eating disorders, so I thought why not shine a spotlight on just how disruptive and damaging they can be? To watch on as a loved one is gripped by the control of believing they are too heavy is atrocious. As an observer, your hands are pretty much tied. This piece was my way of horrifying anorexia with a worst case scenario and, hopefully, raising awareness of the powerlessness that the friends and family of those who suffer with such mental health disorders experience.

At its core, an eating disorder is an attempt by the individual to reclaim a sense of control over their own life. I chose to frame the story in a religious register to evoke two intertwined ideas: first, no amount of prayer can loosen anorexia’s coercion once it has truly taken hold, and second, religion itself – however well-intentioned – can, in its own way, become a means of imposing order and control on one’s self or over a population.

Q4. How much of your time do you spend between writing and running Bag of Bones press? Has being an editor helped you in your own writing?

My focus on Bag of Bones Press (www.bagofbonespress.com) tends to be over the spring and summer months when my work as a teacher is a little quieter. Each anthology takes several months to put together once the stories have been selected and I couldn’t do it without the editorial help of my friend Mark Peters and the various cover artists who donate artwork. It’s very much a labour of love and occasionally, the anthologies we release go into profit and we are able to donate money to a chosen charitable cause.  It’s nice to give something back and it’s an honour to interact with and publish up-and-coming authors from around the world.

Our first release, 206 Word Stories, which is a collection of 206 stories each with 206 words in, was an absolute nightmare to collate editorially speaking, but a complete joy to bring to market and we raised over £1000 in profit which was split between The Red Cross and Unicef.

I certainly enjoy the process of creating the anthologies, but who am I to say if the process has helped my own writing – like many self-doubting writers, when I re-read stories I’ve written, I always cringe! It has definitely made me aware of the wealth of talent out there in the horror genre.

Q5. What other works do you have on the go? Anything you’d like to promote? (include links aplenty!)

Why, thank you very much for this opportunity to self-promote! If readers enjoyed Kitchen Jesus, I’d like to steer them towards my two dark, surreal, short story collections.

Sick Girl Screams (Brigid Gate Press) is available now from all the usual places and so is Your Final Sunset (Sley House Publishing).

I’m currently querying a third collection, working title Unfamiliar Tales – hopefully coming to a bookshelf near you soon!