Welcoming C.D. Vázquez

Flame Tree Press welcomes an exciting new writer to the blog, scientist C.D. Vázquez, to talk about his short story “Calm Springs”, which appears alongside a stellar line-up in the groundbreaking anthology This Way Lies Madness, releasing in September from Flame Tree Press in our Beyond & Within series. In the introduction to the work, the book’s co-editors, Dave Jeffery and Lee Murray, say the anthology “defies convention by bringing together authentic, sensitive portrayals of mental illness in a genre that has notoriously lacked such tenets.” Comprising 23 stories and poems, the book also includes accompanying vignettes offering insight into the authors’ motivation for their work.

Today, C.D. Vázquez shares an excerpt from his story along with a short glimpse into his inspiration.

Excerpt:

I remember the town of Calm Springs fondly. Its grassy hills and rolling meadows come to me often, when I find myself overwhelmed by the intoxicating buzz and humdrum of the city. From its scenic hiking trails that wind through the woods, where the pines reach for the sky like hungry, green giants, to the cool waters of its many rivers, coursing towards destinations that, even now, only live in the corners of my imagination. Calm Springs lives in my mind – a small town full of small charms.

I thread the line between consciousness and sleep, fixing my eyes on the passing treeline, when a sudden shake jolts me awake. Where am I?

My mind gathers the fragments of the night before in reverse. I boarded the bus at dawn. Judging by the sour taste in my mouth and the smell of cigarettes hanging on to my clothes, I made my way directly from the local pub. There’s a small bag tucked under the seat in front of me. It looks like I packed clothes for three days.

Another bump in the road rattles the bus and the red Moleskine journal slips from my bag like blood from a wound. I expect to find its pages blank, but there’s a single line inked in blue on the first page.

Vázquez writes:

““Calm Springs” is informed by my struggle with generalised anxiety disorder. The narrative voice is intentionally trancelike and feverish. It tries to capture the erratic cadence of a mind grappling to be present amidst waves of intrusive thoughts. Descriptions of the town are verbose but vague, almost primitive, like they draw from the basic building blocks of a memory of a memory. They elicit a questioning of reality, mirroring the way anxiety distorts our worries and weaponizes our perception against us. The same way our protagonist is manipulated by the sinister entity that infects his mind.”

As well as Vázquez’s story, Murray and Jeffery invite readers of This Way Lies Madness to discover “tales of trauma, dissociation, body dysmorphia, psychosis, depression, anxiety, and more, captured in all forms of horror from the extreme to the nuanced. There is jaw-dropping violence, skin-crawling body horror, and quirky dark humour, alongside the quiet, heartbreaking introspections of people spiralling into madness. Yet all the stories and poems in this volume are framed so that the insensitive, stereotypical presentations of mental illness commonly found in horror are resoundingly and appropriately absent.”

"A mesmerizing and remarkably ambitious mosaic of delicate minds possessed, of spoiled and haunted hearts, of gaping wounds both seen and unseen. This Way Lies Madness weaves a beguiling and profoundly revealing tapestry of psychological terror with such nuance and depth in each collected story." – Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

C.D. Vázquez is a debut author and tech entrepreneur born and raised in Puerto Rico. A creative technologist by day and storyteller by night, his writing draws from his love for vintage horror and his research. While “Calm Springs” marks his debut in the literary world, he has authored scientific publications presented at premier conferences on Human Computer Interaction and Computer Vision. Vázquez is also the co-creator of the sci-fi fantasy Fyat Lux universe. He currently resides with his partner in Camuy, Puerto Rico, where he finds inspiration in the island’s rich culture and beautiful beaches.

This Way Lies Madness is out September 9th 2025: Pre-Order Now