I’m Mary Berman, a Philadelphia-based writer.

UNTIL DEATH, my literary horror novel about the wedding industrial complex, is forthcoming from Little, Brown.

If you enjoy, e.g.:

  • stalking strangers’ wedding websites

  • dredging up decades-old fights with your mom

  • spending Saturday nights reading alone at the bar

…then you’ll probably like my book.

not me putting this screenshot literally everywhere

I’ve also published in myriad magazines — like the Hugo-nominated Fireside, the horror podcast PseudoPod, and that staple of the dentists’ offices of our youth, Cicada — and I’ve taught fiction workshops at the University of Mississippi, the MetroWest Writers’ Guild, and the Philly-based nonprofit Blue Stoop.

This is my free monthly newsletter, where I write about book updates, creative writing, and whatever I’m reading or watching at the moment. The newsletter is called “Mary, the Devourer” because I heard somewhere that during the Renaissance period, people who read a lot were called devourers. I cannot find even one piece of research to back this up.

I’m interested in why we love the stories we love — the conventional ones, the offbeat ones, and above all, the weird-as-hell ones. Subscribe if you’re interested, too.

devourer of stories + devourer of kibble
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book recs, writing tips, and monthly updates from the author of UNTIL DEATH

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I'm the author of UNTIL DEATH (Little, Brown 2026), a horror novel about wedding planning. I love Philly, barre3, and cats.