Dalivia Plaut

Dalivia "Liv" Plaut is a horror writer from Loganson, West Virginia. Her debut novel, Cut From Darkness, a collection of four novellas, including the psychological thriller, Cut and Paste, which introduces Readers to one of the most charismatic characters in the horror genre, a scissor-wielding stalker named Mr. Moonlight, as well as Murmur, a gonzo-style luncheon centered around a scandal, is the first volume of Dalivia's horror anthology series, Midnight World.

Dalivia's fascination with horror began after she first watched John Carpenter's remake of the classic, The Thing From Another World, which was based on John W. Campbell Jr.'s novella, Who Goes There? Dalivia's childhood friend, Sally, rented the VHS without her father's permission; and together the two friends watched The Thing in the basement of Sally's home. Dalivia's aunt, Lulu, a devoted churchgoer, never approved of her niece's interest in the genre; therefore, the most part of Dalivia's adolescence was spent "two-facin’,” as she called it. From the age of ten to twelve years old, Dalivia played the organ for the Crowell Baptist Church in Loganson where, in between breaks, she would doodle versions of her own Thing on a tattered memo pad. After two years of playing—and doodling—Dalivia decided to channel her creative spirit toward film, particularly low-budget horror films that she and the other neighbors in the hollows threw together after school. With the wonderful West Virginia mountains predominantly used as backdrops, the films mostly focused on Dalivia's Thing—or, the neighborhood ogre, Jeffery Jenkins, who was wearing a silicon mask and dressed up in old rags covered in pink glue. Dalivia tried acting—tried—but she was more skilled behind the camera where she provided her own scores to the films. The films were such a success around the small town that Dalivia released the scores on compact discs and handed them out at Loganson High.

In the fall of 2017, Dalivia was left with a devastating injury after being struck by a drunk boater while spending a day on the lake. The bones in Dalivia's right leg were completely shattered and doctors had to literally piece her leg back together. The only perk about having enough metal in her leg to set off metal detectors at airports was that Dalivia officially considered herself "part-cyborg." The suspected boater was never apprehended. The accident curbed any ambitions Dalivia had at pursuing a career as a stunt woman until later that next spring. While recovering from her injuries, she decided to create her own world called Midnight World, one which was inspired by the strange moments of temporarily losing consciousness underwater. At the time, Dalivia was saving money for stunt school in Los Angeles by working two jobs, one as a tool specialist at a home improvement store and another as a martial arts instructor in South Wood. However, it was the spring of '18, after coming across a box of old horror films that young Dalivia had created with her friends, when her pursuit to become a horror writer was crystal clear.

Later that fall, Dalivia released Sympathy For The Monster, an opening story to the series which would launch her new horror series, Midnight World. The story was mildly based around her experiences of being raised by her uncle on a pig farm outside Muskgrove, West Virginia, at the age of seven until she moved to Loganson where she lived most of her young adult life with Lulu.