Between 2003 and 2008 he edited several books on authors such as Robert E. Howard, Karl Edward Wagner, Fritz Leiber, Robert Bloch and William Peter Blatty and wrote dozens of essays and articles on literary criticism for several magazines and journals such as Notes in Contemporary Literature, Wormwood: Writings about Fantasy, Supernatural and Decadent Literature and Star*Line: Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association.
He was also the editor of Sword and Sorcery & Weird Fiction Terminus (SSWFT) amateur press association from its inception in March 2001 until December 2008.
It was in 2008 that Szumskyj left the field of literary criticism to devote his life to his Christian commitments (as noted in Within the Shadow of the Cross, SSWFT #37), renouncing his former works as inconsistent with his faith.
The change was so significant, it resulted in him writing The Pilgrim’s Digress: Why Christians Should Avoid the Fantasy and Horror Genres (Ichthus Publications, 2015).
In addition to Fantasy, Horror, and the Truth: A Christian Insider's Story, he is the author of Souls Knit Together: Thirty-One Lessons On Friendship From David And Jonathan (Pronomian Press, 2024).