Horror Author Azzurra Nox #Interview
Azzurra Nox Interview
1. Congratulations on your success as a multi-published author! Let’s talk a little about your books. Cut Here is about a sixteen-year old named Lena Martin whose mom dies in a hit and run. What inspired this book?
Horror Author Azzurra Nox
The concept of CUT HERE, all began with a dream I had in the summer of 2008. It wasn’t really a dream, but more of a nightmare. It was Christmas time in Catania, Sicily and a girl sees a book on display at a bookstore kiosk entitled CUT HERE. The book’s cover had a bloody line across a faceless person’s neck, bleeding the title. Shortly after, sounds of sirens invade the dream, and as the girl rushes to the sounds, she sees a trail of blood on the asphalt and a mink coat on the ground. Everything is red. Flash forward to me seeing the same girl again, but this time she’s in a bookstore, holding a copy of the book, CUT HERE, waiting for it to be autographed by a Japanese author. But the girl is in danger, and so she runs away. I soon wake up with a sense of dread. I usually don’t often write down my dreams, but that time I did cause it left me with a haunting feeling. At the time I didn’t know if I’d ever use that dream for a short story, poem, or novel. It sat there gathering virtual dust on my computer for three years before I decided to re-read that dream, one night in January of 2011. Soon, that dream would become Lena Martin’s tortured past.
2. Your book Doll Parts is a collection of three short stories. Which is your favorite and why?
My favourite short story from that collection is, “Scared of Girls,” it's one I wrote while I was in college. It explores homophobia and gender identity and poses the question, Do we fall in love with a person or a gender and what happens when your soulmate doesn't conform to a specific gender identity? Even after all these years, the social topics that the short story explores are very timely. Plus, that short story is set in Catania, Sicily where I was born so that's another reason why that story in particular has a special place in my heart. Plus the two protagonists, Marzio and Viola are just characters that I really cared about a lot. They ultimately were very passionate and kind.
3. Bleed Like Me is a book of poetry “for the broken”. How autobiographical is this piece?
They say that there's a piece of the author in every book they write, and to some extent it's true. However, Bleed Like Me is the most autobiographical one of the bunch. 96% of the poems in the collection were written between the ages of 13-20. That age bracket is when you react most emotionally to life. A broken heart as a teen is the end of the world. As you grow older, one begins to see things with more hindsight and realize that many of the people you put up on pedestals and adored at that age, were only bringing out toxic elements in yourself.
4. I consider myself a feminist horror author, but that term has different meanings to various people. Do you consider yourself a feminist horror author, and if so why?
I do consider myself a feminist horror author, even if I have dabbled in other genres throughout the years. But if I am writing horror, I rather have the female be strong than simply be the victim. And sometimes, women are also the villains in my stories, cause to make women appear as only the hapless victim or final girl is kind of saying women can only fit in those two spots. That's why I really love books like Audition, where in the novel it's the woman who is far more twisted than the men who peg her as sweet and docile, could ever imagine her to be.
5. Where did your love of horror come from?
It started at a very young age. Probably around two years old. I think my dad noticed that I had a flair for watching horror movies and so would always have me watch them (he always told me I shouldn't be afraid as it was all “Hollywood” so I never had nightmares over the movies I viewed). So horror has pretty much been a part of my life since I can remember. Which the earliest memory I have of watching horror is seeing Elvira presenting the horror movie of the week.
6. When you’re not writing horror, what are you up to?
Writing DOES take up a lot of my time, because when I'm not writing fiction, I'm writing blog posts for my lifestyle blog that I update twice a week. But, when I'm not doing that, I pretty much live at the theatre where I'll check out any new horror, thriller, or drama films, plus I love to dance, read, and I'll admit that I have a skincare and cosmetic obsession so I'm always looking for new products to try out.
7. What is one tip you wish you knew about writing and the publishing world before you got started?
The biggest tip I can give aspiring writers is to read, read, read, and read some more, especially read the genre that you're planning to write about! My reading background is very classical, meaning I grew up reading a lot of Shakespeare and Dickens, which is awesome, but as a teen when I was writing short stories rereading them now, I know they have more of a Victorian feeling to them, which wouldn't have been terrible if the stories were taking place in Victorian England and NOT in contemporary time! As far as the publishing world goes, I think it would've been helpful to have known how important marketing yourself was going to be. Many novice writers have this idea that writing the book and having it appear in bookstores or online stores is enough. That it's going to sell itself or that your publisher will roll out tons of money to promote you and send you off on a book tour around the nation. And all of those things are wrong, cause sure, authors like Stephen King will get that sort of support because he's popular, but for a newbie you have to do a lot of the legwork to get noticed.
8. What is next for you? Anything in the works?
My newest anthology that I edited, Strange Girls: Women in Horror Anthology will be out on February 18 during Women in Horror Month. It's a collection of short stories featuring many talented women authors that explore the meaning of what it means to be a strange girl. So the collection features stories about vampires, selkies, succubus, mermaids, and creepy dolls just to get an idea of what you may find.
9. Where can people find you online?
Twitter, Instagram, Website, Blog, Goodreads
CHECK OUT STRANGE GIRLS: WOMEN IN HORROR ANTHOLOGY HERE
PURCHASE CUT HERE NOW