Horror Author Eve Harms #Interview
Eve Harms Interview
Congratulations on the release of your successful series The Demonic Diaries! Can you tell us a little about these books?
Thank you! The books are a mix of occult horror and suspense, with humor thrown in, told in blog format. With the blog format, there is a lot of emphasis on the character's voice, in this case a twenty-something horror writer named Kendra Temples. The first book was actually posted online as a blog and written under the pen name of the main character, but I've since transitioned to writing under my real name. Probably a good thing, since Kendra tends to be a polarizing character!
Without giving away spoilers, do you have a favorite out of the three books?
Definitely the third book, Shadow Puppet. It's more conceptual than the first two, and has more twists and turns. I let myself run a little wild with it, but I think it still nestles into genre fiction and doesn't get too literary. But you have to read the first two to get the most out of it!
On your website, you describe yourself as writing “freaky fun horror fiction.” What inspired this brand?
It encapsulates my writing style. Whatever I write ends up being some ratio of weird, dark, and goofy. Practically, my brand has sort of morphed into being about the occult, which is a passion of mine, but I don't want to be pegged into any specific subject matter.
How much of your work is autobiographical?
There will be snippets of my actual experiences throughout my life inserted into some of the books, but the characters are never meant to be me or anyone I know. For example, in Shadow Puppet, Kendra goes to an experimental, noise music show. Readers who aren't familiar with those kind of shows might think I made all of those weird details up, but at one point in my life, I would often go to shows almost exactly like that.
But the most autobiographical aspect of my work is theme. Book 2, Hellcrafter, is all about loss and trauma, and my experience of the sudden loss of my brother drove the thematic aspect of that work. Shadow Puppet has a theme of losing and striving to regain bodily autonomy. There aren't any trans characters in the book, but retrospectively, it's a narrative highly informed by my experiences transitioning, as well as my history with chronic illness and pain.
How would you like to see the horror writing industry evolve in the next ten years?
More diverse voices!
Please tell us a little about The Cornfield Creeps and Other Stories, which is the free book given to those who sign up for your newsletter.
The Cornfield Creeps is a Kendra Temples novelette that is her sort of origin story, and explains how she got exiled from her hometown and ended up in Los Angeles. I included additional short stories so readers can get a taste for my non-Kendra work.
I send out a newsletter twice a month, one is an original article on an occult or esoteric topic of my choosing, and the other is highlights of esoterica around the web and book recommendations. If you don't mind me dropping my sign up link, here it is: http://eveharms.com/free-book/ :)
What is the most fascinating piece of information you’ve learned from your occult studies?
Right now, I've been diving deep into Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism. It is the most fascinating, and spiritually nourishing aspect of my studies so far. I love it so much, and want to share it with others, but I have no idea how to distill it into a single tweet and/or article.
When it comes to folklore, one of my favorite figures is Aicha Kandicha. She's a half-jinn from Moroccan folklore, who appears as a woman with camel hooves, and lures men into the desert to kill them. Theories of her origin range from a Phoenician Fertility deity, to a real noblewoman, or even an anti-colonial resistance fighter. I consider her a part of a club of misunderstood female "demons", along with Lilith and Medusa, that I have a special affinity for.
What’s next for you? Any projects you can discuss?
My next series is going to be based on the Kabbalah! It's going to be a sort of metaphysical dark fantasy series with aspects of neo-noir, and will take place in the spheres of the Qliphoth, the demonic shadow realms of the tree of life. It may take awhile, because I'm researching heavily, and I have no idea how many books it will be. I'm still in early stages. I may release some standalone books and short stories in the meantime.
Where can people find you online?
My website as well as twitter and instagram.
Last chance! Anything else you’d like to say?
Thank you so much for the interview!
Horror Author Jessica Guess #Interview
Jessica Guess Interview
1. Congratulations on your novel Cirque Berserk! How did you come up with the concept of a haunted carnival?
Thank you! The premise actually started with a character. I had this image in my head of someone doing something really terrible to the tune of Rhythm of the Night by Debarge (I can’t say anymore because spoilers) but the image so bizarre that I had to write it. I had to put together why this person was doing this bad thing and the idea of the carnival was the only logical place to me. Once I had the place down, everything else came pretty easily.
2. Did you ever have any first-hand run-ins with ghosts? Do you believe they exist?
Yes. When I was around 6 or 7, I saw an angel while I was sleeping over at my cousins house. No, it was not a dream. I literally pinched myself to make sure. Not quite a ghost but it the same realm, right? Also, I’m pretty sure my childhood home is haunted. I’ve personally never seen anything, but my mom and I smell coffee and tobacco in the early hours of the morning and late at night when nobody is cooking and neither of us smoke.
3. Cirque Berserk promises the reader “brutality, bloodshed, and betrayal”, which certainly feels like a recipe for an amazing horror book. If you had to describe the type of horror you love to write in only three words, what words would they be?
Crazy Killer Girls
4. Your website Black Girl’s Guide to Horror highlights a common problem in the horror community. As you state, “Horror is for everyone, but it doesn’t always feel that way with the lack of representation in the genre.” As horror continues to evolve, what changes do you hope to see?
Oh, man. So much. I want more black women as final girls and villains. Do you know how few black female villains we have? I want to see more Indigenous people in horror movies, and more LGBTQ+ people in horror. I want more horror movies directed by women. I want to see a plus sized final girl. I want to see voodoo and Pan African mysticism that isn’t filtered through a white lens or portrayed as “evil.” I want more black witches.
5. You’ve estimated yourself to have watched over 1000 movies, so this question is going to be tough. What is your all-time favorite horror movie?
The Descent. It has almost everything I love in a horror movie: blood, a tasteful amount of gore, an all-female cast, terrifying monsters, and there’s some heart to the story.
6. What book(s) are you reading right now?
Two. Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer. I haven’t read it all the way through, but I open it whenever I need a pep talk about creativity and not sacrificing that wonder and silliness we’re born with. I also just started There Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins. It’s really good so far.
7. If you could co-author a book with any author, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Gillian Flynn. She doesn’t exactly write horror, but thrillers are close enough in my opinion. She has a style that I love and identify with and I think she also has an affinity for crazy killer girls, so we’d probably mesh well.
8. What is next for you? Anything in the works?
I’m re-working my novel right now. It was my thesis for my MFA, but I have some ideas I think will make it stronger. I’m also working on a short story about South Florida’s iguana infestation. They’re literally everywhere down here. Picture The Walking Dead, but instead of zombies it’s iguanas.
9. Where can people find you online?
You can check out my website, Black Girl’s Guide to Horror, at and follow me on Twitter HERE and HERE
10. Thank you so much! This is you chance to say anything that wasn’t asked. Closing thoughts?
Thank you for having me! There are some awesome novellas being published this year by Unnerving Magazine as a part of their Rewind or Die series. My novella, Cirque Berserk, will be out February 20th, 2020, but all of them look really cool. Check out @UnnervingMag for updates and release dates.
BUY CIRQUE BERSERK ON AMAZON HERE
Horror Author Tracy Fahey #Interview
Tracy Fahey Interview
Horror Author Tracy Fahey
1. Gothic fiction. Folk Horror. Young Adult. You do it all! When did you first develop a love for the dark and creepy?
My obsession with the macabre goes back as far as I can remember. I was fascinated by dark folktales in my locality; stories of banshees, the good folk, holy wells, hauntings. My grandmother was a wonderful storyteller, and her tales very much influenced my 2018 New Music For Old Rituals, a collection of contemporary folktales, and especially my 2017 YA novel, The Girl In The Fort.
2. Your 2019 short story ‘The Thing I Did’ received an Honourable Mention by Ellen Datlow in her The Best Horror of Year Volume 11. Congratulations! Can you please tell us a little about the inspiration behind this story?
This is a story that developed from a tiny, tragic article of a domestic accident I read many years ago. I’m obsessed with everyday horrors; the deepest horror we experience is when someone close to us is affected. With this story I also wanted to probe the idea of male grief as something unspoken and overpowering.
3. You have three incredible books published, New Music for Old Rituals (2018), The Unheimlich Manoeuver (2018), and The Girl in the Fort (2017). What tip would you give a newbie writer who wants to, one day, be published?
Read, read, read. Write, write, write. And then, submit, submit, submit.
You learn so much from reading and appreciating and noticing the way others write. You learn hugely by doing – by the act of writing, re-writing, editing. Finally, it’s through submitting and getting feedback that you learn to hone your work – and hopefully get it published in the process.
4. What is your least favorite horror trope?
Probably body torture. I won’t watch it. However, perversely, I am working on a collection of female body horror at the moment – but quiet female body horror. It’s a challenge to write from the body without being explicit and gory.
5. If you could co-author a book with any author, living or dead, who would it be and why?
That’s an interesting question! I’ve co-written before -The Black Room Manuscripts IV which was nominated for a Splatterpunk Award in 2019 was co-edited by myself and J.R Park – we also co-wrote a prologue and epilogue for it. I found it fascinating that although we have very different styles and influences, we write together very effectively. From that I learned that the way to co-author is to respect each other’s work, listen to each other’s criticisms and carve out a way of working that suits both parties. I’d love to work with J.R Park again and with other contemporary horror writers I admire such as Priya Sharma, Georgina Bruce, James Everington and many MANY more.
6. What book(s) are you reading right now?
I generally read a few books at a time – right now I’m finishing Yrsa Sigurdsdottir’s Icelandic noir novel The Reckoning, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s multi-dimensional time-travel This Is How You Lose The Time War, and Sarah Read’s marvelous short story collection, Out of Water.
7. If you weren’t a writer, what job would you have?
I’m a part-time writer, so I already have a full-time job working in an art college, which is rather wonderful- as a Gothic writer I also get to run research projects and teach a class on the Gothic. But apart from that I do have an abiding love for forensic science – I’ve taken a few online classes on forensics, so that’s something else I’m really interested in.
8. What is next for you? Anything in the works?
I’m excited to say that on Friday the 13th of March my publishers, the Sinister Horror Company, will release the deluxe edition of The Unheimlich Manoeuvre with five new stories, two new essays, and story notes on all tales in the collection. They’re also bringing out a chapbook, Unheimlich Manoeuvres In The Dark, a chapbook of this new material, so anyone who’s read and enjoyed the original book can simply buy the additional writing as a stand-alone.
I’m also working on two short story-collections, the body-horror I Spit Myself Out that I’ve mentioned, and a collection on liminality and ‘other’ spaces, provisionally titled In-Between Days.
9. Where can people find you online?
I hang out on Twitter where I tweet about writing, books, the Gothic and esoterica related to medieval monsters, folk traditions and fine art.
10. Thank you so much! This is your chance to say anything that wasn’t asked. Closing thoughts?
First of all, thank you for the interview. It’s been a pleasure to answer these questions. And if any reviewers are interested in advanced reader copies of the deluxe edition of The Unheimlich Manoeuvre or the chapbook, Unheimlich Manoeuvres In The Dark please contact me via my website and I’ll be delighted to send on a copy. I’m also generally available for blogs, interviews or articles on the Gothic, the domestic uncanny, folk horror, body horror or contemporary female horror writing