We were happy to discover you as we thumbed through the Summer Reading edition of Motif Magazine. Let’s begin with your favorite genre, horror. When did you first become interested in it?
As long as I can remember I have had an attraction to the darker side of life. My father was a huge Anne Rice and Stephen King reader, my mother loved classic gothic and ghost stories, and my paternal grandmother was a big reader of thrillers and medical horror, so it was always around. We watched X-Files, Dark Shadows, Kolchak and the like as a family. I’ve always been attracted to the idea of hidden things, secret worlds, and the more unsavory elements in life. I was obsessed with the horror sections of video stores as a kid, there was one in Woonsocket called Major Video that had these huge wall murals of Pinhead and the Critters that I was absolutely terrified and fascinated when young. I have always loved monsters and had a soft spot for complicated anti-heroes and misunderstood outcasts. I was a voracious reader from a young age and practically memorized Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and In a Dark, Dark Room collections. So in short, I was very young when I got interested in horror.
Was there a published writer (or writers) who strongly influenced you?
I’ve always loved the lonely New England Gothic, we are in Lovecraft Country here in Rhode Island after all, I grew up in New Hampshire, which is more Stephen King territory. I adored Anne Rice growing up and really connected with the tragic monster, I love the humanity mixing with the horrible. As a teen and young adult I consumed massive quantities of splatterpunk horror, really connecting with Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy A. Collins, Skipp and Specter. I love urban fantasy/horror and the mixing of crime fiction and the supernatural, Clive Barker,Tanya Huff, Ilona Andrews, Carrie Vaughn are some favorites. I adore Robert Aickman and would love to see him read more. His work is so peculiar and his characters so relatable. I also read a lot of contemporary weird horror fiction, loving the work of Laird Barron, Nadia Bulkin, Brian Evenson, Carmen Maria Machado, there are just too many to list! I like stories that give a real sense of place, I like complex messy characters and I love narratives that are twisty and don’t give all the answers.
When did you first begin writing horror tales?
Probably before I could write I was drawing them! Just recently, my elementary school art teacher mailed me a book I made in probably 5th or 6th grade that he kept all these years because it impressed him so. The story centers around a girl coming home to find her mother has been murdered. It’s a wild and bloody tale that I wrote and illustrated and I find it funny they allowed all the grue! But it was really cool to see this relic of my childhood and know that someone had held onto it as something special in all his 30 plus years of teaching.
And when and what was your first sale?
I sold my first short story “Vulture” in 2013 to a horror/haunting anthology. I had taken a writing course online, when I was debating pivoting more seriously into writing, and the instructor told me at the end he thought my story was strong enough to send out and sell. At that point, I’d not really thought about that at all! So on a lark, I looked up some calls and sent the story out and it was accepted. Then I was off and running.
You have published several books. Can you give us an overview of them please, starting with your debut novel, Parasite Life?
Parasite Life is a love letter to the old Victorian Gothics mainly Carmilla and a little Dorian Gray, as well as a tribute to the vampire novel. It tells the story of Jane, an isolated young woman forced to care for her ailing mother, when a new girl comes to town it opens up Jane’s world and her dark lineage.
Les Femmes Grotesques is a short story collection exploring women behaving badly, or having bad things happen to them! It’s an exploration of genre, with tales ranging from contemporary, to folk horror, to even westerns.
And you have a new book, first in a series, coming in September. It’s called Selene Shade, Resurrectionist for Hire. What’s the plot and who are the main characters?
With the ability to restore life to the dead, “Zombie Queen” Selene Shade has earned quite a reputation. Not that it helps her get dates. Her bed may be empty but business is booming. That is until her life is thrown into disarray when a brutal killer comes to town and all signs point to her being the next victim.
Enlisted by the police department due to her unique craft, she must make new alliances, deal with old rivals, and maybe even save the world—whether she wants to or not—all the while avoiding the gruesome allure of dark magic and the sacrificial ritual of a mad cultist.
In Resurrectionist for Hire, I weave a dire tale of magic, murder, and romance. To survive, Selene will have to harness her power of the dead and overcome her struggle to connect with the living.
In the world of the series, for a price, you can be brought back from the dead and live as a ‘half-life’. Selene Shade works as a resurrectionist, which leaves her isolated and outcast. A series of brutal ritual murders in which she may be next pulls her out of her comfort zone forcing her to work with all sorts of characters and maybe, whether she likes it or not, stop the end of the world. The later books in the series have Selene dealing with vampire serial killers, crazy religious cults, witch drug dealers and all sorts of things. Many of the characters are supernatural but also very ordinary and relatable. I like mixing the fantastical with the mundane.
In addition to being a writer, you are also a visual artist. Tell us about that.
While I always wrote, it was more for myself. Most of my life people would think of me first and foremost as an artist. I went to college for painting and then worked in New York City museums, in particular the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. I have shown my work in various galleries and art events throughout New England. Coming up, I will have work in Ars Necromica, the art show portion of Necronomicon Providence opening in just a few weeks. I have been the Gallery Coordinator for the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative for nearly ten years, organizing four large art shows a year. I feel like my art work and writing go hand in hand, often exploring similar themes, mainly the dichotomy between the beautiful and the grotesque. I love the push and pull of attraction and disgust. Of the ornate and the macabre.
And how about a bit of your background and education. You are originally from New Hampshire and are a graduate of Rhode Island College, correct?
Yes, I was born in Rhode Island, raised in the Lakes Region/White Mountains of New Hampshire and then attended college at Rhode Island College. My grandparents lived in Bellingham, Massachusetts, so I spent a lot of my childhood in the southern Massachusetts/Rhode Island area and had always planned to come back for school. I was attracted to RIC because it had such a strong art program and a reasonable tuition. It was a great school and I am still good friends with folks I met there as well as faculty.
I write books in many genres, including horror, and I am often asked who my favorite horror writer is. It’s Stephen King, who I once had the pleasure of interviewing. Who’s yours?
I don’t know if I can pick! It is so based on my mood. But I may say Clive Barker. He just can do so many genres and styles, his worlds are so vast and strange, his prose so tight. Though I will say I prefer his short fiction to novels.
What about Lovecraft? You live in Providence, which was his city, too.
Oh yes, I like Lovecraft. Though when I tried to read him in high school I was not a fan! It took a revisit in my mid-twenties to come around. He’s problematic and verbose, that cannot be denied, but he is also so foundational to so many writers (like Stephen King). I love the strangeness of his world, how alien and unknowable the monsters and aliens are, I love the hidden worlds, lost religions and secret societies. His paranoia and fear of the ‘other’ birthed all sorts of fascinating ideas that we are still inspired by today.
What are your favorite horror movies?
Again, I am all over the place based on my mood. But I love atmospheric dread movies- like the original Alien, Halloween, The Shining, Don’t Look Now, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, The Hunger, Lake Mungo, Session 9… But I also love 80’s sleaze and schlock and practical FX: Return of the Living Dead, Demons, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The Blob, Fright Night, Funhouse, everything Cronenberg.
Are there any plans to make any of your stories or books into a film or TV show?
Always! There has been some interest from Hollywood, in particular some of the short stories in Les Femmes Grotesques, but nothing concrete at this point. But I am always open to it.
We always like to discuss craft, here at Ocean State Stories and on our national PBS TV show, Story in the Public Square. When do you write? Paper or computer? How many drafts do you typically go through before being satisfied? Who do you trust to read your work and give an honest critique? That’s a lot of questions! Freel free to answer some and add anything else if you desire.
I am an afternoon writer, most productive in the post lunch period. I have an art/writing studio and often alternate writing and painting throughout the day. I write on a computer but I take a lot of notes in a notebook I keep by my side. I like to print out and red-pen on paper once I have a complete draft. I tend to edit while going along so my ‘rough draft’ is usually in a more realized state. I have a few loyal beta readers that I give things I write to first and often make big changes based on their feedback. I think it’s important to get fresh eyes and honest feedback through the process. I usually wait until the 2nd or 3rd draft to show to beta readers and then revise once or twice more from there. But there is no exact science for me.
Lastly, what advice do you have for young or older people who are interested in writing horror – or in any genre, for that matter?
It’s trite advice but totally true that you need to write! If you write, even if no one ever sees what you write, you are a writer. As far as horror in particular I think reading within the genre is a good place to start. Ellen Datlow is an amazing editor that has put out a lot of great anthologies, something for everyone really, so I would start there. Horror is a very empathetic genre, which may be surprising to some. It’s also very cathartic. To scare someone else you need to understand them or be talking about something that is a collective fear or experience. I would recommend digging into your lived experiences, things that scare you, bad dreams, fears and plumb them for material!
But as far as advice for all writers, I think it’s finding a practice you can stick to and set reasonable goals. For example, so many people start with trying to write a novel. I feel like a better goal is to focus on completing a short story, especially while working on voice/ genre etc.
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