Women in Horror Month #12: Rose O'Keefe, Owner of Eraserhead Press

For the final entry in WiHM 2017 I am delighted that today's guest agreed to stop by as she is one of the most singularly influential people working in the field today.  Without her, modern extreme horror - as well as the the entire bizarro genre - would look nothing like it does.  Let's meet her and then pick her brain as we save the best for last in this year's WiHM interview series.

About Rose O'Keefe:

Rose O'Keefe is the owner/ publisher of Eraserhead Press, the leading publishing house of Bizarro Fiction since 1999. Eraserhead Press is comprised of one main line of books and three imprints: Deadite Press, Lazy Fascist Press, and Fungasm Press. Under O’Keefe’s direction, Eraserhead Press has released over three hundred titles and developed an international cult following for its cutting-edge weird fiction which has been praised by The Guardian, Chuck Palahniuk, Jack Ketchum, Boing Boing, and Cracked.com, among others.

As a leader in the Bizarro Fiction community, she hosts monthly writer's gatherings, writer's retreats on the Oregon Coast, and the annual convention/art event, BizarroCon.

In addition to being a full-time publisher and editor, she’s also a homebrewer and Argentine tango dancer. She lives in Portland, Oregon. You can find her on: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Interview:

SK: What are your horror credentials? 

RO:  I am a lifelong fan of horror and have been professionally involved in the industry for nearly two decades. I am the publisher/owner of Eraserhead Press and our imprints Deadite Press, Lazy Fascist Press, and Fungasm Press. I publish powerhouse authors Brian Keene, John Skipp, Edward Lee, Carlton Mellick III, Monica O'Rourke, Wrath James White, J.F. Gonzalez, Bryan Smith, Tiffany Scandal, Jan Kozlowski, Shane McKenzie, Molly Tanzer, Stephen Graham Jones, Laura Lee Bahr, Ryan Harding, Autumn Christian, Geoff Cooper, David Agranoff, Brian Allen Carr, Bryan Killian, Adam Cesare, Robert Devereaux, and many others. I also support the work of artists and filmmakers working in the genre and as programming chair of the 2014 World Horror Convention, I was the first person in the history of the event to make sure there were women seated on all the panels.  

SK: Who or what terrifies you? 

 
RO:  So many things! And that's what keeps me interested in horror. Rather than running from the things that terrify me, I'm interested in confronting them, dissecting them, seeing what makes them tick. Some of the big ones are parasites, going blind, narrow confined spaces, losing my memory, unpredictable people, willful malice, natural disasters, and loved ones in danger.

SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

RO:  The challenges to being a woman in horror are less about the horror genre in particular and more about being a woman in a patriarchal society. Even in 2017, being taken seriously as a woman in business has its obstacles. For example, it is still a frequent occurrence in meetings of mixed genders that myself or another woman will put forward an idea and the men at the table won't hear the idea until another man repeats it. This can be very frustrating and is one of those things that women frequently have to pick their battles on. As a woman in a position of leadership, I make sure to create space for women's voices wherever I can and encourage the men around me to learn how to listen. Similarly, I've had other experiences of being overlooked. Like the time I was setting up my table in a horror convention dealers room and one of my employees, a man, was down on his knees on the floor digging through boxes of books organizing our inventory. Meanwhile, I was standing next to the table overseeing the setup and telling him what I wanted him to do. A writer walked over with some questions about our company and addressed the man on the floor. My employee looked up at him and said, "You should probably ask my boss those questions, she's standing right next to you."  These are things I think women in any business can relate to and unfortunately things I consider just part of the landscape of being a woman. But the most beautiful challenge for women in horror, as well as men in horror, is the risks they take with their subject matter. Creating art that delves into the darker parts of the human psyche and holds a mirror up to our most depraved aspects as well as our best and most fragile strings of hope takes empathy, compassion, and bravery. It is no easy task and can turn people off if handled improperly. At its best, horror has the ability to transform the reader/viewer and reveal things about the human experience that they may otherwise have left unexplored. To truly appreciate this requires being open to diverse voices and the women who create horror are some of the fiercest among them.

SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?

RO:  As a teenager I had a poster of Morticia Addams on my wall, but my true heroes are story creators like Shirley Jackson, Mary Shelley, Angela Carter, Joyce Carol Oates, Tananarive Due, Anne Rice, Mary SanGiovanni, Francesca Lia Block, Sarah Pinborough, Anya Martin, Mehitobel Wilson, Mercedes Murdock Yardley, Jemiah Jefferson, Lisa Morton, Damien Angelica Walters, and badasses of film Jen and Sylvia Soska (who I've published a story by in WET AND SCREAMING with Shane McKenzie), Lori Bowen ("I Am Monster"), Jennifer Kent ("The Babadook"), Sofia Coppola ("The Virgin Suicides"), Ana Lily Amirpour ("A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"), Gigi Saul Guerrero ("El Gigante"), as well as Kathe Koja and Charlee Jacob.

SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

RO:  I'm excited to announce that this Fall Eraserhead Press will be releasing a new novella by Amber Fallon titled THE WARBLERS. I've been following Ms. Fallon's work for a while and was delighted to receive this book during our open submission period last year. It knocked my socks off! It is about a young farmer who is plagued by strange cryptozoological creatures and what it will take to save his family. Anyone who loves heartfelt, weird and creepy stories is going to love it. It comes out September 1st.

Out now, I'd love to bring the attention of fans of women in horror to the dark comedy SHIT LUCK by Tiffany Scandal:

About SHIT LUCK:

"One of the most exciting new voices to emerge in years. A deft, masterful mix of both bizarro and horror." 

- Brian Keene, author of THE RISING and GHOUL

"Dark and grim and surreal." 

- Electric Literature

Mondays suck. You get mugged, your car won't start, you miss the bus, and your stylist burns a bald spot into your head. Suddenly you're single and unemployed, and the only friend you have left is a cat. By Tuesday, you've been murdered. But death isn't the end. You find yourself on an odyssey between weird worlds, reborn each time you die, stalked obsessively by the man who killed you.

Even in death, you just can't seem to catch a break. Call it Mercury in retrograde, call it Murphy's law, call it...SHIT LUCK.

Women in Horror Month #11: Lesley Conner, Managing Editor of Apex and Author of THE WEIGHT OF CHAINS

I first encountered today's guest in the middle of a stupid Twitter conversation where a filmmaker was accusing her of stealing the title of her latest release.  Of course, you can't copyright a title, which is why Mick Jagger can't sue Holly Lisle for naming her book SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL...amongst billions of other examples.  In any case, I admired the way she handled that stupidity and got to go to a signing and have lunch with her in person a few months later.  Oh, and we're also Sinister Grin stablemates.  So I'm very pleased to have her with us today, so let's meet the guest and jump right into the interview.

About Lesley Conner:

Lesley Conner is a writer/editor, managing editor of Apex Publications and Apex Magazine, and a Girl Scout leader. When she isn’t handling her editorial or Girl Scout leader responsibilities, she’s researching fascinating historical figures, rare demons, and new ways to dispose of bodies, interweaving the three into strange and horrifying tales. Her short fiction can be found in MOUNTAIN DEAD, DARK TALES OF TERROR, A HACKED-UP HOLIDAY MASSACRE, as well as other places. Her first novel THE WEIGHT OF CHAINS was published by Sinister Grin Press in September, 2015. BEST OF APEX MAGAZINE: VOLUME 1 marks her debut experience in anthology editing. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two daughters, and is currently working on a new novel. To find out all her secrets, you can follow her on Twitter.

Interview:

SK:  What are your horror credentials?

LC:  I’ve had short stories published in anthologies such as MOUNTAIN DEAD, A HACKED-UP HOLIDAY MASSACRE, and DARK TALES OF TERROR. Lately I’ve been focusing on writing novels, and had my alternate history horror novel THE WEIGHT OF CHAINS published by Sinister Grin Press back in 2015.

SK:  Who or what terrifies you?
 

LC:  There isn’t a whole lot that terrifies me, but the one thing that gets me is the thought of something happening to my children. I have a 14 year old and a nine year old daughter, and the older I get, the more I worry about somebody hurting them or there being an accident. The way it’s going, I’m going to be one of those horrible helicopter moms before they graduate from high school. 

SK:  Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

LC:  There aren’t unique challenges in terms of women being able to create/enjoy horror. We’re just a capable as men. But there are in the way people perceive women in horror. Many times I’ve been told I don’t “look like a horror writer.”  What is a horror writer supposed to look like?

I’ve also had people who know me in my real life be incredibly surprised by my novel. They know I wrote a horror novel, but they also know I’m a mom and a Girl Scout leader. They see me as this sweet lady who children love and who drinks way too much coffee and fits the image of a frazzled, over-achieving mom rather than someone who could write a vicious book about serial killers and demons. They assume I must have written some sort of cutesy scary book, and then they read THE WEIGHT OF CHAINS and are completely shocked. How did that book come out of my imagination!?! Well, I’ll tell you how – being a mom/Girl Scout leader in no way impairs my ability to write some scary, messed up shit.

SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?

LC:  I know this probably isn’t original or anything like that, but I have to say Shirley Jackson. Most people seem to know her best for her story “The Lottery” and her novel THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, but my favorite work of hers is WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE. It isn’t a horror novel in terms of there being a supernatural element or a serial killer or a monster. It’s a story about people and how horrible we can be to each other. She takes this surreal setup and transforms the everyday people into the monsters. It is terrifying in the way that it is so believable and realistic. I recommend everyone read it. Great, great book!

SK:  What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

LC:  I’m working on a second novel about speakeasies and jazz and mysterious deaths, but it is coming very slow. It could be a while before it’s out where people can read it. Writing has been really difficult for me lately. I actually wrote an essay about it for CLICKERS FOREVER: A J.F. GONZALEZ TRIBUTE which will be coming out as a limited edition hardcover through Thunderstorm Books and in paperback and digital through Deadite Press. It’s going to be a terrific anthology and I’m incredibly honored to be a part of it.

And if you like the sound of horror set in medieval times and the ultimate power struggle between a serial killer and demon, then definitely check out THE WEIGHT OF CHAINS.

About THE WEIGHT OF CHAINS:

Gilles de Rais has control over every aspect of his life: the servants he employs, the village he lords over, the carefully crafted visage he shows to the world. He dictates where his subjects live, what they eat, if they live or die. He has ultimate power and wields it with a flourish to conceal the dark desires that lurk behind his smile and the despair within his castle in Machecoul.

When a wizard tasked with raising a demon loses control of the beast, Gilles's tight grasp on his world begins to slip. His cook plans to flee, taking her son away from the dangers of the castle. His guard wants to claim Gilles’s lifestyle as his own. His wizard frantically searches for a way to survive both his lord and the demon he has called into the world. And the villagers – like Jeanetta and her family –move through life in Machecoul too consumed with the task of surviving day to day, and oblivious to the turmoil building within the castle that is threatening to break out and consume them all.

Women in Horror Month #10: Kindra Sowder, Founder and CEO of Burning Willow Press

I've been friends with today's guest for a few years.  We were both, urm, let's say...disappointed by the behavior of a small press we had been involved with.  Nobody likes getting burned by a publisher, but I have enjoyed watching her deal with her disappointment. Instead of stewing over it, she forged her own small empire.  Today I'm pleased to introduce to you all the founder of Burning Willow Press.  Let's meet her briefly and then dive into the interview. 

About Kindra Sowder:

Kindra Sowder was born and raised in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA until the age of 12, when her family moved to Spartanburg, SC. She graduated from high school in 2006 with full honors and as a member of her high school Literary Club and the Spanish Honor Society. In January 2014, she graduated with her second degree in Criminal NeuroPsychology. She married her husband Edd Sowder in May 2014 and still lives in Spartanburg, SC where she is basing Burning Willow Press. Her works have earned multiple award nominations.

To keep up with Kindra Sowder: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Blog, Goodreads.

Interview:

SK:  What are your horror credentials?

KS:  I’ve been writing for years, mostly fantasy and horror. At this moment in time, I am the founder and CEO of Burning Willow Press, LLC. Home of all stories horror, science fiction, fantasy, and all subgenres therein. Not only that, but I am the author of countless horror novels and short stories.

SK:  Who or what terrifies you?

KS:  There isn’t a lot that terrifies me. I can watch a horror film and never once cringe or look away. But I do have one weakness. Heights. They terrify me. My husband always says that it’s not the height that scares me, it’s the fall. He could be right, but I’m going to keep saying it’s heights.

SK:  Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

KS:  I do feel that there are definitely struggles to being a woman in the horror genre. We aren’t taken as seriously as the men in our genre but, if you ask anyone, women write the best horror. We don’t have the same hang-ups mentally and even write the darkest and most loved works of the genre. And, because of our gender, we aren’t treated equally among the men. One day, that will change, and I hope it’s sooner rather than later.

SK:  Who are your favorite female horror icons?

KS:  Anne Rice has been my idol in the horror genre since day one and has inspired so much of my work. Mary Shelley is another. Most recently, Rhiannon Frater and S.C. Parris captured my heart with the amazing worlds they create. I don’t know where I’d be in my career without these amazing ladies as inspiration.

SK:  What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

KS:  Currently, I am working on the third book of my dystopian fantasy/science fiction series, THE PERMUTATION ARCHIVES as well as some other works. I am writing my horror/science fiction short story for the third installment of BWP’s CROSSROADS IN THE DARK anthology series, MONSTERS UNDER YOUR BED.  Another MISS HYDE novella is also in progress, which is a mixture of erotica and horror. I believe, and have been told, that I bring some very unique aspects to the genres I choose to pursue that everyone should check out any of my works. One shining example of this is the MISS HYDE novellas, where I take the story of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and turn it on its head.

About THE HARVESTED:

There are only a few things Mila is afraid of. Most are pretty common fears, but there is one that sets her apart from those around her. The fear of a secret. With one drop of blood, her secret of a power beyond anything anyone had ever seen before is unleashed, landing her in a place where she is a prisoner. And an experiment. And there are only a few that know their dictator’s ultimate goal. Some are willing to save her, others want to exploit her for their own dark and sinister intentions, and it is up to her to stop them before it’s too late.

Women in Horror Month #9: Nikki Howard, Reviewer and Owner of Horror After Dark

Whenever I have a new release, the first person I go to for a review is today's guest.  She runs hands-down one of the best horror review sites in the world. She doesn't pull any punches, not even for her friends' books, (which is a shame because I'm glad to also call her a friend.)  Her unwaveringly honest review style has earned her the nickname "The Panther" among those of us who know her.  I look forward to introducing her to the rest of you today.

About Nikki Howard:

I love to read, buy books, watch movies, search for more books, game a little, and buy more books. I also make candles and wax melts.

Since I love books, I decided to promote them on my site Horror After Dark.  (Yup, you guessed it. Horror and stuff) with an awesome team.

Authors, feel free to contact me through the site for your promotional needs.

Mother to one son.
Business Owner: Captivate Candle Co.
Reader of many books
Motto: Do Better Be Better

You can find me here, on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Interview:

SK:  What are your horror credentials?

NH:  I'm the owner of Horror After Dark which is a blog dedicated to the darker stuff. I own over 3,000 books and review whenever possible. I'm a member of Goodreads and  a member of Netgalley and other book clubs.


SK:  Who or what terrifies you?

NH:  I don't scare easily. I'm all about atmosphere. Those almost imperceptible sounds that your mind questions. A flash of someone or something in your peripheral vision. The description of blood and your hand scrabbles for purchase after a fall. Yeah, those are the things that creep me out.

SK:  Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

NH:  I don't feel like there's a problem with me being a woman because I am basically spreading the word for all authors so that puts me at an advantage. You want reviews and sales? Well, that's what my team and I do. It doesn't matter if you're a woman or not as long as you get the job done. However, I do see that women, in movies and books are outnumbered. Where are all the ladies at?

SK:  Who are your favorite female horror icons?

NH:  Hmm. I love Mary SanGiovanni's work and I always recommend her first. Then there's Anne Rice (THE WITCHING HOUR), Tanith Lee (THE BOOK OF THE DEAD), Sarah Pinborough (FEEDING GROUND), Monica J. O'Rourke (IN THE END, ONLY DARKNESS.)

As far as the big screen when I think horror, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, "Alien") comes to mind first. Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" makes her a memorable lady. And of course, Jamie Lee Curtis ("Halloween") who took her babysitting job seriously.

SK:  What are you working on/promoting currently?  Why should folks check it out?

NH:  Next on my reading roster is CHAOS by Mary. You don't want to miss anything she writes. It always help when the author or actress is a nice person.

About Horror After Dark:

Horror After Dark is one of the top horror review sites in the world.

Women in Horror Month #8: Amber Fallon, Author of THE TERMINAL

I've had the pleasure of meeting today's guest at a number of conventions and I've learned one thing: she is ravenous.  Ravenous to attend events, ravenous to learn about the industry, and ravenous to produce and publish.  I expect she's going to go a long way, so I'm pleased to be able to feature her, before she takes everything over.  Let's meet her now.

About Amber Fallon:

Amber Fallon lives in a small town outside Boston, Massachusetts that she shares with her husband and their two dogs. A techie by day and a horror writer by night, Mrs. Fallon has also spent time as a bank manager, motivational speaker, produce wrangler, and apprentice butcher.  Her obsessions with sushi, glittery nail polish, and sharp objects have made her a recognized figure around the community.

Amber's publications include THE TERMINAL, THE DAUGHTERS OF INANNA, SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE BRAINS, DAILY FRIGHTS 2012, WOMEN OF THE LIVING DEAD, ZOMBIE TALES, HERE BE CLOWNS, HORROR ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN, ZOMBIES FOR A CURE, A QUICK BITE OF FLESH, DAILY FRIGHTS 2013, MIRROR, MIRROR, OPERATION ICE BAT,  PAINTED MAYHEM, and RETURN TO DEATHLEHEM.

For more information, please tweet her or visit her blog and listen to her podcast, "It Cooks" on Project iRadio!

You can also find her on Amazon and Facebook.

Interview:

SK:  What are your horror credentials?

AF:  I've been a horror fan all my life. I was actually supposed to be named after Edgar Allan Poe...then I had to go and be born a girl...on the 134th anniversary of his death no less. I wrote my first horror story at age 9. I've been published in a variety of small press anthologies and my debut novella, THE TERMINAL, is available now.

SK:  Who or what terrifies you?

AF:  Giraffes terrify me. They are awful. I also have a mild case of trypophobia.

SK:  Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

AF:  There are some challenges to being a woman in the horror industry. There's a good deal of bias still out there, that's for sure. I once had a sexist jerk insist that I didn't write horror, it was "paranormal romance" (which is laughable if you've read my work. I don't pull punches when it comes to gore or violence, but there is very little in the way of love or sex in anything I've written) he also called me "sweetheart" in a condescending tone... and I'm not alone. I would be willing to bet that any female horror fan, author, artist, musician, or filmmaker could give you similar accounts of BS they've had to deal with.

SK:  Who are your favorite female horror icons?

AF:  Shirley Jackson. Ruby Jean Jensen. Mary Shelley. R. R. Ryan. Mary SanGiovanni.

SK:  What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

AF:  I have a book coming out from Eraserhead Press in September. It's called THE WARBLERS and it's a coming of age tale about a young boy in rural Appalachia around 1900... oh, and there are monsters.

About THE TERMINAL:

Air travel during the holiday season. Yuck. Stupid people, flight delays, and long lines at security are pretty much the worst things ever - or so Dirk Bradley thought until a horde of bloodthirsty psychopaths from beyond the stars invaded the airport, cutting a swath of death and destruction through everything he knew and loved. Can he survive the attack and live to tell the tale? What hope does an average Joe have against a race of brutal killers bent on world domination?

Women in Horror Month #7: Mary SanGiovanni. Author of CHILLS

I got to meet today's guest around Halloween in 2015, and since then she's been very generous with her time and talent both with me and my friends.  She's also one of the greatest horror authors in the world, and I couldn't have hoped to ever host a better guest.  Let's meet her and then dive right in.

About Mary SanGiovanni:

Mary SanGiovanni is the author of the THE HOLLOWER trilogy (the first of which was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award), THRALL, CHAOS, CHILLS, and the forthcoming SAVAGE WOODS, and the novellas FOR EMMY, POSSESSING AMY, THE FADING PLACE, and NO SONGS FOR THE STARS and the forthcoming A QUIET PLACE AT WORLD’S END, as well as the collections UNDER COVER OF NIGHT, A DARKLING PLAIN, the forthcoming NIGHT MOVES and A WEIRDISH WILD SPACE. Her fiction has appeared in periodicals and anthologies for the last decade. She has a Masters degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, Pittsburgh, where she studied under genre greats. She is currently a member of The Authors Guild, The International Thriller Writers, and Penn Writers, and was previously an Active member in the Horror Writers Association.

You can find her on her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

Interview:

SK:  What are your horror credentials?

MS:  In a career spanning almost two decades, I've written about a dozen books, including novels, novellas, and short fiction collections. My first novel, THE HOLLOWER, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and I received the Lavinia Kohl Award for Excellence in literature for one of my first short stories. I have a Masters in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, and was one of the first women writers to speak to the CIA about writing. My most recent novel is CHILLS.

SK:  Who or what terrifies you?

MS:  There are many real-world things that I find absolutely terrifying. The thought of people I love going missing, particularly the children in my life, is probably at the forefront, and recently have been investigating ways that I might help missing and exploited children and their families. I'm terrified of fire and strangely, have an acute discomfort around iron things. I have an irrational fear of faceless things -- or maybe it's not so irrational. And I'm absolutely, almost loathsomely averse to hospitals and gurneys. I think I have a fear of abandonment due to illness, mental or physical, and somehow, my mind has designated hospitals as a symbol of that. So...I suppose a fire in a hospital while I'm tied to a gurney by a faceless person and everybody thinks I've gone missing is my ultimate nightmare.

SK:  Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

MS:  I believe there are some unique challenges to being a woman writer in horror, though the extent has decreased over time. I think women have only just gained a foothold as recognizably relevant figures in the genre, and so we don't have the historical cachet to our names that frequently lead to invites to commercial anthology slots, film and television adaptations, or foreign markets as often as male counterparts, for example. It's not that it never happens; I think it just doesn't happen as often quite yet. I've been lucky enough to watch the decline in acceptance of sexual harassment of female writers, editors, publishers, and agents and also, I've seen a remarkable acceptance of women's work by readers as well as peers. New generations of writers, both male and female, now cite female writers as influences and favorite authors as often as males. This may not sound like much to some, but having seen the change happen -- being able to remember when these things were not the standard case -- is encouraging. Even if the proportions haven't quite evened out, recognition of women's work as on par with men's in the horror genre is certainly balancing out -- a trend I hope to see continue.

From a business perspective, I think women face the challenges they do in the business world, particularly in that women have historically been taught not to be bold or assertive. I think this makes women somewhat hesitant to insist on better pay rates per word, say. It makes them uncomfortable to cross out clauses in contracts we know are not in our best interest. It makes us uneasy to cold-contact an editor or make use of a networking opportunity. I saw it in the corporate world as well; in many cases, men get promotions and better pay and nicer offices and more latent and overt respect for their skill and knowledge simply because they demand it. Women are taught that's...bitchy or unladylike, somehow. I think the women who can get past that and in addition to being prolific and talented, they can also command respect and push their own careers forward will make immense strides in our field.

SK:  Who are your favorite female horror icons?

MS:   I admire Elvira (Cassandra Peterson), who combined beauty, wit, business acumen, and talent to reach an iconic status in horror. I admire Kathy Bates, who I suspect, from things I read in interviews, had never much wanted to be an icon of horror, but I believe she is incredibly talented. I admire Sarah Pinborough and Sarah Langan, both supremely talented writers and great people. I admire their ability to juggle so much vibrance in their own personal lives with such success in their professional lives. I also admire women like film directors Ida Lupino ("The Hitch-Hiker"), Jen and Sylvia Soska ("American Mary"), Jennifer Lynch ("Boxing Helena"), Kathryn Bigelow ("Near Dark"), so many others), Jovanka Vuckovic ("The Captured Bird"), Izzy Lee ("Innsmouth", "Postpartum"), Mary Lambert ("Pet Sematary", much more), and Jennifer Kent ("The Babadook"). I think it's important to acknowledge talented directors like these because let's face it -- a primary portal to the world at large for horror is through movies. These women create more than just hack-n-slash, by-the-numbers stuff. They create work which speaks to the female as well as male experience, which showcases the textured, emotionally complex artistry of horror and its viability as an artistic expression. They give visibility and respectability to our field while stretching its boundaries and contradicting the stereotypes that characterized so much of horror -- books awe well as cinema -- for so many decades.

SK:  What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

MS:  Currently, I have a non-fiction book on writing, life, and other topics called A WEIRDISH WILD SPACE, due out this year from Thunderstorm Books. I also have a short story collection due out from Post Mortem Press due out in July called NIGHT MOVES, which collects novelettes and short fiction that is rare, out of print, or relatively new to the world. I will have some short fiction and a novella appearing in various places toward the end of the year, and my newest novel, SAVAGE WOODS, is due out from Kensington Books probably in the fall. I'm currently working on the aforementioned short fiction and novella, as well as an additional novella due out from Cemetery Dance called A QUIET PLACE AT WORLD's END and when I make some headway on those, I have a new novel and two new collections of original and unpublished short fiction.

I hope folks will consider checking them out because I have a son to put through college, hahahaha. Seriously, I'm particularly excited about these upcoming works for a number of reasons. A WEIRDISH WILD SPACE explores over a decade of developments, personal and professional, of a writer in the field. It features advice for women writers in particular and all writers in general, shows the history of change our genre has experienced in the last 12 years, notes important events that shaped the current landscape of publishing, and remembers some great creators in our field. I think readers interested in getting to know me and writers interested in books on writing will enjoy it. SAVAGE WOODS might be one of my favorite books since THRALL, much more visceral than my usual work, while retaining that supernatural/psychological blend of creepy that I strive for. I'm also excited about NIGHT MOVES because I think some of my best and most intense short fiction is all available in one book.

I look forward to 2017 and 2018 as prolific and productive years, and I sincerely believe if readers have enjoyed what I've put out so far, they're going to really enjoy these upcoming works.

About CHILLS:

It begins with a freak snowstorm in May. Hit hardest is the rural town of Colby, Connecticut. Schools and businesses are closed, powerlines are down, and police detective Jack Glazier has found a body in the snow. It appears to be the victim of a bizarre ritual murder. It won't be the last. As the snow piles up, so do the sacrifices. Cut off from the rest of the world, Glazier teams up with an occult crime specialist to uncover a secret society hiding in their midst.

The gods they worship are unthinkable. The powers they summon are unstoppable. And the things they will do to the good people of Colby are utterly, horribly unspeakable…

Women In Horror Month #6: Crystal Connor, A Trusted Name in Terror

I asked last year's slate of WiHM guests pretty much the same questions as this year, including "Who are your favorite female horror icons?"  Mary Shelley was far and away the winner, but a number of other names popped up several times.  Remaining stubbornly dead after nearly two hundred years, it seems unlikely I'll ever get to host Mary Shelley here on ye olde blogge, but I am pleased to announce that I did manage to swing last year second most popular horror icon for today's blog post.  So let's meet her and then get straight to the interview!

About Crystal Connor:

Master Imaginationist Crystal Connor is a Washington State native, currently working in the Department of Sleep Prevention as the Chief Imagineer overseeing the Nightmare Division.

She loves anything to do with monsters, bad guys (as in evil-geniuses & super-villains. Not 'those' kind her mother warned her about), rogue scientific experiments, jewelry, sky-high high-heeled shoes & unreasonably priced handbags.

She is also the founder of CrystalCon, a symposium that brings both Science Fiction & Fantasy writers and STEM professions together to mix and mingle with fans, educators, and inventors in attempts to answer a new take on an age-old question … which came first, the science or the fiction?

When she’s not terrorizing her fans and racking up frequent flyers miles by gallivanting all over the country attending fan conventions and writer’s conferences she reviews indie horror and science fiction films for both her personal blog and HorrorAddicts.net.

You can find her at her website and on Twitter.

Interview:

SK: Hi Crystal, Thanks for agreeing to be interviewed for Women in Horror Month!

CC: Are you kidding, thanks so much for asking me! 

SK: What are your horror credentials?

CC: Oh my gosh that’s sounds so official, lol. Ok let’s see here my 2010 debut novel, THE DARKNESS which is book I in the SPECTRUM Trilogy was the finalist in two categories, best cross-genre and best multi-cultural fiction in the International Book Awards and also made it to the final round of the Amazon Breakthrough  Novel Awards in the same year.

My anthology AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER! you can download a forever free audiobook version from here earned a 4 Star review from Reader’s Favorites.

I have 11 publications under my belt and one of my short stories has been slated to be turned into a short horror film to be included in an upcoming anthology called "7 Magpies: The Movie" which features 6 other Black women in horror and 7 Black women film directors

I review independent horror films for Horroraddicts.net under the title Live Action Reviews! by Crystal Connor and I am a judge for this year’s Crypticon’s Film Festival and I think that’s it. lol 

SK: Who or what terrifies you?

CC: Though I enjoy a good old fashion slasher I really like psychological horror and suspense. I think the concept of things and their subsequent implications is what I find the most terrifying. 

SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

CC: I think that gender is unquestionably relevant and I believe race is too. In "The Monster," one of the stories in AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER! I tell a story about a black woman who locks herself in a cabin in the middle of the woods in Alabama with three white racist men because she feels safer with them than what she is running from.

Think about that for a second. Who else but a Black woman can tell that type of terrifying story? It resonates with the fans because "The Monster" remains in the top 3 most downloaded stories from the free site and "The Monster" is one of the stories brought up at every convention I attend when I am meeting new fans.

There are a lot of people who want more diversity in their horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy entertainment and that’s what women and people of color bring to the table, our unique perspectives offers fans a point of view they may not be familiar with. It allows the reader to safely walk a mile in our shoes. Yes, as a white man being in the presence of three racist men would be unsettling. But as a white man all you would have to do is bide your time until you could remove yourself from their company. Yes, as a white woman being in the presence of three racist men could possibly be dangerous, but then again, if the cards are played right she could walk away from them unharmed. If you are white those two scenarios are easily imagined. Now, come with me and let me show you how I would fare…. It’s a whole new level of OMFG! and let’s not forget she willingly locked herself in that cabin with them. Now you have to wonder what it is she’s running from to make her think she’s safer inside with them rather than taking her chances outside.

One of the challenges I see being a woman who writes horror and or science fiction is simply being taken seriously. Years ago I remember reading a review for one of the books in Eloise Knapp’s THE UNDEAD Trilogy and the male reviewer biggest highlight was not that only was she a woman but that she was younger than he was. He just couldn’t believe that she who was younger than he was could out write him the way she did. I see stuff like that all the time. Not only that, if I had a just one nickel for every man who expressed how impressed they were by my fight scenes or the accuracy of the military procedures that, as I woman, I write about I would have enough money to purchase two properties and spend an entire year traveling. And that’s not an understatement.

Another thing I see that women who write horror, including me, have to deal with is men trying to explain to us how things should be. A couple of years ago I was speaking on a panel when a male audience proceeded to tell me that I was wrong about how the Urban Anti-Terrorism Task Force, UATTF for short, would respond to a call. The UATTF didn’t exist until I said it did. But there I was being corrected about an imaginary agency that has no grounding in reality. 

SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?

CC: Joyce Carol Oats, Linda D. Addison, Anne Rice, and because as oftentimes science fiction is the evil twin of horror I am also going to add Octavia E. Butler. Since we’re talking about women in horror coupled with it being Black History month I would like to mention and share a link for a nonfiction reference book by bestselling author Sumiko Saulson called 60 BLACK WOMEN IN HORROR FICTION. It’s an excellent resource for those who are looking for more diversity in their horror entertainment.  

SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

CC: I have several things going on. I am currently working on unseating Stephen King so that I can reign supreme in the world of horror, after that world domination! Lol, just kidding. I am compared to Stephen King all the time, but no matter how many times I hear that it always knocks the wind out of me. Every time I am compared or mentioned in the same sentence as one of the Titans: Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Edgar Allen Poe it takes me awhile to regain my equilibrium because its unbelievably amazing to be compared to the people you idolized as a kid.

Last year I did a midnight horror reading at Westercon Portland and one of the people in the audience was John Shirley. I already get super nervous when I am reading out loud in public but with John Shirley, who is considered a living legend in the science fiction world, I made a gazillion mistakes but then afterwards he came up to me to tell me and said, “You write really well.” And then gave me the contact information to his agent and told me to tell her he sent me. I nearly fainted.

And when you reached out to me and asked if I would grant you an interview, explaining that last year someone listed me … me as female horror icon, second to Mary Shelley, as the in mother of science fiction it sent me into a tailspin, hours later I started crying. Even though it’s what my delusions of grandeur envisioned, never in a million years did I think that someone like me would actually be compared to authors such as those.

So to answer your question the things I am working on right now are preparing for the convention circuit. The first Days of the Dead horror convention is Feb 3-5 in Atlanta and I will be attending all five of them. I am also going to be at all three Crypticon conventions. I’ll be returning to LA for the Midsummer Scream Halloween festival, back to Portland for Westercon 70 and I am going to Finland! For Worldcon 75.

I am currently working on two novels. One is entitled THE FAMILY, and the other is a second collection of short stories. I’ve also been included in a horror anthology SYCORAX'S DAUGHTERS which was compiled by professors Kinitra Brooks, Susana Morris, and the first African American woman to win a Bram Stoker Award, Linda D. Addison. I am terribly excited to me a part of this amazing collection of work. I am hoping to attend the launch party later this month in Atlanta and the second launch in New York.

I would love for people to attend one of these conventions because they’re a blast, I love meeting new people and of course I want people to read my books. I think people should pick up a copy of SYCORAX'S DAUGHTERS because there is not greater bang for your buck than anthologies when you’re looking to discover author’s to add to your personal library.

Thank you so much for this interview, it was super fun!

About SYCORAX'S DAUGHTERS:

“Sycorax’s Daughters introduces us to a whole new legion of gothic writers. Their stories drip with history and blood leaving us with searing images and a chill emanating from shadows gathered in the corner. This anthology is historic in its recognition of women of color writers in a genre that usually doesn’t know what to do with us.”

- Jewelle Gomez, author, The Gilda Stories

A powerful, revealing anthology of dark fiction and poetry by Black women writers. The tales of what scares, threatens and shocks them will enlighten and entertain you.

SYCORAX'S DAUGHTERS' stories and poems delve into demons and shape shifters from Carole McDonnell’s “How to Speak to the Bogeyman” and Sheree Renée Thomas’ “Tree of the Forest Seven Bells Turns the World Round Midnight” to far future offerings from Kiini Ibura Salaam’s “The Malady of Need”, Valjeanne Jeffers’ steampunk female detective in “Mona Livelong: Paranormal Detective II” and others.

These thought-provoking twenty-eight stories and fourteen poems cover creatures imagined— vampires, ghosts, and mermaids, as well as the unexpected price paid by women struggling for freedom and validation in the past—slavery to science-fiction futures with transhumans and alternate realities.

Leave the lights on and join these amazing authors as they share their unique vision of fear.

Women in Horror Month #5: Jaime Johnesee, Author of the SAMANTHA REECE Series

Hey all!  I met today's guest through Armand Rosamilia's Summer of Zombie tour in 2014.  Since then I've enjoyed coming up in the trenches with her, and was excited to see she would be at Scares That Care Weekend last year.  I was worried that she might not know who I was, but when I went to go meet her after one of her panels she jumped into my arms and told me I was "good people."  So, yeah, if you want to know how to score a place in my heart, that's how.  Anyways, enough of my prattling.  Let's meet her and dive right into the interview.

About Jaime Johnesee:

Jaime Johnesee lives in Michigan with her husband and two sons. She spent fourteen years as a zookeeper before shifting her focus to writing full time. Known for her horror comedy series, BOB THE ZOMBIE, she is also currently authoring the paranormal horror series SAMANTHA REECE MYSTERIES for Devil Dog Press.

You can find her on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and Amazon.

Interview:

SK: What are your horror credentials?

JJ: Well, I lived a lot of horror in my life. Been raped, beaten more times than I can count, had two parasites (My beloved children) grow inside me, was mauled by a St Bernard, been face to face with tigers, lions, bears, and penguins. I’ve faced down and gotten over my fears of heights, spiders, and cockroaches.

SK: Who or what terrifies you?

 

JJ: These days my biggest fear is something bad happening to my children. My second biggest fear is being a terrible mom.

SK:  Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

JJ: There are absolutely challenges to being a woman in the horror genre. It’s not as bad as it once was, but I recall overhearing a publisher and several authors talking at WHC 2013 that they’d have to let all the guys know about an anthology before they had to open it up to all the whiny bitches who can’t write as well as men. I have heard editors specifically say if it has a woman’s name it’s going in the trash. I’ve watched as female friends have had their work rejected with their name on it and they resubmitted the same story with a male name and not only was it accepted but raved about.

SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?

JJ: I’d have to say Mary Shelley tops the list followed by Shirley Jackson, Anne Rice, Tanith Lee, Yvonne Navarro, Ellen Datlow, and Lisa Manetti.

SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

JJ: I am currently working on the third book in my SAMANTHA REECE Mystery Series. I’m really enjoying combining the usual FBI mystery with the supernatural world I’ve created, hopefully they will too.

About SHIFTERS:

When a serial killer begins leaving remains of victims in hotel bathtubs all over town FBI Agent Samantha Reece makes it her business to stop him.

This detective's got an ace up her sleeve in the form of her ability to shift into the guise of a were panther. As she tracks down the cold-hearted murderer she also has to contend with an anti-shifter group determined to destroy her.

Not to mention the black jaguar who turned her decides to come sauntering back into her life.

Women in Horror Month #4: C.V. Hunt, Head Editor of Grindhouse Press and Author of RITUALISTIC HUMAN SACRIFICE

I first heard about today's guest on The Horror Show With Brian Keene, where he roundly praised her extreme horror novel RITUALISTIC HUMAN SACRIFICE.  Ever since then I've been hoping to get her on the blog, and today she obliged!  So let's meet out guest and then jump right into the interview.

About C.V. Hunt:

C.V. Hunt is the author of several unpopular books. She lives in Ohio.

To purchase signed copies of her books click here.  You can also find her on Instagram, Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, the Grindhouse Press website, and her author website.

Interview:

SK:  What are your horror credentials?

CVH:  I have a couple of short horror stories in anthologies. I have a novella titled ZOMBIEVILLE. My most notable is an extreme horror novel called RITUALISTIC HUMAN SACRIFICE. I’ve also recently finished another novel in the same vein titled HOME IS WHERE THE HORROR IS.

I don’t know if I’m exactly qualified to write horror but I’ve really loved horror movies since I was a kid. And eventually I graduated into reading a lot of horror as a teen.

SK:  Who or what terrifies you?

CVH:  Death and heights.

SK:  Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

CVH:  I personally find it completely irrelevant. I don’t really care for the concept of having a ‘Women In Horror Month’. I understand it was started with good intentions but I want the merit of my work to be considered with all horror, not just a small sect of the genre’s writing community. I feel like we are all writers and readers shouldn’t base the decision to read or not read my books because of what genitalia I was born with.

SK:  Who are your favorite female horror icons?

CVH:  I’ve always loved Elvira because she is so campy and independent and had more of a personality than Lily Munster or Morticia Addams. When I became a teenager I began devouring Anne Rice books and have an affinity for her work.

SK:  What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

CVH:  I recently finished a book titled HOME IS WHERE THE HORROR IS. I’m not sure when or where it will be published. So I would suggest checking out RITUALISTIC HUMAN SACRIFICE since its currently available everywhere books can be purchased. Both books are extreme horror if that’s your bag.

About RITUALISTIC HUMAN SACRIFICE:

Nick Graves is a miserable man. Every day he comes home from his dream job to a stale marriage. On the day he finally summons the courage to tell his wife, Eve, he wants a divorce she has exciting news for him – she’s pregnant.

Nick is a spiteful man. He purchases his dream home in an ideal location far away from family, friends, and coworkers. It’s a life changing decision he’s chosen to make without Eve’s consultation.

Nick is a terrified man. He quickly realizes the residents of his new hometown are a bit eccentric. After a trip to the local doctor’s office Eve begins to behave strangely. And once Nick finds out what’s really going on he’ll never be able to look at Eve the same way.

Women in Horror Month #3: Somer Canon, Author of VICKI BEAUTIFUL

Hey everybody!  I first heard about today's guest when I appeared last month on The Horror Show With Brian Keene.  Brian was comparing her to such luminaries as Sarah Pinborough and The Sisters of Slaughter, and I thought to myself, "Ah! I have to get her on the blog!"  And now she is!  So without any further ado, let's meet her and then jump right into the interview.

About Somer Canon:

Somer Canon is a minivan revving suburban mother who avoids her neighbors for fear of being found out as a weirdo. When she’s not peering out of her windows, she’s consuming books, movies, and video games that sate her need for blood, gore, and things that disturb her mother.

For more info about Somer including social media links and a list of her published works, check her out at SomerCanon.com!

Interview:

SK:  What are your horror credentials?

SC:  I am the author of the novella, VICKI BEAUTIFUL as well as the Halloween themed short story, "Mischief."  Other than that, my credentials are strictly as a lifelong fan of the genre.

SK:  Who or what terrifies you?

SC:  Deep murky water scares the ever-loving crap out of me. The ocean. Lakes. Deep rivers. My imagination gets a death grip on any semblance of a calm demeanor and sends me scrambling back to dry land where there are wonderfully terrifying things such as spiders that jump. But at least I see them.

SK:  Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

SC:  I think that the point of view of a woman in horror situations, told by a woman, is something the genre could certainly use more of. Having said that, I have seen completely lovely and fair representations of just that told by men. Are there more working writers who are men? Sure, but I’ve never once felt that I’m the little girl intruding on the big boys’ territory. Gender isn’t irrelevant for either side, we need those stories because we all want to identify with those characters and in order to get those characters, we need writers who can truly put us in their shoes.

Horror is beautiful because it is so open to being inclusive. Of all the crap horror as a genre takes for being base and crude, it has always been magnificent at telling it’s tales from different points of view. Being a woman in horror hasn’t come with any hindrances simply because of my gender.

SK:  Who are your favorite female horror icons?

SC:  Character-wise, I’ve always had a strong love for a good female villain. The final girl thing tends to get a little tired and cliché, but a good woman villain can really get under your skin! In no order, Margaret White (CARRIE’s mom), Pamela Vorhees (Jason’s mom), Annie Wilkes (MISERY) Lionel’s Mom from "Dead Alive," and Ellen Rimbauer from "Rose Red."  They’re strong, they’re scary, and they do some real frickin’ damage.

Then there are the classic horror writers like Mary Shelley, Shirley Jackson, V.C. Andrews, and even Emily Dickinson. But you know what? There are female horror writers who have not yet, but will someday achieve icon status and they’re writing today and they’re doing beautiful, deadly work. I’m a big fan of Sephera Giron, Catherine Cavendish, The Sisters of Slaughter (Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason), and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

SK:  What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

SC:  I’ve got four works out for submission right now and I’m finishing up book three in a series of standalone books about witches. If anyone wants to check me out, the best place to start is my website somercanon.com. Why should folks check me out? So I don’t fade into absolute obscurity, I guess!

About VICKI BEAUTIFUL:

One last taste of perfection…

Sasha and Brynn descend upon the showplace home of their girlhood friend, Vicki, planning to celebrate her surviving cancer to reach her fortieth birthday. As they gather around Vicki’s perfectly set dinner table, though, her husband shares devastating news. The cancer is back, and she doesn’t have long to live.

Her life is cut even shorter than Sasha and Brynn expect—the next morning, their friend is found dead, her flawless skin slit at the wrists. But a tub full of blood is only the beginning. Before the weekend is through, they are forced to question how far they’re willing to go to fulfill Vicki’s last wish.

A very specific, very detailed recipe that only the truest of friends could stomach…

Women in Horror Month #2: Kayleigh Marie Edwards, Author of BITEY BACHMAN

Today's guest first came to my attention when I read her absolutely heart-wrenching (non-fiction!) defense of the zombie genre on Ginger Nuts of Horror.  (It was also my introduction to Mr. Wiggles, a character I fully intend to steal one day.)  Ever since then I've wanted to have her on the blog, and today she graciously agreed!  So let's briefly meet her and then dive right into the interview.

About Kayleigh Marie Edwards:

Kayleigh Marie Edwards is a playwright and a fiction and non-fiction writer from South Wales. She's been published in several anthologies and regularly writes articles and reviews for The Spooky Isles and Ginger Nuts of Horror. She mostly enjoys zombies, and cheese, but apparently cheese is irrelevant for a bio. She disagrees - eating cheese before bed time is where most of her ideas come from. Even though she's 30, she lives alone with her cat. She's fine with it. Fine. With. It. She can be contacted at ofthedead@hotmail.co.uk.

Interview:

SK: What are your horror credentials?

KME:  I suppose I'd have to list my uni degree in my credentials! I studied Theatre and Media, but basically angled everything I could towards horror. My final dissertation was on "The Walking Dead," and I wrote a zombie comedy theatre script for my major project. Much to my shock, it ("Kill 'em in the Brain") actually got staged a couple of times! I carried on in uni to do a Masters in Scriptwriting, and same story applies there really, it was all about the horror. I guess the lesson here is that you can literally get a degree in anything these days!

Degrees aside, I've grown up pretty obsessed with horror. Everyone in my family are Stephen King fans, and we basically communicate in horror movie quotes.

SK: Who or what terrifies you?

KME:  I'm not religious or superstitious, but ghosts and the idea of being possessed scares me more than most other stuff - apart from the notion of going insane. That really terrifies me. Sometimes I wonder if I actually tried, would I be able to drive myself mad with my thoughts? I don't know! I guess a full on mental collapse could happen to anyone, under the right circumstances, so that's something I live in fear of!

SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

KME:  I think that being a 'woman in horror' has some unique challenges, but it depends on your target audience, I guess. It's a male dominated arena (especially when you look at the man/woman ratio at horror cons, and the number of men involved in producing horror films compared to the number of women involved). I think (I've been told by some male 'friends' hmmm) that there's this assumption that if you're a woman writing horror, then you're probably writing about sparkly vampires, or vampires who wear frilly shirts, or sexy vampires who bleach their hair and own cool bars.... you see where I'm going here).

I mean no disrespect to the women who DO write those books (I'm a fan of most of them!), but the typical demographic for those books is women, and that's not what I write. Sometimes I worry a bit about how to market myself without excluding anyone - but then I suppose that nobody's audience is everyone!

I've also been told (you know, in those kind of lists like '10 Tips for Getting Published'), that it's harder to get a publisher/agent to even read your work if you're a woman writing in horror. Apparently, we go to the bottom of the pile. I'm not sure how that can be true though, and I've not found that whatsoever in the indie and small press community.

SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?

KME:  The first female horror icon that springs to mind, for me, is Vera Farmiga. I know that might be a weird one, since she's an actor and not someone revolutionary in the field, like Mary Shelley, but I think she's so fantastic in her 'horror' roles. I first saw her in "The Conjuring" and sympathised with her more than any other character from a horror movie, and then I got obsessed with her after seeing her performance in "Bates Motel." I think she has a real talent for tapping in to the emotions that lead to terror and communicating that to an audience.

I'm also a massive fan of Gale Anne Hurd. She's a producer with an eye for a good horror project, I think. She's been involved with so many awesome films but I know her most for being the producer for "The Walking Dead" (and "Fear the Walking Dead," and "Talking Dead!"), and she produced my favourite movie ever, "Aliens." She also worked as an executive producer on "Terminator 2," and "Tremors." This wouldn't have meant a lot to me before I learned that the producer is basically the God of the project, and without her, a lot of my favourite things may not have turned out the way the are.

SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

KME:  I'm working with Sinister Horror Company on a collection of short stories. I'm quite excited, as this will be my first book in print that's just me! People who like a mixture of straight up horror and a bit of a giggle might like it. If I can, I'd like to mention that I feel really flattered that SHC are working with me - I think I own everything they've printed! They're a really talented bunch so I'm delighted to have my name added to their ranks.

About BITEY BACHMAN:

Brian, a regular guy (despite his love of a certain musical), just wants to finish up his long and weird night at work in peace. Unfortunately, life has other plans for him. Working at a mental institution for the criminally insane can be a bit chaotic on a normal day, but on this particular night, Brian finds that things get a bit out of hand. A hysterical patient here, the jab of the wrong needle there, and all hell breaks loose. Short-staffed, expecting a useless trainee any minute, and obligated to work overtime to help out his peach of a boss, Brian isn’t having the best of nights. Things only get worse when a body goes missing and certain individuals get a bit bitey. Luckily, the trainee turns up just in time...To render him unconscious.

Luckily for Brian, this is the night he’s always been planning for.