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Exclusive Interview: “Death On The Swayback” Author Chris Panatier

 

We all wrestle with the mistakes of the past, even when they weren’t our mistakes.

It’s this conflict that drives the main character of Death On The Swayback, a limited edition novelette by author Chris Panatier which he calls “supernatural horror disguised as psychological horror.”

With Swayback now available as either a signed numbered edition or a signed lettered edition, both directly from Rapture Publishing, I spoke to Panatier via email to find out what inspired and influenced this story, as well as what film studio he thinks could make a really good movie based out of it.

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Exclusive Interview: “A Gathering Of Weapons” Author Tracy Cross

 

We all have dreams, some grander than others. I wanted to be Jimmy Page but, alas, that job was taken.

For Pee Wee, one of the main characters in Tracy Cross’ historical fiction horror novella Rootwork, the dream is to be, as Cross puts it, “…the greatest conjure woman ever.”

It’s a dream Pee Wee continues to pursue in Cross’ new novella, A Gathering Of Weapons (paperback, Kindle).

In the following email interview, Cross discusses what inspired and influenced this second installment, as well as her plans to conclude Pee Wee’s quest.

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Exclusive Interview: “One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years” Author Mark Leslie

 

Twenty years ago, horror author Mark Leslie assembled a collection of his stories and poems he called One Hand Screaming because, as he explains in the following email interview, he wanted, “…an actual book with my name on it.”

Well, now Leslie apparently wants an updated and expanded book with his name on it because he’s releasing One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years (hardcover, paperback, Kindle), which not only adds new stories and poems, but some behind-the-scenes info as well.

In the following email interview, Leslie discusses both the original version of Screaming and this new edition, as well as the alcoholic beverage that pairs well with this book.

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Exclusive Interview: “Night Terrors” Author A. Lawrence

 

If there’s one thing we all know about ghosts, it’s that physical contact has no effect on them. You can’t wave a ghost away, or shove them out of your house, while threating them with physical violence falls on deaf ears.

Well, unless you’re Shay from A. Lawrence’s Ghost Punch novels. She can punch them. And she will.

In the following email interview, Lawrence talks about this humorous cozy supernatural horror series, and its newest installment, Night Terrors (Kindle).

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Exclusive Interview: “American Rapture” Author C.J. Leede

 

They say you should write what you know. But I wonder if the person who came up with that phrase would think about someone writing what they know when also writing about a viral apocalypse.

Well, now they, and you, can find out, courtesy of author C.J. Leede and her new apocalyptic horror novel, American Rapture (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), in which things, and she, get   very personal.

To learn how, and why, and other things, check out this email interview.

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Exclusive Interview: “Last To Leave The Room” Author Caitlin Starling

 

Genre can be a tricky thing, and never let it be said I don’t listen to an author when they tell me a book is one genre or another. Or a couple genres at the same time.

Which brings me to author Caitlin Starling, who, in the following email interview about her horror novel Last To Leave The Room — which is now available in paperback a year after originally being released in hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook — explains that while it has a scientist who may be sinking a city, and there’s an “impossible locked door,” and has some sci-fi flavor, Starling says, “it’s straight up horror to me.”

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Exclusive Interview: “Fears: Tales Of Psychological Horror” Editor Ellen Datlow

 

As she says in the following email interview, Ellen Datlow has edited the annual anthology series The Best Horror Of The Year, “…(in one form or another) for 37 years.”

But in that same time, she’s also assembled collections of horror short stories around a theme or type of scare, including Body Shocks: Extreme Tales Of Body Horror, Screams From The Dark: 29 Tales Of Monsters And The Monstrous, and When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired By Shirley Jackson.

Which brings me to her latest thematic anthology, Fears: Tales Of Psychological Horror (paperback, Kindle), which has stories by Joyce Carol Oates, Josh Malerman, Stephen Graham Jones, Priya Sharma, Margo Lanagan, and others.

In the following email interview, Datlow talks about how she defined the term “psychological horror” for this anthology, as well as how she chose the stories to include in it.

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Exclusive Interview: “Bloody Hel” Writer / Artist Clayton McCormack

 

The idea of mixing fantasy and history is not new. Mike Mignola’s Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comics have been doing it for years, as have the Wolfenstein games, and David Mack’s Dark Arts novels did it as well. But unless I’m mistaken, writer and artist Clayton McCormack is the first to send Vikings into the first World War. As for what the Vikings think of this idea, well, for that you’ll just have to read McCormack’s new graphic novel Bloody Hel (hardcover, digital). In the following email interview about it, McCormack discusses what inspired and influenced this horror / fantasy / history mélange.

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Exclusive Interview: “Comfort Me With Apples” Author Catherynne M. Valente

 

It sounds like a cookbook. Maybe by some nice who lives in the suburbs of New England. But it’s not. Instead, Catherynne M. Valente’s new novella Comfort Me With Apples (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook) is actually a romantic horror story. In the following email interview about it, Valente discusses what inspired and influenced this story…but does so in what she implies is an appropriately cryptic way.