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Exclusive Interview: “The Cut” Author C.J. Dotson

 

It’s always annoying when a creative person refuses to admit that their work is similar to, or influenced by, someone else’s. “So, it’s a movie about a kid who learns he has powers and he uses them to take down an evil empire lead by the father he never knew, and you say it’s nothing like Star Wars!?! Really!?!”

Thankfully, author C.J. Dotson doesn’t try my patience in the following email interview about her psychological horror novel The Cut (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), in which she admits that this story, which is set in a scary hotel, “Yeah, I don’t think I could have written a hotel horror story without thinking of The Shining, too.”

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Exclusive Interview: “Blood On Her Tongue” Author Johanna van Veen

 

As many writers of fiction have said, you sometimes have to go where the story tells you to go.

In the following email interview about her new novel Blood On Her Tongue (paperback, Kindle), author Johanna van Veen not only discusses what inspired and influenced this Gothic horror story, but also how it didn’t start out as a vampire tale.

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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.