An Interview with With Mia Dalia

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An Interview with With Mia Dalia On ‘Haven’ and writing dark fiction!

Mia Dalia is a lifelong reader and reviewer turned writer. She has published two novels, Estate Sale and Haven, as well as several novellas and many, many short stories. I came to Dalia’s work through her debut novel, Estate Sale, and her pirate story in Call of the Sea from Black Ink Fiction. Her work can be found in an impressive number of anthologies from a wide variety of publishers. While a lot of her fiction is dark, Dalia also writes in a variety of other genres and is on her way to becoming quite prolific. I was pleased to get the chance to interview and get to know Mia Dalia better.

  1. Please introduce yourself. Tell us a bit about your background and how you came into writing.

Hi, hello, greeting and salutations. My name is Mia Dalia. I write dark speculative fiction, a lot of which falls under a horror umbrella or, more appropriately to this interview, a horror tree canopy. In the summer of 2021, apropos of nothing, I started getting story ideas. My wife insisted I write them down. I did, and I haven’t stopped since. Which brings us to the present. I’ve now published two novels, several novellas, and dozens of short stories. My work’s been selected as top ten of Tales to Terrify in 2023 and shortlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers Association’s Dagger Awards in 2024. My second novel, Haven, has just been unleashed into the world.

Though a lifelong prolific reader and a long-time books (and movies) reviewer, I do not have a background in writing. My writing career has been more of a strange dream … or a beautiful nightmare. Just how I like it!

  1. Your latest book is Haven, a story about a family on a nightmarish vacation. Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind this book.

Haven for me is a deconstruction of the myth of an all-American, apple-pie-happy family, wrapped in a haunted house novel. I’ve always had a strong interest in psychology, and my work tends to have a considerable (and usually dark) psychological undercurrent to reflect it. Haven was meant as a literary novel, literary horror, a creeping slow-burn tale of blind revenge and family ties that bind and choke.

Readers who expect a conventional horror novel or a traditional haunted house story may not love their stay in Haven, but those who want a deeper dive into madness and are looking for something original and subtle, should have a good time.

In other words, it’s less of a wham-bam-BOO and more of a nails-on-a-chalkboard (or down your spine, in the dark) story. Caveat emptor!

  1. I enjoyed your book, Estate Sale, which is, as the title implies, about unusual items procured from an estate sale. What was the inspiration behind this work? Are any of the items based on real life items that you have seen or owned?

Thank you very much, Melody. Estate Sale was one of the first things I’ve ever written. I’m not sure where exactly it came from, but it does encompass a lot of my things I like to read about, such as history, occult, travel, writers, and writing as an art and/or a way to immortality.

While I love a good yard sale, as a minimalist I seldom buy anything I don’t need. And I never need anything that looks like it could be possessed! That said, I was always rather unsettled by the concept of antiques and how blase people seem to be about the objects’ provenances.

Put all that into the peculiarly morbid blender of my mind, et voilà, Estate Sale.

  1. Your short fiction has been in a number of anthologies, magazines, and even a couple of podcasts – do you have a favourite story of yours that you’ve written? Or one that you’d especially like to talk about?

I couldn’t possibly pick one, I love all my short-story-babies, and I write tons of them. What’s being published is only the tip of that iceberg. I suppose if I were to highlight one, though, it would have to be Primal Scream. It’s one of the first stories I’ve ever written, the first one I’ve sold and published, and it has been reissued several times since, once even set on the Moon!

Written in a partially locked-down world, Primal Scream is a tale of urban isolation. The late great Carlos Ruiz Zafón, who had a great many wonderful things to say about books and writers, had once said, “One of the privileges of being a writer is that you are given a platform from which to scream.” And I could not agree with him more. So that story was me, coming onto the scene, screaming.

  1. Most (or all?) of your bibliography appears to be horror or dark fiction of some kind. What is it that draws you to writing horror? Do you write in any other genres or wish to?

It’s true, a lot of my work is dark, but as much as I love horror and think it’s a fantastic (and probably the best) genre to explore the most fascinating grooves of our brain matter, I am not just a horror writer. In fact, I am actively working to disabuse the readers of that impression.

This summer, my science fiction debut, Arrokoth, came out from Spaceboy Books.  The same press will also publish my comedic neo-noir, Do You Know the Muffin Man? next spring. I’ve published darkly humorous short stories and mystery and noir stories, one of which was shortlisted for the 2024 Daggers, along with genre luminaries like Lee Child. And hopefully, it won’t be too long before my suspense thrillers and murder mystery novels start coming out. I’ve done a supernatural buddy comedy and a contemporary literary novel too. I’d love to get it all out into the world, but one must pace oneself 🙂

  1. I see from your blog that October was a busy month for you as far as releases. Was this a plan or more of a happy coincidence? What is your regular writing process/schedule like?

Ha. No, that just happened. Four stories in different anthologies, two online, and one adapted for a podcast. And then, of course, Haven, as the giant, blood-red cherry on top of that sundae.

It’s difficult to impossible to plan these things because there are so many moving pieces and different people involved. For instance, two of those anthologies took a couple of years to come into print. But it was fun, I love October, so it was a great way to celebrate it.

My writing schedule is pretty intense. I do it full time, from early morning until about six p.m., and some evenings/nights and parts of weekends when necessary. I write very fast, but the editing, submitting, research, contracts, emails, promo work, and all the rest take up a ridiculous amount of time.

  1. What writers and/or books have influenced your work the most? Who are your favourite authors?

I think Grimm Brothers Fairy Tales have probably permanently scarred my psyche. Listing my favorite authors would take up all of your time and patience, but here are some: Paul Auster, Michael Chabon, Dan Chaon, Agatha Christie, Neil Gaiman, Daryl Gregory, Jeff Lemire, Anthony Marra, Ruth Rendell, Michael Marshall Smith, C. J. Tudor, Sarah Waters, Teddy Wayne, Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

  1. What are some books/authors you’ve read lately that you’d like to recommend?

Ascension by Nicholas Binge, It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over by Anne de Marcken, The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden.

  1. What are you working on now? What is next for you? Where can our readers find you?

I’ve been doing entirely too much editing, but I’m currently trying to write something that’ll redefine Halloween fiction. (Immodest and ambitious, I know, I know.) I have a psychological thriller out on submission with an agent right now and a few very exciting collaborations with presses and people I’ve long admired and been wanting to work with lined up for the near future. And I’m attending my first-ever Con—PhilCon. I’ll be there as a panelist, reader, and signer, so that’s pretty exciting. If this interview comes out in time, find me there!

Alternatively, I can be found on the internet at these various haunts:

Official website: https://daliaverse.wixsite.com/author
Twitter: @ Dalia_Verse
FB:            DaliaVerse
Instagram: daliaverse
https://linktr.ee/daliaverse

Say hi, I’d love you hear from you!

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