Enjoy this Author Interview between Author Erik C. Hanson & host Ivana Sanders about his perception of the horror genre, his passion for writing fiction, and his newest release “All Things Deadly: Salem Stories” a collection Halloween themed horror stories!
The Horror Tree Presents- an Interview with Alexandrea Weis
By Ruschelle Dillon
Ruschelle: Alexandrea, welcome to the Horror Tree, where you will find all sorts of fruit, nuts and meat sacks hanging for you to snack on. Watch out for the disgustingly bloody ones. They’re not quite ripe yet. It’s great to have you here. You have a fantastic selection of books out there for your newfound fans to feast from. Many take place in your hometown of New Orleans which has seen more than its fair share of destruction from hurricanes, Ida being the most recent. At the penning of these questions, there are still swaths of Louisiana that are still without electricity and are digging out of Ida’s wrath. Has the devastating weather played a part in inspiring your books? Horrors can beget horrors.
Alexandrea: Honestly, the response in the aftermath has been fantastic compared to what we went through with Katrina. Then we had weeks without running water, power, gasoline, or food. It was a nightmare and very horror worthy. We’ve been fortunate this time. I got my power back in six days. A big THANK YOU to the line men and women who came to restore our electricity. They are a godsend!
Ruschelle: New Orleans has such a rich history. What are some aspects of NOLA that you must include when writing your stories? Conversely, are there nibblets that you find trite or just flat out wrong that you refuse to put in black and white? (I liked the word nibblets. I am also hungry for corn right now…)
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Tais Teng, A Modern Renaissance Man
By Angelique Fawns
Tais Teng is a Dutch writer and prolific creator in several languages and mediums. Not only does he write fantasy fiction, science fiction, hardboiled detective mysteries, and children’s books; but he also illustrates, sculpts, paints, and works as a writing coach. Born Thijs van Ebbenhorst Tengbergen, he found this name a tad long to put on the cover of books (and for English readers to pronounce) so he chose Tais Teng as a pen name. With more than 100 published books and 200 plus short stories, I was fascinated to learn about the multi-faceted career of this talented (and comedic) creator. Spoiler alert. Did you know he created the Ziltpunk movement? Read on to learn more.
AF: You wear a lot of hats in the creative world! Can you tell our readers how you make a living and what your favorite branch of income is?
TT: Well, yes, I wear a veritable Tower of Babel of hats. I am a writer, an illustrator, a writing coach, and a sculptor. Each uses a completely different part of my brain.
Writing comes very close to lucid dreaming to me. If I start a sentence, the words arrive almost as a voice-over, telling me what to type next. Sometimes it switches into the fast-forward mode and I get whole paragraphs or even half a page. I have to type like mad then before all those words fade back into the racial unconsciousness. It feels exactly like a sugar cube dissolving in hot tea.
Almost all things I do are in deep concentration, in hyperfocus. If someone enters the room, I probably won’t notice. Even it is a burgler: as long as he doesn’t take my keyboard, I just go on writing. (more…)
Eda Obey & The Last Girls Club: “We Choose What We Bleed Over”
By Angelique Fawns
The Last Girls Club is more than just a magazine, it’s a place where established norms are shredded and rebuilt. Eda Obey has created a “club” for creatives which incorporates a magazine, podcast, newsletter, and any other artistic expression that fits the concept of “indie feminist horror.”
Obey is a fierce voice and aggressively challenges stereotypes and literary preconceptions. She’s already tackled the power dynamic of women in fairy tales and the concept of birth in her first two issues.
The third issue of the magazine drops on Wednesday September 22, and revolves around the theme of “Dark Shadows: The Gay 90s; closeted, cast out, or converted.”
Submissions for the fourth issue, which asks for stories related to devout-martyrs, massacres, and cults, open on Friday October 1.
I sat down with Eda Obey to learn more about her vision and projects.
Today we have the quite prolific Pat Cadigan joining us for an interview. Her most recent work, which we’ll be reviewing soon, is handling the novelization of ‘Alien 3: The Unproduced Screenplay’ by William Gibson. As a HUGE fan of the Alien franchise this is something that I am extremely excited about. However, she’s also done a slew of works that I’ve read over the years so am personally a bit excited for this interview. She is responsible for the classic Deadpan Allie series which is must-read in my opinion and also handled both the movie novelization and prequel of the live-action take on ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ which is a manga and anime I’m well-versed in.
Pat, thank you for joining our readers today, I’m absolutely thrilled to have you today! First off, if you could do a quick introduction for those who are unfamiliar with your work? (Our readers are a full mix of the speculative fiction genre and some don’t stray from our namesake of horror.)
PC: Well…I’ve been at this for over forty years. My short fiction includes sf, fantasy, horror, and whatever. My original novels are all hard science fiction, although I’ve also written two nonfiction books—The Making of Lost In Space and The Resurrection of the Mummy (another making-of book for the 1999 version)—as well as a number of tie-ins and novelisations. And I’ve won some awards. 😉
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Sebastian Vice & Outcast Press: The Dark Side of Transgressive Fiction
By Angelique Fawns
What do you do if your stories are so edgy even the publications who profess to like experimental fiction won’t take them? If you are Sebastian Vice, you start your own press. Vice is looking for literature that dares to explore themes most editors consider taboo. This is his mission statement:
“Outcast Press wants stories cut from the bone, written from the gristle that sticks to your soul, based off brain-burning images scorched onto paper. We like raw, honest, dark, in-your-face, tales. The ethos at Outcast Press is a rejection of sacred cows.”
An Unreal Publisher: Daniel Scott White from Longshot Press
Part Two
By Angelique Fawns
We continue our chat with the publisher of Longshot Press, Daniel Scott White.
White is the creator of Unfit and Unreal, two of the highest paying magazines in the speculative short fiction world, paying 25 cents per word.
His imprint also features Longshot Island, a pulp fiction magazine featuring psychological short stories, and Mythaxis Review, presenting articles and interviews looking at books, movies, music, and anything else in the world of art and artists. (I met White when I first asked him to grant me an interview a couple years ago. Instead, he hired me to write for Mythaxis Review.)
In part one we learned about White’s path to publishing and his adventures around the world. After helping out musicians like Bob Dylan and cycling around Alaska, we pick up his journey in Taiwan…
AF: Why did you move to Taiwan? How is the industry different over there?
An Unreal Publisher: Daniel Scott White from Longshot Press
Part One
By Angelique Fawns
There’s the way everyone else does things, and then there’s Longshot Press. The founder, Daniel Scott White, is forging his own path in the publishing world as “a very independent publisher” seeking work that pushes traditional boundaries.
His Unfit and Unreal magazines pay an unprecedented industry high of 25 cents per word for speculative short stories.
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