I’m joined in my cocktail hour with a man of many talents, author Phil Lecomber. Among them is, apparently, cocktail mixing, as he has created a couple of lovely pousse-cafés for us to sip, as inspired by his interview. How thoughtful, right?
For this interview I get to talk about a service rather than a book. But have no fear! This is a great gift idea for everyone that loves thriller and horror books. I am excited to introduce Alix Kampen and Club Thrillrror!
Ellen Datlow is the World Fantasy Award, Hugo Award and Bram Stoker Award-winning editor and anthologist for the Best Horror of the Year series, and for numerous other horror, fantasy and science fiction collections and series. She is hailed as one of the most influential voices in these genres.
Author R. Berry has been writing since the age of 9. He has written several novels and shorts stories. His work explores not only queer themes but also video games, rogues, and even horror recipes! A lot of fun to talk to and read (go check out www.theirritablequeer.com), we discuss writing, life and what makes Berry tick. Berry also discusses his forthcoming book The Other Face of Sympathy coming out September of 2025 with Renaissance Publishing.
His new novel shows how traumas can turn people into monsters. His trans protagonist, Edward Barrett, discovers various diaries of trauma victims and follows them into darkness. There are trigger warnings listed.
You can watch the interview below:
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By Angelique Fawns
Sam Asher writes strange, beautiful, and slightly disturbing prose. (I bought his collection of short stories Really, Shockingly Bad Things at the mass autograph session at World Fantasy Con 2024.) He also runs an e-zine called The Cosmic Background where he bought a story of mine when the magazine first launched, called “The Sentient Sea of Sargassum.”
You can read it here: https://www.thecosmicbackground.com/stories/angelique-fawns-the-sentient-sea-of-sargassum
This is my second time interviewing Asher, and I thought it would be nice to touch base again as he is running a kickstarter.
Check it out here!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thecosmicbackground/the-cosmic-background-year-two/rewards
Death Comes at Christmas is mystery anthology edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane. It is a wonderful seasonal piece that has everything from locked room mysteries to cozies to real mind benders. It’s an anthology worthy of a good binge read with several cups of hot cocoa (make sure you prepare that cocoa yourself).
JG: You both have a big background in horror. Why a mystery anthology? Do you have a genre preference? Why these authors?
MO/PK: As much as we love horror, we also both grew up reading fantasy, SF and crime – and are big fans of the latter. We’ve both written crime fiction before in the past, and of course co-edited the Titan anthology Exit Wounds, featuring Lee Child, Val McDermid and Jeffery Deaver. The Times called that one ‘impressive’ so we must have been doing something right. All of which made us want to dive into another one. The authors we approached had either worked before in this kind of area, or we thought would fit the brief very well. It helps that they’re all superb writers at the top of their game, of course. Each one delivered something unique that just went together as a whole. As for which we prefer, we love them both – and of course the other genres we mentioned too. It’d be hard to choose between them, frankly.
By Angelique Fawns
Space and Time magazine has been publishing speculative fiction for 50 years, and is one of the oldest flagship markets in North America. Angela Yuriko Smith, a two-time Bram Stoker Award Winner, is the publisher of Space and Time and is running a Kickstarter to celebrate five decades of bringing innovation, discovery, and storytelling to the world.
I was honored to have a story purchased by Smith in the Fall/Winter issue 147 this year called “Gragon and the Neptune Nit Infestation,” along with a close friend of mine, R.J.K. Lee, who shared the TOC with his tale, “What Devil or Dove Guards the Girl.”
Smith also runs a popular newsletter called Authortunities on Substack where she lists industry news and open calls. Writers can find paid opportunities, contests, awards, workshops, and grants. I’ll confess, I’ve cribbed a few things from her list for my own monthly posts.
I asked Angela Yuriko Smith a few questions:
Draakensky, the new novel by author Paula Cappa, is a Gothic dark fantasy with a twist; the twist being magick. While most Gothic novels draw on the supernatural as a source of chills and thrills, Cappa rather explores the supernatural as something tangible, a product of the elemental forces which surround us.
There’s also plenty of chills and thrills throughout the novel. At once a ghost story, a murder mystery, and a romance, Draakensky draws readers into a rich world of magic and sorcery.
I spoke to Paula about the novel via Zoom in November.
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