Horror Tree Q&A: Angela Slatter and Australian gothic 

Angela Slatter has won a World Fantasy Award, a British Fantasy Award, a Ditmar, a Shirley Jackson Award, three Australian Shadows Awards and eight Aurealis Awards. She is the author of All The Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns,The Briar Book of the Dead and the forthcoming The Crimson Road – all of them gothic fantasies set in the world of the Sourdough, Bitterwood and Tallow-Wife collections. The hardcover collected edition of her Hellboy Universe collaboration with Mike Mignola, Castle Full of Blackbirds, from Dark Horse Comics was published in July 2023.

Angela is also the author of the supernatural crime novels Vigil (2016), Corpselight (2017) and Restoration (2018), as well as ten other short story collections, including The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, A Feast of Sorrows: Stories, and The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners and Other Stories.

Angela has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, is a graduate of Clarion South 2009 and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop 2006. In 2016 Angela was the Established Writer-in-Residence at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth. She has been awarded career development funding by Arts Queensland, the Copyright Agency and the Australia Council for the Arts.

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Hush, It’s Interview Time With Leigh Kenny!

By Melody E. McIntyre

Leigh Kenny is a horror writer who lives in Ireland with her family. She is the author of two books, Cursed and Hush, My Darling, as well as several short stories. Cursed is a possession story described as The Grudge meets Drag Me to Hell. Hush, My Darling is an Irish horror thriller perfect for fans of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I have read Hush, My Darling and enjoyed it even as it frightened me. Kenny’s writing is gripping and her villains are repugnant, but engaging. She is also a finalist for two awards in Instagram, Author of the Year and her novel, Cursed, is up for Horror of the Year. I was recently given the opportunity to interview her and get to know her a little better.

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Laura Crenshaw and her book on creator-audience relationships – Sweeter than Silence – Kickstarter

By Angelique Fawns

The inventor of the inspirational Mythulu Creation Cards invites you to check out her campaign for her book “Sweeter than Silence” which “loving explores rejection by rethinking desire, courage, and the heart of innovation.” I met Laura at Superstars Writing Seminar in 2024 and was blown away by her creativity.

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I was lucky enough to chat with Jamal Hodge and Tim Waggoner on their first collaboration “Bestiary of Blood.” Jamal talks about his this being his first book editing experience (with over 30 writers!) and his approach to his collection of modern fables. Tim discusses his short story “A Cold Midnight” and his thoughts on writing.

It was one of this conversations you just wanted to throw a question out there and see where it led. So fun to do, so interesting to just sit back and listen! I hope you enjoy it!

You can watch the full interview here:
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An Interview with N.J. Gallegos

By Lionel Ray Green

In her sophomore novel The Fatal Mind, emergency physician N.J. Gallegos continues tapping into her background as a doctor, blending horror with heavy medical thriller vibes. The formula worked successfully in her 2023 debut The Broken Heart, and The Fatal Mind leans even more into the medical thriller genre.

Winding Road Stories plans to release The Fatal Mind on October 15, but it’s available for pre-order on Amazon.

Billed as a Black Mirror meets Frankenstein medical horror thriller, the novel chronicles Dr. Aldea Absinthe’s experimental chip-implant procedure that inhibits migraine pain. When Absinthe performs her new procedure on former professional basketball star Shawn Gilbert, he champions the treatment, launching the neurologist to national fame. However, Gilbert’s wife Rachel notices an extreme change in her husband’s personality, prompting her to try and uncover the dark secret behind the doctor’s miracle cure.

The Fatal Mind is a strong follow-up to The Broken Heart, a grim but entertaining story about what happens to desperate wife and mother Casey Philips after she receives a serial killer’s heart via transplant.

Gallegos agreed to an exclusive Q&A interview via email with Lionel Ray Green for The Horror Tree where she discusses the challenges of writing novels, her favorite Black Mirror episode, and the most common cause of migraines.

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Jessica Guernsey and Once Upon A Moonless Night

By Angelique Fawns

On her Instagram feed, Jessica calls herself, “A slushpile reader by day, short story writer by night.” Her business cards give her the title “The Crusher of Dreams.” I met her at Superstars Writing Seminar 2024 and immediately loved her gregarious and welcoming personality. She contacted me recently about listing a new anthology she is working on with “The Brothers Uber” in my monthly market list.

What a wonderful opportunity to get the inside scoop on what she is looking for and get to know her better! 

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Horror Tree Q&A: Gemma Files, Canadian horror icon

Gemma Files is a Canadian horror writer, journalist, and film critic. Her short story, “The Emperor’s Old Bones”, won the International Horror Guild Award for Best Short Story of 1999. Her novel Experimental Film (2015) won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel and the Sunburst Award for Best Canadian Speculative Fiction (Novel) in 2016. Her most recent publications include her Bram Stoker Award-winning collections In That Endlessness, Our End (2021) and Blood from the Air (2023).

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