Eda Easter – Leading the Way in Horror!

By Angelique Fawns

 

Eda Easter is no stranger to the world of horror. A panel expert on extreme horror at the San Antonio Ghoulish Book Festival happening from March 15-17, Eda is creating her own brand.

She is the creator of the indie feminist horror zine “Last Girl’s Club”, and author of the fun splatterpunk book, Killer RV, which you can find on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Killer-RV-H-Obey/dp/B0BMSKBPFV

AF: Tell us about the concept and growth of the “Last Girl’s Club”

EE: LGC occurred to me during the pandemic after taking a class on British Girls Comix of the 70s and 80s. The comics were very lurid, with Dark Shadows over the top drama and Twilight Zone moralistic tone. I loved them and decided to pay them homage with my own version of a spooky girl magazine. I’ve missed the joy of opening a Cosmo or Seventeen magazine to read my horoscope or take a silly love quiz. My tastes have completely changed since then. I wanted something darker with a morbid humor. 

Last Girls Club was born. It’s a play on the Final Girl trope. We’re the witches you couldn’t burn, the Laurie Strodes that fought back, the Sally Hardestys laughing hysterically in relief in the bed of a truck as Leatherface recedes in the distance, the Ellen Ripleys who are good and ready to blow it out of the damn airlock. We’re self-starters and survivors.

This magazine has been very organic in how it has come together. Everything has been a learning curve. My columnists are TikTok creators I messaged with a job offer, or someone who emailed me to pitch an article because they were excited about the theme. Our patron witch I met at The Halloween Hootenanny food and beer festival when our vendor tables were next to each other. We’ve become great friends. My astrologist is a real moon priestess, who has been my yoga teacher over 15 years. 

I don’t charge for ads. Every ad you see is me promoting the authors and creators that have contributed to the magazine in some way. All I ask is that they share the magazine with their audiences. When I lived in Long Beach CA, the music/art/vendor scene was very communal and would cross promote each other. Everything was on a shoestring budget and always felt very sincere. That is the example I model building my magazine’s exposure. 

 

AF: What advice do you have for writers hoping to sell you a story?

EE: Always utilize the theme. I get tons of good stories about the theme. The chances I’m going to publish a good story doesn’t fit the vibe is slim. Make sure your story is really a story, not a blog post or a scene of a bigger story. Beginning, middle, and end are classics for a reason. Bad grammar is an instant fail. Be nice. A rejection is not personal, it’s a rite of passage as a writer. If you’re getting rejections, it means you’re trying.

 

AF: You’ve gone through some recent changes in your personal and professional life. Can you tell us about them?

EE: Whew! How much do you want me to bum everyone out? My mom says I’m one tragedy away from my own country & western song. In the past two years, my husband died, I had to sell my house in California and move back to Texas, my dog died, and I had two root canals. I’m a massage therapist and my industry was shut down repeatedly during the pandemic. It was a master class in acceptance. 

And I’m a happier person. Sure, I have crying jags so intense I throw up. Everything in my life has been etch-a-sketched away, but every day is a gift. Losing the person I was closest to the past twenty years wounded me deeply, but I’ve never felt closer to humanity. So many people have shared stories of their own losses, I don’t feel alone. I’ve joined an exclusive club of people that have been drop kicked into the fact that nothing is forever. Cherish who and what you have in the moment. Tomorrow is not promised. I do not take any moment or friendship for granted. When I hug you, I do it with all my heart. 

 

AF: How do you define “Extreme Horror”?

EE: The wince. When your guts twist, and you think please no more.  Plenty of the genre is exploitation for exploitation’s sake, but the pieces that sing have a greater meaning. I’m not into the extended gross out that some people are into or the celebration of pain and exploitation. I think to truly wound someone’s psyche they have to imagine themselves as the wounded. It’s the most powerful moment. I would consider a piece from the Vagina Monologues extreme horror. When a woman who has been raped with a rifle has pieces of herself peeling away afterwards, that is the chest punch that I think good extreme horror should have. I felt ill after reading that. Horror can be brain candy, or it can be like 1984 and change the way we think about reality and pain. 

 

AF: What role does horror play in our society, and why do you write it?

EE: Horror exposes the overarching fears of society. In the 50s we had nuclear contamination and Godzilla. In the 70s we had slasher flicks, while there were multiple serial killers operating without punishment. In the 80s and 90s we had possession pictures during the height of the satanic panic. Each decade explores the limits of sanity for their age. One of my favorite quotes is from Neil Gaimen. To paraphrase: We don’t tell children fairy tales to teach them there are monsters, we tell them fairy tales to teach them monsters can be defeated. I think horror is a cathartic exercise in defeating demons we have trouble naming. 

I write horror because I am a peaceful loving human always seeking to understand others and move kindly through a troubled world, while still being educated, opinionated, and fucking furious at the rampant stupidity of humanity as whole. If I am going to hold someone down and pound their skull into mush for cruelty and stupidity, it should probably be in fiction form. To quote Mark Twain: Never piss off someone who buys ink by the barrel. 

And baby, in the digital age ink is free.

 

AF: What is next in the adventures of Eda Easter?

EE: I have multiple books on the backburner. My next book, hopefully, will be my memoir of being a widow. Widowed: Four Stars-Rocky start. Hell of a Ride. Next will be Trailerhood, a series of novels about monsters surviving in the modern world. I have plenty of horror in me, but my biggest goal is to continue lifting up unheard voices and providing an avenue for them to be published and appreciated by people who understand my vision and vibe.