The Horror Tree Presents… An Interview With Lydia Peever

Ruschelle: We’re glad to have you here at the Horror Tree. Make yourself comfortable. Have a freshly baked scone. I baked them with love-and a little bone and sinew. It makes for a fluffier scone and gets rid of those pesky neighbors.

Lydia: I am a huge fan of bone and sinew, so I am sure this goes better with coffee than neighbours ever could. Thank you!

 

Ruschelle: When did you first realize you were a dark and scary gal rather than one of the bright and shiny variety?

Lydia: Maybe when I was three and realized not many other kids liked spending time tending cemeteries, pressing flowers, and investigating roadkill. Other people had far more children’s books than we did too, having grown up with more Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving lining the shelves than Berenstain Bears.

 

Ruschelle: You host a creepy podcast called Dead Air where you discuss horror films. Tell us a little about the method to your madness. How do you choose the movies when there are so many fantastic beasts to pick apart?

Lydia: It is deceptively easy when my co-host, Wes ‘Dead Air’ Knipe is a deep mine of the darkest horror lore, and not a production meeting goes by without us adding a few more gems to our list of to-watch titles. We try to pick things we love, that the other hasn’t seen, and sometimes try to unearth a theme while we go. Some are surprised that our show is unscripted, but we do just banter naturally.

 

Ruschelle: List your top 5 films all horror buffs should watch and kindly explain why.

Lydia: It is a terrible task to attempt to choose horror films or books for another. I’ll list some for the sake of curiosity, while knowing full well there is a different kind of fan out there for every colour of the horror rainbow. Halloween and Halloween II sit together as one that I feel really sum up the genre in a lot of ways with excellent writing and filmmaking. Pieces will appease the fan of old grainy slashers, and Terrifier will bring that to the 21st century. Hell House occupies a space for me as a film and book that equally terrorized my teenage mind and hold a lot of gothic charm under it’s cursed roof. Hellraiser has to be in there since it has been such a delightful vision for me, for so many others, and continues to be.

 

Ruschelle: As a Horror Writer Association member, you have been knighted (just roll with me here) with the awe-inspiring responsibility of updating their ‘new releases’ website! Is this just one of the many benefits of being a HWA member?

Lydia: As with any good writers association, group or affiliation, it can be pretty much what you want it to be! As a casual meeting place, a formal representative, a networking hub, the HWA does excel and continues to expand and experiment with ways to serve authors. From my point of view, as cliche as it sounds, you get out of it what you put in to it. I was a member for a couple years before volunteering to keep the new releases updated, and I have loved it every month for something like four years now!

 

Ruschelle: You are a short stories girl and novelist. Most writers aspire to be novelists, unlike myself who is a champion of the short and sweet. Okay, I honestly don’t have the attention span for a novel—or much of anything—

…eggs, milk, squeaky toy for pups, new recreational axe with self cleaning blade…

OOPS, sorry! Grocery list.  See what I mean about attention span?

What do you find is the most difficult while crafting a novel compared to shorter works?

Lydia: Keeping motivated. There is something magical about having an idea, grinding out a draft, polishing a draft, then having a brain-child of a short story ready for the world in as little as a day or month. The long haul that is a novel can deflate me. If I could approach my novels with as much energy as I do short stories, there would be more than one published by now.

 

Ruschelle: Speaking of novels, your offering, Nightface is a fantastic vampire tale. Which vampires and their mythos did you find your inspiration?

Lydia: There is a little of every vampire I’ve ever met in Gunnar and Solomon, who feature in Nightface. There are also non-vampire inspirations like the most visceral fight scenes in film, occultists of centuries passed, and medical experimentation. The quieter vampires of Anne Rice made a big impact, and even more so did the worldbuilding of Vampire: The Masquerade in the mid-90s when White Wolf had such wonderful guides for live-action role-playing, specifically the Brujah clan.

 

Ruschelle: You have a sequel to Nightface being birthed. Will you give us a little nibble of where the story begins…or will you have to kill us if you give us the skinny?

Lydia: If only video existed of the night I read the first chapter at the ChiSeries night in Ottawa! There were about ninety very intrigued and slightly disturbed friends and fans there to hear it. The book begins at the end of Black River Road in the field surrounding an abandoned estate featured in Nightface. The working title has changed a few times, but the final title is now Nightface: Elders. Some people have asked if certain characters come back, and I’d have to say everyone comes back… in one way or another.

 

Ruschelle: If you could be turned into any blood-thirsty or modernly vegan creature, what would it be and why?

Lydia: It may be out of the horror universe proper, but once of the Radley family from Matt Haig’s book would be an interesting life that can pass for human. Truly, I’m already not far off the Jarmusch vampires, with the obvious exception of committing murder. There is something to be said for a perfect and near-rare cut of meat so I’d not compromise there, given the choice.

 

Ruschelle: You have been featured in quite a few anthologies. Do you find you enjoy the challenge of writing for a specific submission or do you dig through the bones of your un-homed ‘children’ and see if one might fit into a certain theme? Hey, we all want our children to fit in.

Lydia: Being that kid that never fit in, I think I have my own elegant solution to that – even if it ends up being a little backward. I’ve written for submission calls and really enjoy the ‘writing prompt’ that serves. As anyone, I either don’t make the cut or don’t make the deadline in many cases. Instead of trying to home the story elsewhere, I’ll keep it for use in Pray Lied Eve. That is, unless a really suitable home can be found. Sometimes I am just moved to write a piece. In that case I’ll submit to a few editors I love to work with already or to a few I aspire to be published by. Some of those end up on the cutting room floor too, but I do have fairly good success finding homes for my work so far.

 

Ruschelle: Pray Lied Eve both 1 and 2 are collections of stories that you have meticulously sewn together, enchanted and made dance for our entertainment. What piece of you went into each offering?

Lydia: To avoid a long answer detailing each entry, I’d have to say almost all of them are based on a place that exists, a person who did exist, or a thing that happened. In Shrinking Dwell, from Pray Lied Eve a man encounters large ice balls falling from the sky with no explanation. In about 2010 a friend of mine experienced just that, and I was there to see one fall. It was fascinating! More recently, in Pray Lied Eve 2, I wrote about my ancestors belongings in As Is, Where Is. So, there are many pieces of me in each one – more than in my novels for certain. Fitting, as the title of the collection is an anagram of my name.

 

Ruschelle: Do you have Pray Lied Eve 3 somewhere tied up in your dark, cozy basement waiting to be unleashed to scare the masses? Please say, yes!

Lydia: Prayers answered, yes, there is a Pray Lied Eve 3 around the corner. A faraway corner, and perhaps around another yet; the cover art has been planned at the very least.

 

Ruschelle: As I was stalking you for the interview (and because a girl needs a hobby. How else does an antisocial beyotch get to know people?) I came across some exquisite wedding photos slathered in gothic charm. Some little girls dream of Cinderella weddings but we horror-lovers want for more of the Maleficent-esque wedding. So, give us the your awesomely dark wedding deets!

Lydia: Not much to relay, as it was a very quiet and private wedding as we would prefer. The most interesting part for fans of the macabre would be that yes, we were married in a haunted jail. Yes, we tied the knot at the gallows. Certainly, we relayed our vows on death row. It was a wonderful day all around! The photographer, John Wenzel, had never shot a wedding before and never wanted to but had indeed shot some of the most striking goth, cyberbunk, and zombie-walk images in town so we were very pleased he said yes!

 

Ruschelle: Writing can sometimes be…uncomfortable. Do you find there are themes or particular scenes that are tougher to write than others? Personally, I can murder a person a thousand different ways and giggle as I do it, but pen a sex scene—UGH! Erectile dysfunction of the brain!

Lydia: That is an affliction I gladly suffer from as well. I can’t see me writing a sex scene ever, and I had a tough time writing a romance story for an invite anthology, Allucinor: The Element of Romance where genre authors were asked to write something outside of their wheelhouse. Fight scenes give me trouble but only because I strive for believable action. This probably comes from my creative jealousy after seeing films like The Raid: Redemption and other brilliant fight films. Always feel like I’ve bit off more than I can chew writing fight scenes.

 

Ruschelle: As a writer, do you find yourself reading other authors critically? Do you pick apart a scene or edit sentence structure? Or are you able to just enjoy the journey?

Lydia: Usually I can read recreationally just fine, but the red-pen part of my brain clicks on from time to time unbidden. Oddly, while reading very tightly written and edited work. The last time I found myself picking apart a work was reading something by Joe Hill. The best cure for that I’ve found is to close the book and go write or edit something of my own or do a review.

 

Ruschelle: What is your favorite vampire ‘type’: the ugly Nosferatu, the charming Count Dracula or the Mariah Cary of blood-suckers, Edward Cullin? Glitter, get it? I’ll shut up now.

Lydia: I’d have to say The Lost Boys hold a lot of charm for me, but in a more feral, less 80s fashion. There is something about the fringes of society that is already scary to a lot of people, so take those leather jackets and motorcycles and add fangs to get a great start for a vampire. I haven’t read any of the Twilight novels but being aware of them by osmosis, I’ll take a Count Orlok any day!

 

Ruschelle: You’re an avid photographer as well. What are some of your favorite subjects to shoot? Please share a few pix as well, we’d love to see your work.

Lydia: I’ve shot portraits and bands, flowers and foods but my all time favourite thing was the Zombie Walk. It was an event that became too large and too commercial as years went by, but when I was writing for the fantastic Ottawa Horror, I made a point of posting photos every year. The most fun year was 2014, but likely because it was warmer than most and there was no snow. So that is really the best eye-candy for horror fans. Some select photos are on my portfolio too!

 

Ruschelle: Thank you so much for chatting with us here at the Horror Tree. It was a pleasure stalking you. So…what’s bubbling in that beautiful cauldron of yours? What can your new-found fan look forward to from you? And how are they able to stalk you?

Lydia: The best spot is likely lydiapeever.ca – if I post a youtube video, an instagram photo, have a new podcast up or new writing, it all ends up there guaranteed. There is a newsletter sign up as well, if one only wants to see writing related happenings. But really, it is all kind of horror related! The biggest writing projects right now are a short story for an invite anthology I can’t name at the moment, and of course Nightface: Elders. There is one more that is not writing as much as working with a very accomplished and hero of a writer as script editor. the Internet Movie Database has an entry on that for those that want to sleuth it out. I honestly can’t say whether the novel or Pray Lied Eve 3 will be out next, so it will be a surprise for all of us to see which wins! Thank you so much for the chat today!