The Spooky Six with Willow Croft and Corinna Bechko
I admit, had a terrible dilemma when it came to my interview with author and zoologist Corinna Bechko. I had to pick just one mug from my own collection of “geeky mugs” (to reference Bechko’s comment in the interview below) for our tea chat. But don’t worry, I found the perfect one for this auspicious occasion: my Buster the Possum “Creature of the Night” mug (designed by comic strip artist and blogger at Evil Squirrel’s Nest https://evilsquirrelsnest.com/2012/01/02/buster/.).
I mean, critters and comics all in one mug, right? Now my only quandary is finding out what sort of tea is Bechko’s favourite!
(Update: I discovered which tea she prefers! “My favorite is usually something black like English breakfast, because who needs sleep? But I do try to mix in some herbals, like ginger, licorice, or mint. But really any tea is good tea with very few exceptions.”)
Corinna Bechko (She/Her/Hers) is a Hugo- and Eisner-nominated New York Times best-selling author who has worked for numerous publishers including DC, Marvel, Oni, Dark Horse, BOOM!, IDW and Sideshow on titles such as Star Wars: Legacy, Invisible Republic, The Expanse, Avatar: Adapt or Die, Green Lantern: Earth One, and several EC Comics short stories. She is known for science fiction and horror but also pens books about paleontology and space science for younger readers.
Her non-fiction includes Smithsonian Dig it: Dinosaurs and Smithsonian 1001 Super Space Facts. Her latest fiction work, a new OGN called The Space Between, is being distributed by Simon & Schuster. It is set on a generation ship where each new chapter illuminates a different revolution and romance. Like much of her work it examines how loyalty and love can change the course of history, be that love of a partner, a friend, or a fellow creature.
Corinna spends her days at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County where she works as a fossil preparator with a concentration in Triassic reptiles. Her background is in zoology, which explains her nine tattoos and three glass catfish. She has worked in behavioral research with chimpanzees, orangutans, and rhinos, as a zookeeper at the Playboy Mansion caring for Mr. Hefner’s rescued squirrel monkeys, and as a wildlife vet tech specializing in native California fauna, especially raptors and hummingbirds. When she isn’t writing or preparing fossils she does field work in Utah, New Mexico, and California with paleontological crews searching for extinct animals. In her free time she rescues wild parrots and the occasional cat and participates in community science projects targeting bat conservation. She loves to read (especially horror) and travel. She lives in Los Angeles with her partner and as many other mammals as the landlord will allow.
Website
Bluesky
https://www.corinnabechko.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/corinnabechko
https://www.facebook.com/corinnabechko
Amazon
Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/search?keywords=%22corinna+bechko%22
The Space Between
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Space-Between/Corinna-Bechko/9781608862412
EC Comics from Oni
https://www.onipress.com/news/i5fzb70r0kjdzacjl35dd2i20v2sbf
Willow Croft: “Hey, look at that derelict Victorian mansion . . . let’s go explore it!” What’s the most unusual setting you’ve read about in a horror/thriller book, or included in your own creative works?
Corinna Bechko: Hmm, I read a lot, so this is a high bar! I’m think perhaps the deep sea station in Peter Watts’ Starfish. It’s not just that the station was unusual, it’s the way the humans who worked there had to be engineered to even exist under such immense pressures, both psychological and physiological. As a person who also likes to ground her work in the biological sciences, I found this to be a masterful (and chilling) way to combine science fiction with horror.
In my own work, I’d say perhaps the planet that is slowly being terraformed in Invisible Republic. It hosted only algae-like single-celled organisms when humans first landed there but is transformed over the course of many generations by the creatures that various people add for all manner of self-serving reasons. Doing so changes everything from the local flora to the weather, and not always in ways that people expect.
Willow Croft: “It was a dark and stormy night . . .” What are your go-to comfort foods, drinks, or other ways to wind down after a long day (or night) of writing?
Corinna Bechko: I really like tea. It’s a cliché, but in my case it’s true. I almost always end the evening with a cup of tea. Being a tea drinker is also a good reason to acquire a lot of very geeky mugs.
Willow Croft: “Did you hear that noise?” Everyone, even us horror/suspense writers, have our night terrors. What is it that frightens you the most?
Corinna Bechko: Entropy is the easy answer, I guess. Who among us isn’t afraid of aging out of relevance and an active life? More broadly, ecosystem collapse. Having a background in zoology makes me heartbreakingly aware of how precarious the very thin film of life stretched over this big ball of rock we call the Earth really is. The flip side is how easy it is to feel awe when you constantly think about the transitory nature of existence. Life in all its myriad forms is amazing. We should never take it for granted.
Willow Croft: “I’m sure it was nothing. But I’ll just go outside and check, anyway. Alone. With no weapons.” Have you ever gotten writers’ block? If so, how do you combat it? Do you have certain rituals or practices that help get you into the writing (or creating) mindset?
Corinna Bechko: I’ve been a working writer for well over ten years now, so I (literally) can’t afford to have writers’ block. Which is not to say that writing always comes easily. In fact, it’s very easy to not write. One might even say that not writing is easier than writing in many ways. So, I do the opposite of having any sort of ritual. Instead, I do everything I can to demythologize writing. I write whenever and wherever I can. Like anyone else, I sometimes have “off” days at my day job too, days when I just don’t want to get out of bed or feel like I’d rather spend the day reading or at the movies, and that’s despite the fact that I love working in a museum. When that happens, I go anyway, same as anyone else. I treat writing the same way. It’s a job, I love it, but it’s not a mystical art. When I treat it as if it is it gains power and becomes harder to control. When I think of it like a job I feel more in control, and paradoxically that allows the words to flow more freely.
Willow Croft: “Don’t go into the basement!” Are you an impulsive pantser or a plotter with outlines galore? What other writing/industry advice would you share with your fellow writers & creators?
Corinna Bechko: My automatic response is to say I’m an impulsive pantser, and that’s still often true in my prose work. But I have had to become much more of a plotter with my comics work, especially when I’m working with someone else’s universe. Over the years that has gradually led me to plot more, and sooner. Really, it’s the same amount of work, just distributed differently. Still, for my EC Comics stories, I went a lot more with my first instincts. I let my subconscious take over as I outlined and wrote the initial bursts in a very “stream of consciousness” way. Then I went back and polished everything up, broke things down by page and panel, and then did the actual scripts. I’m very happy with the result and hope readers will be too!
As to advice, the one thing I constantly remind myself of is that you can’t have written without writing. And having written is terrific. It means you have the mental space to write the next thing. But you have to write what’s in front of you first.
Willow Croft: “Ring ring!” It’s the middle of the night and the phone mysteriously rings. Which notable writer, or person from history, would be on the other end of the line?
Corinna Bechko: There are a lot of people I’d love to talk to, but then again, meeting your heroes can be dangerous (and disappointing). I’d love to talk to Paul Bowels about constructing a truly impactful story. Or to Shirley Jackson about making the wickedly morbid relatable. Or to Mary Anning about paleontology. Although I fear that Anning would find it creepy that I have one of her drawings tattooed on my ankle. I don’t think very many women did sort of thing in the first half of the nineteenth century.
EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #3 (of 5)
WRITTEN BY CHRIS CONDON, CORINNA BECHKO & JAY STEPHENS
ART BY CHARLIE ADLARD, LEOMACS & JONATHAN CASE
COVER A BY LEE BERMEJO
COVER B BY TOM FOWLER
EC HOMAGE VARIANT (1:10) BY JAY STEPHENS
B&W ARTISTS EDITION VARIANT (1:20) BY TOM FOWLER
ARCHIVE EDITION VARIANT (1:50) BY RIAN HUGHES
EVERY TOMBSTONE TELLS TELLS A TALE . . . THESE ARE YOUR EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS!
In your next infamous ish from the immortal EC Comics, all-new stories of fatalistic spectacle—
told with wanton disregard for moral standards or public decency—from six ax-wielding masters of splatter de spectacular: rising star Chris Condon (That Texas Blood) and Eisner Award nominee Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead); Hugo Award nominee Corinna Bechko (Green Lantern: Earth One) and Eisner Award winner Jonathan Case (Green River Killer); and Emmy Award winner Jay Stephens (Dwellings) and the maniacal Leomacs (Rogues)!
ON SALE SEPTEMBER 18TH | $4.99 | 32 PGS | FC
Available on Amazon.
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“Bringer of Nightmares and Storms.” Horror writer Willow Croft is usually lurking deep in the shadows of her writer cave, surrounded by formerly feral (but still fierce!) cats for company. Visit her here: http://willowcroft.blog, or check out her other services here: https://kirsten-lee-barger.mailchimpsites.com/.
