Women in Horror Month #8: Carmilla Voiez

Another quality post brought to you by Steve!

Hi, everybody!  For those of you who don't know, February is Women in Horror Month.  If you haven't been following along, I've been doing an interview series over on my personal blog.  But I thought today's guest was so exciting, that I had to introduce her to all of you fine people as well.  So let's get to it!

About Carmilla Voiez:

Carmilla Voiez is a proudly bisexual and mildly autistic introvert who finds writing much easier than verbal communication. A life long Goth, living with two kids, two cats and a poet by the sea.
She is passionate about horror, the alt scene, intersectional feminism, art, nature and animals. When not writing, she gets paid to hang out in a stately home and entertain tourists.
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​Carmilla grew up on a varied diet of horror. Her earliest influences as a teenage reader were Graham Masterton, Brian Lumley, and Clive Barker mixed with the romance of Hammer Horror and the visceral violence of the first wave of video nasties. Fascinated by the Goth aesthetic and enchanted by threnodies of eighties Goth and post-punk music she evolved into the creature of darkness we find today.
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Her books are both extraordinarily personal and universally challenging. As Jef Withonef of Houston Press once said - "You do not read her books, you survive them."

Interview:

SK:  How are you involved in the world of horror?

CV:  I write horror stories, usually with a dark fantasy slant. I have a series of novels and a collection of short stories already published, plus two graphic novels. I've also had short stories included in anthologies ranging from ZOMBIE PUNKS FUCK OFF (Weirdpunk Books) to ELEMENTS OF HORROR: WATER (Red Cape Publishing.) 

SK: Who or what terrifies you?

CV:  Fire. I suspect because it seduces and kills. When I was young, my uncle had an accident with a barbecue and a lot of paraffin, and the results were terrifying to behold. 

SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

CV:  I think women have unique stories to tell based on the experience of growing up female, just as people of colour have their own stories due to racism or cultural influences. Throughout literature men's voices have been historically prominent. That's certainly not exclusive to horror, but I feel the balance is shifting and that previous silenced voices are being heard, and that change is particularly exciting in horror. 

SK:  Who are your favorite female horror icons?

CV:  Barbie Wilde, The Soska Twins, Toni Morrison, Vampira and goddesses like Lilith and Kali.

SK:  What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

CV:  I'm working on the final book of the STARBLOOD series, so I'm promoting the novels to anyone who hasn't started reading them yet. It's female driven, with bisexual main characters who are Gothic and messed up, strong and highly intelligent, yet fragile, complicated and frequently stupid. It's an adult read for mature audiences. Mixed in with plenty of visceral violence and psychological conflict, it deals with sex and sexuality, love, obsession and the idealisation of the objects of our desires. It's a massive story with a wide range of characters, and the first book won a few awards when it came out.

About RIBBONS:

The rum bar seems a cosy setting to wait out the apocalypse. When the rain stops falling those who are still breathing are forced to reevaluate their lives. Edensun, The Bringer of Chaos, and Freya’s paths are destined to cross, but when they come face to face who will be the hero and who the villain? The Morrigu gather; they are told their fate is to save the world from Chaos, but they worship a goddess of war whose intentions are dubious. Only the witch in the tower block seems to know the truth and she is unwilling to share.

RIBBONS is the fourth book in the STARBLOOD series and an LGBT love story full of horror and dark fantasy

Women in Horror Month #9: Tlotlo Tsamaase, Author of "Murders Fell From Our Wombs"

Another quality post brought to you by Steve!

Hey, everybody!  In case you don't know, February is Women in Horror Month, and 2019 is the tenth year of this redoubtable celebration.  I'm celebrating all month long over on my personal blog, but I wanted to let you Across the Board fans get in on the excitement as well, so today I'm very proud to bring you an exciting and talented poet and author of the macabre, Tlotlo Tsamaase.  Let's meet her briefly and then jump into the interview.

About Tlotlo Tsamaase:

Tlotlo Tsamaase lives and and works in Gaborone, Botswana. She is a Motswana writer of fiction, poetry, and articles on architecture. Her work has appeared in "Terraform," "Apex Magazine," "Wasafiri Magazine," and at "Strange Horizons." Her poem “I Will Be Your Grave” is a Rhysling Award nominee. For a longer list of her works check her website.

You can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, and her website.

Interview:

SK: How are you involved in the world of horror?

TT:  I started out in the film genre, watching scary movies when I was a kid. "Ginger Snaps" was my all-time favorite. I read any suspense novel I could get my hands on. During my childhood, my cousin who was a couple of years older than I used to tell me frightening local tales of gods, demons, ghosts, and mischievous creatures that caused havoc through the night, through villages, through generations of families as bedtime stories; so, I suppose that also shaped my imaginative mind and paranoia. I believe Gabriel García Márquez’s quote, “…surrealism runs through the streets,” regarding Mexico is quite relatable and befitting for this. I also grew up on a diet of R.L Stine books. Way back when, there was a South African drama called "Lesilo Rula," about a man who blew into a whistle to awaken a zombie-like figure that carried out his revenge—I loved it as a kid, but it frightened the hell out of me!

SK: Who or what terrifies you?

TT:  Answering that is more terrifying than the real answer! But strangely enough, being in a dark room with dolls and teddy bears and their somehow shiny beady eyes is claustrophobic for me. As a kid, I had a nightmare of them pretending to be inanimate objects, but, when humans were out of range, they moved and talked like people. Funny enough, I can still fearlessly watch "Chucky"…I think.

SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

TT:  Gender and race should be irrelevant, but they are relevant especially in our time; unfortunately, race issues are oftentimes attached to gender. So, in most cases you have two things working against you, but it’s also an opportunity because you’re offering another perspective. Women are generally seen as delicate and fragile and only serve trope-filled roles. So if they are depicted in such a way then they are perceived as fairly incapable to write horror. In most works or roles, they are perceived as mistresses in distress, silly, naïve, weak—incapable of complexity or horror. They are seen as soft bodies for seduction for comfort for rescue. I’m normally intrigued by works that make women deeply complex villains who are capable of love and horror. And I especially love works of art that show complex black women and other ethnicities existing in a wider genre of work whether it be in a psychologically intense sci-fi or fantasy or contemporary stories.

SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?

TT:  I’m an avid foreign-film viewer, so I’m going to bunch in my literary favorites with a few film faves: "Raw" by Julia Ducournau looks at sisterhood and cannibalism in the weirdest sense; our local horror TV show "Thokolosi"  was chilling and scary; I loved the symbolism and religious motifs as well as the revenge itself in "Revenge" directed by Coralie Fargeat; Seo Young-hee’s acting in "Bedevilled" is gripping and deeply saddening. Regarding literary, I’m addicted to Helen Oyeyemi’s dark and chilling prose in WHITE IS FOR WITCHING and THE ICARUS GIRL. One of my favorite local authors is Cheryl Ntumy who’s published a myriad of amazing works; she wrote a very startling and subtle-but-chilling novella, CROSSING, which was my first introduction to her writing. The other horror icons are also within my circle of friends and family telling of local myths.

SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

TT:  I’m currently working on a strange magical realism and sci-fi story, as well as editing a novella and another story. I’m deeply in love with this quote by Anaïs Nin,“Had I not created my whole world, I would certainly have died in other people’s.” In some instance, you find it difficult to exist in certain spaces, as if those spaces want to purge you from existence, so you attempt to bend and deform yourself to fit to a trend, stereotype, discrimination or bias. In other words you die in other people’s worlds. I can’t say how many times a written work has provided me with a different perspective that allowed me some freedom to nurture my identity according to me. The power of prose can be both therapeutic and damaging, in a sense that it can be a refuge for a person, a culture, or a killer. I really love it when I find a work I can strongly relate to, so that is what I hope people will find in my writing, something to relate to, something that will enlighten them, and something to question or something that allows them to question the world and the universe. Currently, folks can check my recent work: an audio version of my story “Eco-Humans” over at Nipe Story which is curated by the amazing and talented Kevin Mwachiro, and “Murders Fell From Our Wombs” in "Apex Magazine" which looks at the dangerous tropes that bind women. My novelette, “District to Cervix: The Time Before We Were Born,” is a tale of a young pre-born character’s journey or battle towards birth and the gender they desire, and it is forthcoming from Michael Bailey and Darren Speegle’s PRISMS anthology. “They Don’t Believe God Grows in Our Hearts” appeared in "Wasafiri Magazine" and tells of poverty, unemployment, starving artists and the imprisonment of societal pressures. My short story, “Who Will Clean Our Spirits When We’re Gone?” is forthcoming from "The Dark Magazine" and it's about a young woman contacting her dead girlfriend from a telephone booth. More to reveal this year! Also, find out more on my website.

About "Murders Fell From Our Wombs":

The complete novelette "Murders Fell From Our Wombs" is free to read in its entirety here and is included in Apex Magazine Issue 108, available for purchase here.

Interview with Lisa Morton, President of the HWA

Another quality post brought to you by Steve!


Happy Presidents Day, everybody!  For those of you who don't know, February is Women in Horror Month.  You can stop by my personal blog, Manuscripts Burn, to see about a dozen great interviews.  But I thought I'd like to share this celebration with my ATB family as well.  So as a very special Presidents Day treat, I bring you the president of the Horror Writers Association, the very talented Lisa Morton!

About Lisa Morton:

Credit: Seth Ryan

Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, and award-winning prose writer whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening”.  She is the author of four novels and more than 130 short stories, a six-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award®, and a world-class Halloween expert who has been interviewed by "The Wall Street Journal," "Real Simple Magazine," and The History Channel (for "The Real Story of Halloween.") She co-edited (with Ellen Datlow) the anthology HAUNTED NIGHTS, which received a starred review in "Publishers Weekly;" other recent releases include GHOSTS: A HAUNTED HISTORY and the collection THE SAMHANACH AND OTHER HALLOWEEN TREATS. Lisa lives in the San Fernando Valley and online at www.lisamorton.com.

You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Interview:

SK: How are you involved in the world of horror?

LM:  I'm an author of both fiction and non-fiction, I'm a Halloween expert, I'm a reader and fan, and I currently serve as President of the Horror Writers Association.

SK: Who or what terrifies you?

LM:  The looming possibility of spending my old age lost in dementia. I've taken care of my mom for a long time, and dealing with her dementia has been terrifying. I spent almost three years as her live-in caregiver, and there were nights when I'd awake to find her standing over my bed in the dark, so when I say "terrifying", I'm not kidding!

SK: Are there unique challenges to being a woman in horror or do you feel like gender is irrelevant?

There are unique challenges to being a woman in EVERYTHING. The only extra problem with horror is that we are working in a genre that has often been identified in the past with rape and torture of women, but fortunately I think we've moved largely beyond that, due in no small part to how many excellent women writers have come onto the horror scene in the last few years.

SK: Who are your favorite female horror icons?

LM:  Mary Shelley, of course - isn't it mindblowing to think that she wrote FRANKENSTEIN as a teenager?  Shirley Jackson, who wrote what many of us consider to be the finest opening passage of any horror novel ever (for THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE). (SK:  This is a legendary passage in horror circles, well worth quoting here:  "No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.")  And Ann Radcliffe, who really established the genre of Gothic literature and whose books have been continuously in print for over two centuries.

SK: What are you working on/promoting currently? Why should folks check it out?

LM:  Right now I'm waiting for contracts on two different books to come through - one an anthology of classic ghost stories, the other a coffee table art book - so I suspect those projects will eat up most of my 2018. From 2017...I'm still reeling from the success of HAUNTED NIGHTS, an anthology of horror-themed original short stories that I had the pleasure of co-editing with Ellen Datlow for the Horror Writers Association. The book received raves from "Publishers Weekly," "Locus," "Rue Morgue"...well, pretty much everyone! It was a really a dream project for me.

About HAUNTED NIGHTS:

Sixteen never-before-published chilling tales that explore every aspect of our darkest holiday, Halloween, co-edited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most successful and respected genre editors, and Lisa Morton, a leading authority on Halloween.

In addition to stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick or treating in the future, Haunted Nights also offers terrifying and mind-bending explorations of related holidays like All Souls' Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Devil's Night. 

-With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds- by Seanan McGuire
-Dirtmouth- by Stephen Graham Jones-
-A Small Taste of the Old Countr- by Jonathan Maberry
-Wick's End- by Joanna Parypinski
-The Seventeen Year Itch- by Garth Nix
-A Flicker of Light on Devil's Night- by Kate Jonez
-Witch-Hazel- by Jeffrey Ford
-Nos Galen Gaeaf- by Kelley Armstrong
-We're Never Inviting Amber Again- by S. P. Miskowski
-Sisters- by Brian Evenson
-All Through the Night- by Elise Forier Edie
-A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds- by Eric J. Guignard
-The Turn- by Paul Kane
-Jack- by Pat Cadigan
-Lost in the Dark- by John Langan
-The First Lunar Halloween- by John R. Little