Karlo Yeager Rodríguez is originally from the enchanted isle of Puerto Rico, but moved to Baltimore some years ago where he lives happily with his wife and one odd dog.
His story, “Up In the Hills, She Dreams of Her Daughter Deep In the Ground,” was originally published in Strange Horizons and will appear in BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror Volume Two, available to preorder now.
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Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-nommed story, please.
A horror-magical realism hybrid, inspired by The Juniper Tree and the decades-long sterilization campaign in Puerto Rico euphemized as la operación.
What does your writing routine look like? Do you have an office? A preferred coffee shop? The back of the bus? Standing under your neighbor’s eaves, avoiding the rain? Are you one of those true modern Weirdos who write your entire novel on your phone?
Pure chaos, really. A singular place is not precisely part of my routine - I've had writing sessions on the couch as well as standing at the kitchen counter getting the words in ever-so-slowly. Oh, and I've definitely jotted down paragraphs on my phone's notes app - but never an entire novel. I also tend to write S-L-O-W. Usually 250 new words per session, often going back over what I wrote last to revise a bit as I go. On very good days I may get 500 or even 750 words down, but it's not often.
We’re gonna call that 1.5 on the phone-writers tally! And you’re also my new favorite person who answered these questions, because I’m lucky if I pull off 750 words a month.
What does “Weird” mean to you, in the context of storytelling? And what creators/experiences/influences helped sculpt this definition for you in your creative journey?
In my opinion, "Weird" is more of an observation of how the unknown and the unknowable - and oh, how our minds squirm at not knowing! - often intrude upon the mundanity of our lives, reminding us of how small we are compared to it. The beauty is that immense and remote forces that consider humanity as insignificant as ants need not only be Lovecraftian horrors, but could also be anthropocentric in nature.
Please understand that when I first read the question regarding creators/experiences/influences, I blanched because I couldn't think of one. Then, I remembered my 9th grade English teacher gifting me her copy of a Kafka collection, and later reading Moby Dick. Much more recently, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson explores how even a mundane place can feel odd and numinous once you've become unmoored from your community.
I think you’re the second person to cite Moby Dick as a Weird influence, which makes me want to revisit that one. It’s been a couple decades.
On the Tenebrous Discord, we ask everyone to introduce themselves as a Film-meets-Music Artist (Citizen Kane x Metallica, f’rinstance). It doesn’t have to be your favorite, and don’t spend too much time overthinking it; now GO.
Big Trouble In Little China meets Nine Inch Nails. Simple!
What’s the Weirdest thing—capital W—that’s ever happened to you (that you’re comfortable sharing)?
Okay, maybe this is more Gothic than Weird, but here goes.
Studying at the kitchen table at my parents' old house, I caught a glimpse of my sister going to the kitchen. I was concentrating so hard, it took several minutes to realize she was not in the kitchen. I went to the other room, where my folks had been watching TV, I noticed my sister dead asleep on the sofa next to them. No, she hadn't gone to the kitchen, they told me. Yes, she had been asleep all this time. Creepy, but I chalked it up to me seeing things. Easy, peasy, right?
The next day, we learned our neighbors' live-in grandfather had passed away in the night.
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BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume Two, is out June 26th.