[sarah] Cavar is the author of Failure to Comply (featherproof books, 2024) and Differential Diagnosis (Northwestern University Press, 2026). They are editor-in-chief of manywor(l)ds.place, and their work can be found in Electric Lit, The Rumpus, Split Lip Magazine, and elsewhere. Cavar holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of California: Davis, and can be found at www.cavar.club, Bluesky, and librarycard.beehiiv.com.
Their BNW-winning story “Mad Studies” originally appeared in khōréō Magazine.
BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.
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Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-winning story.
In "Mad Studies," countryboy T loses their home after the deaths of their parents. Luckily, the cats have been in charge all along.
I wouldn’t suggest leaving cats in charge of anything. I have cats; they have terrible follow-through.
This world is friggin' Weird in a lot of ways right now, and many of those ways are not the fun kind. What secret tips can you share to help others navigate this mess on a daily basis?
I don’t know if this is a secret, but: hang out with your friends. Really. I’m a bit of a workaholic, and spent a lot of time growing up siloing myself away with my homework and computer, trying to be perfect but forgetting to spend time with the people I cared about. These days, I’m still a work-in-progress in that regard, but I also know that it’s more important than ever before to form strong, enduring bonds with friends - comrades - community members, those prepared to stand up for me and for all of us if and when the unthinkable happens. It’s pretty easy to do this, but sometimes hard to remember in the midst of our capitalism-induced busyness.
Actually, to everyone reading this, reply to a friend’s text, or invite someone out for coffee, right now. Just do it. You’ll thank yourself later.
That’s Weird; I asked you out to coffee, like, five minute ago, Cavar, and you told me you had some stupid Q&A to fill out. I’m just sayin’, it sounded a liiiiittle like an excuse. Awkward.
Do you take naps?
Sometimes! I used to take naps only when I was deathly ill. Then…grad school happened! Now I take a nap occasionally, especially when I’ve been up for a long time. Jury’s out as to whether or not I feel refreshed afterward, but I appreciate the sleep in the moment.
On the Tenebrous Discord board, 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.
Arca x It’s A Wonderful Life.
What's the capital-W Weirdest thing that's ever happened to you (that you're comfortable sharing)?
I have a habit of stumbling across weird-looking/mutated plants a lot. These plants also seemed drawn to my backyard growing up: I’d walk into the wooded area that separated my home from our neighbors’ and constantly find trees with knotted trunks, trees growing into/around each other, trees with limbs wrapped in bizarre and unsettling ways, and so on. This isn’t super uncommon–the natural world we’ve got is already deeply, deeply Weird–but it has always made me feel unsettled in my bones, the way some people get trypophobia.
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BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.
