Lauren Bolger lives in a suburb near Chicago with her spouse and two young kids. She's a horror writer so of course, darkness makes her very happy. Chipper, even.
Nothing can quiet the ghosts within Becky’s head...except, perhaps, the gleaming axe inside the car in the junkyard. Lauren goes for the throat in JUNK SOUL, her story for IN SOMNIO: A Collection of Modern Gothic Horror. Editor Alex Woodroe talks to her about it, and more:
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AW: Does your story touch on anything personal to you? Does it touch on any current events, world fears, philosophy, morality, moods, trends?
LB: Sure. Becky's biggest mistake in Junk Soul? Shutting up her feelings after going through some serious trauma, and then that coming back to bite her, definitely came from a place of experience. It's been really a nice perk though, not being haunted by a literal monster-self like in the story!
AW: Do you have any specific formative memories that roped you into Gothic fiction?
LB: Honestly, I just grew up completely obsessed with ghosts. If I misplaced my socks, I'd wonder aloud if a ghost took them. I looked for whatever stories I could find and then, probably like many of us, would have to sleep with the lights on. I love haunted houses and that heavy foreboding atmosphere in a book or movie of the genre. And I live for that moment of revelation or utter chaos at the end, when that veil is lifted up as high as it will go.
AW: Did you ever embrace the Goth culture? Carry a parasol? Do you still? If not, what was your teen ‘scene’?
LB: To this day, my ability to apply black eyeliner is just pitiful. It is always uneven. I didn't wear any goth stuff, and I mostly hung out with the "decent-grades-but not straight-A's" kids. Back then we listened to NSYNC and wore bubblegum colored lip gloss and had really frizzy hair. Zero cred for teen me.
AW: Why Horror? Are you and Horror exclusive, and if not, what else do you flirt with?
LB: I think one of the biggest things that draws me to Horror is that it kind of puts death on display. From a place of safety, you can poke it and look at it, and have a kind of magical relationship with it instead of fully attempting to ignore it.
In addition to Horror, I love literary fiction and poetry. Horror is my number one favorite, though. Most longer pieces I write, there's got to be something speculative in there and likely at least a little disturbing. Dramatic prose is cool but I really just enjoy the lurking shit. The not-of-this-world or maybe-of-this-world-who-knows... shit.
AW: Does your love for poetry marry well in your writing with your love for Horror? Do you think about the lyrical aspects when writing prose?
LB: I definitely think that my poetic voice bleeds (ha ha) into the Horror I write. I think when I read Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore was when I thought, damn. I'm reading Horror, but the way he describes this world, and the setting...The language is just so beautiful and poetic while also being fully gory and unsettling. I think that was my favorite ever Horror read. If I'm shooting for the moon here, that's my moon.
AW: Is anyone else in your family a now or future horror fan? Do they read you?
LB: My husband is a Horror fan and he does read my stuff. My mom, too, though she'd normally never go anywhere near Horror. I think it would be amazing to watch a Horror movie with her, but I honestly have no confidence I could ever convert her.
AW: Where can people see more of your past/upcoming work?
LB: Well my big thing I'm querying is my debut horror novel Kill Radio. The best place to view my short fiction and poetry links is at laurenbolger.com
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IN HER OWN WORDS:
Below, Lauren reads a selection from her story, JUNK SOUL. Be sure to support the IN SOMNIO campaign, live on Kickstarter now!