If you’ve ever chatted with Sonora Taylor, you know she’s one of the most selfless people in the Indie Horror community. She spends an outsized amount of her time lifting her peers and the scene itself up; there should be more like her.
But there’s not; there’s only Sonora, the award-winning author of seven books, including Little Paranoias, Seeing Things, and Someone to Share My Nightmares. We chatted about her fantastic BRAVE NEW WEIRD story, “Eat Your Colors”, and using the F word in Horror, amongst other things.
These responses have been edited for space and clarity.
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"Eat Your Colors" details an insidious "lose weight quick" scheme. What’s the Weirdest—be it absurd, harmless, hilarious, or downright horrifying—weight loss scheme you’ve ever come across?
[CW: description of disordered eating/dieting, eating disorders, pro-ana/anorexia]
Oh geez, all of them? Ha ha. There are seriously so many obnoxious diet schemes, and I find it both ridiculous and sad that people still fall for them. Shrinking ourselves is so ingrained into us from an early age, especially if you’re a woman/are coded as a woman. One of the first that came to mind is the Hollywood Cookie Diet. I think it used to be advertised in SkyMall. You basically eat nothing but these meal cookies three times a day and surprise, instant weight loss!
But I think the weirdest and the one I can’t believe people still do is the Master Cleanse. For 10 days, you consume nothing but this concoction of water, lemon juice, cayenne, and maybe some kind of sweetener? Anyway, you drink this for 10 days, it makes you piss and shit like a motherfucker, and then you both lose weight and feel like you hit a reset and detoxified or something. I never did it but two of my best friends in college did it regularly, and even tried to continue it for 30 days instead of 10. It’s such a scam because of course you’ll lose weight, you’re basically consuming ~100 calories a day for over a week.
I will say on a serious note to please watch out for diet schemes disguised as anything but weight loss, things like “clean eating” and the like. A lot of these still promote disordered eating, and a lot of the content generated comes from pro-ana accounts posting in a more stealth fashion than directly saying to restrict your food intake.
With this story, and your work co-editing Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology, you’ve helped lead the charge in the Horror community to embrace body positivity. Have you seen any positive changes in recent years? In too many ways, “Fat” is still considered a word to be spoken in hushed terms. Too many Horror writers still use Fat as lazy shorthand for Evil.
I’ve seen some improvement, but it’s been really, really slow. For instance, I’m reading Christmas horror right now since it’s December, and every book I’ve read has had fatphobia in it. It’s tiring. I am seeing better representation though, especially with new works coming out. An excellent example of positive fat representation is in Gretchen Falker-Martin’s fantastic novel Manhunt. There are multiple fat characters and none are degraded for their size.
What does your writing routine/setup 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?
Ha, I now have a funny image of me under an awning tapping into Google Docs on my phone as I shiver in the rain. Anyway, my preferred writing spot is my kitchen table, which is also where I work during the day (I have an office job in addition to my writing career). I used to write in the mornings or evenings, but lately I’ve enjoyed writing between my work tasks; probably because I consider both to be a job and so I have a mental block against writing when it’s no longer work hours. I also don’t write on the weekends unless inspiration strikes or I’m on a deadline.
What does “Weird” mean to you, in the context of storytelling? And what creators/experiences helped sculpt this definition?
To me, Weird means strange or unusual even by strange or unusual standards. It defies explanation even in the context of world-building. It has no sensical base in reality. It raises eyebrows as well as the hairs on your arm. I think there’s a lot of crossover with Cosmic Horror and Gothic Horror, but Weird is very much its own thing. Some of my favorite Weird stories have come from Hailey Piper, Eve Harms, Brian Fatah Steele, Helen Oyeyemi, and Victor LaValle.
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.
The Nightmare Before Christmas x John Denver. Alternatively, Where the Heart Is x Babes in Toyland.
I know you’ve stepped into a larger role with Scares That Care this past year; between that, your writing and editing, what does 2023 look like for you?
2023 looks pretty exciting! I have a completed novella ready to go, and I’m working on a secret project I can’t really discuss. I’m going to work on my next short story collection, currently titled Recreational Panic. I also have a story in Ghost Orchid Press’s upcoming dark, erotic fairytale anthology called Les Petites Morts; called “Snow White and the Seven Sins.”
BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume One, is on sale February 6th. Preorder print and eBooks here.