IN SOMNIO: A Chat with Contributor Lauren Bolger

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!

IN SOMNIO: A Chat with contributor Taylor Jordan Pitts

Taylor Jordan Pitts works in children's book publishing in New York City. Her fiction has appeared in Brilliant Flash Fiction, and her critical nonfiction has appeared in Logos. She is currently pursuing an MFA in writing for children and young adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Interview conducted by IN SOMNIO editor Alex Woodroe.

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AW: Does your story touch on anything personal to you? Alternatively, does it touch on any current events, world fears, philosophy, morality, moods, trends? 

 TJP: What We Sow touches on a few ideas and themes that terrify me: community fueled and destroyed by collective fear; the slow inevitability of living on a dying earth; finally arriving at the solution to your problem—and being too late. Also, plants! Which appear in just about everything I write.

 AW: Do you have any specific formative memories that roped you into Gothic fiction?

 TJP: I started playing piano around age 10, and I was totally obsessed with Chopin nocturnes, which are all extremely moody and romantic. Anytime I play one, I'm transported to a haunted castle in the moors. I think I've been chasing this vibe in fiction ever since. (My favorite is Nocturne 19 in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1, by the way.)

 AW: Did you ever embrace Goth culture? Carry a parasol? Do you still? If not, what was your teen ‘scene’?

 TJP: Oh, absolutely. I think the more era-appropriate term for what I dabbled in would have been Goth's sad sister, "emo": fishnets, fingerless gloves, way too much eyeliner, Panic! at the Disco (I still love Panic and always will), sharpie-colored hair, cloudy disposition. The works!

 AW: Why Horror? Are you and Horror exclusive, and if not, what else do you flirt with?

 TJP: I think Horror is one of the most universally misunderstood genres out there. People underestimate the power it has to move us, shape us, and stay with us long after it vanishes into the night. I'm drawn to Horror because of the impact the most terrifying tales have had on me, and my own desire to reach into the deepest, darkest parts of myself and readers, and create something universal.

I flirt with anything you might call "genre": fantasy, science fiction, Horror—specifically for young readers. I also write the occasional poem and essay. 

 AW: You're an expert in writing for children and young adults. What are the benefits and challenges in introducing (age-appropriate) Horror-esque themes into writing for young people?

 TJP: There are some truly terrifying children's stories out there! Especially when I think back to what I read growing up—for example, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ("Sam's New Pet" scarred me for life), anything Roald Dahl, and even stories that weren't meant to be outright scary, such as The Monster at the End of This Book—it's no wonder I delight in the disturbing. When I'm writing for young people, I try to think back to what I most loved about these creepy tales, root out why they've stuck with me all these years, and bring out some of those themes in my own work. For me, it's not about censoring or watering down—quite the opposite. It's about recognizing that children are uniquely perceptive and vulnerable to what's happening around them, and providing them a mirror for their very real fears.

 AW: Where can people see more of your past/upcoming work?

 TJP: You can visit my website at taylorpitts.com or follow me on the bird app @TaylorJPitts, where I can be found screaming about publishing, writing, and plants.

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IN HER OWN WORDS:

Below, Taylor reads a selection from her story, WHAT WE SOW. Then, be sure to support the IN SOMNIO campaign, live on Kickstarter now!

IN SOMNIO: A Chat with contributor Hailey Piper

Hailey Piper is the author of The Worm and His Kings, An Invitation to Darkness, Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, and other books. She is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and her short fiction appears in Year's Best Hardcore Horror, Dark Matter Magazine and elsewhere. She lives with her wife in Maryland.

This interview was conducted by IN SOMNIO editor Alex Woodroe.

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AW: Does your story touch on anything personal to you? 

HP: "Pretend It Doesn't Get Worse" touches on the sense of being trapped in a strange morphing skin, whether that's literal or a house that's slowly no longer feeling like home. It's a mess of adolescence, the odd feeling of parents no longer a unit, and the discovery of changes within a young me that weren't finding a way out.

AW: Do you have any specific formative memories that roped you into Gothic fiction?

HP: It's probably a usual go-to, but Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I picked it up in the library when I was seven; not an Illustrated Classics edition meant for kids, but the real one. It was too dense for me, but I still got chills from what little I could understand.

AW: Did you ever embrace the Goth culture? Carry a parasol? Do you still?

HP: Oh yes! That was a time of dark colors, pants with chains, and many nights staining the bathtub with many colors of Manic Panic. Once I got out into the grown-up world, I had to leave it behind, but I've eyed the hair dye now and then.

AW: Why Horror? Are you and Horror exclusive, and if not, what else do you flirt with?

HP: Isn't that always the question, especially to women? Why horror, why monsters and brooding and pain and blood? On one level, I think we're suited best for it. On another, horror is the genre of honesty, horror is healing, and it will always mean most even as I sometimes cross-pollinate it with fantasy, sci-fi, western, and romance.

AW: Seeing as you're an author who has a firm footing in publishing right now, and your upcoming Queen of Teeth is already killing it, what do you love about being in publishing?

HP: I've been fortunate to work with attentive people who care intensely about the art as well as bringing that art to readers. There's nothing like a good edit either. The right suggestion brings out a world of quality in a sentence, paragraph, chapter, entire narrative structure. You never know, and I enjoy working with others.

AW: Where can people see more of your past/upcoming work?

HP: My books Queen of Teeth, The Worm and His Kings, Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, Benny Rose the Cannibal King, and The Possession of Natalie Glasgow are available wherever books are sold, and links to all my short stories appear here as they're published: https://haileypiper.com/short-fiction/

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IN HER OWN WORDS:

Below, Hailey reads a selection from her story PRETEND IT DOESN’T GET WORSE. Then, be sure to support the IN SOMNIO campaign, live on Kickstarter now!

IN SOMNIO: A Chat with contributor Elou Carroll

Elou Carroll is a writer, graphic designer & photographer. Her work has appeared in Aloe, 101 Words, Apparition Lit and more. Her short story, “The Great Green Forever”, was shortlisted in the HG Wells Short Story Competition. When she’s not whispering with ghosts and plucking words from the dark, she edits Crow & Cross Keys.

This interview was conducted by IN SOMNIO editor Alex Woodroe.

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AW: Does your story touch on anything personal to you? Alternatively, does it touch on any current events, world fears, philosophy, morality, moods, trends?

EC: Beyond the unnerving certainty that one day in the far future, the world will likely just be one big sea, any reference to current events or the like is purely accidental. Unless you spot a really good one, at which point I definitely meant to do that and it was always part of the plan. Well done for noticing. (Ha!)

No, this one comes more from me than from external forces. When I was fairly small, I really wanted a dog—stick with me, I promise it's relevant—so every time my parents took my brother and I out without telling us where we were going, I just assumed that we were going to get a dog. We never did, not until I was already an adult anyway, but one of those times we left the car at my grandparents' house, hopped on a bus and headed into Oxford. It was dark. I was still thinking that somehow we would be getting a dog at night, after a bus journey and I couldn't think of any other place we might have been going instead. 

We ended up at the New Theatre, where Doctor Dolittle was being performed. Those were some of the most magical, life changing hours I've lived through. Since then, I've made it a habit to see at least one show a year, pandemic-willing. (I have some catching up to do.)

There is a character in GHOST LIGHT who owns a museum dedicated to the theatre. He and his museum are filled with all of the magic and wonder that I felt the first time I saw a show on stage. I've always wanted to pay homage to the theatre in fiction, and I will likely do it again, and again, and again.

AW: Do you have a favourite musical?

EC: I have several but there is one that's a teeny, tiny bit more of a favourite than the rest. The Light Princess, with music and lyrics by the ever-astounding Tori Amos, and a book by Samuel Adamson. It was on very briefly at the National Theatre in London. I'm so lucky to have seen it. The cast recording is on Spotify, and I highly recommend it.

AW: I know you have a deep love for publishing. What about it sparks joy?

EC: Big question. I love telling stories in any way I can, whether that's writing my own and convincing lovely people like yourselves that maybe they might like to publish it, or by publishing the work of other writers myself. I'm also a giant production nerd both digitally and in print—especially in print. You can often find me in bookshops, shoving books in my long-suffering other half's face and telling him exactly how they achieved certain finishes or why a certain choice was made or how thick the paper is. 

I love type, I love layout, I love finding the perfect image or colour combination, I love paper samples and cover clothes and foiling. I believe every author should be able to look at their work and think it's been presented as beautifully as it deserves to be. So that's what I want to do.

If I had all the money in the world, I would have my own publishing house—at the moment, I have my own online literary magazine and it fills me with warmth and delight.

AW: Do you have any specific formative memories that roped you into Gothic fiction?

EC: Angela Carter. It's all her fault. I stumbled across a copy of The Bloody Chamber when I was much too young to be reading it. I devoured it quickly, and as soon as I finished the final page, opened it back up and started again.

As soon as I touched that book, I was a goner. There was no turning back

AW: Did you ever embrace the Goth culture? Carry a parasol? Do you still? If not, what was your teen ‘scene’?

EC: In secondary school, my friends and I were definitely at the 'goth' end of the spectrum—especially according to other kids. Though I was always too shy to go all out back then. I was often seen sporting a HIM hoodie, a spiderweb or Ruby Gloom bag and very smudgy eyeliner. Let's not forget the shiny purple pentagram necklace. Teen Elou would likely be very happy with how I look in my author photo (shot with my best friend on a day in which we created an insane amount of wonder).

Now, when I have the rare occasion to dress up, I either tend to err on the side of goth or at the very least, try to look as much like Wednesday Addams as possible, or I wear something ridiculous and covered in owls, or polka dots. I'm like a potato: versatile. If I'm not doing anything in particular, I embrace my inner sloth and throw on whatever happens to be in front of me.

AW: Why Horror? Are you and Horror exclusive, and if not, what else do you flirt with?

EC: Oh, I'm a total flirt. I will write anything, or at least give it a good go.

My sweet spot is the humble gothic fairy tale, or just the gothic, or just a fairy tale—slow-simmering terror, more than a handful of wonder. Most of the things I write tend to feel either gothic or fairy tale in nature, even if I don't intend them to. It just seems to be where my writing goes and I love it. I think my 'voice' lends itself well to both genres. 

When I write horror, it's almost exclusively gothic. I'm a big fan of rising dread, rather than something overt. 

I love a good mash-up though—I'm currently shopping around a sci-fi fairy tale, and writing a gothic retelling of some Greek mythology in an epistolary style. Writing is fun.

AW: Where can people see more of your past/upcoming work?

EC: I post about all of my publications on www.eloucarroll.com and can often be found shouting about them on twitter.

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IN HER OWN WORDS:

Below, Elou reads a selection from her story GHOST LIGHT; and be sure to follow the IN SOMNIO Kickstarter here!