perfect kiss strickoll (he/she) is a writer and film student currently located in sunny California. He likes to write about sad queers with bizarre interpersonal hang-ups, as informed by his lifelong love and study of the horror genre.
His story, “punctum (o baked alaska for you i am a former american)”, was originally published in Body Fluids, and will appear in BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird
***
Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-nommed story, please.
In Weimar Berlin, a rapidly unspooling film editor commemorates the greatest actor to ever grace the silver screen.
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?
Being a full-time graduate student, all of my writing happens in my very small studio apartment before 8 AM or after 9 PM. I have a lot of trouble with keeping up motivation, so I've learned little tricks to keep myself on track; I like to do timed writing sprints with others, and I write exclusively in Word rather than something like Google Docs where I can be tempted by other tabs. If I'm really struggling, I'll disconnect from my WiFi until I hit my goal for the day! If I'm working on something longer or more involved, I'll also usually make a 'radio' playlist—a broad sweep of music I think my characters would listen to in their world/time period—and throw that on while I write to get fully immersed.
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?
To me, "Weird" is both about the content of the stories I tell and the way I tell them. I write the same way that I think, and being neurodivergent, that way of thinking has been described as 'weird' both pejoratively and positively throughout my life. Weird is a space for dream logic, free association, and the erosion of boundaries—living versus dead, past versus present, and taboo versus social more to name a few of my favorites. I cut my teeth early on Stephen King and Anne Rice, and all these years later I see those threads in just about everything I write (for better and for worse). I'm also in Film Studies, so schlocky exploitation movies from the 70s and 80s have been a HUGE influence on my fiction writing: my dream is to one day write the book equivalent of a Frank Henenlotter film. Finally, I grew up in a very Weird place, and I wouldn't be writing at all without the other writers and creatives I met there—sammy oster and Josephine Whittock, for those whose work is out there online.
I just rewatched the Basket Case trilogy back-to-back-to-back last month and they hold up, so I wholeheartedly endorse your Henenlotter ambition. Make it happen.
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.
Return of the Living Dead x Depeche Mode.
What’s the Weirdest thing—capital W—that’s ever happened to you (that you’re comfortable sharing)?
My senior year of high school, I got lost in the city with my best friend coming back from Pride late at night; we were so invested in our conversation that we blew right past our train station and walked straight ahead for almost an hour. We only noticed when we got to a block that was suddenly packed full of people, milling about in the street, all vaguely concerned about something. All at once the crowd on the sidewalk parted and a man on a motorcycle started coming toward us, on the sidewalk—we had to jump out of the way to not get hit. When we looked behind us he was gone and we walked back to our station.
***
BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume Two, is out June 26th.
