Meet the BRAVE NEW WEIRD-o's: Simone le Roux

Simone le Roux is a speculative fiction writer based in Cape Town, South Africa with her partner, two cats, and an ancient dog. She has a cum laude Neuroscience degree that she does not use, and an enduring interest in anything spooky or dangerous. When she's not writing, Simone is a semi-professional aerialist.

Simone’s story, “The Man Outside,” originally appeared in No Trouble at All from Cursed Morsels Press, and will appear in BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror Volume Two, available to preorder now.

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Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-nommed story, please.

There's a man who gets closer to your front door the older you grow, and no one seems to be worried about it except you. In fact, hey, why are you worried at all? It's not like he's doing anything yet. 

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?

I usually write in the evenings. The essential component to my writing sessions is a cat curled up nearby or preferably on my lap. Yes, the latter makes writing difficult when my laptop is also on my lap, but adversity is important for my process. 

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?

In my mind, "Weird" means just a bit out of step with everything. Something feels off or not right, but it's hard to explain what, or why it bothers us. As someone who was often the new kid in school, I thought a lot what helps people fit in, what makes them stand out despite their best efforts, and the nuances in-between. What makes something or someone weird? And is it the fault of that person or thing, or the context that they're in? This is hardly a new question, but it influences a lot of my thinking when I write. 

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.

Let's go with Jennifer's Body x Hozier

What’s the Weirdest thing—capital W—that’s ever happened to you (that you’re comfortable sharing)?

I don't know how much I believe in ghosts, but I've definitely experienced spaces that feel wrong. I had terrible nightmares for a whole year until I swapped rooms with my housemate, and they suddenly stopped, only for her to begin having nightmares. This is something that's happened to me since I was a child – places that I just can't exist comfortably in. My mom, who's a bit more spiritual than me, trusts my taste in houses implicitly because of this. Is it most likely anxiety manifesting? Of course, but it still feels weird to me. 

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BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume Two, is out June 26th.

You can preorder it here.

Meet the BRAVE NEW WEIRD-o's: Daniel DeRock

Daniel DeRock is a writer from the U.S. living in the Netherlands. His work has appeared, among other outlets, in Pithead Chapel, Gone Lawn, MoonPark Review, and Ligeia Magazine. He is the co-author of Spark Bird, a collaborative novel (Thirty West Publishing House, 2024).

His story “Guest Opinion: We must take action regarding the [REDACTED] High School janitor” originally appeared in Body Fluids and will appear in BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror Volume Two, available to preorder now.

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Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-nommed story, please.

A high school history teacher pleads for the community to deal with a janitor that is very much not a janitor and very much not human. 

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?

I tend to write on my laptop, either on the couch or the kitchen table, always with dogs nearby. 

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?

“Weird,” to me, is unsettling. Something is off. You try to ignore it—the smudge at the edge of your vision—but it’s already too late. Some stories dunk you straight into the Weird, but I tend to write and read the kind of Weird that seeps in. Unexpected syntax and word choice is a great way to induce vertigo, and Brian Evenson is a master of this. The Weird can also be a bad trip. My Weirdest stories are often inspired by extremely stressful, mind-bending, psychedelic dreams. Sometimes I can rush to my laptop or notebook and frantically record the dream. Other dreams take years to process, and there’s unfortunately zero risk of forgetting the details. One, for example, involves a device similar to a water mill which, upon closer inspection, is in fact a film reel comprised of stills of every moment of your life, but something has been knocked loose and its essence leaks downhill, transforming everything it touches into something utterly alien, and the transformation will be total and unending. How can I put this on the page? That’s the challenge.

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.

Princess Mononoke x Alkaline Trio

The perfect opportunity to once again remind everyone that the black heart/skull combo that I sign off with on social media is a shout-out to Alkaline Trio. So you’re clearly a human of outstanding taste.

What’s the Weirdest thing—capital W—that’s ever happened to you (that you’re comfortable sharing)?

The absolute weirdest things are probably sealed off in a corner of my mind for my own safety. But here’s one thing I’m pretty sure actually happened, although I’m not sure how Weird it is. Maybe ten or fifteen years ago, I got an email from an unknown sender. It was in Portuguese. Somehow, I don’t remember whether or not I translated it, but I vaguely remember the message being brief and pleading in tone. There was a Zip file attached. Inside were countless photographs, all seemingly of the same unfamiliar person from different angles and at different ages, most in black and white; scanned newspaper clippings; handwritten letters, etc. It was inexplicably unsettling. I tried to ignore it, but kept dwelling on it. When I decided to look again, there was no trace of the email. 

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BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume Two, is out June 26th.

You can preorder it here.

Meet the BRAVE NEW WEIRD-o's: Michael Bettendorf

Michael Bettendorf (he/him) is a writer from the US Midwest. His short fiction has appeared/is forthcoming at Drabblecast, Sley House Press, and elsewhere. Michael's debut experimental novel/gamebook TRVE CVLT is forthcoming from Tenebrous Press (out this September!). He works in a high school library in Lincoln, Nebraska—a place he tries to convince the world is too strange to be a flyover state.

His story “As the Music Plays Groovy” originally appeared in His Soul’s Still Dancing: A Nicolas Cage Inspired Fiction Anthology and will appear in BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror Volume Two, available to preorder now.

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Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-nommed story, please.

Nicolas Cage starts speaking to the unnamed character through an Amazon Dot, seeking help as Nic has spun into an existential crisis, fueled by rampant consumerism and his tendency to go full Cage. Is there any other way?

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?

I do the bulk of my writing at home, in an office full of distractions. I tend to work best in the morning, so curse the need for a full time job. Weekend mornings are best for me to focus, but the weeknights hold me hostage.

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?

This is probably a non-answer, but I have a really hard time defining Weird. It's one of those things I know when I see it, read it, listen to it. A lot of it comes down to subversion for me. Traditionally, a lot of speculative fiction has rigid guidelines as to what makes them fit whatever molds of crime, horror, SF, Fantasy, etc. people want/need them to have, but Weird blurs those lines. I think that's why we have a lot of genre-blending in Weird fiction. It's like hearing a song without the bass track. You often don't notice it until it isn't there and I think Weird elements are similar. It's sort of defining the sub-genre by not defining it -- or in the very least, being open to interpretation and constant evolution. Weird is growth. Weird is always squiggling and shifting. The folks who have helped sculpt this definition have been Vonnegut (please don't roll your eyes with this one), Jonathan Lethem, Paul Auster, a bunch of visual artists, comics, music. I tend to cast a wide net with the sorts of media I spend my time with.

Vonnegut is amazing and timeless, no eye-rolling here.

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.

Yikes. Okay, let's roll with Between the Buried and Me + In Bruges

What’s the Weirdest thing—capital W—that’s ever happened to you (that you’re comfortable sharing)?

Probably my sleep paralysis.

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BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume Two, is out June 26th.

You can preorder it here.

Meet the BRAVE NEW WEIRD-o's: Karlo Yeager Rodriguez

Karlo Yeager Rodríguez is originally from the enchanted isle of Puerto Rico, but moved to Baltimore some years ago where he lives happily with his wife and one odd dog.

His story, “Up In the Hills, She Dreams of Her Daughter Deep In the Ground,” was originally published in Strange Horizons and will appear in BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror Volume Two, available to preorder now.

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Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-nommed story, please.

A horror-magical realism hybrid, inspired by The Juniper Tree and the decades-long sterilization campaign in Puerto Rico euphemized as la operación.

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?

Pure chaos, really. A singular place is not precisely part of my routine - I've had writing sessions on the couch as well as standing at the kitchen counter getting the words in ever-so-slowly. Oh, and I've definitely jotted down paragraphs on my phone's notes app - but never an entire novel. I also tend to write S-L-O-W. Usually 250 new words per session, often going back over what I wrote last to revise a bit as I go. On very good days I may get 500 or even 750 words down, but it's not often.

We’re gonna call that 1.5 on the phone-writers tally! And you’re also my new favorite person who answered these questions, because I’m lucky if I pull off 750 words a month.

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?

In my opinion, "Weird" is more of an observation of how the unknown and the unknowable - and oh, how our minds squirm at not knowing! - often intrude upon the mundanity of our lives, reminding us of how small we are compared to it. The beauty is that immense and remote forces that consider humanity as insignificant as ants need not only be Lovecraftian horrors, but could also be anthropocentric in nature.

Please understand that when I first read the question regarding creators/experiences/influences, I blanched because I couldn't think of one. Then, I remembered my 9th grade English teacher gifting me her copy of a Kafka collection, and later reading Moby Dick. Much more recently, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson explores how even a mundane place can feel odd and numinous once you've become unmoored from your community.

I think you’re the second person to cite Moby Dick as a Weird influence, which makes me want to revisit that one. It’s been a couple decades.

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.

Big Trouble In Little China meets Nine Inch Nails. Simple!

What’s the Weirdest thing—capital W—that’s ever happened to you (that you’re comfortable sharing)?

Okay, maybe this is more Gothic than Weird, but here goes.

Studying at the kitchen table at my parents' old house, I caught a glimpse of my sister going to the kitchen. I was concentrating so hard, it took several minutes to realize she was not in the kitchen. I went to the other room, where my folks had been watching TV, I noticed my sister dead asleep on the sofa next to them. No, she hadn't gone to the kitchen, they told me. Yes, she had been asleep all this time. Creepy, but I chalked it up to me seeing things. Easy, peasy, right? 

The next day, we learned our neighbors' live-in grandfather had passed away in the night.

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BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror, Volume Two, is out June 26th.

You can preorder it here.