Kay Vaindal is an environmental scientist and fiction writer who lives in Baltimore. Her favorite smells are sagebrush, dog paws, corn chip smell, and dimethyl sulfide. Her fiction has appeared in Seize the Press, the Drabblecast, and many anthologies.
Find a complete list of her work at kayvaindal.com.
Her BNW-winning story “Pig House” originally appeared in Seize the Press.
A personal note: Kay is a regular rabble-rouser in the Tenebrous Discord and when she says below that nothing Weird ever happens to her, she’s a damned liar. Weird shit is magnetically drawn to Kay.
BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th.
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Give us the elevator pitch of your BNW-winning story.
“Pig House” is a story where this girl wants to find and touch a pig in a post-apocalyptic world filled with giant corn and acid rain. She’ll die to touch that pig. She’ll kill to touch that pig.
And who among us wouldn’t?
This world is friggin' Weird in a lot of ways right now, and many of those ways are not the fun kind. What secret tips can you share to help others navigate this mess on a daily basis?
I like to suck on my sweatshirt tassels, personally. But really, I don’t know. It comes in waves for me. I like to think I’ve developed a decent capacity for tolerating the bleak. But God it’s super bleak out there.
I think the only thing we can really do is get ourselves all wet this summer. Like, in the sea or a lake or even a river. That’s what helps me.
Do you take naps?
I used to! I don’t so much anymore. But I was a napping fiend a while back. I had a big concussion in 2021 and I just haven’t been a napper since. I dunno how that all works. Brains are interesting.
On the Tenebrous Discord board, 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.
Apocalypse Now x the Wiggles.
What's the capital-W Weirdest thing that's ever happened to you (that you're comfortable sharing)?
Believe it or not, nothing Weird has ever happened to me. Just kidding. Once I was on a certain substance and I developed a super sense of smell. Like a bloodhound version of the limitless pill. I sniffed out a dead raccoon, barely rotten, from a mile and a half away, and I smelled that there was a harvestman on my shoulder before I saw it. The harvestman smelled like that deet-free bug spray. Ants smelled sooo good, too. My superpowers only lasted until I woke up the next day. Brewed coffee. Smelled like coffee. Sad.
I had to look harvestman up. I assume you were referring to was this:
Because this one would have been Weird even for you:
BRAVE NEW WEIRD: The Best New Weird Horror + More, Vol. 3, is out June 24th. It may give you superpowered smell**.
