Interview With Horror Author, Shea
Can you tell us about yourself and your work?
My name is Shea, and I currently reside in San Diego, CA. by way of Racine, WI. But I’m a Cali girl, have been since I was 8-years-old. I am a writer and have been writing since I can remember. I’ve been seriously writing for 10 years, but didn’t have any published works until 2017. For some odd reason, it feels so much longer than that. I self-published two urban fantasy books that happened to be my Makaela Williams series about a woman who gets sucked into the world of incubi and succubi. She has to grapple with that as well as figuring out what she really wants to do with her life, but the events that take place in the books just add a little more icing to her cake. I also have a horror short in Hell Hour: An Anthology called The House That Stood. I have a third book that I am laboring (lovingly) over for my Makaela Williams series called The Sorceress, and that’s going to have a lot more meat in it. I can’t wait to release it. Although I have written for blogs and other publications, fiction is my heart, and horror is the beat of that heart for me.
What are some of your earliest memories of horror?
Some of my earliest and fondest memories of horror would include my grandmother. She was the first person to turn me onto horror and I have not let it go since. I definitely was much younger than probably allowed to be watching the films and shows she had me watching, but I’d like to think she knew that it was something I’d like. We would watch The Outer Limits, Tales from the Darkside, Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone, and my very first movie I watched with her from memory was Night of the Living Dead. She opened up the door to the madness that would consume my little world for many years to come.
What inspired you to start writing?
What inspired me to start writing would be reading other writers and authors that I grew to admire. I know Anne Rice was one, but a major one was Laurell K. Hamilton and Toni Morrison, especially Toni Morrison for the complexities of the stories and Hamilton for the world building and bad-ass characters–the grit. Rawness. Stephen King helped with that as well. I was drawn to those particular authors. I still am.
What was it about horror that influenced you to write horror books?
Horror captured my attention and hasn’t lost its hold on me. It’s my go-to when all else fails me. I think I fell in love with the macabre, the feeling of fear and how palpable it is. Fear is primal, and I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to write stories that would move someone to be either repulsed or intrigued. On a serious note, horror is a vehicle for telling a story about something that we often can’t just plainly say. You can also use it for social commentary, but I love horror for just the simplicity of putting fear into a reader. And I’m drawn to that.
What have you learned about the world through writing about horror?
What I’ve learned about the world through writing horror is that the world is naturally terrifying. Real life is often so much more stranger than fiction or anything that I know I can think of, and I can think of some pretty strange things. Horror is just a way to kind of express just a fraction of real life terrors that take place, that we all hear about and read about. I don’t think we as humans truly understand how horrible we can be.
Is there a particular genre that you are inspired to write about? Why?
I love writing about fantastical things mostly, but I am truly drawn to zombies. I haven’t gotten to write a zombie piece yet, but I have thought about it. Zombies, for some odd reason, really have captured my attention, so much that I have frequent zombie dreams. It’s ridiculous the amount of zombie dreams I have, but I never become one. I never turn! I’m always saving folks from them but never get caught, that’s the amazing part for me. I know that I’m inspired to write fantasy/speculative fiction because of my love for vampires originally, but as for zombies and wanting to do more zombie pieces, it certainly stems from my love of zombie films and anthology books. They’re us. They’re a reflection of humanity.
What are some of your favourite books written by Black horror authors?
Some of my favorite books written by Black horror authors would be Beloved (revisting this as an adult was a treat) by Toni Morrison, The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaSalle, and Crescendo by L. Marie Wood. The way I feel about these authors is deeply personal.
What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?
As someone who is working her way into the genre, I can only advise to study the ones before you. Study, read, and try your hand. Appreciate the many different subgenres in between as well. If you feel you have something to lend to the genre, be present and take the leap. Use your voice and use it well. I’m still working on taking my own advice, but I can say this and mean it.
