Angela Slatter's Blog, page 33
October 27, 2017
Over at Write Through the Roof …
Madeleine D’Este asked me some questions over at Write Through the Roof, and I tried to provide answers that did not suck.
October 26, 2017
Heading back into …
… the lands of the Sourdough/Bitterwood world …
“Books were in the blood of the Briars; Sandor, great-great-great-grandfather of the clan, was a collector (less frequently a bookseller for he could hardly bear to part with the things), especially of tomes and fragments that had been salvaged from the Citadel at Cwen’s Reach after the Fall of the Little Sisters of St Florian. It was, reflected Anni, a mania she could hardly avoid.”
WiP, Briar Book of the Dead
October 24, 2017
The Starlit Wood: Seanan McGuire
Today the prolific and generally amazing Seanan McGuire talks about “In the Desert Like a Bone”, her story in The Starlit Wood.
1. What was the inspiration for your story in The Starlit Wood?
I used to work in coyote rescue, and I love desert creatures. I wanted to follow them for a little while, into a different kind of forest, and see what was waiting on the other side.
2. What appealed to you about a fairy tale anthology?
Everything? I was a folklore major. You never have to work very hard to sell me on fairy tales.
3. Can you recall the first fairy tale you ever read or that was read to you?
The first one I really remember is “The Cruel Sister,” which is more of a ballad, but still exists in the same general story-space as fairy and folktales.
4. What’s your favourite folk/fairy tale and why?
Honestly, right now, “Snow White.” I’m in the process of retelling it in as many different ways as I can, and I’m sunk so deep into the iconography that I couldn’t find my way out if I tried. I love the iconography, the simplicity, and the flexibility of it all. Snow White is one of the very few fairy tale heroines who has a strictly set appearance, and following her cycle of blood on the snow is incredibly refreshing.
5. What’s next for you? 
The next book in my Wayward Children series, Beneath the Sugar Sky, comes out in January. I’m very excited!
Seanan McGuire lives, writes, and wanders in Washington State, where she has proven herself remarkably good at falling into swamps and becoming entangled in blackberry briars. She hopes to one day be the witch in someone else’s wood. Keep up with her at www.seananmcguire.com, or on Twitter as @seananmcguire.
October 22, 2017
Cuckoo over at PseudoPod!
Hey, the fab peeps at PseudoPod have included my creepy story “Cuckoo” (this is a story of mine that actually makes me shudder) in the Halloween month!
Fair warning: all kinds of nastiness and not for the faint of heart.
And oh gawd, I just started listening to Victoria Winnick reading and it’s even creepier!!!
Plus Alasdair Stuart says nice things about me.
Go here!
October 21, 2017
Mystery Woman: Q&A with Vicki Madden (The Kettering Incident)
Brisneylanders! Can I suggest strongly that you head along to this on Monday 30 October?
Vicki has a wealth of knowledge and is a fascinating raconteur.
Details are here.
Spend an eerily illuminating night with our very special interstate guest and co-creator/co-producer/writer of the internationally acclaimed mystery series The Kettering Incident, Vicki Madden. Join Vicki as our Q&A uncovers her secrets to creating, pitching and writing and establishing herself as a top talent both in Australia and overseas.
Vicki Madden is a Producer, Writer and Showrunner with over 20 years experience both in Australia and overseas. She has worked as Writer and Showrunner on such shows as Halifax fp, The Bill (UK), Trial & Retribution (UK), The Clinic (Ireland), Water Rats and K9 (UK) to name a few. She was also the writer of the 90-minute true crime telemovie for the 9 Network and Playmaker media Blood Brothers.
Don’t miss this chance to meet and get invaluable advice from one of Australia’s most exciting and acclaimed writers and showrunners.
Conversation and Q&A followed by networking/social drinks with local writers, directors, producers and other members of the Queensland film and television industry – all at the Waterloo Hotel (centrally located and with parking.) #awgqld
October 17, 2017
The Starlit Wood: Stephen Graham Jones
Once upon a time there was The Starlit Wood, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe. It won the Shirley Jackson Award, was shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, and a whole slew of other awards. It re-imagined seventeen fairy tales and gave us fresh ideas of what once upon a time might mean. Then I asked the authors questions, coz that’s what I do, and they kindly answered.
First cab off the rank is Stephen Graham Jones, talking about his tale “Some Wait”.
1. What was the inspiration for your story in The Starlit Wood?
When I drew the Pied Piper from the list of possibles and looked the story up, what stuck with me most was the clothes he’s supposed to have worn, they were patchwork, piecemeal, but usually described as “piebald,” which, to me, carries with it a sense of age, of worn-downness, of always-been-with-us, and it also, of course, conjures King’s Lisey’s Story. I think there’s some piebald scary stuff in there, of the vast and cosmic variety. And Rorshach’s mask is mixed in there as well. That’s where my story in Starlit Wood starts, with the black and white, the splotches.
2. What appealed to you about a fairy tale anthology?
The chance to bloody these stories up even more than they already are. It’s so fun to reach into a story everyone knows, find the beating heart, and pull it out, lay it on the table. ?
3. Can you recall the first fairy tale you ever read or that was read to you?
First one I recall is Rumplestiltskin, which Laird Barron’s completely ruined for me.?
4. What’s your favourite folk/fairy tale and why?
Little Red, all the versions, but especially the ones where she uses some werewolf lore to take this werewolf down. I never like it when the Grandma lives, though. That always feels like playing it safe. But there’s a blood price to be paid for wisdom. And fairy tales aren’t supposed to be safe, anyway. That’s why we’re drawn to them.?
5. What’s next for you? 
Stories and stories and books and books, probably some poorly thought-out purchases off Craiglist, likely a wreck or three on my bike, and hopefully some scary movies.
Stephen Graham Jones is the author of sixteen novels and six story collections, and, so far, one comic book. Stephen’s been an NEA recipient, has won the Texas Institute of Letters Award for Fiction and the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, has won a few This is Horror Awards, and he’s been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award and the Shirley Jackson Award a few times each. He’s also made Bloody Disgusting’s Top Ten Horror Novels. Stephen lives in Boulder, Colorado.
October 10, 2017
It Came From the Deep: Five Quick Questions with Maria Lewis
The Most Excellent Maria Lewis has a surprise YA novel out, It Came From the Deep. I forced her to sit down and tell me about it. You’re welcome.
1. Think quick: tell us about It Came From the Deep in thirty words or less!
It Came From The Deep is my young adult debut and is like a cross between The Little Mermaid and Creature From The Black Lagoon.
2. What was the inspiration for this novel?
I was an ironwoman and surf life saving competitor for nearly 12 years, racing all across Australia and against international athletes for Northcliffe surf life saving club. It’s something that often feels like a lifetime away compared to my world now, but much of my formative years were spent either in the ocean or a pool. Many of my close friends still do the sport on a professional level. Back when we would training three times a day, every day, I often used to make up little stories to keep myself entertained as I was doing laps or paddling in the surf. It Came From The Deep was one of those stories and it manifested during sessions where we used to train at a particular fresh water lake. My friends and I bounced around ideas for how that story could work and I consumed a lot of mermaid and sea creature pop culture to get an idea of how these tales usually got told. Essentially, I wanted to do one that felt like a homage to those classic ‘shit there’s something in the water’ stories but in a way that felt grounded and as if it could happen in real life.
3. So, how did you feel about The Little Mermaid when you were a kid?
I have a complicated relationship with that story and my feelings vary greatly depending on whether it’s the Hans Christian Andersen version or the Disney one. As a kid, it was ‘meh’ when it came to the film as opposed to most of my friends around that age being OBSESSED with it. As an adult, I’ve had the pleasure of crossing paths with the filmmakers Ron Clements and John Musker a few times over the past decade (they’re Disney royalty). Every time I’ve seen them, we’ve somehow ended talking about very specific elements of the film in a way I never anticipate given that I thought I wasn’t the biggest, frothy fan of that movie. For instance, the last time I met up with them was in LA at the studio where they were making Moana and they were telling me how Ursula is a tribute to the drag queen Divine, who was a friend of the production. That’s a little tidbit I love and there’s lots of imagery from that movie I adore, which I balance out alongside the more complicated stuff like a woman literally being stripped of her voice in order to woo a fella.
4. What’s scarier? Something creepy through the dark woods behind you, or something swimming beneath you just too deep to see what it is?
Photo by Alex Adsett
OH MY FUCKNG GOD SOMETHING SWIMMING BENEATH YOU, ARE YOU KIDDING?! That’s the worst! Looking back on it now, I honestly have no idea how I was able to do the things I did as a surf life saving competitor for so long giving my crippling fear of a) being eaten by a shark and b) something being beneath me, waiting, that I just cannot see.
5. Can we expect more from Kaia & Co. in the future?
Honestly, I’ve always felt It Came From The Deep was a one and done kind of story. That’s not to say in a few years I might be willing to pick up those threads again, and I have definitely been thinking a lot about sequel ideas lately, but right now I’m content for that world to live inside the lone novel.
October 9, 2017
The Art of Cameos in a Fictional World
This is a lovely and considered article by Carina Bissett about my collection A Feast of Sorrows: Stories (Prime Books).
My introduction to the work of the Australian writer Angela Slatter occurred when I stumbled across the Tor.com reprint of “St. Dymphna’s School of Poison Girls” in May 2015. The story unfolded in slow waves, and it lulled me with its seductive beauty. My initial interest in this story aligned with the title as I had been reading about St. Dymphna through an extension of my research on the origins of “Allerleirauh.” The fairy tale elements appeared in Slatter’s story, but they appeared in unfamiliar ways. Interest stoked, I obsessively sought out Slatter’s stories, and soon discovered a whole new world of fairy tales to explore. I was hooked.
The rest is here.
Dark Satanic Mills – first review
A really terrific review by Anthony Watson of Great British Horror 2: Dark Satanic Mills, edited by Steve J. Shaw (Black Shuck Books). Plus, I got to be in an anthology with authors and friends whose work I love.
Very kind words for my story, too, “Our Lady of Wicker Bridge”:
The guest international author for this volume is Angela Slatter who provides the book’s first urban myth story in Our Lady of Wicker Bridge. The myth tells of a pale woman who will approach those who were suffering and offer them a deal. The story is old in present tense, lending it an air of immediacy and revolves around social worker Tricia, taking over the “beat” of her mentor Hermione who has gone missing, leaving behind the burnt out remains of her car.
It’s a deeply atmospheric story that vividly creates the desolation of the housing estate in which most of the action takes place. Throw in a deeply scary little girl and the scene is set for a wonderful modern ghost story which is one of the highlights of the collection.
The rest is here.
October 8, 2017
The Tallow-Wife limited edition
Right, folks.
I have six copies of the very limited edition hardcover of The Tallow-Wife novella from FableCroft, illustrated by Kathleen Jennings, and written by me. They will be dropped in to Pulp Fiction Booksellers by moi tomorrow morning. If you want one, either run in or phone and reserve a copy on (07) 3236 2750. Be very, very polite.
There are some extra bits in the back, “Found Fragments from the Citadel of the Little Sisters of St Florian at Cwen’s Reach” as a taster for when the final collection, The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, comes out from Tartarus Press.
