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Rebecca Snow – Author Interview with Killion Slade

 

Today we offer up a special treat with author Rebecca Snow.  She is our eighth entrant in the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge.  Rebecca Snow lives in Virginia with a dwindling herd of geriatricats.  Her short fiction has been published in several small press anthologies and online.  You can find her on facebook and twitter @cemeteryflower.com and has an online journal at cemeteryflower.blog.com.

Rebecca’s apocalyptic challenge was bio-terrorism and her helpful item was a pair of scissors.  Her location was a golf course while her untimely disability was no medicine.  You can read along with Rebecca’s story titled, Hazard, while listening to the podcast of the story on Horror Addicts.net website.  Be sure to listen to all the stories and vote for your fav!

How did you first hear about the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

Chantal Boudreau sent an invitation last year. I thought it might be fun to record a story set to given parameters. It was a bit more intimidating than I thought it would be even if I used to sing on stage.

What drew you into the fun of this challenge?

I wanted to improve my efforts and try some sound effects. It helped that I love crafting stories around words or pictures or prompts of almost any kind.

The Norns were pretty challenging this year – what did you think as soon as your assignment came through? I remember when you were considering zombie gophers when you first heard the golf course.

The first thing I thought was, “Crap, I don’t know ANYTHING about golf.” No matter how many times I flipped past the hushed commentator on the sports channel, I’m sure there’s some lingo I missed. As for those zombie varmints, I couldn’t write them without the story turning into a mix of Benny Hill and Caddyshack. When I tried the giant sand fleas, I couldn’t stop itching. So, I settled for plants.

What was the hardest part about your challenge? What did you like best? Did you learn something new about yourself while doing this challenge?

The most difficult part was choosing the biological weapon’s effect. I had too many ideas, but they all seemed to go in directions that demanded more words than I had to use. Another trial of sorts was reading the story out loud. Just a minor childhood holdover, but I found it much easier to do since no one was listening to me record. I didn’t have to dodge gas cans. I enjoyed picking music and sound effects. I did learn something, I laugh in a lot of inappropriate places. Oh…well, that wasn’t something new.

You chose to not use a lot of sound effects or music in your story, but you used your voice to create a fantastic effect for first person POV with asthma. How did you come to this decision?

Originally, I had more sound effects to use, but when I added them all, they reminded me of a silent movie. Even if there were words, they were overshadowed by all the background noise. When I thought about it, what’s quieter that listening to the grass grow? So, I removed a lot of the extra sounds and let the story tell itself.

As for the asthma, her ailment was a big part of the story. When I was writing it, I kept thinking I was going to have to have someone else read it because I’d never be able to pull off gasping without laughing at myself. It took a few tries, but I finally got a take without a lot of chuckling or passing out. I can’t promise I wasn’t smirking.

Tell us more about YOU, your past stories, books, other artwork or music, your current project, and what’s on deck in 2014?

Me? I have a super power, but no one can see it. For my past stories, I have an easy link. http://cemeteryflowerblog.wordpress.com/publication-credits/

For my future stories, I have a skull saw. I’ve been taking pictures since I was eight-years-old, but I haven’t made a website for them even though I get harassed for one at least once a month. I used to sing in bars, but all my musician friends moved away from the area.

My current project might be a collaboration, but if it isn’t, it might be a novel or more short stories. As for 2014, I’ve got more traveling to do, more renovations on the house, more stories to scribble. Nothing really specific.

If you win 2013 Most Wicked, have you given any consideration to what your theme might be for when you hostess the 2014 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

I’ve actually had the theme in my head long before I’d ever heard of the WWW Challenge. One of these days, I hope to be able to use it. If not here, I’ll think of some way to implement a writing challenge of sorts.

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Maggie Fiske – Author Interview by Killion Slade

Today we welcome a hilarious lady who seems to always have her back up against a wall, but has the drive and determination to knock it out of the way. Please welcome Maggie Fiske who is our eleventh entrant for the 2013 Wicked Women Writers Challenge this year.  Maggie is a secretary, caregiver, musician, and creature of the night. She lives in Omaha with lunatic cats and a filching ghost.

You can read along with Maggie’s story, A Quarrel for Jimmy Kills Crow, while listening to the podcast at Horror Addict.net.  Maggie’s apocalyptic challenge was solar flares while hunting in the mountains.  Her helpful item was a crossbow.  Her untimely disability was that she had to be hungover.

How did you first hear about the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

Trolling for trouble on the net. I Googled writing contests and up popped the 2013 Challenge.

What drew you into the fun of this challenge?

The very title sounds fun. Wicked’s the ticket. Who doesn’t want to cast off her boring 9-to-5 persona for a chance to wail with the banshees?

The Norns were pretty challenging this year – what did you think as soon as your assignment came through?

I’m toast! How can I possibly weave these items into a cohesive plot? (However, crafting a plausible story from an improbable set of items without sounding like a total dork is what makes The Challenge challenging).

You used sound effects and music in your production extremely well. What was your favorite part? Hunting down the sounds to complement your words? Engaging sounds to escalate emotion? Have you recorded podcasts before? If so, where can we hear more from you?

My favorite part was definitely making field recordings. The crossbow sound byte was recorded in my driveway, firing into kitty’s plywood scratching board as a backstop. The Slain Angel Zombies were recorded in the Ladies Room at Nifty Bar. Zombie #1 (the first one to answer Claudine’s hangover groan) was voiced by my charge, Brandon B. (At night I’m a caregiver to Brandon, who’s mentally challenged and has cerebral palsey.) He heard me working on sfx and wanted to help. I thought he did an awesome job!

This is my first modern podcast. I have an ancient podcast I recorded in college (they called them “radio plays” back in the day) titled “Grimm’s Rejected Fairytales” which is moldering somewhere in my basement on reel-to-reel tape.

What was the hardest part about your challenge? What did you like best? Did you learn something new about yourself while doing this challenge?

The hardest part was paring down the prose. The timed reading of my original draft was over 19 minutes long! Halving it without sacrificing the essence of the story was super-tough. Best part? Seeing that my ideas could take someone beyond their physical realm. I played the podcast for Brandon and watched as he listened to himself on the internet. He listened with wide-eyed wonder, and when the zombies growled, he laughed a true, joyous laugh that shook his whole wheelchair. It was magic.

I also learned that I’m not the techno-dolt I imagined I was. When I saw the Audacity program my heart sunk.

The last sound I edited required a razor blade and a steady hand. This was a crash course in modern technology! I called my tech-savvy friend, Dave Joyce, in tears, and he promised to read through it and help me. Flash-forward to the podcast listening party, where Dave was proudly telling a friend, “You know, Maggie figured out how to record this program all by herself.” It hadn’t even dawned on me till then that I never called him back for help. That felt great!

Tell us more about YOU, your past stories, books, other artwork or music, your current project, and what’s on deck in 2014?

I had two stories in the “Bad Austen: The Worst Stories Jane Never Wrote” anthology. I won a Dishonorable Mention in Bulwer Lytton fiction contest… My novella, “The Last Man to Die in the Nebraska Electric Chair” appeared in the “Laurel Review.”

In 2014 I plan to continue working on “Breeders,” a post-apocalyptic science fiction TV series. I’m also writing a series of Steampunk novels and a film script for a psychological thriller about hypnotism called, “Under.” And now that I’ve learned to use Audacity, I’m anxious to try recording some original music as a one-woman band.

If you win 2013 Most Wicked, have you given any consideration to what your theme might be for when you hostess the 2014 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

Yes. My theme would be “Beauty & the Beast”. Each lady would be assigned one of the 12 beasts of the Chinese Zodiac (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit/cat, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog or pig) which must be woven into the fabric of her tale. As in previous contests, the Norns would supply a setting, a handicap & a helpful item.

 

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Julianne Snow – Author Interview with Killion Slade

Today we have a fun interview with author, Julianne Snow – our 9th entrant in the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge.  Julianne Snow is the author of Days with the Undead: Book One. An author of speculative fiction with roots deep in horror, she has pieces of short fiction in publications from Sirens Call Publications, OpenCasket Press as well as forthcoming anthologies from Hazardous Press and the Coffin Hop Charity Anthology.

You can read along to Julianne’s story titled, Not All Jacks Are Created Equal, while listening to the podcast at the same time.  Be sure to check out her challenge entry. Julianne’s apocalyptic disaster was a super volcano and her location was a commuter train. Her helpful item was a bottle of Jack Daniels, while her untimely disability was that she was naked!

How did you first hear about the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

As a listener of the HorrorAddicts.net podcasts, and a reader of the site, I found out about the challenge last year. I knew the challenge would be coming up for 2013 and I jumped on it as soon as I could!

What drew you into the fun of this challenge?

I enjoy a good competition where I can use my talents to help give me an upper hand.

The Norns were pretty challenging this year – what did you think as soon as your assignment came through?

To be honest, I wonder what the heck I was going to come up with! When I was first dealt my fate, my mind went blank. I could handle a super volcano while on a commuter train, but how could I explain being naked? In the end, I went a little more comical but I like the end result.

What was the hardest part about your challenge? What did you like best? Did you learn something new about yourself while doing this challenge?

The hardest part of the challenge was actually writing my story. It took me three times to come up with a plot that I actually liked. And there were times I cursed the Norns for dealing me a crazy fate more than once. But in the end, I persevered and I love my story.

I liked the creation part the best. I had to let the required aspects marinate in my brain for a few weeks and like I previously said, my first attempt didn’t end up as well as I would have liked.  As for learning something new about myself, I’d have to say no. I knew I’d come up with something I liked in the end, I just had to let the muses work it into something fantastic before I could unveil it.

You chose to not use sound effects or music in your story, but you used your voice to create the serious amount of SOL for your character. How did you come to this decision?

It wasn’t 100% intentional but in the end, I’m happy about my decision. As the story presented itself, it came from the mind of my main character. I did make a recording with sound effects but it didn’t sound right because of the perspective. Essentially ‘Not All Jacks Are Created Equal’ is a story told as an inner monologue. It made no sense to have the sound effects since the sounds don’t always play out in our heads. And I wanted my acting skills from years ago to shine through – which I think they did.

I’ll admit, when you did not survive your challenge, the ending scared the hell out of me! Continuing to tell the story as the flesh was melting off your bones. That is a picture I that will stay with me!

Thank you. I do realize that the challenge was titled ‘How Will You Survive?” but in the end, I didn’t think my main character would make it out alive given the obstacles in her path. Essentially she does survive in the afterlife though…

Tell us more about YOU, your past stories, books, other artwork or music, your current project, and what’s on deck in 2014?

As a writer who generally gravitates to the realms of horror, I’ve had a number of shorts released in different publications. I also have one novel currently released with another on the way before the end of the year. I’ve been involved in a few collaborative projects that should be releasing within the next number of months. If you’d like to see my complete bibliography, I have it conveniently at http://theflipsideofjulianne.wordpres....

If you win 2013 Most Wicked, have you given any consideration to what your theme might be for when you hostess the 2014 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

You mean we get to choose?? How exciting!! Hmmm maybe something with extreme sports or types of rendezvous (job interview, blind date, family reunion). Oh, I’m liking the possibilities!

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Randi Weston – Author Interview

Today we feature a wonderful writer on the blog.  R.L. Weston lives in Utah amid what her husband refers to as a refugee camp for stray animals. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association and  participates in the online critique group critters.org.

Randi’s apocalyptic disaster was dirty bombs, her location was a Zumba class, her helpful item was a workout towel, and her untimely disability was the children had been left unattended from the gym’s daycare.

You can read along with Randi’s story here while listening to the podcast at Horror Addict.net.  Be sure and check out her story!

How did you first hear about the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

I believe I heard about the challenge on the HWA Facebook page.

What drew you into the fun of this challenge?

The challenge sounded like a lot of fun. I’d been going through a writing dry spell for a while, and I thought the challenge would force me to break it. I listened to a couple of the podcasts from last year and thought there was a reasonable chance I could pull off something similar… then procrastination got the better of me, as it always does, and what could have been an amazing story produced with two months hard work, turned into an o.k. story thrown together with one and a half weeks hard work.

The Norns were pretty challenging this year – what did you think as soon as your assignment came through?

Argh. I hated the “Zumba class” prompt so much when I read it. SO much. I was considering chickening out. There were some mighty curses for the Norns spewed in my living room that night. I also struggled with how I was going to turn dirty bombs into an apocalyptic event. Eventually I just decided to change the “dirty” part to a biological pathogen instead of a small radioactive fallout, which seemed to work okay.

What was the hardest part about your challenge? What did you like best? Did you learn something new about yourself while doing this challenge?

The hardest part of my challenge was committing to it. I was intimidated by the prompts and ready to throw in the proverbial “workout towel.” But, I’m glad I stuck with the challenge. I would have been really disappointed with myself if I hadn’t.

I liked recording the story the best. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the sound of my recorded voice. I very nearly break out in hives when I have to record a missed call message when I get a new cell phone. But, recording the story was fun. I like learning new things, and learning how to use Audacity might help me create a video for a Kickstarter campaign I’m starting soon.

I learned that I don’t have to insist on perfection. If I’d insisted on perfection in this challenge, I never would have submitted my story. If I can let an imperfect story AND recording be read and listened to by other people and be okay with it, then hopefully I can learn to let myself off the perfection hook a little when it comes to the rest of my work.

Tell us more about YOU, your past stories, books, other artwork, your current project, and what’s on deck in 2014?

I’m a freelance correspondent at a local paper in Ogden, Utah. I have started a lot of sci-fi and horror stories, but, due to the perfection problem discussed above, haven’t gotten around to submitting many of them yet. I’m currently working on a story about a reluctant Wendigo and her trials and tribulations. I’m also preparing to launch a Kickstarter project for a Northern Utah based periodical.

If you win 2013 Most Wicked, have you given any consideration to what your theme might be for when you hostess the 2014 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

No, I haven’t. I think the competition is pretty stiff in this challenge and, frankly, there many women who are much more deserving of the honor than I. I’m just happy to have competed.

Thank you Randi for stopping by today!  Can’t wait to hear more about that reluctant Wendigo!

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Shauna Klein – Author Interview with Killion Slade

Today we welcome to the site today our second entrant in the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge.  Shauna is a freelance writer, website designer, photographer and overall Jill of all trades that lives in sunny and stormy Florida. Shauna Klein is her pen name and she is married with children that have fins, feathers and fur.

Shauna’s apocalyptic disaster was a terrorist invasion located in a greenhouse.  Her helpful item was a skateboard and her untimely disability was a migraine headache.  You can read along with Shauna’s story titled, Static, while listening to the podcast on the Horror Addicts.net website.

How did you first hear about the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

You know, I honestly can’t remember but I do remember thinking it could not only be fun but inspire me to create something with a challenge, rules if you will.

What drew you into the fun of this challenge?

The challenge itself. I usually write what I want to focus on which can lead me to procrastinate and this was the perfect opportunity to not only have a deadline but make my imagination work for the theme.

The Norns were pretty challenging this year – what did you think as soon as your assignment came through?

I thought, “Oh my God, how will I ever incorporate this into something workable?” It took me forever to get past the first paragraph or so but once I just sat and wrote, it all came to me. That came from “A Writer’s Tale” from Stephen King. He stated to start writing and the story would take care of itself, and it did.

What was the hardest part about your challenge? What did you like best?

Did you learn something new about yourself while doing this challenge? I learned that I can indeed use my imagination to create something based on a certain theme; something I haven’t really dove into until now. I loved how it was hard to work will all of the aspects. One may be a little hard, with two you have to get creative but with all of the challenges it was really a test of what I could do.

What made you come up with “Static”? Are you a big black and white fan of silent movies?

Not really but I do love the thought of satellite feeds. I once read somewhere that even if the world ended there could still be satellite feeds of old TV shows. I’m not sure if that’s true and obviously you’d have to have electricity and an antenna but just the thought of a TV show playing for no one creeps me out.

Tell us more about YOU, your past stories, books, other artwork or music, your current project, and what’s on deck in 2014?

I’ve written a few short stories and as a photographer, I’m trying to work on a set where people are doing normal things where things are abandoned. Like a wedding at an abandoned church, etc. I’ve done a few of them so far but it’ll take a while. As far as stories and books, I’m working on a short story right now and eventually will finish my children’s book about the twins of terror; our Belgian Malinois brothers. It’s a far stretch from horror but it’s something I want to do as well as my horror. As far as music, if I were to sing then that could be a horror show in itself.

If you win 2013 Most Wicked, have you given any consideration to what your theme might be for when you hostess the 2014 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

Oh boy, I have no idea! I’m simply thrilled to be involved in the contest to begin with and surrounded by such talented women.

Where Can I Learn More About Shauna?

Amazon.com/author/shaunaklein is my author page and http://shaunaklein.com is my site. I also have a facebook page as you know at http://www.facebook.com/authorsklein

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Amy K Marshall – Author Interview

Please welcome today Amy K Marshall to the website.   Former archaeologist and curator (among many other things), current Director of The Craig Public Library on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska, I am also the author of THE FISHING WIDOW (Alaskan Gothic Press 2013). I am an Associate Member of HWA and a member of their Library Committee.

Amy brings to the table a tale of terror for her entrant piece in the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge titled, Paternoster.  You can read along with Amy’s story  while listening to her podcast at Horror Addicts.net.  Amy’s apocalyptic disaster was loss of power.  Her location was an elevator and her helpful item was a Swiss Army knife.  Her untimely disability was a sprained, swollen ankle.

How did you first hear about the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

Wow, that’s a good first question… I think I first found out about it on the Facebook Group for Horror Open Calls. It came out around the same time as an anthology called The UnForgotten… I never did hear about that other anthology… But, this one sounded really interesting, but I’d never done a podcast, so I had to think about whether or not I could actually do this.  I’m also more of an old school (William Hope Hodgson, Lovecraft) horror writer, so I wasn’t sure what I write would translate to a podcast.

What drew you into the fun of this challenge?

While I’d never done a podcast, I enjoy listening to them. I’d done a book trailer and done some Foley work for our theater company (The Prince of Wales Players), so I started playing around on Sound Dogs and listening to atmospheric music and sound effects–squishy sounds, sawing sounds … stuff like that. I thought I’d go ahead and bite, and when the challenge came my way, I thought, oh … unholy hell. I can’t do this…

The Norns were pretty challenging this year – what did you think as soon as your assignment came through?

Really. I thought Oh, unholy hell, I can’t do this. An elevator with a Swiss Army Knife, a sprained ankle? Really? I mean, I didn’t know what I was going to do, and it wasn’t helping that my husband would laugh and say, “You’re a writer! Just suspend that disbelief!” Yeah, well, there’s only so much disbelief you can suspend…so, in true I-do-this-all-the-time style, I just … fretted…

You used sound effects and music in your production extremely well. What was your favorite part? Hunting down the sounds to complement your words? Engaging sounds to escalate emotion? Have you recorded podcasts before? If so, where can we hear more from you?

I was bumming around Sound Dogs looking for music, actually. Wait, no, I was bumming around Sound Dogs looking for an authentic 1908-ish arroogah car horn and cartoonish crash because our theater company was putting on the musical The Wind in the Willows. It was during one of those searches that I started finding other sounds because their search strings are … inaccurate. But, inaccurate in all the best, fun ways! It was there that I found the sawing sound, and I had that groaning-creaking sound from when I made The Fishing Widow’s book trailer (that’s part of the elevator dropping).

I found some elevator sounds, but then went looking for the elevator. I don’t know how I found You Tube videos of Paternoster s in Copenhagen, but I did. Thank God, I did… My favorite part was mixing it all together. Actually, my favorite part was when the microphone I bought started to work on Windows Vista (‘cause it hated Windows 7). Yeah, and this is my first one. I think I want to do more… I know I want to do more.  I’ve got a Carnacki The Ghost Finder homage called THE GHOSTS OF KUSKULANA. That would be a fun one…

What was the hardest part about your challenge?

Figuring out the tech and then trying to figure out how I was going to write the story.

What did you like best?

Mixing the story (holed up in my bedroom and trying to do it quietly because my mother-in-law was visiting…and concerned….)

Did you learn something new about yourself while doing this challenge?

I can write creepy and gory. I don’t think I write particularly creepy stuff (although my readers tell me I do), but I listened to this and thought … ew… And I learned that I truly love doing podcasts like this! THANK YOU!

Tell us more about YOU, your past stories, books, other artwork, your current project, and what’s on deck in 2014?

Oh, well, there’s The Fishing Widow, which is set in Alaska during the Sitka herring sac roe fishery in 2010–between then in 1835. It’s a full-on Gothic Horror with creatures I’m pretty sure no one’s used commercially–a Kushtacah (a shape-shifting land otter soul sucker) and a Gonaq’Adêt (pronounced “gunnakedit”), which is a “good luck sea monster.”

I also retold (and significantly darkened with the undead) the Russian folk tale Salt, and just published a poetry collection: A Poem A Day Won’t Kill You … But Mine Might Leave You Wounded. I had a poem picked up by the International Remaking Moby Project this summer–THAT was so exciting, because I adored Moby Dick when I read it for senior English in high school. There’s this, and several other stories in anthologies, too.

Currently, I’m writing a YA that started as a lark for the Sledgehammer Writing Contest. It’s called Søren’s Girl, and it’s a coming of age and coming to terms type of story between a teenaged girl and her father who happens to be a disgraced musher. I’m having fun with that one, and, while it’s not classic horror, rest assured that there are horrific elements in it!

If you win 2013 Most Wicked, have you given any consideration to what your theme might be for when you hostess the 2014 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

Oooo….. That’s something I’d really have to think about. It might be fun to twist a Grimm or other tale, or maybe do a horror travel piece.

Thanks for having me!

Where Can I Find Out More About Amy?

The Fishing Widow Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfsxnj...

Amy’s Amazon Page:

http://www.amazon.com/Amy-K-Marshall/...

Amy’s Blog: www.akmarshall.com

Amy’s Facebook Page (which always needs love):

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-K-...

Amy’s Twitter (follow me! I’m mostly harmless!): @jitterymoose

Amy’s Google+ (we could .. hang out, you know?) https://plus.google.com/u/0/108706053...

 

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Sumiko Saulson – Author Interview

Please welcome today to the blog a very talented author – Sumiko Saulson.    Sumiko Saulson is the author of three sci-fi/horror novels, “Solitude,” “Warmth”, and “The Moon Cried Blood, and short story anthology “Things That Go Bump In My Head.” Born to African-American and Russian-Jewish parents, she is a native Californian, and has spent most of her adult life in the Bay Area.

Sumiko’s story for her entry into the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge is titled, “A Birthday Present.”  You can read along with Sumiko’s story and listen to the podcast at Horror Addicts.net.  Her apocalyptic disaster was a sinkhole, the location – a bowling alley pool hall.  Her helpful item was a cue stick and her untimely disability was she lost her glasses.

Q. How did you first hear about the 2013 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

A. David Watson told me about it. He’d been working on an article about African American horror writers back in February 2013, around the same time I was working on Women in Horror Month: I also worked on a list of black women in horror, and his February 2012 article on black horror writers was one of the sources for that. He’s the reason I found out about HorrorAddicts.net, and he told me about WWW not long after.

Q. What drew you into the fun of this challenge?

A. I liked the fact that we had prompts given to us by the Norns, that was a lot of fun! I especially liked the kitchy locale I received, a bowling alley. It put me in the mind of one of my favorite horror/comedy flicks from the 1980s, Critters.

Q. The Norns were pretty challenging this year – what did you think as soon as your assignment came through?

A. I thought of a day when my relatives were in town and one of them was having a birthday, so we went to a local bowling alley that served beer for the party. Maybe it was because that was the last time I was actually in a bowling alley. I clearly remembered the red, blue, and yellow bowling shoes I’d rented that day, and a bubblegum pink bowling ball with glitter in it. I also wondered, how did a pool cue end up in the bowling alley?

Q. You used sound effects and music in your production extremely well. What was your favorite part? Hunting down the sounds to complement your words? Engaging sounds to escalate emotion? Have you recorded podcasts before? If so, where can we hear more from you?

A. Thanks! No, I have never recorded a podcast before, but I do have a background in video production, so I used the same techniques I would have used if I was mixing the audio portion of a video, since that’s what I was most familiar with. The funnest part was changing the pitch and tempo of some of the lines by characters other than the central protagonist to make them sound like they were different people: I really cracked up when listening to my voice in a lower pitch or at a slower tempo. I don’t have a podcast, but my Youtube channel is here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/sumikoska/

Q. What was the hardest part about your challenge? What did you like best? Did you learn something new about yourself while doing this challenge?

A. The hardest part for me, was getting the story to come in at less than 10 minutes, without taking out anything that was crucial to the exposition. A lot of descriptive language and backstory had to come out, because the written story was not short enough. Another hard part was keeping the “uhms” and other pauses out of my voice.

Q. Tell us more about YOU, your past stories, books, other artwork, your current project, and what’s on deck in 2014?

A. I have three published novels and a book of short stories, I’ve also put out a 40 page comic book. You can find out more about my books on my blog (http://sumikosaulson.com/) under “Books” and about my upcoming book readings under “Events”… I also paint, and I have an exhibit in November. My artwork can be found here: http://sumikoska.deviantart.com/.

Q. If you win 2013 Most Wicked, have you given any consideration to what your theme might be for when you hostess the 2014 Wicked Women Writer Challenge?

A. No, I haven’t.. but now that you’ve asked, I’m thinking that it could be called “Cat got your tongue?” and be all about different types of roles that the feline presence takes in horror: from the feline familiar, to the cat who sucks the breath from babies in the cradle, to Cat People, which was about were-cats… cats can be pretty spooky. I love cats, don’t get me wrong.

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