11811 (Eleven) asked Brett J. Talley:

I apologize if this has been asked repeatedly but I'm just now getting jiggy with this whole 'ask' thing. I want to know what you were thinking about the abortion thing when you wrote Reborn. Feel free to send me the link to a post I was too lazy to search. I thought the story was outstandingly creative for modern horror. I'd like to take out a few Stoker judges and rig this one to win. It deserves it.

Brett J. Talley Shockingly, you're the first person to ask about abortion and its relation to the Reborn. I didn't start out thinking this was going to be an allegory for the abortion debate in America, but as I was writing it, I realized I had a kind of unique opportunity to approach the issue without demagoguery. After all, the pro-life camp--with which I have a lot of sympathy--will tell you that innocent life should be protected. Well, what if the unborn child isn't so innocent after all? What then? And the pro-choice people will talk about a woman's body and how only she should decide what happens to it. But what if in doing so she endangers other women? Subjects them to rape and murder? Surely that's not a choice she should be able to make? And I tried to set up the book where I never really answer the question. I think you could take either side and feel queasy about it by the end. I'd be interested to hear what you thought about it.

As for the Stoker, the good thing is that there is no panel that decides who wins. It's voted on by the membership as a whole, with all members able to recommend works and then active authors able to vote for the finalist. The bad thing is that makes it a lot harder to bribe your way to victory!

So the best thing you can do is tell your HWA friends about the book and get them to read it. That's really the biggest obstacle of all. People can only vote for books they know about after all. Or you could join the HWA and recommend it yourself. Supporting memberships are only $20!

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