For the first Positively Horror interview of the new year, the brilliant genre author Hailey Piper was kind enough to answer some questions. Please enjoy the full interview below.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your relationship with the genre?
Hi, I'm Hailey Piper! I the author of horror novellas The Worm and His Kings from Off Limits Press, Benny Rose, the Cannibal King from Unnerving, and more. This spring, The Seventh Terrace will publish my first short story collection, Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, and later this year Strangehouse Books will publish my first novel, Queen of Teeth. I've also had a few dozen stories in different publications, and I'm known for writing queer fiction and hopping around all subgenres of horror to do so.
What was your introduction to horror and at what age?
I can't remember a time that I didn't love monsters, and I obsessively read Goosebumps books as a kid. Definitely my earliest memory of adult horror was accidentally being shown a monster movie The Unnameable at age 5. It was very R-rated and though I only caught half of it, I doubt my brain has been the same since.
I picked up The Possession Of Natalie Galsgow after seeing many posts about your work on bookstagram. Do you feel that the bookstagram community has helped push your name out there on the horror book scene?
The community plays a big part. I love the creative photos Bookstagrammers take, and when I'm tagged, I'll often see comments by people who've never heard of me but now want to pick up The Possession of Natalie Glasgow or others. It is much appreciated.
Where do you get your inspiration, and what is your creative process?
Inspiration can come from anywhere, there's no single source. What's important is to jot down thoughts and observations when they occur and keep them. Most of it will be junk I never use, a little of it will become story seeds, but I can't tell the difference right away, plus you never know what a later point of view will bring to old notes. Enough notes in correlation can become a story. The actual process changes for every story, but the notes give enough fertile ground that the story can grow in whichever shape or direction it needs.
What has the current lockdown/pandemic situation done for your inspiration?
I'm sure there's been some impact, but I can't really discern how I've absorbed it, only what I've done with it. I've stopped saying no to myself with various concepts and executions; many of us have come out of 2020 a bit stranger than we went in.
Who are some of your favourite people working in the genre at the moment?
Oh, there are so many impressive and talented authors writing horror right now. Joanna Koch, Eden Royce, Sara Tantlinger, Stephen Graham Jones, Gwendolyn Kiste, Andrew Cull, I could go endlessly and still miss loads of people. My TBR pile is a mountain.
And is there anything that you're currently working on that you'd like to talk about?
I'm revising a couple larger projects right now, outlining future ones, and writing short stories; I can never write enough of those. You can keep updated by finding me at www.haileypiper.com or on Twitter via @HaileyPiperSays.
Thank you again for having me!
Thank you again to Hailey for the interview. To check out Hailey's work just click the link below:
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