Dark bleatings, my gorgeous tribe! I’m back to highlight another author from werewolf anthology Strange New Moons, who kindly agreed to an interview! Today we have Rebecca Rowland – an author that’s new to me, and an extremely welcome addition to my book shelves!
Rebecca’s story, Expose the Fur Below, made me grin wickedly and wince in equal measure. Let’s see what this horror-bringer has to say for herself!
Me: Expose the Fur Below made me never want to eat a cold-cut sandwich again. What drew you to a sandwich shop for the main setting?
Rebecca: When I was in high school, my closest friend’s boyfriend worked for a convenience store that had a small deli attached to it. Even at sixteen, I thought it was strange that a kid my age would be put in charge of operating a giant, electric slicer, and when he ended up slicing off part of his hand, my initial reaction proved correct. The only silver lining for that anecdote is I learned all about skin grafts: you’ll never believe from where they took the replacement skin!
Good grief! (Proceeds to wonder where the replacement skin came from…) Your story is full of little (hilarious) jokes and nods to Ron’s upcoming fate. How do you view the role of humour in a horror story (when it is horror and not horror/comedy)?
I think horror and humor go hand in hand, at least for me. I have always had a dark sense of humor, and the people I am closest to have dark senses of humor, too: it’s usually what bonds us together in the first place, and it’s likely why my characters have it as well. I like comic relief in a story. Anything that is brooding, suspenseful, or just plain creepy needs a break every now and then in the narrative; otherwise, the reader is going to be exhausted. You can only hold your breath for so long before you explode!
What is your favourite thing about werewolves (and is this an element you included in your story, and if so, how did you decide to work it in)?
I did a lot of research before writing the story. Coincidentally, one of the classes I was teaching at the time was reading Stephen King’s Cycle of the Werewolf, and the students researched the history of werewolves after they finished the novelette. One of the things that stood out to them, and to me, was one of the origins of the myth: some believe that the modern-day concept of the werewolf developed as an explanation for some skin and hair disorders, like hypertrichosis. As someone who has eczema and has felt self-conscious of it at times, I wanted to work in a character who felt self-conscious about his/her body’s oddities as well and tie it back to this origin theory.
In your horror fiction, you’ve written sci-fi body horror, dismembered body parts, supernatural creatures, psychological savagery, and much more. What is horror, at its core, to you?
True horror, in my opinion, is a loss of control: a loss of control over one’s life, one’s mind, or one’s fate: whether it’s the government stealing it, a supernatural entity directing it, or something organic corrupting it. Every story I’ve written has some sort of loss of control in it. Maybe that stems from my own Type A personality and inner control freak fears—who knows?
What do you think you can say or explore with horror fiction that you might not be able to with other genres?
I was teaching Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde earlier this year, and we discussed the concept of the duality of human nature, how no one is all good or all bad. I think some genres like to deny the “bad” side of human nature or to shove it into a corner and pretend that anyone who admits to a dark thought is a villain, period. The truth is, we’ve all been bad. We’ve all been mean, thought terrible things, even perhaps acted on those thoughts. I’m quite certain even Mother Teresa was mean sometimes. Horror accepts that duality, sometimes even celebrates it. Ironically, despite its speculative nature, one might say horror is the most realistic of the fiction genres because it portrays human nature the way it really is.
I think one of your great strengths is merging emotional honesty with really fun horror ideas. I have a dark time with your stories, but not so dark that I need to cry into my teddy bear.
Not that I have ever cried into my ted…never mind, this interview is about you.
Anyway, what is your priority when writing characters, in terms of what you hope the audience will take away at the end?
I hope they will walk away grateful that these characters aren’t part of their own families/relationships/work places: Haha! Or, perhaps they will identify with a character and not make the same sort of mistakes s/he does. I’m not writing morality tales or anything, but I don’t write a lot of cosmic horror, either: the terrible situations where most of my characters end up are traps of their own making. Motifs in my work are excessive drug and alcohol abuse, betrayal trauma, and unreliable narrators. Considering that, maybe I want readers to temper their vices, be less trusting, and never take anything at face value.
Typically, horror stories tend to end in one of two states: hopeful or bleak. Does the way you write your endings match your preference as a reader?
I’m a Twilight Zone fan, and most of the stories there end with a terrifying twist, so I would say I’m definitely a fan of the bleak ending. When a story wraps up in a hopeful manner, the reader closes the book and walks away and likely never thinks about the tale again. When a story leaves the reader mortified, surprised, or downright blown away, that tale sticks with him/her.
Optic Nerve is staying with me for a looooong time! Do you have a favourite out of your own works?
I like all of the things I’ve had published for different reasons, but if I had to pick one, I’d say Shagging the Boss. It’s the most personal of all of my stories and was inspired by my experience working in the publishing industry. I’m a different person and a different writer than I was when I penned that one, but it marks a place in my journey that I am a better person for having experienced.
Sorry Rebecca, but it’s time to ask you the tough question – my readers will need to know your answer!…..You’re fleeing from a masked killer that is swiftly gaining on you, and the only way to save yourself and the rest of the group is to trip up one of the other Final Girls fleeing with you. Who is most expendable?
Laurie Strode
Sidney Prescott
Nancy Thompson
Ellen Ripley
Maxine Minx
What is it that people say? You don’t have to be the fastest runner when fleeing a zombie hoard; you just need to be faster than the slowest human with you. I mean, if I really want to be strategic and save MYSELF, I will want to get rid of the most resilient of the group: she would be the one to outrun me. Using that rationale, I’d kneecap Ripley while keeping a close eye on Minx—the latter is certain to do the same to me when my guard is down!
That being said, I posed this question to a co-worker of mine, someone who is a fellow horror fan. He chose Maxine because he rationalized that the other four would be likely to help him if he were cornered by the killer: they wouldn’t just save themselves like sociopaths. Now I have to rethink my gut response!
Finally, tell readers what they can expect if they pick up your books.
I am not a traditional horror writer; most critics classify my work as quiet, literary, or “art house” horror, so if you’re revving up for action-soaked gore, you’re looking in the wrong place. I hope you appreciate my sense of humor, and I hope you identify with something in my characters, no matter how flawed they are. Each of them has a piece of me, and I am flawed more than I should probably admit, and maybe writing about these women (and men) helps exorcize some of those demons.
My next book, Eminence Front, is about an entity that travels in snowstorms and every one of the characters is significantly flawed in some way. CLASH Books is publishing it, and it’s available for preorder now!
I’d like to thank Rebecca for this – it was fun! And I wholeheartedly recommend her work! If you’d like to check out Rebecca’s work, there are some links below for you. And, of course, don’t forget to gobble up a copy of, Strange New Moons.
LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/rebecca_rowland_books/
https://bsky.app/profile/rebecca-rowland.bsky.social
Preorder a (signed & personalized) copy of Eminence Front in the USA: https://bookmoonbooks.com/item/Hq3ZF19tm0qsi8vGq0Tc0g
Preorder a copy of Eminence Front in the UK: https://amzn.eu/d/6MV79OX
Happy Goat Horror 
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