21 June 2024
We asked you to send over your questions for Gianni Washington, author of the debut horror short story collection Flowers From the Void. Here’s what she had to say!
Writing a book is a great challenge but what was the most joyful part?
Sending the final-final version in after making the last of a billion small changes. Getting to that point of satisfaction and acceptance after all the work I’d done made me want to cartwheel around the room.
As a first-time author, what was the most surprising part of the publishing process?
How closely I got to work with the people bringing my book into the world. I expected to form a relationship with my developmental editor, but to have the rest of the process be mostly out of my hands. It was such a pleasure to communicate with my copyeditor, managing editor, publicist, and marketing guru like pals and to be so involved in the book-birthing process beyond writing the initial manuscript.
Would you say there is a central theme that runs across the stories? If so, what is it?
Emotional isolation for sure. I’m super interested in how we perceive our own experience of living versus what we think others experience. More people than you think tend to feel like outsiders and would describe themselves as such—it’s mind-boggling.
Are there any short stories, collections or authors that you drew inspiration from when writing this collection?
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury inspired my use of a framing device, plus his stories are weird and fun—I love them. Ditto Perchance to Dream by Charles Beaumont, Get in Trouble by Kelly Link, St. Lucy’s School for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell, Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman—actually Neil Gaiman in general. Also Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Gabrielle Wittkop, Thomas Ligotti, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Vladimir Nabokov… the entire list would make you grow old to read.
What would you like to see more of in the horror genre (books or film)?
This is directed more at film, but I’d like to see more characters getting into bizarre situations despite making the choices a person would likely make irl. It’s fun to watch characters venture into dark, creepy spaces with zero backup or run to the top floor of a building instead of to an area they could logically escape from, but it’s weirdly satisfying to me when a character does everything right and things STILL turn out bonkers.
If you were to base a short story on an existing horror film, which film would you pick?
Either Constantine or The Cabin in the Woods. I really enjoy exploring the “forces greater than humanity” idea; I love how these films do it and the questions they call to mind.
What’s are you planning on writing next?
I’m currently working on a semi-linked collection of short stories about death as concept, experience, and entity. But there’ll be a novel about twins set in North Carolina to occupy you in the meantime 🙂
Flowers From the Void is a collection of 13 grotesquely gothic short stories to keep you awake all night. A reaper readies herself for her next gruesome assignment and a bereaved African witch prepares for a showdown with a rigidly traditional white Salem coven while an outcast teenage boy is lured into a pact with a schoolfriend that will cost him far more than he ever imagined. Out now!
