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Books Interviews

Artist and illustrator Eli John on M. R. James, obsessions, and artistic inspirations.

Artist and illustrator Eli John is primarily inspired by ghost stories, and supernatural and gothic fiction, searching out the sublime and psychological landscapes in his work. That he lives and creates in the Pendle Forest, in the shadow of the Lancashire witches, could not be more appropriate. That he’s also a bookseller specialising in old ghosts and new, even more so. As Eli John adds a new M. R. James project with US publisher Centipede Press to his illustration stable, he talks to Sublime Horror’s Lucy Wood about obsessions, solitude and getting his hands dirty.

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Books Fiction Interviews Non-fiction

Edward Parnell interview: ‘I wanted to breathe some sort of flickering life into the ghost of their memories’

Ghost stories are often not about ghosts at all – they are about people. And so goes Edward Parnell’s Ghostland, a deeply personal and quietly magnificent reflection on what it is to be human, through a genre-blending mix of memoir and narrative non-fiction.

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Books Fiction Interviews

Stephen Graham Jones: ‘If I don’t get scared then I’m not playing with the right kind of fire’

Night of the Mannequins is a novella by Stephen Graham Jones published by Tor.com that explores the vengeful aftermath of a prank and a mannequin’s role within a group of friends. Here, I speak to Jones about the new book.

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Books Fiction Interviews

Kathe Koja: ‘Detritus, spills, 4am. Dread. All of that is in there.’

Kathe Koja’s 1991 novel The Cipher is considered a classic of contemporary horror fiction. An unusual blend of body horror and cosmic horror, the story examines how a mysterious, physics-morphing hole found in an apartment building – called the Funhole by many of the characters in the novel – alters the lives of everyone that comes into contact with it, and especially the life of the narrator, Nicholas. Filled with sometimes beautiful, sometimes grotesque physical transformations, and laced through with meditations about nothingness and the unknown, The Cipher is an intense exploration of the outer edges of human experience. A new print edition is forthcoming this September from Meerkat Press. I recently interviewed Koja through email about the novel.

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Books Fiction Interviews

Amanda Mason interview: ‘I wanted to have the horror in plain hot sunlight… I wanted that contrast’

Split between the UK’s heatwave of 1976 and the present, Amanda Mason’s The Wayward Girls is a dark and gripping tale of poltergeist infestation. Rebecca Wojturska reviewed the book for us and wrote that it’s a “dark and shimmering tale of palpable unease… Mason’s ability to weave mystery and eeriness together will appeal to fans of thrillers and horror alike.” Rebecca had the chance to speak to Mason about her debut novel, ghost stories, stage magic, and a hint at the book that’s coming next.

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Books Fiction Interviews

Andrew Michael Hurley interview: ‘Folk horror debunks the idea that England is a green and pleasant land’

Andrew Michael Hurley’s superb Starve Acre ends his folk horror trilogy of novels exploring the eeriness of the rural landscapes that Hurley has immersed his fiction in since his debut The Loney was published in 2014. In this interview, I speak to Hurley about Starve Acre, genre boundaries, 70s British folk horror, and moving from the rural to the urban in his next novel.

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Books Fiction Interviews

Julia Armfield: ‘salt slow is about women and bodies and the ways in which our bodies contain us and betray us’

This interview is also available as an exclusive supporter-only podcast – become a supporter on Patreon

Julia Armfield’s short story collection salt slow opens with “Mantis”, a story about a teenage girl whose body is changing. But unlike her peers’, her body is changing in a more unexpected, more monstrous way.

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Books Fiction Interviews

Matt Cardin: ‘What drew me to religion was the same thing that drew me to horror’

Religion and horror on their own, separate terms can be deeply moving, if not outright life-changing. When the two intersect, something new, poignant and powerful emerges. Author Matt Cardin, who has his PhD in leadership and a master’s in religious studies, recently published theological horror fiction collection To Rouse Leviathan, and he understands the importance and beauty of this intersection better than most.

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Books Fiction Interviews Podcast

Podcast episode #6: Caitlin Starling, author of the sci-fi horror The Luminous Dead

Peter speaks to Caitlin Starling about her debut novel The Luminous Dead, video games and interactive fiction, her upcoming projects, and more.

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Books Fiction Interviews

All My Colors interview with David Quantick

Rebecca Wojturska speaks to David Quantick about his recent novel, All My Colors, a book which Rebecca describes in her review as a “fast-paced genre-bending whirlwind of hilarity and horror”. They also talk about what Quantick is working on next, why comedy and horror often go together, and human suitcases. Yes, human suitcases.