Speculative Fiction
(Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror mix)
Date Published: August 4, 2020
Publisher: Mictlan Press
There’s magic and mystery around every corner, if you know where to
look…
This collection of eleven short stories from fantasy and science fiction
author Terri Bruce explores the hidden corners of our world. Blending
fantasy, horror, magical realism, and folklore, these tales will delight,
mystify, and unsettle. Unicorns roam the New Hampshire countryside disguised
as a biker gang. Portals to other worlds hide on commuter train platforms.
And be careful of what really lurks at the bottom of those quaint wishing
wells that dot the countryside. Strip away the veneer of everyday life and
dare to see what lies just below the surface.
Interview with Terri Bruce
For those
interested in exploring the subject or theme of your book, where
should they start?
That
is a very interesting question because, before this book came out, I
would have said that the “theme”/genre was “slipstream, new
weird” short fiction. New weird is defined as a literary genre that
features real world settings for horror or horror-esque stories
blending fantasy, science fiction, and existential terror. Slipstream
is defined as “the fiction of strangeness” and as a form of
writing that makes the ordinary seem strange and the strange seem
ordinary or familiar. It’s the fiction of “displacement,
surrealness, or cognitive dissonance.”
However,
when the early reviews for SOULS came in, they all said the same
thing: horror, horror, horror. And I was puzzled at first because I
don’t think of myself as a horror writer. In fact, I would say
that, for the most part, my stories are hopeful/happy. But then I
went back and looked at each story in the collection and thought,
“That one’s dark. That one’s dark. That one’s dark. Oh, yeah,
maybe I do write horror!” LOL! I still stand by my assertion that
the overall genre I’m writing in is slipstream new weird and that
the “existential dread” part of new weird is the horror vibe a
lot of readers are picking up on. My husband calls that horror and
“strangeness” undercurrent of my writing the defining trait of
everything I write. He’ll read one of my stories, and it’s going
along seemingly innocently and happily and then there will be a twist
and he goes, “yup, there it is. It’s a Terri story!”
Some
other writers who write in this same vein/genre are Tim Powers, the
great China Mieville, and Shirley Jackson.
How did you become
involved with the subject or theme of your book?
Writers always get
asked where our ideas come from and I think I am not unusual in
saying “I have no idea.” I might read a news story that sparks an
idea (such as with Stone Baby) or I might have a bad day at work due
to ridiculous bureaucracy that sparks the desire to mock that
ridiculousness (as with Welcome to OASIS). Sometimes, a character
just pops into my head, speaking to me, the story pouring out of them
into my head, and I’ll sit down and write the entire thing in one
sitting (as with The Tower and My Lover Like Night). There’s a
wonderful TED Talk on creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert (“Your
Elusive Creative Genius) in which she talks about a poet who felt
poems approach her like a train and pass through her on their way to
wherever they were going. Often time, stories feel that way to me,
too. They’re out there in the ether and I pass through one like an
airplane through a cloud and I manage to grab hold of it and pin it
to a piece of paper.
Speaking of My
Lover Like Night – I just realized I never explained the title in
the afterword to the story in the book, so here is an exclusive for
readers of your blog: the title of that story comes from the fact the
original story idea/seed was of a man describing his dark-hearted
lover/mistress. In my head, the man is narrating the story, telling
the reader about his lover who is beautiful but cruel and deadly, but
when I went to write the story down, the woman was the narrator,
telling her own story. Apparently, the characters had a fight in my
head between story inception and fruition and he lost and got elbowed
out of the way.
What were your
goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you
achieved them?
The
short stories in SOULS were written between 2015 and 2019. I wrote
the stories as the ideas occurred to me, without any particular rhyme
or reason. About half the stories have been published (either in an
anthology or magazine) and half have never before been published.
In
2019, I went through transitions as a writer and in life that changed
my writing focus a bit. Not in any way that would be tangible to an
outsider/to someone not in my head. More a change in the type of
themes I wanted to explore. My short story writing of late has been
much more personal and emotional. Less general “new weird” type
themes and more personal stories of loss, reconciling with one’s
past, forgiveness, etc. I feel like I’ve transitioned to a new
phase of life and, as such, I think my writing has transitioned a bit
as well. So, it seemed a good time to collect up my short stories to
date (at that time) and bundle them together as a showcase of my work
during “Phase I” of my writing career.
Anything you would like to say to
your readers and fans?
Book 4 and 5 of the
Afterlife Series are coming! Thank you for your patience! I moved 6
times in eighteen months between 2015 and 2016, then did a
long-distance move to another state and changed jobs, and then
recently bought a house and moved again. The last 5 years have been
really busy personally (plus some health challenges) which put a
crimp in time and ability to write. But so far, in 2020 (knock on
wood), I’ve been really productive. It usually takes me one to two
years to draft a novel; in the last couple of months I’ve written
42,000 words on a new Science Fiction novel, and 20,000 on the fifth
Afterlife novel, and four new short stories. So, I’m definitely
working on making up for lost time!
What did you enjoy most about
writing this book?
Writing the “rest
of the story” afterword to each story with a bit of
behind-the-scenes info on where the story came from or various
writing or publication challenges with each story. Those were fun.
And, certainly, giving readers a chance to see some of my stories
that had not yet been published—Ghosts of Acadia and Before the
Evolution Comes the Smoke are, perhaps, my two favorite stories and
neither has yet been published so I’m thrilled to be able to share
them with fans.
Additionally, from
a personal standpoint, it was also really eye opening to see my body
of work laid out side-by-side and realize I could see themes, I could
see a distinct writing style, I could see common elements that
identified them as a cohesive collection of work by the same author.
Prior to that moment, I always worried that I didn’t have a
distinct style/narrative voice. I write in multiple genres. Much of
my work is cross-genre. My work covers a variety of themes and types
of characters (men, women, young, old, etc.). It felt a bit “all
over the place.” I worried I didn’t have a clear “brand” or
“identity” as an author. When I sat down and read the proof of
SOULS straight through so that I read story after story after story
with no break, I got to the last page and said, “OH! That’s who I
am as a writer!” It was a really good feeling and an “ah ha”
moment in my career. So, personally, I feel that SOULS was an
important moment of awakening for me and also a necessary step in my
career. Armed now with that clearer insight to who I am as a writer
has prepared me to move into the next phase of my career.
Can you tell us a little bit about
your next books or what you have planned for the future?
I have a
contemporary fantasy/paranormal series (the Afterlife series) that
features a woman who dies and has to navigate the afterlife with the
help of a fourteen-year-old boy who can see ghosts. Three books have
been released so far of a planned five books. The fourth book will
release next year and I’m currently working on the fifth book.
Additionally, I’m working on a Science Fiction “space western”
that’s kind of Firefly crossed with Dark Matter and The Expanse.
And, of course, I’m still producing short stories that are
appearing in various magazines and anthologies.
How long have you been writing?
I’ve always
written, since I was a kid, but I became serious about being a
professional writer around 2000. But it took eleven years for me to
complete a publishable novel and to sell that novel to a publisher (I
completed two novels during that eleven years but the first one has
never been published. Hereafter, my first Afterlife novel, was my
first novel to be published; it came out in 2012).
Can you tell us a
little bit about the characters in SOULS?
You know, it’s
interesting… while I write character-driven stories, I’m not
entirely sure there’s a lot of common elements between the
characters in the various short stories in SOULS. Or, at least, I
didn’t think so when I started writing my answer to this question.
A young woman searching for love and acceptance, a young woman who is
forced to fight for the people she cares about, a man who dies and
gets stuck in a computer, a middle aged knight from the crusades, a
government website, a sentient computer program/AI… all very
different. But then I realized that there is a common element to all
of them: they are all dissatisfied with life. They feel stuck or like
there’s something not quite right with the world. In all my
stories, there’s something lurking just out of sight or below the
surface that, if the character lets themselves focus on it, causes
them to realize that nothing is as it seems. And I think maybe that’s
reflective of how I feel in real life—that there’s a little bit
more to the world but that “bit more” might not be so pleasant.
Some of that strangeness comes from the unexplained/the supernatural
- I’ve lived in a haunted house, I’ve experienced unexplained
phenomenon, my grandmother had experiences with omens and warnings
from beyond, etc. – and some of it comes from often feeling like an
outsider (I’m shy and an introvert so I often feel alone even in a
crowd).
If you could spend the day with one
of the characters from SOULS who would it be? Please tell us why you
chose this particular character, where you would go and what you
would do.I
think, hands down, I would want to spend it with the “witches”
(AIs) from
“Before the Evolution Comes the Smoke.” They are so
ornery, pedantic, and literal, they make me laugh. Their dialog was
incredibly fun to write. I cracked myself up writing it. Funnily
enough, I actually have mapped out the names of all thirteen
“witches” and their various personalities. I keep meaning to
revisit the world of that story and turn it into a novel. I keep
thinking of maybe a story featuring Magda ten years in the future. Or
maybe a series of linked short stories or novellas featuring each of
the thirteen witches.
About the Author
TERRI BRUCE is the author of the paranormal / contemporary fantasy
Afterlife series, and her short stories have appeared in a variety of
anthologies and magazines. She produces hard-to-classify fantasy and science
fiction stories that explore the supernatural side of everyday things from
beautiful Downeast Maine where she lives with her husband and various
cats.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
Print Book
Available from all major book retailers, including all international Amazon
stores.
2 comments:
very cool cover, this sounds interesting
Thank you for hosting!
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