This is my second year of participating in October Frights, and so far it's been a blast. If you've kept track of all the posts then on my blog alone you will have read an interview with Lilith, learned how horror can comfort us, played some Halloween games, seen how personal trauma can inspire horror writing, and read about zombies, ghosts and vampires. If you keep checking back you can also find my step-by-step guide to writing a novel, and keep up to date with my work in progress, reviews of books I have read and more.
For this final day of the event, I'd like to tell you a bit about myself, especially for those of you who are new to my work.
NAME - Carmilla Voiez
PLACE OF BIRTH - Bristol, UK
CURRENT RESIDENCE - North East Scotland, beside the sea, with two cats, a poet/clown and my younger daughter.
UPCOMING EVENTS - I'll be at Krampus Market, Glasgow this December and doing a couple of online horror events this month. Also in December Starblood will be relaunched by Vamptasy Publishing and there should be lots of excitement surrounding that event.
WHY I'M AN AUTHOR - I've been writing since I was a kid. As a teenager I got a poem published in Goth Fanzine Bats and Red Velvet, but it was only after having my second daughter that I realised I might have the talent to become a published author. I studied Creative Writing with the Open University and started to produce work that excited readers and myself alike. I dream that one day I'll be discovered by an agent or movie producer and make my fortune doing what I love most.
FAV BANDS - Virgin Prunes, Sisters of Mercy, Das Ich, Einsturzende Neubauten, Bauhaus (I'm mostly old school).
FAV MOVIES - Evil Dead, Let the Right One In, Hellraiser, Suspiria.
TURN OFFS - Hot weather, large crowds, fluffy pop music.
IS CARMILLA A PEN NAME - Yes. It was the name I first adopted when I owned and ran Drac-in-a-Box. Carmilla from J. Sheriden Le Fanu's short story and Voiez sounded exotic and reflected the fact that I like to watch people.
SPECIAL SPACE TO WRITE - I prefer to type straight to my laptop most of the time, but when the writing isn't flowing as I want it to I revert to a notebook and write longhand. If I'm stuck for inspiration a warm shower or a walk in the woods normally helps.
GENRE/STYLE - Horror, fantasy, speculative fiction and contemporary fiction. I adore Clive Barker, Margaret Atwood and Zadie Smith in equal measure. My style for Starblood is best described as Gothic Romance mixed with Erotic Dark Fantasy and Horror. I tend to weave fantasy and magic into my stories.
HOW HAS HORROR CHANGED - Horror seems to move in popular waves. At the moment it seems to be zombies and a few years ago is was vampires. When I was growing up on horror it tended to be more ghosts, horror and serial killlers. I don't mind the fashions, but at the same time I don't strive to write to them. I write what is in my heart.
PUBLICATIONS I'VE APPEARED IN - Zombie Punks Fuck Off, Slice Girls, Terror Realm Magazine Klarissa Dreams and The Siren's Call. One of my short stories will be featured in Another Beautiful Nightmare when it comes out February 2019.
WHICH OF YOUR HEROES HAVE YOU MET - I've met loads of small Goth bands in my youth as the band members often cadged drinks at the bar at the end of the night. Literary heroes, I've met Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood and the late, great Iain Banks. They were all lovely people although I didn't get to spend as much time with any of them as I would have liked. It seems to be a popular author is to be busy.
STARTING POINT FOR READING CARMILLA VOIEZ - If you're new to my work I'd suggest starting with the latest release, my short story collection - Broken Mirror and Other Morbid Tales. The Ballerina and the Revolutionary is the least violent and sexual of my work but is still an emotional journey, and The Starblood Trilogy is a hard-core women-orientated violence and sex fest - you've been warned. There are two graphic novels based on the Starblood series and we're working on a third. Starblood and Psychonaut the graphic novels are illustrated by Anna Prashkovich.
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