First of all, I want to say I adore the speculative and lore-based elements of this story. The Shahmeran is such a fascinating supernatural entity, and I’m sure many of us can relate to feeling that duality of being. Do you ever feel like you are two (or more) different beings, souls, entities inhabiting and splitting time in the same meat suit? If so, how did that inspire your work in this story? If not, what is your secret?

I think we all feel like we have two or more versions of us all residing inside and, on some occasions, bursting to the surface. As a Turkish/Iranian woman who grew up in Istanbul but attended an international school where all my classes, friends, and even pop culture references were in English, I often felt like I was straddling two worlds. I think this comes across obviously with the decidedly “my side of the world” beasts and beauties I write about, though I’m very influenced by writers like Angela Carter and Shirley Jackson in trying to evoke that air of unease when there’s nothing outright scary going on . . . yet. For the most part, I think everyone has multitudes in them and if they don’t, their drugs must be very strong. Just to think about it: What parts of us do we show to family, to friends, to lovers, to colleagues? They’re never the same people. I think every time we grow and evolve, we just keep on adding to our personal stable of characters rather than forming new single ones. And when then they war amongst themselves too much, that’s where creative outlets come in.

I love monster stories, so this one was immediately up my alley, but I’m curious: What about the Shahmeran legend first called to you? What are some of your other favorite, terrifying mythical creatures, and do you have any stories about them as well? If so, where can we find those?

Honestly, I didn’t even know what a Shahmeran was until I found a picture of it a couple years ago. There’s a shop my sister and I like to go to in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul that sells old Ottoman prints, and I ran across the image of this woman whose body ended in a snake and my mom told me what it was. I bought the print and then went home and did the research like a good little student. From the original fable, I thought about how I could turn it into something a little more gruesome, though I do urge anyone to look up the original story as well, no spoilers. Basically, my mom made me write it. Funnily enough, my only other story starring a mythical creature resides in an earlier issue of Nightmare—January 2025, I believe. [Editor’s note: It was indeed January 2025! You can read Leyla Hamedi’s story “Karabasan” here: nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/karabasan.]

Aside from being a monster story, this is a story of family obligation versus romantic desire, of choosing selfish wants over standing tradition and promises, and of the consequences inherent in putting yourself over those you care about and the place you come from. I’m sure it could be interpreted in multiple other ways as well, but I wonder about your process for creating this piece. Is this the type of story common with the Shahmeran, which you’ve put your own spin on, or did you extract the creature and your favorite elements of its mythos to put a new narrative frame around it? When approaching this story, did you come in wanting to write about the monster first, or did you have this story you really needed to tell, and the Shahmeran fit the speculative mold perfectly?

I kept a few elements from the myth of the Shahmeran. It’s a mythical creature that is half-woman, half-snake, and whose blood has healing properties. But while the original story is a tale of hope and trust and forgoing sacrifice, this story is about multiple acts of selfish desire. I think it works for these two opposite underlying themes because everything that’s perceived as black or white, true or false, heads or tails (haha) leaves no room for nuance. Existing in the in-between allows for deeper meanings and different paths but stark contrasts can very well present the same story with very minor details changed. We need nuance for the whole range of emotion and experience and that’s why I think it’s important to realize stories like this are fairy tales. They’re often trying to say something very obviously, but that’s not how real life works.

Of the two sisters, is there one you relate to more deeply? If so, how does that influence your telling of this story?

I do have a sister and she’s my best friend, and I love writing stories about sisters because of that. I wanted to explore a story that’s the total opposite of us. I think that’s what tied so well in with this myth because here’s this being that’s already an analogy of dualism and twin natures and all that, why not really push it to the limit and throw in an actual double. But no, I don’t identify with either sister and I think she would say the same. We would not put a man or woman before the other. A man just seemed like the perfect villain, though.

Where can people find you and what other projects do you have in the works/forthcoming right now?

I’m excitedly awaiting the relaunch of Ghouls, an inclusive horror collective I freelance write for!