What was the inspiration for this story? Did you do anything different during the writing process that you hadn’t done before?
A few things inspired me. Subconsciously, probably one of my favourite K-dramas, Hotel Del Luna, about a hotel that only ghosts can see. But consciously, I’d been thinking about decision-making. How easy it is to make decisions you regret, or to avoid making decisions at all. Christie has spent fifteen years avoiding putting down roots, but someone can’t avoid things forever. In real life, you will lose out on or completely miss opportunities. In the story the hotel literally consumes those who cannot choose.
I was also thinking of how predatory nostalgia can be. It can be comforting to sink into remakes and sequels and old favourites and I’m as guilty of this as anyone. But that comfort can also be a trap. Christie’s replica bedroom is one example, as are the other guests feasting on their past. The Concierge is a manifestation of the temptation to live in eternal stasis. It’s a snare that encourages Christie to abandon a messy, but human, life for godlike permanence. The only way for Christie to escape is to stop pretending that they aren’t already standing on the bridge.
About a change of process. One thing I’ve been trying to do is reduce my word count. I used to write longer stories, so recently I’ve been trying to write flash fiction or shorter pieces in general. Originally, I’d envisioned this piece to be almost twice as long, but I enjoyed distilling the story down while retaining the overall intent.
Airports, planes, and hotels are weird places, and can often make great settings for horror fiction. What made these places the right settings for Christie to explore the story in?
Airports are the epitome of transit spaces. An airport is never really a destination in and of itself, you are always leaving or arriving. Time zones shift, your sense of permanence is lost, and then you find yourself somewhere new. Hotels that you stay in while travelling are similar. They’re almost a home, with a bed, a bathroom, and a private space just for you, but it’s not the same.
Christie feels that uncanny valley. Their bedroom is very similar to the comfort of their childhood home, except for the view over the abyss. The numbers are also a detail that make the space feel hostile. 602 next to room 412 and room 109. This breaks the rational numberings that they might expect, giving the hotel a dreamlike quality.
There’s a scene in one of my favourite horror films, Nope, where spectators are slowly sucked up into an alien digestive tract. It’s visually beautiful while also very horrific. I wanted a similar eerie claustrophobic feeling for Christie: to feel trapped while something was waiting nearby, hoping to consume them.
“Room 602 at the Hotel In-Between” deals with identity, but through the lens of identity throughout a person’s life. We are not the same person we were five years, ten years, twenty years ago. Is this something you find yourself thinking about a lot? Was “Room 602 at the Hotel In-Between” written in response to this theme?
Some people might figure out their identity from their youth, others might take more time, or continually consider themselves. I knew I was nonbinary from a young age, but a bit like Christie, it took time for me to share it more openly. As someone given the woman-coded name Georgina who goes by the man-coded George, I felt exploring that might help inform Christie’s internal journey.
Their internal growth is shown in the list of their names in the ledger. The Concierge doesn’t see these names are aspects of them, but as a number of separate people. The offer to be “anything, everything,” shows that lack of understanding. To stay in the hotel would be to allow all of these Christies to exist as avatars to choose between. But Christie rejects the offer and tears out the page. They don’t need to choose; they already contain all aspects of themselves.
The one self Christie had been ignoring—the hollow-eyed person in the mirror—is the self that has already been partially consumed by indecision. A ghost of choices never made, she exists as a warning and is finally reintegrated when Christie makes a choice and leaves.
Does this story show I am mad at myself for being too indecisive? Maybe so.
What’s next for you? Do you have anything coming out soon that you can talk about?
I have a few stories coming out in the Flame Tree Press romantasy series this summer, a piece in the Flash Fiction Online “Tiny Gods” issue in September, and an upcoming Interactive Fiction game, Court of Veils: The Peacock Throne via Choice of Games.
I can be found at the following places: Kamsika.com, Instagram, and Bluesky.
