First off, thank you for sharing “Horse Girls” with us here at Nightmare! I adored this story so much, and I just have to ask: Are you a horse girl?

An excellent question! Alas, I am not a horse girl. Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for horses. They’re huge, strong, and fast, but because of this, I’ve always been a terrified of them. Ergo, this story.

You are a surgeon with your language choices: “Solid ground in the sun,” “how ravenous people were for stories, even if they were untrue”—it’s a pleasure to read even beyond the engaging plot and characters! What was your process like when writing this story, and where did you pull this idea from?

This story really poured out of me, which doesn’t happen for every story I write, but it’s certainly a welcome surprise when it does. I had multiple ideas for a story stewing in my head. I had read a few articles about recent horse fatalities at certain racecourses and training facilities, and I was also reading a lot of kelpie folklore and cryptid literature. I wasn’t sure what to do with all of this until the first scene of the story popped in my head, and then it all fell into place.

You caught me off guard early on when Vesper said, “You kiss like a horse;” I laughed out loud at that! It’s always such a treat when a horrifying story like this one still has a funny bone. Where do you think humor’s place in horror fiction is, and how do you weave it in without compromising intensity?

Having just witnessed Widow’s Bay sweep the Emmys, I think horror and comedy are beautiful partners in all art mediums. Comedy is a great tool that allows readers/viewers to breathe for a moment, especially in horror stories of great intensity and trauma. If storytellers lean too hard into horror all at once, it risks losing the audience. Someone might turn off the movie, close the book, or click elsewhere. Of course, there is a lot of brilliant horror out there that doesn’t need as much comedy, or any comedy, but then it might lean into other moods or genres. The best horror moments, for me at least, are so much sweeter and terrifying if you’re able to get a breath in beforehand. You’ve laughed! You’re getting comfortable again. You might be safe . . . and then the horrors come back.

The queer themes in “Horse Girls” are fascinating. To me, Vesper’s journey read as she had a childhood crush on Holly that Holly herself reciprocated, but Holly lashed out when she thought Vesper rejected her. When they reconnect, Vesper can’t let go of her engrained hatred for what Holly did to her adolescent life and does everything in her power to spite her, from her “Evil Horse” paintings to her joy at Holly’s discomfort trudging through the mud to her final transformation. It’s a complete circle! How did you go about taking the “Horse Girl” concept and subverting it like this?

So much of what I write is sort of putting out feelers to find the juice of a story. Adolescence, and the awakening of feelings in that stage, is ripe for exploration. These awakenings have such powerful fingerprints on our lives. I also wanted to write a bitter character who experiences a moment in the past and does not let that moment go. Grudges make for the most delicious material in horror. I wanted Vesper to be bitter, to really anchor herself in this odd revenge, and make choices based on this moment in Vesper and Holly’s past.

Speaking of Vesper’s journey, the scream I scream’t at the end! What an excellent ending! Did you always know it would come to this while writing?

Ah, thank you! I am absolutely delighted by your reaction, and I hope it works for other readers as well. It wasn’t the plan at the get-go. At first, I was going for a grittier realism, but while drafting the later scenes, I wondered, “What can I get away with? How far can I take this?” In a way, I double-dared myself to go there.

On your website, I saw that you are a co-leader of Indiana state’s chapter of Authors Against Book Bans. Could you tell us a little more about that; what brought you to fighting this fight?

Honestly, I hope to do more in the future, because it’s such a great organization. Right now, being the state co-leader means keeping up with state and national book banning news, writing to my local reps, keeping in touch with local libraries, and promoting the freedom to read across my social media platforms. I understand and can relate to parents managing and educating their children on what to read—I am a parent of two myself—but taking books off the shelves, taking away the right to choose our literature, and threatening/harassing our librarians, is not the answer. Especially during this time of plummeting critical thinking and literacy skills. We need diverse books. We need diverse stories by diverse authors. We need to know, learn from, and sit with our histories. Obviously, I could on about this, but in short: Anyone who tries to ban books has never ended up the right side of history.

What do we have to look forward to coming from you in the future?

I recently had a flash fiction story, “12 Things I Wish Happened at the Louvre Heist,” publish in trampset earlier this Fall, and I have a short story, “Between You and Me” forthcoming in Kaleidotrope. I’m also on sub with publishers with my agent, so the dream is to have book news forthcoming! Wish me luck!