In your story, “Some Kind of Blood-Soaked Future,” you explore tropes of slasher horror flicks, and offer a new take on them. What made you want to write this story?

Tropes are kinda my jam, especially when it comes to slasher movies. In this case, I had an inkling of an idea about a Final Girl whose virginity was wholly practical, not some indicator of virtue or moral standing, but something she could use to her advantage to survive. Then I thought, “What if she’s asexual, too, either sex-repulsed or just indifferent, and giving up sex to hunt monsters totally isn’t a big deal for her?” Once I had that and the first line, I just kept writing until I found the shape of the story.

You have lots of short fiction published. What spawned your interest in writing genre fiction?

You know, I remember writing in a coffee shop one morning—I think I was about eighteen or nineteen—and thinking about the short stories I’d been working on. They were either, like, tragic literary shit with no real plot, or these stories with monsters and banter and friendship and, well, minimal plot. And I realized I was having a lot more fun with the monsters, that genre already made up the bulk of what I enjoyed reading and watching, and it didn’t make any sense to waste time writing stuff I wouldn’t want to read.

Who are some of your favorite authors? What are some of your favorite films?

To avoid spending 10,000 words on this question, should I stick with slashers? For films: I adore the Friday the 13th franchise with all my little, campy heart. Definitely Black Christmas, the original. And of course, I love my meta: Scream, The Final Girls, and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. I definitely haven’t read as many slasher horror novels, unfortunately, but I did really enjoy The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones and We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory. Oh, and some great horror short stories with a splash of meta: “Which Super Little Dead Girl™ Are You? Take Our Quiz And Find Out!” by Nino Cipri here at Nightmare, “The Final Girl” by Shira Lipkin at Strange Horizons, and “The House Wins in the End” by L Chan at The Dark.

What current projects are you working on? And do you have any projects coming out in the near future?

I’ve got a few short stories out on submission. I’m waiting to see if there are any takers on fairy tale mashups with undead witch children or YA noir with psychic dreams, monsters, and family dysfunction. And while I usually have about five or so novels brewing in my head at any given moment, I’m currently working on one about a group of amnesiacs, locked in a building together, trying to figure out who murdered the dead superhero on the floor. It’s early days, but I’m excited about it.