“Bête Noire” hits the sweet spot where horror meets high tech and calls off all the bets. Tell us about the tale of Dahlia and Maker.

Years ago I read that Bill Gates has a turn-of-the-century fully AI-enabled house. Everything in it is specialized for its inhabitants. I wondered: What if it was left empty? Alone. Without purpose.

Maker created Dahlia to take care of him. As soon as he energized her, she was sentient; aware of her only purpose. Then he left her alone. Now, she’s without purpose. She only knows he’s gone, and her AI intelligence is left to fill in the blanks as to why. Computers know what they are told and nothing else. Dahlia is left to ponder the one thing she doesn’t know and can’t figure out. When she sees Brooklyn, Dahlia thinks she knows the answer.

Dahlia does not have emotions but does have “likes and dislikes.” Yet as Maker dies, the house confesses “. . . because I loved you.” Does the house consider love to be another form of like? Does it love Creator?

Dahlia believes she only has likes and dislikes, but in the moments before she kills Creator, she realizes he’s more to her. That her obsession with Creator is not a mere “like” or “dislike.” It’s turned into love . . . but love in the manner AI intelligence perceives it.

I love Dahlia’s precision and how it recognizes and analyzes the smallest detail. To me this seems the perfect blend of technology and a murderer’s intent. If you could create a murder house of your own just to dispose of the occasional person you did not like, what would be your most creative means of doing the deed?

This is exactly the question I asked before I started the story! No, I’m not planning anyone’s murder or “accidental death.” I used most of the ideas I came up with—except drowning Rhett. That’s all Sunset Boulevard. I’ve heard that new construction seals every possible avenue for leakage. So I’d have the house suck out all the oxygen and suffocate the occupants. (Maniacal laugh.)

Your writing moves all over the genre landscape, flitting from horror and fantasy to creative nonfiction to romance. Are there any writing projects you would like to tackle?

I would love to write a hard SF novel someday (far away look in eyes). Right now I’m in the middle of editing a contemporary romance. My sweet spot for writing is actually “fantasy romance” but I keep drifting into horror. I blame my love of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror.

You are a mother, writer, lawyer, and butterfly lover. What do you do to recharge your batteries?

I battle the weeds in my garden, take my dog on long walks and let my son control my music choices. He’s always got new tunes you don’t hear on the radio or old stuff that’s been forgotten. Oh! He gave me my favorite Dahlia line about how Brooklyn will die. By drowning? By gassing? . . . “No. That’s too merciful.”