Of all the supernatural/mythological beings we are exposed to in literature, reanimated corpses are pretty unique in the sense that we see varied approaches to how people establish their abilities and even the origin of the reanimation. What drew you to the concept of reanimation, and how did you establish the extent of their abilities? You managed to make them a massive threat to the characters, yet they never once overshadowed the real threat, the witch-doctor.

Growing up listening to folktales about reanimated corpses made this aspect of horror a pretty normal one for me, and in this story, their presence made sense with the location being the former cursed burial ground where the villagers discard the bodies of people considered evil or cursed. Since the medicine-man or witch-doctor is usually responsible for this unhallowed burial and is the one powerful enough to chain the vengeful souls of the evil dead inside the cursed burial ground, it made sense that he would be the only person able to control their ghosts and determine how to use them for his nefarious purposes. In this case, he opts to reanimate their corpses, just as he does with the vultures. So, their abilities are basically decided by the witch-doctor, and this guy clearly believes in the terror effect of reanimation, just as he’s able to reanimate his own corpse, too.

The ending caught me off guard in the best way, since we’ve been following a character so strong and unwavering in their faith. We read on as Mr. Bassey puts his life on the line believing wholeheartedly that his God would protect him, but he ended up submitting. Did you write the buildup knowing the outcome, or did it come to you as you were writing? What is your writing process like?

I think most people who follow my interviews know by now that I have no writing process in the conventional sense. I don’t plot and I don’t write with any specific timeframe or word count either. Sometimes, a single word might inspire a story title for me, (e.g. Futility, my upcoming publication in October 2025 by Titan Books). Other times, it could be a flash image in my head as happened with my latest book, Where the Dead Brides Gather. But I never know the story or plot until I sit before my laptop and allow the characters to tell me their stories. And when they stop speaking to me, that story simply ends, till they return to continue their tale. Which is why I have numerous manuscripts in varying degrees of completion in my story folder; also why I might write twenty hours straight over a week, and then not write again for several months while waiting for my characters to speak to me once again. Some characters just never shut up and can talk enough for the whole of England and Ireland. Other characters are thankfully more reticent, preferring to share their thoughts rather than their words. You have to coax those ones out.

Mr. Bassey belongs to the former. I was sure this pompous guy would escape from the village or even defeat the witch-doctor by the sheer power of his will. So I was somewhat surprised and yes, pretty pleased by the outcome, and once again, bowed to the ultimate power of my characters to drive their own stories as they wish, rather than attempting to impose my own choices on them.

I love how you portrayed traditional African views and culture in conjunction with this attempted assimilation of the European world. This complicated and often abrasive relationship can certainly be difficult to portray, yet you weaved it into this story so well. Do you keep these themes in mind as you flesh out your stories?

I think you’ll find this is a common aspect of works originating from other cultures who have had positive and negative interactions with other conquering or colonist powers. So, for instance, many South Korean works in both films or books (e.g. Pachinko), make references to their coloniser, Japan, and draw parallels between the two cultures. We Africans, due to our history of colonisation, inevitably weave these cultural and religious conflicts into our narratives because they are our lived experiences, a normal part of our upbringing. Since Europe was the dominant colonist, it’s inevitable that our stories would reflect these cultural, religious and social conflicts and interactions, amongst many others.

Stories involving supernatural entities and traditional mythology such as the reanimated corpses in your story often have origins in literature specific to geographic regions and oral storytelling. What stories do you draw inspiration from?

I can honestly say that I rarely draw inspiration from any book, for the simple reason that few writers write in my genre. When I started the African horror subgenre, there were hardly any similar works to inspire me, apart from the wonderful Amos Tutuola, whose Nigerian folktales in his book, The Palmwine Drinkard, reminded me of the folklore I grew up with. Mutwa Credo’s South African book of folktales, Indaba, My Children, was, sadly, a later discovery, which I’m now thankful to have in my personal library. I was desperate to read the book O Segredo da Morta (The Dead Woman’s Secret) by the Angolan writer, Antonio de Assis Junior, about a witch who dies from sleeping sickness and returns from the dead to curse and punish all those who stole her belongings whilst she lay dying. But alas, there was no English translation of it since it was written in the language of their colonist, Portugal.

You’ll find that many great works of African horror are non-English due to the history of colonisation. As a result, they are inaccessible to a wider audience due to English being the dominant book-publishing language. So, alas, I just had to allow myself to be inspired by my characters, my lived experiences and the stories I heard as a child during the Tales by Moonlight sessions, whilst thanking writers such as The King himself and a couple others, for helping me with character development through their works.

I love the depth of your characters. Ginika was a character we were introduced to early on, yet her lore unfolded as we reached the final act of the story. The witch-doctor himself also transcended beyond just being an antagonist. How do you go about writing these developed characters?

Thank you, Chinua Achebe! Thank you, Stephen King! Thank you, Steven Pressfield! Thank you, my wonderful characters, for revealing yourselves to me in all your perfection, flaws, and everything else in-between! Also, people need to watch great K-drama films. I personally think the South Koreans have mastered the art of creating incredibly nuanced characters that would inspire any serious writer.

This was a delight to read, and I was anxiously waiting to see how the story would unfold with every word. What is next for you? Are there any other projects your readers can look forward to?

Apart from this story in your wonderful magazine, I have a magical realism book, The Fake Ghost, out in August 2025 and published by Dead Sky Publishing. It’s about a racist American leader who gets reborn in the body of a black baby in a tiny hut in Africa. I also have another magical realism/horror book, Futility, out in October 2025 and published by Titan Books. This book is a tale of murder and revenge by two diabolical women, a Nigerian restauranteur and a British diplomat, both enticed by a malevolent entity to wreak deadly vengeance on the men that harmed them, with unexpected consequences.

My short story “The House That Gabriel Built” features in the anthology collection Roots of My Fears, edited by Gemma Amor, and will be published in September 2025 by Titan Books. It is inspired by my family home where I grew up in Nigeria, a famous haunted house in our region built by my grandfather, Gabriel, over a hundred years ago. My nonfiction essay “A Day In My Psychedelic World” is in the book Why I Love Horror, edited by Becky Spratford, and will also be published in September 2025 by Saga Press. It features personal essays on why we love horror, written by most of the top horror writers today from mainly North America and Canada. Finally, my novel The Turning of Sally-Mae will be published in October 2026 by Titan Books, while the novella collection The Ghosts in The Moon will also be published by Titan Books in 2027. I’ve just completed a novel and am working on two others, which hopefully should soon be sold. So, my readers have a lot to keep them busy; touch wood. So, blessings of the universe to all and let’s go preordering . . . like, now.