Welcome everyone, I’m The Li-Bury-An, and today we have a spotlight on Marsheila Rockwell
Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell was born an indeterminate number of years ago in America’s Last, Best Place. A descendant of kings, pilgrims, Ojibwe hunters and Red River Métis, and possibly a witch or two, she spent the first few years of her life frolicking gleefully in a large backyard that is now part of one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites. Perhaps that explains her early penchant for fantasy and horror – the first book she ever read (at the tender age of three) was Frank L. Baum’s Ozma of Oz. Her story, “The Recliner” appears in Volume 3 of our Women of Horror anthology, and is one that is a joy to read. Luka is a young boy with an alcoholic mother, who begins to fear the recliner in his living room. His grandfather died in the chair, and the boy believes the chair itself caused his death. He makes it his mission to save his mother from the same fate, while actively avoiding becoming a victim of the recliner himself. It is a beautiful tale of the innocence of a young boy, his grief over the loss of his grandpa, and his underlying fear of something happening to his mother if she continues drinking.. and of course, the abject terror of a ‘scary object’ all children experience at one time or another, even if it is only a figment of their imagination. (Or is it?)
“Familiar dread tingled across Luka’s scalp and down his spine as his mother fumbled with the house key. He had to be quick once the front door was open; if he took any more than five seconds to cross the living room, the recliner would get him.”
From “The Recliner” by Marsheila Rockwell
Today, Marsheila talks about how she came up with her story “The Recliner” for THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY : Women of Horror Anthology Volume 3. Out now from Kandisha Press!
“My 3,000-word story, The Recliner, is the story of a young boy who sees an evil his mother doesn’t—or can’t—recognize, and what he does to try to save her from it. As with most of my stories, this one was the result of three different ideas simmering together and coalescing in my brainstew, forming a tale none of the individuals ideas could have told quite as effectively on their own.
The first element of the story is the little boy. I believe children understand evil in a way that adults no longer can—in a raw, elemental sense. They don’t try to rationalize it or explain it away. They are smart enough to see it for what it is, and that puts them in a unique position to fight it, even when they are terrified of doing so. The second element is the titular recliner. This element was a bit of an homage to Stephen King’s “The Mangler.” The third element is the knight. I wrote the story some 15 years ago, so this part is a little fuzzier, but I believe it stemmed from a piece of artwork my eldest son did—a knight covered in uncooked elbow macaroni. When he brought it home from school, he said he’d made it to protect me. How could I not find a way to work that into a story? Those three separate ideas that I had at completely different times somehow found their way together in the stew and the result is one of my favorite stories. I’m glad it found such a great new home!”
MARSHEILA ROCKWELL – I am the author of twelve SF/F/H books, dozens of poems and short stories, several articles on writing and the writing process, and a handful of comic book scripts. I am an active member of SFWA, HWA, IAMTW, and SFPA. I am also a disabled pediatric cancer and mental health awareness advocate and a reconnecting Chippewa/Métis. I live in the Valley of the Sun with my husband, three of our five children, three rescues, and far too many books. You can find out more here: www.marsheilarockwell.com.
KANDISHA PRESS 
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