GREETINGS, BOOKWORMS! I’m Aisha Kandisha, Head Librarian at Kandisha Press. Join me in the dusty stacks of the library I will never leave again as I chat with some of my favorite Women in Horror. Today we feature author Somer Canon!
Somer Canon is the Imadjinn Award winning and Splatterpunk Award nominated author of works such as Killer Chronicles, The Hag Witch of Tripp Creek, and You’re Mine. When she’s not wreaking havoc in her minivan, she’s avoiding her neighbors and consuming all things horror. She has two sons and more cats than her husband agreed to have.
What made you want to become an author? Did you have an “Aha!” moment when you knew you were born to write? Or perhaps a beloved book inspired you?
I knew pretty early in life that I wanted to tell stories. There were lots of reasons for this. I was on my own a lot and I would tell myself stories to pass the time, but once I got old enough for books to be a part of my life, I was hooked. I loved reading and I loved the immersive experience of being completely lost in a good story. I was reading books way too mature for my age almost immediately and something about those adult stories with experiences and points of view that I couldn’t even fully relate to yet really made me want to be that kind of storyteller when I grew up. It was the most aspirational adult thing that I could imagine myself doing.
What do you believe are your strengths in writing? And when you feel you need to improve on a particular writing skill, how do you go about it?
I think my characters are my strong point. When I start to feel that I need to bone up on one of my skills, or a part of the process has gone lax, I try to read more from authors who inspire me and make me feel intimidated by their talent. Maybe that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but reading the works of writers who I believe are absolute masters of their craft really inspires me, not to compete with them, but to try to be better myself so as not to be a hideous embarrassment to the art of writing.
What are your thoughts on the book industry today, or more importantly, about the book community? Do you feel it is getting harder or easier to make it as an independent author these days?
I have a lot of possibly conflicting thoughts on the state of the book industry today. Part of me is heartened by so many authors being able to be published thanks for the indie scene. We have an embarrassment of riches where creators are concerned. That is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good that we have no short supply of new works being put out, but the flip side to that is that thanks to this massive wave of writers and their works, it’s very hard to not only break in as a newcomer, it’s also hard to be recognized as a small-named, more established author. I mean, I’ve been doing this for a decade now and I have friends who have been at this for twice as long, and it’s very hard to get our works in the hands of readers, or in their social media feeds. It’s a reader’s market, not an author’s market. The good news is that this isn’t a deterrent to a lot of us, and we’re not going anywhere.
Tell us about your work. What story are you most proud of?
Did you know that a car full of evil clowns shows up at an author’s house and attacks them with cream pies if they admit to having a favorite of their own work? I won’t fall into that trap again!
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
I’ll have a story in the THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: TALES OF STEPHEN KING’S THE STAND, edited by Brian Keene and Christopher Golden later in the year and I’ll also publish what will essentially be my own person big book of Halloween in the fall, which will be a compilation of all of the works of fiction and nonfiction that I’ve written over the years concerning my favorite holiday. There are plans for other things, but that’s the kicker. Plans are easy, execution happens on a totally different planet. I guess it would be best to find me on social media and follow me to stay updated! I’m on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky.
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