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 R.A. Busby!
Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for short fiction, R.A. Busby spends her spare time running in the desert with her dog and thinking of weird things to write about.
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’ve wanted to be an author since I could read and write. I was an early reader and devoured almost every book put in front of me. Both reading and writing were ways of parting the reality curtains and stepping through to the other side, so I did that a lot.
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 I’m good at finding a character’s voice, their unique patterns of speaking in the overall music that is the text. I’m really crappy at finding plot holes—in my own writing or in other people’s (like, it never occurred to me that Frodo could have flown to Mordor)—so I’m always grateful to find some kind and willing reader to be that person who says, “Wait, why couldn’t they just do this instead?”
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 think since the breakup of Twitter, it’s felt like trying to get the band back together, but over 848747474 different social media platforms, so with that fragmentation, it’s harder to find that sense of community and connection to other authors and publishers, which is especially hard for indie authors and folks doing most of their own publicity.
Tell us about your work. What story are you most proud of?
Oh, I am genuinely so proud of all of them!
A major moment for me was the publication of my first novella, CORPORATE BODY, through Cemetery Gates Media.
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
I’m so glad that my next novella, WORDS MADE OF FLESH is coming out in early 2024, also through Cemetery Gates, and I am looking forward to seeing it so much! As far as plans, I’d like to finish the longer novel-length work I’m in the middle of right now and maybe get an agent, which would be cool. Hey, a gal can dream.
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