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 Carol Gyzander!
Bram Stoker Award® finalist Carol Gyzander writes and edits horror and science fiction, frequently with a female-centered perspective. She calls her work “twisted tales that touch your heart.” Her short stories appear in various magazines, including Weird Tales 367 and Weird House Magazine, and dozens of anthologies—the latest is Tangle & Fen. Her novella, Forget Me Not, features a cryptid creature near Niagara Falls in 1969 with a family twist. She co-edited the ghost anthology Even in the Grave, and A Woman Unbecoming, the horror anthology inspired by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which benefits reproductive healthcare services. Living in the NYC suburbs of northern NJ, Carol is Co-Chair of the Horror Writers Association NY Chapter, co-hosts their monthly Galactic Terrors online reading series, and helps oversee HWA chapters in the US. HWA, MWA, SFWA, SinC. Her website is www.CarolGyzander.com.
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 been an avid reader from a very early age (reading two books a day in the summer during junior high) and loved studying literature at Bryn Mawr College. I took classes on Shakespeare and James Joyce, and even a course where we read a novel and wrote a paper on it—every week!
But write them myself? That didn’t occur to me until I heard mystery/thriller writer Harlan Coben speak at a ladies’ luncheon in our town about how to structure a novel. I realized that I loved his books and figured, yeah, why not try it? Of course, my kids were both very little, so it took another ten years before I actually gave it a whirl.
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 like to call my stories “twisted tales that touch your heart” and hope to connect the reader with my characters and what they are going through. I also like to take a different perspective on issues, often using a female-centric viewpoint.
To improve a skill, I do a bunch of things: take a class, attend a panel or webinar, talk to other authors, read a work that does it well, but most importantly, try it! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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?
There are so many more books out there than a few decades ago and so many authors. Independent publishing is terrific because it allows people to publish their books without a gatekeeper, yet that’s also the downside. You always need somebody else’s eyes on a book before publication, whether beta readers, critique groups, or editor(s)—all of the above.
I can’t compare whether it’s easier or harder, as I’ve only been writing for ten years. It’s also important to define what “make it” means, which can differ for each person. Sell a lot of books, make money, have peer recognition, develop a huge following, win awards?
Tell us about your work. What story are you most proud of?
Ah, I suppose I am proudest of my Bram Stoker Award®-nominated story, “The Yellow Crown,” from the anthology Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign (Hippocampus Press), edited by James Chambers. The stories are all inspired by the 1895 work of Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow. As you can imagine from the period, Chambers’ work is mostly about men. In my story, we visit what it would be like for a woman to experience that weird fiction world.
If I may add another creation, I am inordinately proud of our A Woman Unbecoming anthology (Crone Girls Press), co-edited with publisher Rachel A. Brune. When Roe v. Wade was overturned, we pulled together this searing batch of stories in a fierce anthology of horror and dark tales to benefit reproductive healthcare rights—in only two months from idea to reality, with some astounding authors and a smoking cover by Lynne Hansen.
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
I’m excited to say that I have co-edited a terrific anthology coming out this fall with the four other women who were my co-nominees for the 2022 Bram Stoker Award! This was the first time that all the nominees are women: Lee Murray, Cindy O’Quinn, Kyla Lee War, myself, and my co-editor Anna Taborska have created DISCONTINUE IF DEATH ENSUES (Flame Tree Publishing, Sept. 2024), an anthology of fierce horror/dark fiction where the abuse of women and the planet reaches a tipping point. They bring us a fight. They shall know our rage.
I’m currently working on a collection of eco-horror stories involving climate change and cephalopods and a post-apocalyptic novel set in the woods of New Jersey. And a bunch of (what I hope will be) cool short stories.
In saying that, I’ve covered my plans for the future: keep writing short stories, expand into longer works, and edit an anthology a year. So, (cue the drumroll) please keep your eyes peeled as I’ll be co-editing another anthology from Crone Girls Press, and we’ll announce our Kickstarter in the spring!
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