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 Pamela Jeffs!
Pamela Jeffs is an Australian horror author with a love for writing short fiction. Pamela has published six short story collections, co-authored an anthology with Aiki Flinthart titled ‘The Zookeeper’s Takes of Interstellar Oddities’ and published 90+ short stories in various national and international magazines and anthologies including ‘SNAFU: Dead or Alive, by Cohesion Press and ‘Lawless Lands: Tales from the Weird Frontier’ by Falstaff Books. She has been shortlisted for multiple awards throughout her career including numerous Aurealis Awards, Ditmar Awards and has been noted in the Writers of the Future Competition. For more information, visit her at http://www.pamelajeffs.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 have wanted to be an author since I was young. There was no specific “Aha!” moment, more a long-time love of books and stories. I attribute this to growing up in rural Australia and being home-schooled for some of that time. Without access to the online platforms available today, entertainment for me meant that I read widely. Speculative fiction, with a focus on the darker stories, was always the biggest draw for me, books by Ursula K. Le Guin, Janny Wurts, Raymond E. Feist and Terry Brooks, to name a few. And there were the movies and TV shows that held me riveted, The Sphere, The Mummy, and X-Files. The worlds they created were places I could lose myself in—or places where I terrified myself. I embraced the lessons those works taught me and ran with it. I’ve never looked back.
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 believe at this point in my career, my strength lies in the short story form. I like to capture a scene, a moment of critical emotion, and hone it so that the reader becomes invested. When wanting to improve a particular skill, I take writing courses that focus on specific skill sets. I work with mentors where possible, I listen to my editors and work with them, taking care to absorb the wisdom they impart. Finally, blessed to have a supportive circle of writerly friends, I rely on compassionate critiques from sources I trust.
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 believe the book industry is changing at a rapid rate. Authors are now able to either self-publish, or take advantage of access to any number of small press publishers and programs out there that are specifically designed to ‘discover talent’. I believe it is now easier than ever to be published and to be discovered by the book community. But, it’s harder to be successful. Independent authors these days need to have a business focus. We need to advocate for ourselves and support our publishers by having an established platform. Writing is no longer the solitary exploit where one finishes a book and sends it out into the world for others to sell on their behalf. An independent author is as much a product as the book they are trying to sell.
Tell us about your work. What story are you most proud of?
My work is very much about exploring the human condition—the stories that look at the very best and very worst parts of humanity, the ones that explore morally grey areas of existence. I find these situations and questions fascinating and try to highlight them in my stories.
As for the work I’m most proud of, it is my short story titled Cards and Steel Hearts. An old tale of mine now, but one always special for me because it was the first ever story I wrote to receive an Australian Aurealis Award shortlisting. This recognition was the encouragement I needed to keep learning and to keep writing. That little weird western/horror tale is featured in the anthology Lawless Lands: Tales from the Weird Frontier by Falstaff Books and I am forever thankful that they selected it to be a part of that project.
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
I have just released my latest horror short story collection titled Precarious Waters and Other Dark Tales. Next up to be released, later this year, is a young adult fantasy novella titled Wilder, in which a teenage girl wrestles with a self-imposed sense of duty to protect her sick father. This book was written while attending The Flinthart Writing Residency which I was awarded through the Queensland Writers Centre. I am thrilled to be able to release this book with the support of such a wonderful organisation. As for future plans, I will continue to write short stories which means that another, as yet untitled, collection is in the works!
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