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 Jelena Dunato!
Jelena Dunato is an art historian, curator, speculative fiction writer and lover of all things ancient. She grew up in Croatia on a steady diet of adventure novels and then wandered the world for a decade, building a career in the arts.
Jelena’s stories have been published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Dark, Future SF and Mermaids Monthly, among others. She is a member of SFWA and Codex. Her novel, Dark Woods, Deep Water, was published in September 2023. Her new novella, Ghost Apparent, is coming out in September 2024.
Jelena lives on an island in the Adriatic with her husband, daughter and cat.
Find out more at jelenadunato.com
X: @jelenawrites
Instagram: @jelena_author
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 always been creating stories in my head. I was a lonely, bookish kid who read everything I could lay my hands on, all the time. I suppose my first stories were fan fiction I created in my head. I loved adventure novels – Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne and Alexandre Dumas were among my favourite writers – and I clearly remember expanding their stories in my head. I used to be obsessed with The Count of Monte Cristo.
I soon began writing my own stories. I think I was 13 or 14 when I created the first fanzine with my friends. It was filled blood and gore (so edgy!) and it made me think about the structure of short stories for the first time.
As for the encouragement – I was always trying to publish my writing and get people to read it, and their feedback was often positive. But my greatest “Aha!” moment came when I handed in my Art History thesis and my professor, whom I really liked and respected, told me I should become a writer because my thesis read as if it were a novel. Bonus point was that I didn’t write it in my native language – so that was also the moment when I realized I was free to write in any language I wanted.
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 characterization is my main strength. I’m good at imagining different people and sliding into their heads. I’m usually blessed with the characters who appear fully formed when I need them.
On the other hand, I’m hopeless when it comes to plotting. I’m a natural pantser, but pantsing doesn’t work when you’re writing a novel. So I’ve read many books about writing, analysed the structure of the novels I admire and workshopped with other writers to improve that skill. At the moment, I think I’ve found a method that works, a combination of scene cards, timelines and story beats that allows me to plot the story in advance.
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 it’s easy to feel discouraged with everything happening in the industry today – the rising production costs, the AI scammers, the evidence of bullying and abuse in the community – but I suppose it’s simply the general state of the world today. From my point of view – and I’m an ESL writer living in SE Europe – the community has never been more open to outsiders. If there’s one good consequence of the pandemic, it’s the possibility to do everything from your own living room. There are so many indie publishers looking for new voices, ready to experiment and try something different right now. And although their position is precarious and their reach limited, I feel positive about the impact of so much fresh blood. The traditional publishing industry is a wounded mammoth and I firmly believe that indie publishing is where the new, exciting things are happening right now.
Tell us about your work. What story are you most proud of?
I write dark fantasy and Gothic horror, often using my Slavic background and the history of my part of the world in my stories. I’ve published about twenty short stories in various magazines (you can find the whole list on my website), but I am most proud of my novel, “Dark Woods, Deep Water” published in 2023 by Ghost Orchid Press. It is a story about a cursed castle in the forest ruled by the Slavic Goddess of Death and the three people who accidentally find themselves trapped there. As their destinies entwine, it becomes clear that one of them has to die to free the others.
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
My novella “Ghost Apparent” is coming out later this year. It’s dark political fantasy set in the same world as “Dark Woods, Deep Water”. It is a story about a betrayed woman fighting for her birthright, a story of revenge and recovery that blends the history and folklore of the Eastern Adriatic with the bloody treachery of the Renaissance courts. I hope the readers will enjoy it.
KANDISHA PRESS 
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