Sonora Taylor is an American horror writer known for blending psychological dread with surreal and often unsettling themes. Her work frequently explores identity, body horror, and emotional trauma through novels, novellas, and short stories in the modern indie horror scene.

Can you talk about your latest book and what readers might find appealing about it

My next book is a novelette called “Passing Glance,” which appears in SPLIT SCREAM VOL. 8: CURSED PLACES. It’s about a woman who attends her friend’s 30th birthday party at an eccentric mansion filled with mirrors that may or may not be cursed. It’s based o a wild museum I went to in Washington, D.C., called the O Street Mansion, which is filled with quirky decor that gives the place a sinister vibe. I walked through it, though, I felt like the place itself wasn’t haunted, but the mirrors definitely were. I think readers will enjoy how twisty and strange it is, with something creepier around every corner. I sometimes felt as discombobulated as the main character while writing her journey! It’s coming out April 21 from Tenebrous Press, and you can preorder it here.

What’s a book you can’t stop recommending?

Sky Daddy by Kate Folk. It’s a novel about a woman who is romantically attracted to airplanes. She believes it’s her fate to be chosen by a plane who will then “marry” her by melding their bodies into one–ie, crashing. So, she spends a lot of time each month flying planes in the hopes she’ll be chosen, but this desire hits a hiccup when her best friend at work starts to hang out with her more often in their off-hours. It was so strange and wonderful, and the depiction of the female friendship was really great.

Can you explain your writing process? What inspires you?

Most of my stories start with one thought, and that thought is usually “Wouldn’t it be funny if”, but with something that’s not that funny unless you share my gallows humor. For instance, “Wouldn’t it be funny if a serial killer’s mom was so proud of them, they hung up their trophies like A+ tests on a cork board?” became Without Condition. From there, I try to dig deeper into more than just that thought, and usually end up with something much darker but also much richer.

Is there a snack or drink that gets you into a writing mindset?

Ooh, good question. Probably tea. I try not to eat while I’m writing (I’ve been trying to be better in general about not doing other things while I eat). I’m a tea fanatic and have so many different kinds.

Are there any horror tropes you especially love in books or films?

Haunted houses. I love a good ghost story. Stories from the perspective of the killer, because I find a fractured mind much scarier to inhabit.

Who’s your favorite final girl?

Selena from 28 Days Later. Though I guess both she and Hannah survived. Still, she’s amazing. 28 Days Later is my favorite horror movie. (I don’t acknowledge the sequels)

Are you currently working on anything new?

I am working on two longer stories: one about a TV cooking show host embarking on a “good for her” change in career, and a ghost story about the spirit of a little girl blamed for children’s deaths in her neighborhood, and her one surviving friend’s quest to discover the truth about her.

Bio:

Sonora Taylor (she/her) is the award-winning author of several books and short stories, including Errant Roots, Little Paranoias: Stories, and Without Condition.  She also co-edited Diet Riot: A Fatterpunk Anthology with Nico Bell. Her short stories have been published by Tenebrous Press, Rooster Republic Press, PseudoPod, Kandisha Press, Camden Park Press, Cemetery Gates Media, Tales to Terrify, Sirens Call Publications, Ghost Orchid Press, and others.

Her short stories and books frequently appear on “Best of the Year” lists. In 2020, she won two Ladies of Horror Fiction Awards: one for Best Novel (Without Condition) and one for Best Short Story Collection (Little Paranoias: Stories). In 2022, her short story, “Eat Your Colors,” was selected by Tenebrous Press to appear in Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror Vol. 1. In 2024, her nonfiction essay, “Anything But Cooking, Please,” was a Top 15 finalist in Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club essay contest.

She co-managers Fright Girl Summer, an online book festival highlighting marginalized authors, with V. Castro. She also serves on the board of directors of Scares That Care.

Her latest short story collection, All the Pieces Coming Together: Collected Works, is out now from Manta Press. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and a rescue dog.

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Joni Chng is a horror author with many of her stories appearing in various anthologies.

Can you talk about your latest book or story and what readers might find appealing about it?

I’ll just recommend my three latest published short stories:
Becoming the Deathless, published in the Into the Dread Unknown anthology in 2025, if you love Slavic mythology. This is a villain origin story sort of retelling of how Koschei the Deathless attained his immortality. It’s the first retelling I ever did, and I had fun with it.

Next, check out my first fantasy story published, Moonlight City of the Hidden Ones in A Spoonful of Malaysian Magic by Malaysian indie publisher, Teaspoon Publishing. It has extensive world building that will be explored in my future work.

My third recommendation is Faceless Portraits in The Big Book of Malaysian Horror Stories. I thought I invented a phobia for my protagonist when I wrote this story in the midst of the pandemic lockdown. It was only when I was giving this recommendation that I learned from a quick Google search of “fear of faceless people” about masklophobia – an irrational fear of people with hidden, obscure and absent faces, often rooted in an inability to read emotions, creating feelings of uncertainty and danger. I’m proud to say I was quite on point with my main character, but there’s more to his avoidant personality and masklophobia in the story. This anthology was published in 2022, with my story being one of 20 (but the illustration for my story is the cover art). If you want to explore horror beyond western media, I highly recommend it.

What’s a book you can’t stop recommending?

Misery by Stephen King. It’s technically and conceptually brilliant and a good introductory book for those getting into King’s work and horror fiction in general. It was my first King book. It is a must-read for aspiring writers looking to improve their craft. The first few pages that introduce us to the protagonist and his predicament are so masterfully written that you can feel a sort of phantom pain from the descriptive prose alone.

It also shows that horror can come in so many forms that it needn’t have a ghost or serial killer.

Can you explain your writing process? What inspires you?

I tend to work within my own pocket universe, which I continue to build and expand with each story I write. This fictional universe of mine is an alternative to our current reality; there is magic, there are mythical and divine beings, and weird science. Every time I start a new project, whether it’s a book or short story, I go into this universe and see what kind of stories can be told from there, with its laws are at play. So, with a very few exceptions, if you see any of my stories published in anthologies and journals, know that they all take place in the same universe.

Inspiration comes to me everywhere, really. Culture, history, myths, folklore, the latest scientific discovery, from observation, even something mentioned in passing in a conversation or a comment under a social media post can spark an idea. You can’t be a good storyteller without a curiosity and a certain love for the pursuit of knowledge. Every rabbit hole I ventured down is a potential building block for my universe.

Is there a snack or drink that gets you into a writing mindset?

Usually just morning coffee before I start working. I make it a point to not eat while I work; it’s not a good habit conducive to focus, not to mention having food around your workspace can be a messy disaster waiting to happen. What if you get crumbs in your keyboard or worse, spill something over your work? So, yeah…not recommended.

Are there any horror tropes you especially love in books or films?

I have a special love for religious horror or holiday horror (that is not Halloween), just about anything that juxtaposes a happy occasion with something dreadful and morbid. There’s something so undeniably unsettling about finding a deeper darkness behind what’s supposed to be sacred, holy and joyful. And once you see it, you cannot un-see it.

My particularly favorite is something called the “clashing of red and white” often done in Chinese language media. In Chinese, a “red affair” refers to auspicious, happy events associated with celebration, usually weddings, with red being an auspicious color. Meanwhile, white is the color of mourning. A “white affair” refers to sombre events associated with death. So, the ghost bride is a common trope. There’s also a belief in Chinese culture that if a person is killed dressed in red, the spirit will return to seek revenge. What would make for a more wrathful spirit than being killed on one’s wedding day, right?

Visually, with the traditional Chinese wedding procession, the bride is carried to her husband’s house seated inside a box-like sedan chair. It’s not that different from a funeral procession with the deceased being carried in a coffin (essentially another box). When you think about it, a wedding is symbolically a woman’s funeral, where her identity and personhood dissolves.

Who’s your favorite final girl?

I have a few, but for now, the one I can think of is Margot, in the movie, The Menu, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. She survives because of her empathy for the villain and quick-thinking.

Are you currently working on anything new?

I’m currently on the last leg of revisions for my first novel and hoping to start shopping for a publisher by mid-2026. It is an urban fantasy, set in Malaysia where I live. It will be the first book in a series of standalone but interconnected novels set in the same universe. It has fae folks, Chinese Gods, Hindu Gods and vampires walking among humans. That’s all I’ll say about it without giving away too much.

For a taste of this corner of my universe, read my aforementioned short story, Moonlight City of the Hidden Ones.

You can find more of Joni’s writing here: jonichng.substack.com

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Pascale Potvin is a bit of a triple threat, author, filmmaker, and actress.

Can you talk about your latest book and what readers might find appealing about it?

Game Over Books recently published Demondust, or On Wanting and Killing Men, my short story collection that I guess is self explanatory—the demon that is loving men and the dust that is killing them. But the book is not just about those things. In general, they’re stories for people who like quieter, interior, self-inflicted horrors of any gender/kind. In a context where thought is the ultimate masochism, the horror skews abstract and unreliable, in itself, as a means of getting into your head if you’ll let me.

What’s a book you can’t stop recommending?

Lolita is one of the best works of literary horror—change my mind…

Can you explain your writing process? What inspires you?

My process can be all over the place, also depending on what genre or form I’m working with. Before I was medicated, horror was my saving grace and a cathartic means of ‘fictionalizing’ things that were too real. More so then, but even now, my writing sparks the most at night when my inhibitions are lowered. Across genres, a lot of it starts with a big existential or metaphysical question (which horror just lets me answer in the most deranged way available.)

Is there a snack or drink that gets you into a writing mindset?

Honestly, wine, but the problem is it’s also an easy road to losing focus. So I actually really like non-alcoholic white wine for that purpose (the *vibes*).

Are there any horror tropes you especially love in books or films?

I love an unstable body. Possessed, transformed, decaying, etc. We could write a million original stories from that trope—and we will—because it’s a terror so inherent to us. Even more than that, I love an unstable reality: my favourite type of book or movie is probably the kind where I have to go and Google “___ ending explained” and can lie there reading reddit threads of speculation before bed.

Who’s your favorite final girl?

Good question. Maybe Maxine from X!

Are you currently working on anything new?

Yes, a lot of little things and a new screenplay. I’ve co-written a book of autofictional/experimental erotic horror that has been ready to go for a while now. The working title is Gasps That Seduced Even Ghosts as They Flew By. One of its main pieces is coming soon in an anthology titled SMUT, so I hope to get to share more about it then.

Find out more about Pascale at her website: pascalepotvin.com

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