What's New? with Laura Mauro

Laura Mauro started writing short fiction in 2012 and hasn't stopped since. Born in London, England, her stories have appeared in Black Static, Interzone, Shadows & Tall Trees, The Dark and a variety of anthologies. Her debut novella 'Naming the Bones' was published in 2017. Her short story "Sun Dogs" was a Shirley Jackson Award finalist, and "Looking for Laika" won the 2018 British Fantasy Award in Short Fiction. She loves Finnish folklore, Japanese wrestling and Russian space-dogs. She tweets at @lauranmauro

1) So, what’s new from you?So you might have heard in passing that I’ve got a little book coming out soon. My debut short story collection Sing Your Sadness Deep is being published by Undertow Publications, which is incredibly exciting. I’m especially thrilled about it because Undertow were actually the ones who published my first ever short story back in 2012 (‘Red Rabbit’) so it feels like something of a homecoming for me. The collection includes two completely new stories, titled ‘The Pain-Eater’s Daughter’ and ‘In the City of Bones’. The latter is the most recent story I’ve written, and like many of my other stories it’s about one of my weird obsessions – this time, about number stations.

2) How did it come about?
For ‘In The City of Bones’ - I’ve had an image in my head for a long time: a woman in some kind of cabin or shack, completely alone, as in apocalyptically alone – nobody else for miles around. It’s pitch dark, and it’s snowing. As she looks out of the window, she can see a shadowy figure approaching her, walking through an abandoned children’s playground. The number stations came later, largely because visualising this scene gave me the creeps, and number stations also give me the creeps. So I figured that if you smush two creepy things together they accumulate an even greater creepiness. Hopefully my maths is sound.

3) Tell us about the process of how you created it.
It sort of happened organically. I spent a lot of time listening to number stations and wondering what kind of utility they might have outside the popular explanation (it’s thought that they are coded messages used to communicate with spies in the field). Once I’d figured out the purpose they serve in the story, I then built up the rest of it. I found a suitably empty, apocalyptic location (Kadykchan, an abandoned city in far east Siberia). It turns out that this place already comes with its own horrific lore – it’s built on the Kolyma Highway, which was built by prisoners from Stalin’s gulags. Forced to work in terrible conditions – east Siberian winters are extremely harsh – a great many prisoners died, and because it was impractical to dig graves in the permafrost their bodies were interred into the road itself. Because of this, the Kolyma Highway is known as the Road of Bones. From that point on, the story basically wrote itself.

4) What was your favourite part of the process?
There was a lot of miscellaneous research on subjects I found fascinating. Researching Kadykchan was fascinating – you can find lots of photographs from people who’ve been bold enough to explore the region and drive the Road of Bones between Yakutsk and Magadan. One of the coolest things was finding a photo of someone’s abandoned home, still full of their belongings, and working the title of one of their books into the story. It was quite uncanny in a way, as I’d pictured the children’s playground in my original vision, and photos of Kadykchan tend to feature an abandoned playground quite prominently. Researching Siberian climate and fauna was really interesting as well. It’s the kind of landscape you can be quite poetic about.

5) What was the toughest part of it?
The protagonist is living with a congenital skin condition called Harlequin Ichthyosis, which is something I came across during my years in an antenatal clinic – no actual cases as it’s very rare, but plenty of literature. It’s quite a shocking condition when you first encounter it – google with caution as the pictures can be intense. Babies born with this condition have incredibly thick skin, almost like plate armour, which tends to split and crack painfully – the word ‘Harlequin’ refers to the appearance of the cracked skin, like a jester’s motley. There was a time when Harlequin Ichthyosis was a death sentence, and afflicted babies rarely lived beyond a year. These days, as we gain more and more understanding of the condition there are more and more cases of sufferers surviving into adulthood. The protagonist is one of these adult survivors. It was really important to me to make sure I got the facts right regarding living with this condition, so the research was far more intense.

6) Is there a theme running through it?
I think the overall theme is about people who don’t fit into the world, and how those people often find one another. To be honest, that might be the accidental theme of my entire collection. It’s a subject I know a lot about.

7) If you had to sum this story up in three words, what would they be?
“They’re coming home”

8) Where can/will we be able to get hold of it?
“Sing your Sadness Deep” is available to pre-order here in both paperback and hardcover, and eBook will soon be available too. It’s going to be released around July, so very soon! I hope people will like it….!

What's New? with Priya Sharma

Priya Sharma’s fiction has appeared venues such as Interzone, Black Static, Nightmare, The Dark and Tor. She’s been anthologised in several of Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year series, Paula Guran’s Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror series, Jonathan Strahan’s The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014, Steve Haynes’ Best British Fantasy 2014 and Johnny Main’s Best British Horror 2015. She’s also been on many Locus’ Recommended Reading Lists. “Fabulous Beasts” was a Shirley Jackson Award finalist and won a British Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. She is a Grand Judge for the Aeon Award, an annual writing competition run by Albedo One, Ireland’s magazine of the Fantastic.

She is a Shirley Jackson finalist and Locus Award finalist for “All the Fabulous Beasts”, a collection of her some of her work, which is available from Undertow Publications.

1) So, what’s new from you?

A short story called “Feral”.

2) How did it come about?

It’s my twisted version of the old “raised by wolves” story. The idea has been bothering me for a long time. I can’t elaborate too much for fear of spoilers. It’s a love story, of sorts. I also wanted to explore our perception of choice about how we live.

3) Tell us about the process of how you created it.

I do a lot of research for my stories, most of which doesn’t make the final version of the piece. I like the journey that it takes me on- it opens up new avenues within the narrative and adds texture to world building. A tiny detail can make the lie that is fiction seem more real. For “Feral”, I read about wolves, wild children and looked at photos of minimalist houses.

4) What was your favourite part of the process?

My favourite part of any story is when I’m at the peak of the proverbial hill. I can look back at what I’ve written and forward to see how the rest of it needs to fit together, but there’s still room to explore. Something new might happen that will surprise me. It’s also easier to reverse engineer from here, before things are complete, putting in strands and connections that add another level of depth.

5) What was the toughest part of it?

At the peak of the proverbial hill, when I’m worried that it’s all rubbish! That’s when I need to hold my nerve. For me, it’s never the situation, it’s always about where I am mentally. I make my own hell and paradise with so many things.

And re-edits. When I’ve done so many that I can’t see the story clearly and just have to trust it.

6) Is there a theme running through it?

Freedom, or lack of it. Also, love. Pesky love.

7) If you had to sum this book up in three words, what would they be?

“Run, sister. Run.”

8) Where can/will we be able to get hold of it?

It's in “The Porcupine Boy and other Anthological Oddities”, edited by Christopher Jones. It’s out at some point soon from Crossroads Press. Chris has kindly given me permission to talk about it here.

The Lowdown with...V.H. Leslie

V.H. Leslie on Leslie: 'I came to books early and enjoyed them so much that I’ve spent the best part of my life studying them. I taught English A Level for a number of years and I still write academic articles for a range of literary publications. Although I always knew that I wanted to write fiction, it was only three years ago that I began in earnest. I enjoy reading and writing fiction that focuses on psychological issues and perspectives, that blurs boundaries or takes place within liminal or marginal spaces. I like stories that are driven by setting and those that make connections to other texts, to mythology, folklore and art.

My short stories have appeared in a range of speculative publications, including Black Static, Interzone and Shadows and Tall Trees and have been reprinted in a range of “Year’s Best” anthologies, including Best British Horror and Best British Fantasy from Salt Publishing and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror from Prime Books.  I’m a Hawthornden Fellow and was recently awarded a place at the Saari Institute in Finland, where I’ll be working on a novel concerning various strands of Nordic myth and folklore. I was the winner of the Lightship First Chapter Prize 2013 and was recently a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award in the category of novelette. 2015 will see the release of my debut short story collection Skein and Bone as well as a novella from Salt Publishing.'


1. Tell us three things about yourself.

I like wild spaces. I’ve always been drawn to narratives that focus on wilderness and isolation. I gave up teaching full time a couple of years ago to focus on my writing and in that time I’ve travelled around a bit, spending quite a bit of time in Shetland and the Scottish highlands. These places have definitely informed my work and the process of engaging with isolation has certainly helped focus me creatively.

I’m a folklore enthusiast. I spent a lot of time in Shetland exploring the archives and developing an interest in stories concerning the mysterious and the supernatural. I’m specifically interested in European water-themed stories and the creatures that inhabit the water, an interest that has fuelled some of my recent writing projects.

I’m also a printmaker. I began courses a few years ago, hoping that my illustrative work would transfer well in print form. I’m not very au fait with modern technology, so employing traditional etchings methods and using the big old Victorian printing presses suits me just right. At some point I’d love to combine my writing and printmaking to produce an illustrated book.

2. What was the first thing you had published?  

I won an essay writing competition when I was sixteen. The prize was a trip to the United Nations in Geneva at the time of the International Labour Organisation. I got to meet some delegates and listen in during conferences, which was really fascinating, particularly the length of time they spent debating the use of language for various clauses. I’d never been abroad before, so to be at the centre of all this international activity was very exciting and humbling to see the extraordinary efforts being made to protect the rights of people around the world.  

3. Which piece of writing are you proudest of? 

That’s hard because I feel that each piece I work on is important and a progression. One of my favourite stories is ‘The Cloud Cartographer’ which was published in Interzone. I’m quite proud of the novel I’ve not long finished, Bodies of Water, which is due out next year from Salt Publishing.

4. And which makes you cringe?


I wrote a lot of poetry when I was a teenager, some of which has found its way onto my dad’s notice board. He won’t remove it, which is rather embarrassing as it’s very angsty. 

5. What's a normal writing day like?


I usually aim to get in front of my laptop at 9am and try to keep going until about 3pm, stopping at intervals to eat whatever I can find in my cupboards. Often I’ll have writing binges, literally going until I can write no more whereas other days all I’ll want to do is research. Going on residencies has really helped my motivation and routine. Meeting up with other writers and discussing ideas and recommendations, as well as your progress at the end of the day, really helped me stick to my targets and kept me hungry to contribute my own voice to what can sometimes feel like a daunting field. Plus on some residencies, the efforts of day-to-day living are gleefully taken off your hands. No Internet, with lunch and dinner provided, there’s really no excuse not to get on with it. For someone like me who can spend way too long roaming supermarket aisles looking for culinary inspiration, it was a complete joy. 

6. Which piece of writing should someone who's never read you before pick up first? 

My novelette ‘The Quiet Room’ published in Shadows and Tall Trees received some really good reviews, which made me very happy and was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson award, so I think readers have enjoyed it. Another story I’m quite fond of, ‘Senbazuru’ can be read online for free if you head to the Weird Fiction Review. Both stories are contained within my collection Skein and Bone, which has just been released from Undertow Books.

7. What are you working on now?

I’m about to start a PhD focusing on European water myths and am researching Nordic water-themed folktales in particular as part of an upcoming residency I’ve been selected for at the Saari Institute in Finland. So a lot of water right now. I’m also still pottering along with a novel that seems to grow and grow!