 Chris lives in the Netherlands with her family and the demons under her bed. The latter have inspired her since childhood to write dark stories about ghosts, monsters, history and the human soul, which she shares to appease other people’s demons. Her books are available in various formats for paper and screen. You can find all titles and respective links at http://chrischelser.com/books. She would also love to have your company on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/chrischelser. Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself? When I was six, I scrawled and illustrated my first story to keep the demons under my bed at bay. For the better part of three decades, dark stories and psychological puzzles kept me sane while I went through the motions of school, multiple university degrees and a corporate career. By my mid-thirties, the demons won. I have dedicated myself to feeding the little bastards ever since, while being a wife and a mother between the lines. In other trivia: I’m Dutch by birth, bilingual by nature, and live in the Netherlands. I believe this is the point in the biography where writers mention their pets, but we don’t have any. Although my son does very convincing impressions of puppies, kittens, and the occasional pterodactyl. Does that count? What do you like to do when you're not writing? Always something that is somehow related to storytelling or creative arts. Either I’m fabricating things with arts & crafts or digital imagery, or I play around with storytelling (roleplaying is a favourite game). Even when I’m lazing on the couch, I will be watching movies or reading under the guise of research. Other than the horror genre, what else has been a major influence on your writing? European surrealist graphic novelists of the 20th century. Like Patrick Ness does in his And the Ocean Was Our Sky, they take magical realism to an almost psychedelic level that requires the reader to not just suspend but relinquish disbelief. I enjoy that immensely, and it’s a goal to strive for in my own work. The term horror, especially when applied to fiction always carries such heavy connotations. What’s your feeling on the term “horror” and what do you think we can do to break past these assumptions? To me, it seems the term is often interpreted as a synonym for brainless carnage and gore. A great pity, since I feel everything from suspense to thrillers can – and at times should – be included in the genre. I’m a fan of occult horror myself, but history has proven that real life is sometimes more horrifying than fiction. There are so many stories and concepts that qualify, yet so many bookstores and even libraries showcase only a narrow selection. But the public can’t discover what they don’t know is out there. Fortunately, many reviewers of the genre highlight the enormous diversity of horror stories and authors. It may take time, but I believe that will go a long way to help break the mainstream prejudice that horror is just one type of story. A lot of good horror movements have arisen as a direct result of the socio/political climate, considering the current state of the world where do you see horror going in the next few years? Given the unhinged state of society at present, I expect developments in two directions. On one hand, people are angry and they want to see that anger translated in their entertainment. In the shape of more and increasingly violent dystopian zombie fics, I imagine. On the other hand, there will be people who want to escape from reality, to a time when things seem simpler. So I believe we will also see more gothic horror stories with historical settings in the near future. What are the books and films that helped to define you as an author? I took my cues from such a wide range of works in all kinds of genres and styles. None of those defined me, yet they all did. If I must name one, it would have to be the surrealistic graphic novels by the Belgian artist Eric. What new and upcoming authors do you think we should take notice off? I loved Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions. Her second book is just out, and it promises to be of the same high quality. R.H. Hale impressed me with Church Mouse. Usually I’m not into vampire stories, but I was drawn in by how Hale focused on the psychological aspects of serving predators when you are the prey. M.N. Seeley’s A Flicker of Shadows is brilliant and so very entertaining. I like my stories to be puzzles, and he delivers. How would you describe your writing style? My stories tend to be complex, confronting and at times demanding. I weave multiple layers through the plot, and details are important. Despite all that, many people tell me my books have a filmic flow that is easy to read. It does make sense, since for me writing is transcribing the movie that plays in my mind. Are there any reviews of your work, positive or negative that have stayed with you? I’m not a native speaker of English, so every time a reader comments on the high quality of the language in my work, that fills me with joy. One review that still puzzles me a bit was a reviewer rating my novel The Devourer with two stars, saying it was because one of the side characters was “so horrible”. That despicability was the whole point of the character, so I took this to mean I had done a good job. What aspects of writing to do you find the most difficult? Mustering the necessary concentration and focus. My mind bounces all over the place, all the time! Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? Graphic child death. I write, and have written, about children who died of natural causes, but never gratuitously. Corpses and horrendous deaths in general are not a problem. But not children. How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? I select names based on sound, but also the time and the context of the story. Name-spotting in film credits is always a source of inspiration. And if I can find a name that has a suitable meaning to boot, that is a nice bonus. Writing, is not a static process, how have you developed as a writer over the years? Because of my visual-oriented nature, I had to actively learn to engage all senses of the characters to make a scene come to life for the reader. I love to experiment with different story structures, settings, styles... There is always something new I want to try out in a project, just to see if I can pull it off. What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers? An extensive vocabulary, a dictionary and a thesaurus. Replacing a generic word with a more accurate if more obscure one makes all the difference to a story’s impact on the reader. What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing? “Be concise.” My background in law and business often acts up, and I’m constantly trying to break that habit of needlessly convoluted speech. Getting your work noticed is one of the hardest things for a writer to achieve, how have you tried to approach this subject? A reader-author relationship – like any relationship, commercial or otherwise – is built on trust. But trust doesn’t spring from nothing. It needs a solid foundation. That is why I give away my stories to interested readers (my ebooks are all permanently free). They can decide whether my work is worth their trust, and in turn I trust them to reciprocate if they do. It is a slow road, but the only one that feels right for me. To many writers, the characters they write become like children, who is your favourite child, and who is your least favourite to write for and why? If I don’t like writing a character, they have no business being in my stories. I do have several problematic children, the ones I love to hate, but I still like writing them. One of my absolute favourites is Cael Kalbrandt from The Kalbrandt Institute Archives series. He is such a bastard! The challenge with him is to let his better traits shimmer through his arrogant nature, without suggesting that these make him anything else than a psychotic manipulator. What piece of your own work are you most proud of? All my stories make me proud in one way or another. In some cases simply because I mustered the courage to write them at all, never mind finish them. And are there any that you would like to forget about? I have written my share of embarrassments, to be sure. None of them ever saw publication, not even online. Those that still exist sit in the oubliette that is my external hard drive. For those who haven’t read any of your books, which of your books do you think best represents your work and why? I’d say Book II of The Kalbrandt Institute Archives series. Book I gives a taste, but Book II is where things get my kind of gnarly. Both books are short, creepy, and more profound than they seem at first glance. Do you have a favorite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us? One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and vice versa. That said, if I must choose, it would be the scene in The Devourer where Mercedes is trapped inside the devourer’s mind. It’s a long passage, but an excerpt of it is on my website: http://chrischelser.com/preview-devourer-xxi/ Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next? The Kalbrandt Institute Archives is about Eva, a young woman who is a psychometrist. This means she can ‘read’ objects and retrieve information from their past. The Institute hired her for that reason. In the first book, Eva realises she fell down a rabbit hole, but now in Book II, she discovers that hole is much deeper than she thought and that her boss is a monster. In more ways than one. There are two more books planned in this series. While writing those, I’m also working on a surrealistic novel about a ship in deep, deep trouble. If you could erase one horror cliché what would be your choice? To each their own, but personally I can do without zombies, animated skeletons, and other corporeal undead. What was the last great book you read, and what was the last book that disappointed you? Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions was the last book that truly captured me. The latest disappointment was Terry Pratchett’s Dodger. I love Pratchett’s work, but this one just wouldn’t click with me. What's the one question you wish you would get asked but never do? And what would be the answer? “Do you want another coffee?” Yes. Yes, I do.  
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