INTERVIEW: HORROR FOR RAICES A CHARITABLE ANTHOLOGY BENEFITING THE REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION AND LEGAL SERVICES.

Pop quiz: What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “horror”?
 
Do you think of monsters? Madmen? Suffering? Disease? Death?
 
The horror genre is fundamentally fixated on the darker side of human experience, on traumatic events, malevolent characters, and terrifying conflicts. But just because it explores negativity, does that mean horror is itself negative? Does that mean the only effect it can have on the world is negative?
 
If you’re a longtime horror reader, you’re probably throwing up your hands right now and saying “Of course not!” Well, Robert and Jen Wilson, the husband-and-wife duo behind independent genre publishing house Nightscape Press, certainly agree with you. That’s why Nightscape Press is currently in the process of assembling Horror for RAICES, an upcoming charitable anthology benefiting the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.
 
Horror for RAICES is set to feature stories by Laird Barron, Paul Tremblay, Ramsey Campbell, Gwendolyn Kiste, Billy Martin (formerly Poppy Z. Brite), Livia Llewellyn, Matthew M. Bartlett, Farah Rose Smith, and many more. In the meantime, the Wilsons have set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for RAICES.
 
But you didn’t come here to listen to me give you the details on this promising project, did you? You want to get the information straight from the people putting this thing together. Read on, then, and find out what inspired the creation of Horror for RAICES, when it’s coming out, and how you can get your hands on an early ebook copy.
 
First of all I just wanted to say thanks to both of you for taking the time to talk to us here at The Ginger Nuts of Horror.
 
Robert: Thank you for having us! It's our pleasure.
 
Jen: Hi, we're big fans of GNOH! Thanks for having us.
 
Before we get too deep into things, I was wondering if you would both take a minute to introduce yourselves for any readers who might be unfamiliar with your work. How long have you been involved in the genre fiction community? Can you give a little background on Nightscape Press and where the company is today?
 
Robert: I'm Robert S. Wilson, Co-Editor in Chief of Nightscape Press and editor of anthologies such as Ashes and Entropy, Nox Pareidolia, Blood Type, and others. I also write things when I think nobody's looking.
 
Nightscape Press was originally founded by Jennifer, myself, and Mark C. Scioneaux on the heels of the success of Horror For Good, edited by myself and Mark. Jennifer was actually one half of our beta reading team for that one as well. Nightscape was started in 2012 but I originally became active in the community in 2011. I had been writing for a number of years before that but hadn't yet published anything until that year.
 
Jen:  I'm Jen, Co-Editor in Chief of Nightscape Press and co-editor of Nightscapes: Volume 1. I got involved in the community through Nightscape. We have always had an interest in doing works for charity, but not until our relaunch in 2018 did we develop a model that we think can be successful for not only advocating for our authors but also contributing to charity.
 
We published the first in our line of Charitable Chapbooks in October of last year. That was The Broker of Nightmares by Jon Padgett. The physical edition, upon selling out, raised $1,000 for the ACLU, Jon's chosen charity. The eBook edition, currently available, gives 40% to the ACLU per copy sold. The physical edition of our second Charitable Chapbook, If It Bleeds by Matthew M. Bartlett, also sold out resulting in a $1,000 donation to The Dakin Humane Society. We have five additional Charitable Chapbooks in various stages of production. We also have plans for Charitable Novels and Charitable Collections starting in 2020, and we will continue our "For Good" line of anthologies.
 
One of the big projects Nightscape Press is currently working on is Horror for RAICES, an anthology benefiting the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. What exactly does RAICES do? What made you want to put this anthology together to benefit that organization?
 
Robert: RAICES provides free and low cost legal services to immigrants and refugees in the United States. So, in circumstances where an immigrant escapes a dangerous situation and then enters the US seeking asylum, and, given that the current legal climate for those folks is rather hostile here, RAICES works to advocate legally for them to try and help them accomplish that.
 
I came up with the idea for this anthology because I was sick of feeling like there was nothing I could do about the current crisis at our Southern border. And by that I mean the one in which the US government is traumatizing children by ripping them from their families and putting them in cages. The crisis of morality that our nation, which claims itself a refuge of freedom, is currently struggling with. At this very moment the President of the United States, the "home of the brave" and the "land of the free" is actively working to dehumanize innocent human beings and cutting those same people off from any chance of a better life than the ones they left behind in search of the fulfillment of a promise our forefathers made when founding this nation. There was a time I would have called it a great nation but when you turn your hungry and helpless neighbors away in favor of those who can "stand on their own two feet" and won't "become a public charge" I don't know too many people who would call you great.
 
So, Jen and I started reaching out to authors who we knew would not only be extremely gracious in contributing stories, but who we also knew would bring a level of quality to this project so as to give it a real fighting chance to not only raise money for RAICES, but also make a statement of resistance against the disgusting actions that ICE and the current US administration are perpetrating.
 
How much of the proceeds will go to RAICES? Do you have a goal amount in mind that you’re hoping to make?
 
Jen: All net proceeds.  We have a GoFundMe that gives directly to RAICES with a goal of $10,000. That amount is likely only a drop in the bucket of what they need. So, if we could raise significantly more than that, it would be phenomenal.
 
You’re currently raising money for the book’s publication via GoFundMe. What made you decide to seek crowdfunding for this project? When are you hoping to have the book ready for release? Is the crowdfunding campaign going to have an effect on the release date at all?
 
Robert: Well, the thing about publishing is, even when you put together a project quickly, it can take a long time for money to funnel from distributor to publisher and then to the charity. So we were trying to think of a way to start getting money to RAICES right now and it dawned on me, you know, we don't make any money from these anthologies, so why couldn't we just give eBook copies to people who donate directly to the charity. But then you have this extra burden of having to make people show proof of their donation and having to manage a lot of email conversations in order to pull that off and that's when it hit me. What if we did it on GoFundMe and the money went directly to the charity? I didn't even know for sure that GoFundMe offered that but after researching a similar option with eBay auctions, I searched to see and sure enough, not only can you set it up to give to a charity but RAICES was one of the options we could choose.
 
Jen: We're hoping to publish it by September 15th at the latest, and an early uncorrected eBook edition will go out sooner than that to people who donate $10 or more to the GoFundMe.
 
Despite the quick turnaround, you already have some very big names contributing stories: Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron, Ramsey Campbell, Gwendolyn Kiste, etc. In general, how has the response to this project been from writers in the genre fiction community? How about from readers?
 
Robert: All the writers we reached out to were quick to get us something to consider. They all share in feeling the very real sense of urgency with this cause. For example, Paul Tremblay specifically asked how quickly we could get this book out so it could be raising money for the cause as soon as possible. Laird Barron sent us two stories to choose between. Livia Llewellyn had just finished a story for me for Nox Pareidolia and specifically asked for Jen and I to instead consider it for Horror For RAICES even though the pay would be significantly lower, because she felt that this was more important.
 
Jen: And we have had an amazing response to the GoFundMe by way of both donations and people taking the time to leave comments about the importance of the project and their personal connections to the cause and those who are affected by it.
 
Nightscape Press has always had its roots in charity. Your debut anthology in 2012, Horror for Good, benefiting amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is that correct? You’ve also published books benefiting such organizations as the ACLU, The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and The Colorectal Cancer Alliance. Why have these kind of charitable projects remained such a fixture of Nightscape’s output? Why is it important to you to do these kinds of projects?
 
Jen: For me, the opportunity to publish amazing fiction is a great privilege. In our personal lives helping others even in small ways is something we strive to do. So, being able to combine the two makes it that much more fulfilling and allows us the means to hopefully have more of an impact than we would be able to on our own.
 
Especially in light of how much negativity and injustice there is, I think it makes it that much more important to do what we can for others.
 
The publishing industry is a tough business. Even tougher, I imagine, if you’re giving away big chunks of your proceeds to charity. How do you balance the need to make a profit with the desire to help all these different causes? What’s the hardest part? And what is it that ultimately make it worthwhile?
 
Robert: Profit? What is this profit thing of which you speak? Seriously though, while it would be lovely to make a living from publishing, managing to do so as an independent publisher is a rare accomplishment and one likely fraught with at least some level of inevitable instability. It requires a passion for the work you're doing and as such, we are just pleased at this point to be able to afford to break even, when we can, while paying authors and giving to charity.
 
Jen: While the answer to the question to what is the "hardest part" can change from day to day, one thing that often stands out is the desire to be doing more but being limited by resources. That being said, I think stopping to look at some of the things we've helped accomplish with authors and editors, such as raising over $10,000 for the Colorectal Cancer Alliance from sales of Fantasy For Good, it seems that, with the help of some fantastic people, we've managed to light a spark that, with the right resources and support, and by continuing to work with amazing writers with big hearts, could truly catch fire and make some real change in the world.
 
Finally, how can readers best follow developments with Horror for RAICES, and with Nightscape Press in general? Besides donating to the GoFundMe campaign, do you have recommendations for horror fans who want to support your charitable endeavors, or perhaps go about getting involved in charity work themselves?
 
Robert: The best way to keep up with news on Horror For RAICES is to follow the updates on the GoFundMe campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/f/1nzaom7wg0. All author announcements and other big news items related to the anthology are now going there first.
 
As for Nightscape, the best way to keep up with what we're doing is to sign up for our newsletter at  or to follow us on Twitter at or on Facebook at  and on the web in general at www.nightscapepress.pub.
 
Jen: One way that people can support the work that we're doing is via our Patreon at www.patreon.com/nightscapepress.
 
Robert: And of course buying our books is always helpful!
 
Jen: As to how people can get involved with charities— it can be really discouraging when you don't have a lot of financial resources to work with. However, if there is a charity that you are passionate about, I think it's important to go ahead and donate what you can, even if it's as little as $5, when you can and realize that if everyone were to do that it would accumulate into something rather significant.
 
Robert: But if you feel strongly about taking the next step and volunteering or even orchestrating your own project or organization for charity, the best way to go about that is to first take a good hard look at what your skillset is and then do your best to think creatively about how you can use that to accomplish work for others, whether that be by getting down into the trenches of the causes that are most important to you or by raising money to contribute to the needs of those causes.
 
Thank you both again for your time.
 
Jen: Thank you for the opportunity to talk about our company and projects.
 
Robert: Thank you, William. It was our pleasure for sure and very much appreciated!