 I think it is because there is a misconception as to what “horror” is. People will always think first of cheesy slasher films (which I LOVE), and they will think of old horror pulps that were written way back when…these things are usually people’s first impression of what horror is and I think that is a hard image in their minds to break. Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself? Hello! My name is Jennifer Gordon, I hail from New Hampshire in the United States. When I am not writing horror, I am a professional ballroom dancer/ choreographer/performer, but most of all I am a dance teacher. I am a curly haired neurotic, and mother to a silly dog, and a very large cat. Which one of your characters would you least like to meet in real life and have them complain at you about they way you treated them in your work. I would say I would least like to meet my character Anthony, he is an elderly man now, but in his youth be brutally killed the woman he was supposed to marry…just because. I think He would complain a lot to me, not about how I portrayed him as a murderer, for that he would be proud. I do insinuate he may had have “inappropriate” feelings for him mother…and for that I think he would be upset that I told that secret of his. Other than the horror genre, what else has been a major influence on your writing? I absolutely am in love with abandoned places and urban exploration, I am fascinated by the way structures decay once people are no longer living in them. That ephemeral sense of time and memory has a huge influence in how I write and what I write. 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? Well, I know when I tell people that I write horror, they always seem a little taken aback by it. They assume right away that it is gore and monsters. I tell them that I write Gothic Horror and then they assume it is vampires. I think the world is slowly coming around to once again embracing subtle horror, and “smarter horror”. The recent trend in movies (Hereditary, The Babadook etc.) as well as television (Haunting of Hill House, Castle Rock) has been wonderful for the industry in general. Personally, I think “Horror” is something different to everyone. What I find horrifying, others would find mundane. I think as a creator that we need to keep pushing boundaries and crossing genres, blurring the lines. Also, I think we as fans of Horror must also be willing to take chances on movies or books that we normally wouldn’t. It’s how we all keep growing. 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? I think we will be seeing A LOT of plague books and movies, a lot of things where the government has gone bad, a lot of political apocalypse worlds, where race and religion is persecuted, a lot of symbolic class wars. Given the dark, violent and at times grotesque nature of the horror genre why do you think so many people enjoy reading it? I think it appeals to the same part of us that sticks our finger just for a moment in a candle flame or walks just a little too close to a ledge. I think it’s natural for people to want that rush of adrenaline that makes them feel alive. Fear is natural for that, and horror novels or movies are a safe way to get to that point of near panic from the safety of your couch. What, if anything, is currently missing from the horror genre? The only thing I think that is missing is that it is not as widely as accepted as a form of literature. People think of horror and automatically there is an assumption that horror is a lesser quality form of art because it is a “genre”. So, I think the horror genre is fine, it’s the rest of the world that needs to catch up. Is horror its own worst enemy? What do you think keeps horror from being regarded as a valid genre by the public at large? I think it is because there is a misconception as to what “horror” is. People will always think first of cheesy slasher films (which I LOVE), and they will think of old horror pulps that were written way back when…these things are usually people’s first impression of what horror is and I think that is a hard image in their minds to break. I think what could help would be to have more horror related things that are smart and varied in style and theme, that are accessible to younger readers and movie goers. What new and upcoming authors do you think we should take notice off? I think Mona Awad’s novel Bunny was amazing, and strangely twisted in a very Lovecraftian way of thinking. It was creature horror, but it was also the horror of dark academia. Which was awesome. I also adore Jemc Jac…”In the Grip of It” was an outstanding take on a a haunted house book. What are the books and films that helped to define you as an author? The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson are my top two books that are “horror” related. I am also very inspired by the Poetry of Anne Sexton, and especially how she expressed her own mental illness through her work. As for films, my favorite in the genre are The Orphanage, and The Others…basically I like anything where the house is another major character in the story! Are there any reviews of your work, positive or negative that have stayed with you? I have been lucky to have some amazing reviews so far. The ones that stayed with me and stay with me are the ones where people really connected to the trauma and grief tha is that core of my novel. I got reviews from psychotherapists, survivors, people in recovery who all mentioned that I had tapped into something incredibly personal for them. So that stays with me. A negative one…well of course we all get the comments about the grammar or editing being bad in some instances, but the thing that sticks out the most is I had an editor say that my writing style was grating, and even though he loved the idea of my book he hated reading it. Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? I don’t think I could bring myself to hurt an animal or have an animal die in my work. Also, I am not into to torture or extreme body horror work. Too squeamish. How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? In my first novel I keep one of my characters unnamed for most of the book. I wanted it to be powerful for her and for the reader when they heard her say her name out loud. I know it was powerful to me to write it. So, names are very important, not just to me, but also to my characters. I think most of the time I come up with the character, I see them so clearly in my head, I see the way they move, who they are. It is almost like I just ask them what their name is, and they tell me. I did have to do some “research” for secondary names in my newest work in progress, as it takes place a few hundred years ago and I needed to make sure some of the names were “right” for that time period and location. Writing, is not a static process, how have you developed as a writer over the years? I think I am finding my voice and learning more how to blend the styles of writing that I like together. For example, I love free verse poetry, and I am learning that I don’t just have to write one or the other, it can be a horror novel and it can be a long poem. Though that makes editors cry a little when they read long labyrinthine sentences filled with metaphor. What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing? Just do it, words on paper. Don’t listen to the voice in your head that tells you that you can’t do it. For those who haven’t read any of your books, which of your books do you think best represents your work and why? I currently only have my debut novel out, and my second book should be out in June. I would say my debut novel “Beautiful, Frightening, and Silent” is exactly who I am as an author. I know I will grow and will continue to get better, but that book and the characters I created have a piece of my soul. Do you have a favorite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us? I like this paragraph a lot, it is about halfway through the novel… “Though it is only the latter half of the middle of November, the sun sets early on this day. The storm rolls in, like soldiers in a battle, they fill this melancholy sky with letters to loved ones that will never be sent. This battle is one that is doomed on all sides. Could there possibly be any survivors, from a battle so hard fought? Anthony knows better than to fight it, he gives in, and he lets the dark come. The clouds grow heavy with guilt, broken promises, and half remembered dreams. It washes over this part of the island, blanketing it in a thick fog. He looks outside and realizes that if fear had a singular look, it would look like this sky, during these last ebbing days of his life. It is the manic gray light of a New England sky as it finally gives itself in to darkness.” Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next? My debut novel Beautiful, Frightening, and Silent is a Gothic horror. A story of grief, guilt and forgiveness as it swirls around three occupants of a house on a haunted island. A young schoolteacher with survivors’ guilt and an alcohol problem, an 82 year old aging sociopath, and the ghost of the woman he murdered 60 years before. Together they form a “menage-a guilt” that drives them all slowly to the brink and beyond of their sanity. The book I am working on now, is called “From Daylight To Madness” and it is a Victorian Feminist Gothic tale, with hints of the early days of Victorian Spiritualism thrown in….kind of a combo of “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Outlander”. If you could erase one horror cliché what would be your choice? “The hysterical woman” who no one believes. Also the religious zealot that is the only one that can see the end of the world happening around them. What was the last great book you read, and what was the last book that disappointed you? I read A LOT. But I would say the last book that shook me to my core on an emotional level was “Goodnight Stranger” by Micah Bay Gault. As for disappointment…probably The Outsider by Stephen King (and I am a huge King fan, so the bar was set really high. What's the one question you wish you would get asked but never do? And what would be the answer? Haha, so I think the one question that I would love to be asked is kind of a throwback to the Peter Straub novel Ghost Story…so I would like to be asked “What is the worst thing that you have ever done?” which is the opening line of that novel. And, I won’t answer that…not yet 😊  Jennifer was born a strange, pale, and quiet child, a ghost scared of ghosts.... Originally from new Hampshire, she studied acting at The New Hampshire Institute of Art. She grew up to become an actress, magician's assistant, artist, writer, dancer, and muse. She currently haunts lonely places in New Hampshire, though she is not dead. Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20063036.Jennifer_Gordon Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferAnneGordonAuthor/ Website : https://www.jenniferannegordon.com/ Twitter : @JenniferAnneGo5  Adam, a young alcoholic, slowly descends into madness while dealing with the psychological scars of childhood trauma which are reawakened when his son and wife die in a car accident that he feels he is responsible for. After a failed suicide attempt, and more group meetings that he can mention. Adam hears a rumor of a Haunted Island off the Coast of Maine, where “if someone wants it bad enough” they could be reunited with a lost loved one. In his desperate attempt to connect with the ghost of his four-and-a half year old son, he decides to go there, to Dagger Island, desperate to apologize to, or be condemned by, his young son. Adam is not sure what he deserves or even which of these he wants more. While staying in a crumbling old boarding house, he becomes involved with a beautiful and manipulative ghost who has spent 60 years tormenting the now elderly man who was her lover, and ultimately her murderer. The three of them create a “Menage-a-Guilt" as they all come to terms with what it is that ties them so emotionally to their memories and their very “existence”.Beautiful, Frightening, and Silent is a poetic fever dream of grief, love, and the terrifying ways that obsession can change who we are.JENNIFER ANNE GORDON is a professional ballroom dancer by day, and a curly haired neurotic writer by night. She is an actor, a traveler, a photographer, a lover of horror, and a dog mom. Beautiful, Frightening and Silent is her debut novel.   THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR PROMOTION WEBSITES Comments are closed.
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