What's the most improbable but true thing about you?

Probably that I am here and now, doing this exact thing, at this exact moment in time. In the grand scheme of things that seems wildly improbable. We’re flying around a burning gas ball at incredible speed and have been for millions of years. The amount of events that had to go exactly right every single time for me to be here is enormous. It’s incredible to think I exist at all.

Why did you choose to submit to Horror Over the Handlebars?

I had previously worked with Bert and by proxy John in another horror anthology, Necronomi-RomCom, and that experience overall was fantastic. They’re both great at what they do and so dedicated to their craft. When I heard they were working together to put together Horror Over the Handlebars, it was a no-brainer.

Tell us a little about your story, “Between Sharp Teeth and Lady Slippers” and its genesis.

I would not call “Between Sharp Teeth and Lady Slippers” a labor of love, more like a painful truth, but it really felt to me like a story that was necessary to tell. I wanted to find that place where a parent is supposed to protect their child and peel open the ribs on what happens when they don’t. Sam’s mother loves her very much, but she isn’t ever truly present – if you look close you’ll notice she isn’t even named. When she’s around, she doesn’t listen, and when she listens, she doesn’t believe. That concept of being alone and helpless when help should be right there really leaves me breathless, and I think anyone who’s ever been there will identify with the rescue fantasy of getting pulled out in the nick of time.

Tell us about “Ouch” in Horror Over the Handlebars and what you liked about it.

Oh man. Just from the title you know that “Ouch” is going to hurt you, and Sasha Brown packs a punch in delivering that promise. I never knew I wanted to see what happens when you push ET too far until I read it, and the wallop of an ending left me to stare at the wall for a little bit until I recovered. I’m a sucker for perfunctory hack and slash horror (something about the matter-of-fact gore just does it for me, don’t @ me I was born this way) and “Ouch” hits all my high notes while satisfying the dread-gremlin in my heart that lusts for the truly bleak.

If you could time travel, where would you go, what would you do, and why would you do that?

A: You mean besides sleeping for like three weeks straight? I need a break from the last five years or so.

In all seriousness, I want to see the future. I think humanity is capable of truly incredible things, and I’m bummed I will only ever get to see this tiny sliver of them. We can only go up from here, and I want to know how high.

Who would you bring back from the dead for one hour and what would you do with them?

I’d love to sit down with my grandmother for an hour so she could meet my kids. By the time they were born, she was mostly blind and suffering severely from Alzheimer’s. She didn’t even recognize me, so they were cute kids but didn’t have any context. Her family always meant so much to her and I wish she’d been able to experience them with her full facilities.

What's your favorite piece of art? Could be music, writing, sculpture, painting…

Oh, tough call. I would go with music, but I’m not sure that I can ever narrow it down to just one piece. There’s too many human emotions to put in one box. So instead I’ll choose The Giver by Lois Lowry. I often credit that book with being my awakening that stories don’t always have to be happy. I like digging around in the messy, ugly parts of being alive. I think what you can find there is often more true than the shiny happy pieces.

What are you most proud of creating?

It will always be a thrill to hear that I put a pit in someone’s stomach. I love, love being able to drop words on a page and know that they’re going to make you feel something. That’s hands-down the most rewarding piece of creating for me, whether it’s through music, or writing, or some other piece of art.

What's next on your literary horizon?

At some point in the very near future, Necronomi-RomCom will launch and I’m super excited about that. My story “Cthulhu Family Dinner” is in that one, and it’s one of my favorites. If you’re interested in Dad-thulhu you should check it out! Beyond that, I’m hard at work on a horror novel about giant creepy spaceships made out of space coral.

Where can readers connect with you online?

A: My most frequent updates come via X. You can find me there at https://x.com/tl_guthrie