Pink Think: “Books, I found, had the power to make time stand still, retreat or fly into the future.” – Jim Bishop
Elizabeth is not the first to say, “I would never have picked you for a horror kind of gal.”
When my husband recently told a friend of his that I write fiction and that I liked to write horror, the friend said, “Really?!” The first time my first piece of horror fiction got published two years ago, my friends and family were surprised, too. (You’ll find that piece here, very fitting for the new year.)
I thought I’d post about the books and shows that have influenced the fiction I like to write and read.
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Some of the earliest fiction I enjoyed was oral; my family liked to sit around and tell spooky stories. It was probably all just bunk, but I believed it all. The Philippine culture is rife with superstitions and folklore. A wonderful place to stimulate the imagination.
My father, who was a voracious reader, introduced me to Isaac Asimov. I discovered Dr. Who on my own. Someday, I want to try my hand at Sci-Fi whodunits. I love the implausible made plausible, and gadgetry. Many afternoons coming home from school I watched Japanese robot shows like Voltes-V and Mazinger-Z. (After googling these and seeing the robot pics, I felt like a little girl again. And I cannot wait to see Iron Man 2.)
Late nights with my dad also meant watching The Twilight Zone.
When I was a teen, my family used to spend Saturdays at the British embassy in an old section of town and that is where I first discovered Daphne du Maurier. First, I fell in love with her historical romances like Frenchman’s Creek, then I discovered (to my surprise) that she wrote macabre. At the embassy, I also ate up Agatha Christie mysteries. (For a long time early in our marriage, my husband and I watched Hercule Poirot religiously on TV.) Then there was Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, too.
Years later, just after the birth of our first child and having moved to a new town, I sought to cure cabin fever by going to the library. I read Anne Rice, starting with The Mummy. I also discovered Stephen King. My favorite novels of his were Salem’s Lot and Pet Sematary. I have to say though, I haven’t read him in a while. I like his paranormal novels more than the psychological gruesome stuff.
So there. A little insight into this horror kind of gal…
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