Interview: Rhiannon Frater
Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of the As the World Dies trilogy (The First Days, Fighting to Survive, Siege,) and the author of three other books: the vampire novels Pretty When She Dies and The Tale of the Vampire Bride and the young-adult zombie novel The Living Dead Boy and the Zombie Hunters.
Inspired to independently produce her work from the urging of her fans, she published The First Days in late 2008 and quickly gathered a cult following. She won the Dead Letter Award back-to-back for both The First Days and Fighting to Survive, the former of which the Harrisburg Book Examiner called ‘one of the best zombie books of the decade.It was a great pleasure to interview her for our website.
Interview By David Kempf
Tell
us about Your First Novel?
Ever
since I was a little girl I wanted to be a writer. I was incredibly
imaginative and I had all these stories constantly brimming in my
mind. It was natural that once I learned to read and write that I
would create my own tales. I think I was twelve when I decided to
write my first book. It was a pretty epic fan fiction of a popular
sci-fi show at the time. I went on to write an original novel
afterward.
How
Many Novels have you Written?
I
honestly don’t know. I have a few trunked from my childhood and
teen years. I would guess that altogether, including my published
work, somewhere around twen
I’m
not really a short story writer. I have written some, but they always
feel like snippets from much larger stories. I consider myself a
novelist. That being said, I’ve written maybe around fifteen or so.
Are
there reasons why a Male and Female writer Might view the genre?
The perception is
that male writers concentrate on the action/gore and female writers
concentrate on the characters and psychological issues.
Personally,
I think that readers sometimes apply gender stereotypes about men and
women to the book their reading. If Robert Kirkman writes about
survivors in the zombocalypse in a love triangle, difficult romantic
relationships or having sex, no one bats an eye. If a woman were to
write the same thing, her work is slighted as being a romance novel
with zombies.
Hopefully,
people will just pick up a book because the story sounds compelling
and they won’t care if it was written by a man or woman.
Tell
us about your daily (or nightly) writing routine.
I
really don’t have one. My schedule changes day to day depending on
what I need to do. I just have to make time to write no matter what
is going on.
What
do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as an author so far?
The
first thing that comes to mind is my fandom. Having a loyal
readership that loves my work gives me such a great sense of
accomplishment. The second thing that comes to mind is the starred
review in Publishers Weekly for THE FIRST DAYS. That was a huge
moment for me.
How
do you come up with the original titles for your books? Pretty When
She Dies comes to mind.
Late
night insomniac delirium! I usually dream the titles of my book along
with the actual content.
I
was listening to VAST a lot when writing PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES and a
line from one of the songs got twisted around in my head when I was
sleeping. The villain of the novel kept whispering “So pretty when
you died.” I liked it, tweaked it, and that’s how it was born.
They
say vampires can be romanticized. The Vampire Bride is a very
romantic title. Do you think it is possible to romanticize zombies?
Actually,
THE TALE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE is a rather gruesome title. In a lot of
the old vampire films, the title “bride” meant a female vampire
who was created and subservient to her vampire maker. It’s not
really about a happy woman on her wedding day. It’s about being
killed, changed, and forced into servitude. I’m so steeped in
vampire lore it never occurred to me that people would think it was a
happy romance book about a literal vampire bride. Instead, it’s a
very gory, violent story about a young woman trying to break free of
her master.
As
for romanticizing zombies, I don’t even want to consider it.
*shiver*
Why
do think zombies are so popular in books and movies these days?
We
live in complex, stressful, and sometimes frightening times. A lot of
us feel helpless in the face of the difficulties of our everyday
lives. I don’t think people really want to see zombies killing
their loved ones. I just think the idea of a big reset and starting
over free of the tight constraints of modern life seems very
appealing. Zombies provide a safe way to scare ourselves while
indulging in the idea of the whole world being reset and all the
stressors of our real lives being destroyed.
Name
some of your favorite horror books.
DRACULA
by Bram Stoker, CARMILLA by Sheridan LeFanu, IT and THE SHINING by
Stephen King, HELL HOUSE by Richard Matheson, DARK DANCE by Tanith
Lee JENNY POX, by J.L. Bryan, and UNBOUND & Other Tales by David
Dunwoody.
Name
some of your favorite horror films.
I
love the old Hammer films and Republic films. I love George A.
Romero. But the three movies that actually gave me nightmares were
Psycho, Jaws, and The Ring.
Being
from Texas, are you influenced by Southern Gothic literature?
No,
not really. Growing up I tended to read a lot of classic literature
and British authors.
What
are your latest projects?
I
just turned in my new horror novel called DEAD SPOTS that is being
published by Tor in either late 2013 or early 2014. I just released a
short story collection called CTHULHLU’S DAUGHTER AND OTHER HORROR
TALES. I’m putting the final touches on my YA Paranormal Horror
novel with Kody Boye called THE MIDNIGHT SPELL that will be released
in early 2013.
Please
in your own words tell us in a paragraph about yourself & your
work
Rhiannon
Frater was born and raised a Texan. Though she has lived in various
towns all over the state, she finally settled in Austin, Texas where
she met her husband and worked as a governmental consultant.
During
her travels for her job, she was inspired to write the story of two
women fleeing into the Texas Hill Country in an attempt to survive
the zombie apocalypse. Originally published as a serial online under
the title AS THE WORLD DIES, she later self-published the series in
three novels to satisfy the many fans of the story. The first novel
in the series, THE FIRST DAYS, won the 2008 Dead Letter Award for
Best Book (Fiction). The second book, FIGHTING TO SURVIVE won the
2009 Dead Letter Award in the same category.
The AS THE WORLD
DIES books were purchased by Tor in 2010.The first book, THE FIRST
DAYS, was released in July 2011 and received a starred review from
Publishers Weekly. The second, FIGHTING TO SURVIVE, will be released
on November 8, 2011. The third book, SIEGE, will be released in early
2012.
She is also the author of THE LIVING DEAD BOY AND THE
ZOMBIE HUNTERS, PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES: A Vampire Novel and two novels
in the Vampire Bride Series (THE TALE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE and THE
VENGEANCE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE). All her works have been optioned for
either TV or film.
Rhiannon continues to live in Austin, Texas
with her husband and is now a full-time writer.
She is represented
by Hannah Gordon of the Foundry Literary + Media agency.
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