Nancy Kilpatrick Writer: June 2019

Get to know Writer, Editor, Poet... Colleen Anderson

Colleen Anderson

NK - You have been all over the map with your writing: poetry, non-fiction, short stories, collections and you've edited anthologies of other people's stories. Any prospects of a novel?

CA - Well, in fact, I have two written manuscripts. If the first one isn’t picked up soon (a cross-genre SF-fantasy feypunk tale), I’m going to self-publish. The second, that I call Game of Thrones light (who has time to write a thousand story arcs with a day job), is being shopped around. I am working on a mosaic novel, which is a collection of stories Shahrazad-style, where they inform a particular world and there is an overarching tale that weaves them together. It’s actually SF, so it’s making me work a little harder since I don’t do SF that often.

As well, I’m working on an alternate history vampire novel. I had shelved it because even alternate history requires so much research, and I was stuck on one of my character’s story arcs. I attended Stokercon this year and they have several master class workshops. I took John Skipp’s plotting your novel class and it helped sort things out and inspired me so I’m hoping to get back to that soon.

I should also mention I’m putting together a couple of books of poetry and will be looking for publishers very soon.

NK - I know you've traveled a lot. What is a place or an experience in a place that has made its way directly into your writing?

CA - Sometimes there are elements of geography, or people or an actual town. When I was in India it was such a life-changing experience that it was the direct cause of a vampire story “Hold Back the Night.” India is massive, so many people, so much poverty, a different way of viewing life. This was a long time ago and maybe with all the tech industry there it’s raising the standard of living but there are a billion people. Even if their poverty rate was only 5%, imagine how many people that is. At the time, even though sati (the act of a widow immolating herself, or in many cases being set on fire) was banned in the 20s, someone told me there were still many cases of “kitchen fires.” This was done when the husband didn’t want to be married to his wife anymore and wanted a new dowry or bride price, which often came with the bride. A terrible thing and one of many ways in which women are not treated the same as men. I guess you could say that this tale captures that abuse, and I use a secret cult of Kali in the story. Goats are still sacrificed to Kali.

“Sins of the Father” is probably the first Vancouver story that draws on mold, rain and the Vancouver Downtown East Side. I live in the city. It was first published by OnSpec and is out now in Canadian Dreadful. A couple of years ago I was in the Czech Republic and I loved the Baroque apothecary, the White Unicorn in Klatovy. I haven’t written a story about this yet but one is percolating.

A few of my other stories have been inspired by places I’ve been. And I have written many poems from my various travels.

NK - What's your dream project?

CA - My dream is probably more to have the time to write than any particular project. But I would have to say that it is the alternate history vampire novel that I’m now inspired to get back to. As well, I do like editing anthologies so I want to edit a dark fiction anthology. I have a few ideas out there, so we’ll see if any of them take. In a year from now, possibly my dream project will change. I’d like to think it will.

I think some collaboration would be fun, but it can be hard to find the right fit in style with other writers. You have to get the story idea, work out a schedule and see what happens. But it could be fun to do some free-form stuff with another writer and see what happens. If it works, great. If not, then it was a good experiment.

Other dream projects…while I’m putting together a collection (or two) of poetry, I’d also like to do a themed collection but I haven’t even figured out on what yet.

NK - Which of your books would you like people to look for?

CA - I have two collections. The first is Embers Amongst the Fallen, which contains various stories published in magazines and anthologies and a couple that were unpublished at the time. I self-published it but was happy with the turnout. The second one came out last year, A Body of Work, from Black Shuck Books. If you don’t like dark, then you shouldn’t read this one.

Bio

Colleen Anderson

Books