What scares you? That’s the question I asked YA authors for this blog series. Stay tuned for interviews and guest posts as authors visit and reveal their frightening—even surprising—fears.
Today’s guest author is Kendare Blake, author of Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares. (And be sure to enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of Girl of Nightmares!)
What scares Kendare? Read my interview to find out.
Q&A WITH KENDARE BLAKE
Q: What do you think draws you toward writing dark, disturbing, even frightening things? Do you have any idea how you got this twisted?
I have no idea. I like to think I’m naturally twisted. No artificial twisting necessary. I’ve always been drawn to the dark and the weird. Vanilla doesn’t do it for me.
When I was a kid I jumped from Stephen King to Anne Rice to Bret Easton Ellis and never looked back.
Q: If you were spending the night all alone in a creaky old cabin in the middle of the woods, what book or movie would you absolutely refuse to take with you because it would frighten you down to your bones? Why does it scare you so much?
See, I love being scared, so I’d probably take it with me. What I don’t enjoy is panic. So I wouldn’t take a movie that could give me a panic attack. Like Lars Von Triers’ Melancholia. Fucking freak out.
Q: What is the most terrifying place you’ve ever set foot in, in real life? Has it ever found its way—disguised or otherwise—into one of your novels?
I guess that would have to be the Catacombs in Paris. So many bones. Plague bones. Baby plague bones. Bones formed into weird, pretty patterns and pillars and doorways. So far, I haven’t put it in anything.
Q: If a scene from your deepest nightmares came to vivid life, where would you be transported, what would be crawling all over your body, and what disturbing sight would be staring at you when you opened your eyes? (Or is it even worse than I could prompt you here?)
I just had a nightmare where I saw a black lab walking backwards. That would seriously make me flip out. Especially if no one else seemed bothered by it.
Q: Back when you were five years old, what would have been the most mind-numbingly terrifying thing to discover hiding under your bed at night? Part two, same question, only how about now, under your bed… tonight?
Probably this little clown marionette someone gave me. I used to tie that thing to a chair before bed every night. I don’t think so, you fucking clown.
Now, it would be PeeWee Herman. Because how scary would he be, emerging from under your bed to climb up the foot, spiderlike? I know you are but what am I? Terrified.
Q: Your friends have convinced you to play the Ouija board with them. But as soon as your fingers touch the planchette, it whips away and moves on its own to spell out the scariest thing you could imagine, shooting you through with terror. What did the Ouija board just communicate to you?
You’re about to go bald. Right now.
Q: Have you ever scared yourself with something you’ve written?
A few scenes in the Anna series managed to give me the heebie jeebies. When the Obeahman emerges from the attic, and a little in the forest of Girl of Nightmares. I love it when that happens. I miss it.
Thank you so much for letting me interview you about your fears, Kendare! Readers: Be sure to enter for a chance to win a signed copy of Girl of Nightmares—(just scroll down for giveaway details).
Kendare Blake likes food of all kinds, and books of many kinds. She lives and writes in Lynnwood, WA, with her husband and two catsons. One of those catsons was recently diagnosed with liver cancer. It is a time of much cat spoiling around the house.
Visit her online at kendareblake.com.
Follow @kendareblake on Twitter.
Want a chance to win Girl of Nightmares?
This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered! The winner will be announced soon.
Here’s what you missed so far in the What Scares You? series:
- What Scares Brenna Yovanoff?—Interview and Giveaway (closes Oct. 25)
- Daniel Marks Screams Like a Girl—Guest Post and Giveaway (closes Oct. 26)
- Top TEN Things That Scare Gretchen McNeil—Guest Post
- What Scares Adele Griffin? A True Story—Guest Post and Giveaway (closes Oct. 29)
- What Scares Michelle Hodkin?—Interview and Giveaway (closes Oct. 30)
- What Scares Tessa Gratton?—Guest Post and Giveaway (closes Oct. 31)
- What Scares Andrew Smith?—Interview and Giveaway (closes Nov. 1)
- What Scares Fiona Paul?—Guest Post and Giveaway (closes Nov. 2)
- What Scares Sarah Rees Brennan?—Guest Post and Giveaway (closes Nov. 3)
- “Louis,” or The Scorpion and the Frog: What Scares Timothy Braun
And come back tomorrow for more… The next author to share fears with us is: Robin Wasserman, author of The Book of Blood and Shadow and more!
Series art by Robert Roxby. Email to contact the artist directly.
distraction no.99 