Asian Heritage in Horror: Interview with Simo Srinivas
Simo Srinivas lives in Colorado with their spouse and two senior, standard-issue tabby cats. Their horror fiction has appeared in Dark Matter Presents: MONSTROUS FUTURES, Deathcap & Hemlock, and The Archive of the Odd, among others. When not writing about all things weird and queer, Simo can be found on the trail intently counting pikas. You can also find them online at www.srinivassimo.com and on Twitter and Instagram: @srinivassimo.
What inspired you to start writing?
My father used to tell me bedtime stories about “The King and the Clown” based on South Indian folklore. After a while, he ran out of stories, and we made up new ones together. But it wasn’t until I read Sabriel (Garth Nix) that I realized I wanted to write, too. Stories just like Sabriel—about fantastical and creepy things.
What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?
The world we live in seems very strange and unsettling to me most of the time, so I like reading and writing stories that lean into that weirdness. It makes me feel less alone!
Do you make a conscious effort to include Asian and/or Pacific Islander characters and themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?
Most of my protagonists are some flavor of Asian, but I wouldn’t call it conscious—I’m just writing what I know. Which is honestly fairly limited: I grew up in the suburbs of Pennsylvania. I know more about Amish country than I do about Tamil Nadu. But as a child of immigrants, I think themes of dislocation, difficult choices, and generational trauma often surface in my work.
I also write a lot about South Asian food, but that’s just for the sheer sensory pleasure of describing it.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
I’m a pretty timid, anxious person in real life, but it turns out I enjoy scaring people. I’ve started paying more attention to things that I find scary, and things that others find scary, and trying to see where they overlap.
How have you seen the horror genre change over the years? And how do you think it will continue to evolve?
I’m very new to the scene, so people might say, ‘Simo, these things have been around since forever!’ But it seems to me that the genre has really branched out over the years. For the longest time, I thought horror was “just” Stephen King and slasher films. Or Shirley Jackson or Gothic horror (my beloved!), but “traditional” Gothic horror is so far removed from my reality—manor houses, gentry, WASPs. There’s so much more variety now, and as much as I’m looking forward to innovative new ways of storytelling in the genre, I’m also stoked to see all these diverse retellings and dismantlings of my favorite horror tropes. I inhaled White Is for Witching (Helen Oyeyemi), and I’m very excited to read Linghun (Ai Jiang).
How do you feel the Asian and/or Pacific Islander communities have been represented thus far in the genre and what hopes do you have for representation in the genre going forward?
I think things are improving by leaps and bounds. What I really want to see (perhaps selfishly) is even more space for stories that aren’t necessarily “exotic” in setting or haunting, but are written by authors of color. On the flip side, I also want to see more South and Southeast Asian folk horror.
Who are some of your favorite Asian and/or Pacific Islander characters in horror?
I read mostly short stories and flash fiction, and as a rule I try not to get too attached to the characters because I know bad things are going to happen to them! My favorite characters lately have been the monsters, like the ghost in Millie Ho’s “A Moonlit Savagery.” (I love these stories where ghosts, demons, gods, and monsters have to contend with immigration, diaspora, and globalization.)
Who are some Asian and/or Pacific Islander horror authors you recommend our audience check out?
First, a long list of caveats: 1) horror fans probably know more Asian/Pacific Islander horror authors than I do because 2) I don’t read a lot of long-form horror; and 3) some of these stories might veer into other genres, but I personally found them chilling (for instance, I consider Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother to be an Asian horror story).
- Angela Liu (“Ppaka”)
- Chi Ta-Wei (The Membranes)
- Othman Wok
- Ruskin Bond
- Banana Yoshimoto (“Hardboiled”)
- Junji Ito (of course)
- Ai Jiang (“Fisheyes”)
What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?
Read old ghost stories and folk tales. It’s fascinating to learn what people used to (or continue to) be afraid of; it’s also interesting to see how different the pacing used to be.
And to the Asian and/or Pacific Islander writers out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?
Write what you want. Magazines will tell you not to self-reject; don’t self-restrict, either. It’s kind of a heavy burden to feel like every story you write might be held up as a representation of an entire community, or that you’ve been crammed into the box of “Asian/Pacific Islander writer” and now need to write in a way that fits those expectations. I have metaphorically chewed my fingertips to stumps worrying about being called inauthentic. The stories I am proudest of are the ones where I successfully told those worries to take a hike.
