Black Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Eden Royce
What inspired you to start writing?
I’m from a storytelling family and culture. Exchanging stories at family gatherings, as we go about our chores, as we’re spending time together at the end of the day. We’ve always shared stories this way, and it’s a deep part of me. Also, I’ve always loved reading. It’s been one of my favorite pastimes for as long as I can remember. The desire to write my own stories grew naturally out of that. Sometimes it was because I wanted a different ending for a book I otherwise loved, and other times because I wanted to see more of my community, culture, and people reflected in the books I read. So, as Toni Morrison said, I had to write the book I wanted to read.
What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?
I grew up loving it. As a girl, my family watched horror movies together and I checked out horror books from the library. If I had to pinpoint a reason that it continues to lure me time and again, it’s that good horror will beguile. It draws you in with the irresistible promise of a controlled journey into darkness while leaving you a way out. In a world where so much feels out of our control – is out of our control – horror gives us a taste of being able to fight what plagues us.
Do you make a conscious effort to include African diaspora characters and themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?
When I create main characters, they are most often of the African diaspora. My themes are more universal: family struggles, death and grief, self-discovery, etc. But the way these themes play out in my work is more in line with African diasporic traditions, and I do purposefully include historical, folkloric, and cultural references, as well as dialect and idioms. I write that way to portray us and our ways as authentically as possible. It’s also important to me that I bring to light stories and voices that have been hidden or erased, and show we can be included in various genres without harmful stereotypes.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
Sometimes, horrific things happen, things that aren’t deserved. And that despite having been through devastating circumstances, there is a way to live and maybe, one day, even thrive.
How have you seen the horror genre change over the years? And how do you think it will continue to evolve?
I’ve seen more folk horror, more eco-horror, more stories by authors from all over the world, more weird and surreal, and the resurrection of 1980s-themed horror, to name a few. Black horror cinema has evolved from the first all-Black cast horror movie in the 1940s to the fascinating 1970s Blaxploitation horror, which was at times plagued with audio and visual challenges, to today where we have an award-winning Black horror film that can boast of the highest production value and critical and financial success. Horror will continue to evolve by reflecting our growing fears of the changing world around us, and how humanity reacts to those fears. I can only hope that we can heed the warnings horror so often shows us, so we can each make the world a little better place in our own way.
How do you feel the Black community has been represented thus far in the genre and what hopes do you have for representation in the genre going forward?
Historically, we haven’t been represented in mainstream horror well. There have always been people who have written in the margins doing the work of representing us well, with love and honesty. My hope for the genre is that those creatives who are still operating in the margins of horror get the chance to tell their stories to a wider, more receptive audience without undue criticism or attempts at homogenization.
Who are some of your favorite Black characters in horror?
From films: Fool from The People Under the Stairs, Jeryline from Demon Knight, the entire cast of Eve’s Bayou, and Captain Miller in Event Horizon.
Who are some African diaspora horror authors you recommend to our audience check out?
Veronica G. Henry, Rivers Solomon, Erin Brown, Alexis Henderson, Tade Thompson, Nuzo Onoh, Irenosen Okojie, Lamar Giles, Zin E. Rocklyn, Daka Herman, Del Sandeen, and Tlotlo Tsamaase.
What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?
Widen your perception of what horror is, and can be.
And to the Black writers out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?
Love what you do, and believe in your ability to tell a story. The publishing industry is tough, and loving what you’re writing and knowing in your heart that you and your work are important and valid will help you push through when things get difficult.
Eden Royce is a writer from Charleston, South Carolina. She is a Shirley Jackson Award finalist and her short stories have appeared in a variety of print and online publications, including The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, PseudoPod, and Nightmare Magazine. Her debut novel Root Magic is a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, an Andre Norton Nebula Award Finalist, an Ignyte Award winner, and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner for outstanding children’s literature. Who Lost, I Found, is her latest short story collection for adult readers. Find her online.
