Latinx Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Aleco Julius
What inspired you to start writing?
I’ve been a longtime collector of magazines, zines, and journals about all kinds of art, music, folklore–you name it. The more obscure and the strange, the better. I had written a little about books and literature previously, but about six years ago I realized I could be a contributor to many of these magazines and journals. So, I was inspired by all the passionate authors out there writing essays and articles on topics such as folk horror, metal music, phenomenology, and weird studies. So, I put my pen to paper and soon found my work among the pages of the publications I collected! These include Vastarien, Hellebore, Myth & Lore, Dark Matter Magazine, anthologies by Anathema Publishing, and more.
Tell us about your work in 25 words or less.
The subtitle to my first book says it all: my work explores cosmic themes, weird lore, and hidden knowledge through both fiction and nonfiction.
What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?
The element of the unknown has always fascinated me, and many horror stories are driven by this concept. Characters in horror stories often find themselves in unbelievable circumstances, which puts extreme stress on their psyches and forces them to act. A significant early memory of this idea is watching The Twilight Zone TV show episodes late at night with my dad. The most memorable stories presented by Rod Serling on that show fit this description, in my view, and unquestionably made an indelible mark on me.
Do you make a conscious effort to include LatinX characters and/or themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?
Absolutely—it’s a natural inclusion that feels right to me. This is most likely because I rarely came across LatinX people and culture in the books that I loved as a child and beyond childhood. Many of these books tended to be novels and comics in the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Through my characters, I want to portray a representation of individuals whose multiethnicities and diverse families mirror the diverse anxieties and desires that we face.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
Writing horror has taught me that our world is far stranger than I had ever imagined. While doing research for stories and essays, I have come across documentation, books, and articles of incredible experiences across all types of cultures, nations, and histories. Some are eerie and inexplicable, and some are downright terrifying. The events that attract me the most, however, are the ones that evoke the fear of the unknown.
How have you seen the horror genre change over the years? And how do you think it will continue to evolve?
I love to see the positive changes in the horror genre over the years. There are so many LatinX authors that have published incredible books recently, and within this category is a diverse range of women, men, and nonbinary writers whose characters portray elements of society that have not often appeared in literature. I expect this trend to continue to grow. As more and more young people see themselves in horror and speculative literature, more of them are writing it. I see this firsthand as a teacher and writer in Chicago, where youth interest in the wonderful speculative literature coming out has driven them to become creators themselves.
Time to daydream: what are some aspects of LatinX history or culture – stories from your childhood, historical events, etc — that you really want our genre to tackle? (Whether or not you’re the one to tackle them!)
There is a wealth of folklore in LatinX culture that can be told, retold, and preserved in our stories. There are some famous characters and myths that many people know, but I would like to see authors dig more and discover the lore of specific regions, bodies of water, mountains, and especially from indigenous groups. There’s equal value in myths and legends no matter how well they are known. That’s my belief.
Who are some of your favorite LatinX characters in horror?
One of my favorite characters is Felipe from Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes’ novel Aura. Although the book is sometimes categorized as magical realism, it showcases what I love best about my preferred style of horror. This includes a strange, dreamlike quality telling the story of an improbable transformation. Plus, it’s been a banned book in Latin America, which makes it even more badass.
Who are some LatinX horror authors you recommend our audience check out?
There are some authors I have recently read that I definitely recommend. Gabino Iglesias’ book The Devil Takes You Home is a thrilling, bleak ride. Cynthia Pelayo’s book Crime Scene is a harrowing, moving, devastating work. I must also mention V. Castro’s novella Goddess of Filth, which I tore through. Also, I look forward to the new books coming out soon by Pedro Iniguez, including Fever Dreams of a Parasite and Mexicans on the Moon.
What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?
Make your work as weird, as bleak, as impossibly strange as you desire. I look forward to reading it!
What is one piece of craft advice you’ve gotten that has really worked for you? Alternatively, what’s one that you’ve happily rejected?
Get words onto the page—no matter how messy, disjointed, or disorganized a story may seem at first because it can be smoothed out later. This is a piece of advice that has worked for me. Another way to say this is that you don’t have to realize your vision in the first draft. It takes further read-throughs and editing to tease out the gem that you originally envisioned. I’ve rejected the idea of getting a full draft done before editing. For me, what’s worked is to return to the beginning and begin to edit even before I’ve arrived at the conclusion. Why? Not sure I can explain it precisely, but when I smooth out my story before finishing it, the final act crystallizes in my mind. The details, the dialogue, and often the last lines of a story reveal themselves to me.
And to the LatinX writers out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?
It’s the same advice I give to my students for their writing assignments, which is, above all, to be yourself and let your own individual voice ring through. Do not shape your voice or style to conform to what you might think the audience is looking for, because what good readers really want is your unique voice.
Aleco Julius is the author of Weird Tales of the Great Lakes and Endless Depths: Cosmic Themes, Weird Lore, & Hidden Knowledge. His fiction has appeared in Dark Matter Magazine, Writers Retreat, Anterior Skies, and more. Look for his essays in such wonderful publications as Vastarien, Hellebore, Myth & Lore, and Cold Signal Magazine. He lives in Chicago.
