Latinx Heritage in Horror Month 2024: An Interview with Gerardo Sámano Córdova

What inspired you to start writing?

Reading books I loved.

Tell us about your work in 25 words or less.

My work is queer, monstrous, and playful.

What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?

The raw emotion it elicits. I think horror invites readers to let their guard down in order to have an emotional journey (fright, usually) and with this complicit vulnerability, one is able to engage with stories, characters, and themes more fully, in a raw state. Plus I think horror is punk, rule-breaking, and I love the freedom it offers creators.

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?

I ground my characters in familiar spaces so that I can feel confident to go to the odd, extreme places. And that grounding familiarity means that my characters are often Mexican (and if not explicitly so, at least, somehow grounded/inspired in the culture).

What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?

This is a great question and I’m not sure I have a good answer. Horror is so diverse that its lessons are infinite, but in general, horror has taught me to be brave and push boundaries. Horror had given me the confidence to dig into emotional areas that I might have found too distressing to explore. Horror allowed me to be playful, fun, and irreverent.

How have you seen the horror genre change over the years? And how do you think it will continue to evolve?

I’m loving how the most exciting and diverse creators are being drawn to horror. All over the world and particularly in Latin America writers and creators are widening what horror can do, blurring genre boundaries which just makes it all the more exciting. I think horror is living a moment of self-love in which it is loving all its forms from silly and campy, to genre-bending, to deeply disturbing, to incisive, gorgeous emotional stories.

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!)

I would love to read a horror book set during the Mexican Revolution. Such a complex time socially, politically, and ideologically.

Who are some of your favorite LatinX characters in horror?

Juan from Mariana Enriquez’s Our Share of Night is such a complex, vivid character, the Kentukis from Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin (although I’m not sure if the Kentukis qualify as LatinX – or proper characters for that matter, regardless, the idea of them as voyeurs and masks is wonderful).

Who are some LatinX horror authors you recommend our audience check out?

Mariana Enríquez, Samanta Schweblin, Fernanda Melchor, Bernardo Esquinca, Monica Ojeda, Carmen María Machado, Gabino Iglesias, Amparo Dávila.

What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?

Revel in horror’s possibilities and feel free to play with its boundaries.

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?

This advice has really worked for me: writing a novel is like climbing a mountain, you can’t focus on the entirety of the mountain, you can only focus on the next foothold. Advice that I’ve happily rejected is when someone says one shouldn’t use a certain word in writing (i.e. “because” or “very” or adverbs).

And to the LatinX writers out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?

Keep writing. Write in whatever language suits you and your work most. Don’t be discouraged by people claiming something to be “unpublishable.” Your voice matters. Keep writing. Keep writing. Keep writing.

Gerardo Sámano Córdova is a writer and artist from Mexico City living in Brooklyn. He is the author of Monstrilio, winner of the Balcones Fiction Prize, a finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and named a Book of the Year by NPR, Elle, Goodreads, and others. He holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Michigan and is the current Writer in Residence at Fordham University. Gerardo has also been known to draw little creatures.