What is your novel about?
My next book, Living in the Land of Enchantment, is a collection of short stories and poetry of the supernatural horror variety. My Chicano roots are deep in the New Mexico soil where my ancestors planted them centuries ago. Living in the Land of Enchantment means opening our minds to possibilities that the supernatural exists, and the creatures, cryptids, monsters, and spirits our abuelas told us they encountered weren’t figments of their imagination. They were real then, and they’re just as real today. En las montañas, placitas, y llanos de Nuevo Mejico, they never left, and they always come back.
What are you looking to express to readers with your work?
I’m a regionalist, so readers of my works (whether books, short stories, poetry, or essays) find themselves traveling with my characters, living or dead, through forests or rural communities which are very much like they were in the 1800s. Readers take away an understanding of our dying traditions and customs, our superstitions, our history, and our dialect as they escape the ghosts and creatures we have all either seen for ourselves or have heard of from firsthand accounts. I want them to know the Land of Enchantment is rich in culture, mystery, and monsters we embrace as our own. The Scots have Nessie, the Tibetan and Nepalese have the Yeti, Washington and Oregon have Bigfoot—we have more than a few: Llorona (the Weeping Woman), Lechuza (the shapeshifting witch), Vivorón, the giant serpent, Malorga, the child eater, among others.
Why choose horror?
Horror, quiet horror, and folk horror are some of my favorite genres to read and write. I touched upon mysticism and magic and monsters in my debut novel, a historical fiction, and those scenes with the giant Serpent living in the woods behind my house or la Llorona, who haunts our waterways all the way from southern Colorado to Mexico, was among the most fun to write. I was hooked on horror in the best way. I reanimate our monsters and let them loose upon the pages for the thrill of shocking unsuspecting readers. I write horror to entertain, to inform, and above all, to scare.
Carmen Baca is the author of novels, short prose, and poetry of many genres. Preserving and celebrating her Norteño culture through storytelling, she provides a portal into small-town and rural life. Among several honors, her works have won nominations for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize.
You can discover more about Carmen here.
