Did you have any specific books, television shows, or movies (horror, queer or otherwise) that were early influences on your writing?
Hellraiser was a big one. It tore down what I understood of reality, showing that walls we assume are solid can be as thin as paper. I’m sure also my fascination with the extinction of the dinosaurs in books and TV, a cosmic horror even in itself, was an influence too. And without a doubt, Stephen King’s It, which made me realize I wanted to write.
What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?
I always loved monsters. I couldn’t have explained why when I was younger except that I thought they were cool, but in hindsight, it’s hard not to see identification with being on the outside, especially with my heartache for the Gillman of The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Do you make a conscious effort to include LGBTQ material in your writing?
I actually tried to resist it at first. I didn’t think people wanted to read it, and when I was younger, I still thought that mattered. But kind of like how queerness itself will reveal itself, I couldn’t stop queer characters and themes from bleeding into my work, and it became impossible to hide them any more than I could hide from myself. So it wasn’t a conscious effort so much as letting what came naturally to me just flow onto the page.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
I feel horror prepares us for a world that can be horrific, and the earlier we immerse ourselves in it, the better that preparedness. Writing horror has been interesting in seeing the catharsis I would feel in the genre being visited onto others. I hope my fiction can continue to be that place of sincerity for others that other writers’ fiction has been for me.
How do you feel the LGBTQ+ community has been represented thus far in the genre, and what hopes do you have for representation in the genre going forward?
Years ago, I might have said representation was in a sorry state, but I feel we’ve had trailblazers making way for decades, whether overt or otherwise, and now there are so many queer horror authors doing amazing work that I feel were in a healthy place. I hope publishing at large continues to support that. And I hope some of the queer authors I know who have been avoiding queerness in their work feel comfortable stepping out of the literary closet and telling those stories too. We need queer voices continuing to make horror gay AF.
Who are some LGBTQ+ horror authors you recommend our audience check out?
Donyae Coles, Sara Tantlinger, Katrina Monroe, Sara Hinkley, Jade Song, Suzan Palumbo, Eric LaRocca, Gwendolyn Kiste, Cassandra Khaw … I will stop, but there are so many brilliant queer authors right now, we are immensely fortunate.
And to the LGBTQ+ writers out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?
Don’t hide yourself. Coming out in the real world is an ongoing circumstance, we decide whether or not to do so with every new person, every new interaction, but our art must be raw. And don’t feel you have to follow stereotypes and expectations, regardless of people who think we exist a certain way for them. If your work is campy, so be it. If it’s morose, then let them feel your pain. Whatever your sincerity looks like, make sure it’s core to your art, or else what are we even doing?
Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, A Game in Yellow, Teenage Girls Can Be Demons, and other books of horror. She’s also the author of over 120 short stories appearing in Weird Tales, Pseudopod, NYT-bestselling anthology The End of the World As We Know It, and many more publications. She lives with her wife in Maryland, where the cosmic rituals are secret. Find her at haileypiper.com.
