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Pride Month 2025: An Interview with Azzurra Nox

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What is your novel about?

I actually have two novels out right now. The first one is Into the Dread Unknown, the fifth book in my Women in Horror series, and the second is Panico! a historical poetry collection that borders on the macabre. Into the Dread Unknown is an exploration of Gothic literature through sharp, feminist lenses. Some of the authors featured are familiar voices I’ve had the pleasure of including in past anthologies, while others are new additions to the Women in Horror series. I’m especially thrilled to have two Bram Stoker Award-nominated authors in this latest edition, L.E. Daniels and Rachel Bolton. Both of their stories are filled with a sense of dread and crackle with intensity. As with past collections, this anthology features many queer authors and stories too. Meanwhile, my second book, Panico! dives headfirst into the most harrowing chapter of Marie Antoinette’s life, her captivity during the Reign of Terror. So many films and books tend to skim over this period of her life, but I wanted to linger in the shadows, become intimate with her fear. I wanted readers to feel the weight of every moment, and when it came down to how would I do this in a way that wasn’t tiresome or too scholarly? That’s when I decided to tell the story from her perspective, slip into her mind as her gilded world unraveled in absolute blood and horror. I fashioned the book as a homage to Dante’s Inferno, as each moment is told in poetic cantos. You’re not simply reading history, you’re living the terrifying moments with her.

 

What are you looking to express to readers with your work?

The majority of my writing revolves around not being afraid to peel back the layers that we often are afraid to confront about ourselves, our history, and the role we have in this world. Whether I’m writing from the perspective of a doomed queen or curating a horror anthology, my wish is for readers to feel something raw and real. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been more drawn to the intersection of fear and empowerment, and how does that look through a feminist lens. It’s not simply about telling creepy stories, but more about reclaiming your own stories, reframing your own experiences, and giving voice to those who in the past have been silenced or overlooked. That’s why my anthologies focus on women in horror, because for a very long time, the genre was dominated by white men who often tried to tackle women’s issues in ways that weren’t always done with the precision and nuance of someone who has actually had the lived experience. I want readers to, yes, be a little unsettled by my work, but more importantly, to leave with a deeper understanding or new perspective they didn’t have before.

 

Why choose horror?

I like to think that horror chose me, as the genre has been with me since I was a toddler (first in the form of movies). But as a writer, I choose horror because, emotionally speaking, it’s one of the most honest genres we have. Horror dares us to confront our fears, grief, rage, and vulnerabilities head-on. It’s one of the few places where there’s space for the unspeakable to be spoken and where our deepest buried traumas have room to surface. For me, horror has always been less about the monsters and more about what it means to be human when we’re stripped of our safety nets or familiar routines or settings. Who do we become when we’re confronted with the unknown? And do we become more horrifying than the monsters that lurk in the shadows? There’s something very liberating about that. Horror has offered me a space to explore identity, trauma, power, and survival in ways I haven’t been able to do when writing in another genre. Especially as a woman, it has been cathartic and a place of transformation.

 


Azzurra Nox is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a Killer Shorts Winner. She was born in Catania, Sicily, and has led a nomadic life since birth. Her current works are I Want Candy, Girl that You Fear, Into the Dread Unknown, and Panico!. She currently resides in So-Cal. You can follow her on Instagram @divazura.

 

 

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