Women in Horror: Interview with Lauren Elise Daniels

What inspired you to start writing?

My parents said I could read anything I wanted, so long as we discussed it. That tactic had me reading collections like The Fourth Galaxy Reader edited by H. L. Gold, and the novels Dragon’s Egg by Robert L. Forward and Stephen King’s Firestarter—and trying to move things with my mind—before I was twelve.

I also had a stutter but when I wrote, I was free. I could use any language I wanted without getting tangled in the briar of certain vowel and consonant combinations. Then, I found I could conjure justice in …