Women in Horror Month – Interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

photo credit: Charles Lucke

February is Women in Horror Month! The HWA is celebrating by posting interviews with award-winning authors. Following is an interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.

Tell us a little about your award-winning work(s). Inspirations? Influences? Anecdotes about the writing or critical reaction?

CQY: Since the Stoker Award was a Lifetime Achievement Award, I knew it was coming in advance, so there were no surprises.

Talk about winning the award – how surprised were you? Did winning pay off in any interesting ways?

CQY: It was very nice to get the award — my ego loved it — but it didn’t appear to make much of a ripple. Still, I think the haunted house is classy and I enjoy having it.

Do you think women in horror face more difficulties than their male peers?

CQY: Of course women have a harder time — women have a harder time in every profession, which is why professional conduct is very important to women entering this — or any — field.

What advice would you give to new female authors looking to break into horror?

CQY: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket — write in more than one genre. That way, if one market collapses, you have a fall-back position.

What new works from you can we look forward to in the future?

CQY: I’ve turned in Chesterton Holte, gentleman haunt #3, Shining Phantoms, which will be out later this year, and I’m working on #4, Chasing Ghosts. I’m also working on Saint-Germain #28, Orphans of Memory, and a novella about Saint-Germain’s living youth, in the Bronze Age.