In October I had the honor of being published alongside an amazing cohort of women with dangerously creepy minds. The Moms Who Write inaugural horror fiction anthology, Fireside: Modern Legends and Lore was released on October 10th and I still cannot believe how fortunate I am to be a part of such a great project.
The Ten Little Lives of Adelia Mae bounced around my head for years; never quite able to land in the right format or delivery or finding the right space for it to occupy. Was it a poem? A graphic novel? A novella?
Gothic horror, apparently, is a difficult idea to for my brain to flesh out into a full piece of fiction. Partially inspired by The Decemberists’ “The Rake’s Song”, I toyed with a T. S. Eliot — slash — Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats delivery. Whimsical rhyme and meter to tell a gruesome tale. But then my brain decided I would need to commission an artist capable of delivering Edward Gorey-esque art to accommodate the piece.
Now, I’m not saying this will never happen … but a mom who writes only has so much expendable cash.
So I went the other way, leaning into the other major influence for the idea — Leon/The Professional. To be up front, my parents probably should have paid more attention to the movies I rented from Blockbuster as a kid, because I saw this film way too young, but the memory of Natalie Portman and Jean Reno having a conversation in a kitchen, her far too young for all the horror of the world, and him too desensitized from the same, stuck with me. For years. Like, an irresponsible amount of them.
And thus, The Ten Little Lives of Adelia Mae was born. A little girl at the center of un-godly horror, a man trying to navigate the space for her well-being, and the true nature of the beast.
Check out the Moms Who Write inaugural horror fiction anthology, Fireside: Modern Legends and Lore. Be creeped out. Enjoy.