More From This Author
Books & Stories
"The Clover Café"
"Shrieking Willow"
"Latchkey"
"The End of Forever"
"Tricksters"
7 ghosts that still keep me up at night:
1. bathtub boy from The Changeling
2. bathtub woman from The Shining
3. lake girl from What Lies Beneath
4. photo girl from Lake Mungo
5. tent girl from The Sixth Sense
6. couch girl from Stir of Echoes
7. bent-neck lady from The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix)
Story Art Sneak Peek
Amazing Artwork By Daniela Rivera
"Rosebud"
Anthology: Uncanny & Unearthly Tales
Release Date: Oct 27th, 2023
Preorders: Coming Soon
About the Author: Amanda Cecelia Lang is a horror author and aspiring recluse from Denver, Colorado. As a die-hard scary movie nerd, her favorite things are meta-slashers, 80s nostalgia, and the rise of a fierce final girl. Her stories currently haunt the dark corners of several podcasts, ezines, and anthologies, including NoSleep, Uncharted, and Mixtape: 1986. Her short story “The Clover Cafe” was recently long-listed for Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year. You can stalk her work at amandacecelialang.com just don't be surprised if she leaps out at you from the shadows.
Release Date: Oct 27th, 2023
Preorders: Coming Soon
About the Author: Amanda Cecelia Lang is a horror author and aspiring recluse from Denver, Colorado. As a die-hard scary movie nerd, her favorite things are meta-slashers, 80s nostalgia, and the rise of a fierce final girl. Her stories currently haunt the dark corners of several podcasts, ezines, and anthologies, including NoSleep, Uncharted, and Mixtape: 1986. Her short story “The Clover Cafe” was recently long-listed for Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year. You can stalk her work at amandacecelialang.com just don't be surprised if she leaps out at you from the shadows.
Q & A
How does it feel to have this story published for the first time?
Like an omen of more good things to come--dark and ghostly things...
What inspired the idea for your story?
Victorian funerary practices are beyond fascinating! The heart-flung drama of black veils and bodies lying in state, the misty realms of spiritualism and midnight seances. But what I find most intriguing is the practice of memento mori--those little keepsakes of death grieving Victorians clutched against their bodices; pendants woven with a loved one's hair, tiny vials of funeral tears, haunting deathbed photographs... With aesthetics like that, how could I NOT write a ghost story?
We know that writing can be a tumultuous journey with a lot of obstacles, what is your kryptonite as a writer?
Procrastination. Gets me every time. Though, on the bright side, I usually procrastinate by guiltily working on a different project (which I also probably procrastinated).
Tell us about your favorite author. What about their book(s) call to you and how do they inspire your own writing?
I adore Christopher Pike. I'm also a sucker for Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, Paul Tremblay, and Grady Hendrix... but as a young reader, Pike's books were my gateway to all things macabre. He's known as the Master of Murder but also writes beautiful science fiction, horror, and fantasy—a regular Jack-the-Ripper of all trades. His best stories feature intelligent rebellious heroines who are forced to confront complex inner demons to survive. And he does all this while maintaining a magical popcorn-movie sensibility. That's everything I aspire to be as a writer.
Clearly, you’ve succeeded at writing a captivating story for GrendelPress, but we all start somewhere. What advice would you give yourself as a young writer?
Finish everything you start! When it comes to first drafts, done is better than perfect. Don't be the jerk who looks back at a hard-drive full of badass stories and wonders why you never finished them. Stop tormenting yourself over every little sentence, and write the ending already! You might surprise yourself.
We’d like to argue that every good story makes both the author and the readers feel something. What perspectives or beliefs have you challenged with your story?
The rigid black-and-white debate between faith and science. In "Rosebud," my heroine, a grieving spiritualist, explores the hazy realm between mysticism and medicine--and discovers the two are not mutually exclusive.
What do you love most about your story’s genre?
I'm a horror junkie. Slashers, vampires, ghouls--I dig them all, like right out of the grave. But none of these monsters scare me. Not like ghosts scare me. Ghosts make me sleep with the lights on, ghosts make me afraid to look behind myself in the mirror. Ghosts are the uncanny valley of the horror world. Not quite human, just eerie echoes of something longing to be real. And you never know when one might be standing beside you.
What are some other genres you’d like to break into and why?
My love language is horror, but I also dabble in sci-fi and fantasy. As far as sub-genres go, it would be fun to conjure up a super terrifying alien abduction story. Because confession: aliens also freak me out. I blame Unsolved Mysteries and Fire in the Sky.
If you had to pick another story of yours to share with your readers, what would it be?
My short fantasy "Agnes-Marie Nobody and the Library of Unwanted Stories" recently appeared in Uncharted Magazine. It's a whimsically grim tale about orphans and outcasts and the life-saving power of storytelling.
