His Other Work
Books & Stories
Gordon's Top Ten Favorite Horror Stories Not Written by JS Le Fanu
Story Art Sneak Peek
Amazing Artwork By Daniela Rivera
"Real Estate"
Anthology: Paramnesia
Release Date: April 7th, 2023
About the Author: Gordon Grice's stories have appeared in ChiZine (honorably mentioned in Ellen Datlow's The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror), Aurealis, and Metaphorosis. His nonfiction books include The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators. He occasionally remembers to post at GordonGrice.com.
Release Date: April 7th, 2023
About the Author: Gordon Grice's stories have appeared in ChiZine (honorably mentioned in Ellen Datlow's The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror), Aurealis, and Metaphorosis. His nonfiction books include The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators. He occasionally remembers to post at GordonGrice.com.
Q & A
How does it feel to have this story published for the first time?
Scary as hell. It’s the darkest thing I’ve ever written. I hesitated to let it loose in the world.
What inspired the idea for your story?
A friend who works in real estate told me about the creepy feeling he got from one innocent-looking listing. ”What do you think happened there?” I asked.
“Torture,” he said.
The conversation festered. I jotted it down. After a while I began to write about my nightmares (literal nightmares) and pile them into this little premise.
“Torture,” he said.
The conversation festered. I jotted it down. After a while I began to write about my nightmares (literal nightmares) and pile them into this little premise.
We know that writing can be a tumultuous journey with a lot of obstacles, what is your kryptonite as a writer?
Interruptions—business appointments, phone calls, taxes.
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?
Do more actual writing, Young Me. Scheming to write is not writing. Plotting rock operas with friends is not writing. Taking workshops is not writing, unless while taking them, you write a lot. Forming theories about how to write is not writing. Feeling guilty because you don’t write enough is not writing. Feeling ashamed of your lousy writing is not writing. Get to work.
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?
While I wrote “Real Estate,” I found that every time I thought I was being honest and insightful, I was fooling myself. I still had many layers to peel away, many drafts to go, many implications to confront. I think that mirrors what the protagonist goes through, and what most of us go through. We define the problem, only to find out we’re fooling ourselves.
Tell us about your favorite author. What about their book(s) call to you and how do they inspire your own writing?
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is my favorite. I find myself drifting off to sleep, say, or driving along minding my own business, when suddenly some turn of phrase creeps into my consciousness and reveals a double meaning. The Le Fanu story, whichever one it is, seemed perfectly clear when I read it days or even years before, yet it has lain waiting for me to understand its emotional depths. When I crack the stories open to see how it’s done, I find sophisticated, yet unobtrusive uses of point of view. And yet what really moves me, the part I try hardest to emulate, is the commitment. Le Fanu takes hold of a premise and imagines it all the way through. In his best stories, he never lapses into judgment, as when a story simply becomes bad things happening to bad people. He never lapse into sentimentality, as when horrors somehow reward the good. He never flinches.
What do you love most about your story’s genre?
I love horror (and other flavors of speculative fiction, but especially horror) because it does everything realism can, but then adds layers through its speculative premise. In particular, it’s great for exploring psychology. It allows moods and insights that are true, but not logical enough to fit into realism. It works by poetic association as well as narrative.
What are some other genres you’d like to break into and why?
I just go where my writing takes me, then figure out the genre afterward when I want to send a piece out.
If you had to pick another story of yours to share with your readers, what would it be?
“In the Mountain Valley”: He’d changed since the day they tried to carry his corpse home. He was far larger, swollen with decay; or maybe he’d simply had plenty to eat. A tale of the wintry West in Aurealis #119.
