What’s your name?
Kelly Samarah
Hi Kelly. Where are you from?
Molalla, Oregon, a little logging town nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Range and just a hop away from the Mt. Hood National Forest. I grew up here, moved to Salem, Oregon for ten years, and just came back a little over a year ago. It’s still small and close-knit.
Salem? Did you have roads there, or does everyone fly on broomsticks? Molalla sounds great. I’d love to live somewhere like that. Do you like living there? If not, where would your favourite place to live be? Is yes, where would you least like to live?
Some days you love it, other days you want to lock all your doors and pretend every other person who drives by your house really doesn’t know you. I love living in Molalla, so close to the river and the woods, but if I wish my house was further out in the country and not right in the middle of town. I hate being a “town dweller”. When my siblings and I were growing up, we always lived way out in the middle of nowhere, and it’s still hard for me now to be so close to civilization. I don’t suppose that will ever change.
When you’re in an asylum, there’s a lot to be said for ‘civilisation’. If you’re a writer, is this your ‘day job’?
I am a writer, and no, it is not my day job. I still work full time. I never want to think of my writing as my “job”. If ever I am able to make a living off of what I love to do, it would be a dream come true, because writing, for me, isn’t because I want to be famous or become rich. I have stories twisted up inside of me, and I want to share them.
Good point. Writing should be a ‘must’, not a ‘have to’. Tell me about your latest project.
I will be releasing a book of short horror stories on August 25th, 2013, titled: Beneath the Blood Moon. I love to give people goose bumps. These stories were born from the late night “what-if” conversations commonly held with my son and my brothers. The best story ideas come to me after one of those sessions.
I love short story collections like that. It’s good to be spooked in different ways. How do you feel about bacon? A crazy person once said it was the food of the gods. OK, I admit that person was myself...
Bacon should be at the top of the food pyramid. I especially like it in vanilla fudge at Christmas.
Welcome to the asylum! No, really. Bacon and vanilla fudge...? What is your favourite film?
I have to pick just one? Okay, I am a huge eighties movie fan, and my all time favorite is Ferris Buller’s Day Off. I know, cliché, but it really is, with Pretty in Pink running a close second.
Good choice. The 80s are responsible for some of my favourite films. The Goonies. Labyrinth. The Lost Boys. I could go on and on! Have you always wanted to be a writer, or is it something you found yourself doing one day?
I always have been a writer. Reading and writing go hand in hand. I am a lover of books. No, let me rephrase that. I am in love with books. In kindergarten I was reading chapter books and getting in trouble for skipping ahead in our reader books. In second grade my teacher made me read all of my short stories aloud in class. Same thing in fourth grade. In junior high I tried my hand at poetry, and discovered I am not a poet. Fast forward to a couple years ago: Life had chewed me up and spit me out. I found myself a single mom, very little money and no future. Writing had been on the back burner for a long time. I decided to go back to school - for Criminal Justice of all things - and took a writing class as an elective. My teacher told me I was cheating myself if I didn’t focus on my love for the craft. I took his words to heart. How do you explain the feeling when you have finally come back to what you were meant to do? Complete? Not a strong enough word, I think. Maybe it’s unexplainable.
That’s wonderful! It’s clearly a real part of you. Do you have so many ideas they dribble out of your nose if you don’t get them down, or do you have to hunt around the floor and the back of your sofa to find where your Muse is hiding?
I have so many ideas I carry a small notebook around with me. I want to get a voice recorder, but the thought of listening to myself talk to me is unnerving. I would much rather write it down.
Phillip, in here, believes that, if he talks to the TV, it answers him back. Have you ever seen someone argueing with a music video? If you were in an asylum, what would your particular delusion or psychosis be?
Demons, monsters. I would see them everywhere, but would it really be a delusion? I also think bouts of rage would fall in there somewhere. I can lose myself in my emotions.
Well, we have darkness and madness in each of us. We must do battle with our own demons. So that Shaun Allan guy tells me. What genre(s) do you write?
Hmmm, I always hate this question. I write. I lean toward the horrific side of the spectrum, but not always. I have several ideas and story lines brewing from all over the board.
I know a guy who writes horror and children’s stories too. Variety is the spice of life, so they say. What genres(s) do you read?
A lot of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. Crime thrillers are starting to interest more as I get older. One genre I just cannot get into is erotica and romance. Just not my thing. I guess I’m too cynical.
Cynicism/realism – it’s a fine line. If these are the same, what attracts you to them. If they’re different, why do you think that is?
It’s not as simple as I love to be scared. A good horror writer can get into your mind and turn your doubts into beliefs. Think a monster can’t live in your closet? That’s impossible right? Then you read that book and suddenly you’re padlocking your closet door at night.
As far as Sci-fi and Fantasy, is the expansion on your world, the idea that there is more than what you see around you. How can someone not love that?
I completely agree. Some things are darker than just the night with the lights out. Bacon – just cooked or crispy?
Definitely crispy, but not burnt.
Too right. Now you’re in the asylum with me, how do you aim to get out? Do you have an escape plan?
Kill them all and run.
Oh, good luck with that. You’d probably get a queue of people wanting to shake your hand. Difficult, though, with your strait jacket on...
Kelly Samarah grew up in a small town located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. When she isn't busy working on a new story to share with her readers she enjoys cooking, music, painting and of course, reading. She also enjoys spending time with her dog, cat and two children.
An excerpt from The Edge...
....You want to remember? He hisses in my ear. I pull away from him as his face begins to change. His glasses melt into his skin as the color begins to change from a healthy peach glow, to gray, creased with ooze. His eyes become hollowed depths of black, his teeth jagged bits of metal waiting to slice my skin. I am frozen in fear as he wraps his once normal hand - now a gruesome claw - around my head. I scream and try to pull free. Rashelle’s voice reappears, encouraging me. No, Joe…it’s alright…I try to focus on her, but Dr. Gilson - the monster - begins pushing down on my skull. The pain is unbelievable. So white-hot I can’t utter a sound. My body jerks and contorts into positions it shouldn’t be capable of, and I think, This is it, I’m going to die…but she is there again, her voice weaving through the madness…remember…
Blog: www.kellysamarah.com
Facebook:http://facebook.com/kellySKnobf
Buy links:
Smashwords:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/332184
Smashwords:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/291615
Twitter: @kellysamarah
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