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A few years back, I edited (with assistance from Steve Berman) an anthology called Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories (Lethe Press, 2008). It was and still is, as far as I know, the only anthology of lesbian ghost stories available, which is odd, considering the potential. HHSS finaled for a Goldie in spec fic, produced 3 short fiction finalists for the Spectrum Awards as well as being designated a Spectrum Awards Best Other Work (the anthology/graphic novel category) and had 2 stories final for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards in New Zealand. My sources tell me that these were some of the first stories with LGBT protagonists to final for the Vogel. Despite this reasonable degree of success, it has not yet spawned heirs. Get out there and write some lesbian/bi/queer/trans women ghost stories, people! Like the truth, the audience is out there.
That said, I'm moving a series of author interviews that I did in 2008 on the original HHSS Myspace blog over here for archiving purposes and in hopes of reaching a new audience.
First up is Sacchi Green, aka Connie Wilkins, editor and author extraordinaire.
Can you talk a bit about your inspiration for "Spirit Horse Ranch"?
I never know quite what makes some of the random thoughts drifting in my mind (or subconscious) coalesce into a story. The first inspiration has to have been the haunted hearth theme itself. Ghost; house; body under house; old house under newer house; and then I thought of pioneer dugout houses, and of Montana, a setting I've researched for several other stories, and visited long ago. Recent news stories about hidden enclaves of retro-Mormon polygamists fleshed out the plot, and by that time the characters had started talking to me, and there was no turning back.
Have you ever had an encounter with a ghost?
Not that I can be sure about. I don't rule out the possibility, but I really don't know what it would take to convince me that my own loose-cannon imagination wasn't the source of any seemingly ghostly encounter.
What's your favorite ghost story (you can pick a movie if you prefer)?
Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Brrr! I read it at the impressionable age of 14 or so, which may have something to do with it.
What are you working on now and where can readers find out more about you?
I'm itching to be writing, but I have three anthologies to finish editing, so my own stuff will have to wait a while. Time Well Bent, queer alternate history from Lethe Press, is almost ready to go to press under my alternate name, Connie Wilkins. Girl Crazy: Coming Out Erotica will come out from Cleis Press in June 09, and Lesbian Cowboy Erotica, co-edited with Rakelle Valencia, will come out from Cleis Press in autumn of 09. You can track me at Sacchi's LJ, although my posting frequency isn't what it
should be.
That said, I'm moving a series of author interviews that I did in 2008 on the original HHSS Myspace blog over here for archiving purposes and in hopes of reaching a new audience.
First up is Sacchi Green, aka Connie Wilkins, editor and author extraordinaire.
Can you talk a bit about your inspiration for "Spirit Horse Ranch"?
I never know quite what makes some of the random thoughts drifting in my mind (or subconscious) coalesce into a story. The first inspiration has to have been the haunted hearth theme itself. Ghost; house; body under house; old house under newer house; and then I thought of pioneer dugout houses, and of Montana, a setting I've researched for several other stories, and visited long ago. Recent news stories about hidden enclaves of retro-Mormon polygamists fleshed out the plot, and by that time the characters had started talking to me, and there was no turning back.
Have you ever had an encounter with a ghost?
Not that I can be sure about. I don't rule out the possibility, but I really don't know what it would take to convince me that my own loose-cannon imagination wasn't the source of any seemingly ghostly encounter.
What's your favorite ghost story (you can pick a movie if you prefer)?
Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Brrr! I read it at the impressionable age of 14 or so, which may have something to do with it.
What are you working on now and where can readers find out more about you?
I'm itching to be writing, but I have three anthologies to finish editing, so my own stuff will have to wait a while. Time Well Bent, queer alternate history from Lethe Press, is almost ready to go to press under my alternate name, Connie Wilkins. Girl Crazy: Coming Out Erotica will come out from Cleis Press in June 09, and Lesbian Cowboy Erotica, co-edited with Rakelle Valencia, will come out from Cleis Press in autumn of 09. You can track me at Sacchi's LJ, although my posting frequency isn't what it
should be.
