In conversation with Linda D. Addison
Linda D. Addison is a power to be reckoned with. In 2002, she made history as the first Black woman to win a Bram Stoker Award® with her poetry collection Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes (2001). She has since received six other nominations, four of which won Bram Stoker Awards® for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection: Being Full of Light, Insubstantial (2007), How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend (2011), Four Elements (2013), and The Place of Broken Things (2019). She also earned acknowledgment from the Horror Writers Association with a Mentor of the Year Award (2015) and a Lifetime Achievement Award (2017). In 2020, Addison added yet another accomplishment when she was designated a Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry by the Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA).
My introduction to Linda was at the 2017 StokerCon, which was held at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. It was my first conference, and I was terribly shy and alone. Linda called me over, spent time talking to me about my work, and I’ve been a devoted fan ever since. As such, she was one of the first writers I reached out to when I started researching my article on women in horror (“Words Wielded by Women,” Apex Magazine #138, May 2024). “In the beginning, like 50 years ago, I was doing more science fiction and fantasy.” One of Addison’s early goals was to be published in Asimov’s Science Fiction: “I saw women in fantasy, but I didn’t see a presence of women in science fiction. So, early on I did feel tender about the fact of being a woman writing in genre. No one knew I was Black, and since no one could see me, I didn’t assume anyone was rejecting me because I was Black. If they were rejecting me as a woman, I decided there was nothing I could do about that.”
When talking about her early years as a writer, Addison says, “I wasn’t actually in touch with my fear at that point in my life. I’d grown up in a pretty tough neighborhood and a tough home environment, and I needed to come to terms with that.” But, after she began to gather publishing credits in the field of science fiction, Addison started exploring what she calls her “shadow writing” in horror poetry. One thing she quickly noticed was that science fiction and horror had one thing in common: a discernable lack of women authors. “It’s been a slow increase over time,” says Addison. “Certainly, there’s more than there has been. Is it balanced yet? No. There’s still work that needs to be done. As more women are getting published, they’re going to become editors; they’re going to become parts of decision-making on conventions and that is going to bring more inclusiveness in.”
This is certainly true with Addison’s own experiences as a co-editor (with Dr. Kinitra Brooks and Dr. Susana Morris) of the acclaimed anthology Sycorax’s Daughters (2017). This ground-breaking book celebrated the voices of African American women writers in a collection of twenty-eight dark stories and fourteen poems. “I feel like a big part of balancing what comes out for women is that a lot of these anthologies are being put together by people who have an old way of looking at things,” says Addison. “They have to reach out to find those voices.” Thankfully, for so many of us, Addison continues to lead the way. –Carina Bissett
About Linda D. Addison
Linda D. Addison is the award- winning author of five collections of prose and poetry, including The Place of Broken Things (written with Alessandro Manzetti) and How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend. She is the recipient of the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award and the SFPA Grand Master, and her work appears in Qualia Nous Vol 2; Shakespeare Unleashed; The Drive-In: Multiplex; Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda; and Predator: Eyes of the Demon. Online at: LindaAddisonWriter.com.
Interview with Linda D. Addison
BISSETT: You balance numerous roles in your life as an author, a poet, an editor, and a mentor. How do you do it all?
ADDISON: It’s a tricky juggling act, believe me. I try to keep track of my tasks by printing the list on a yellow paper, because there’s a lot of paper in my house. The list is by type (fiction, poetry, NF, Interview, etc.) with deadlines. I try to look at the list before I make a commitment. The point is to try to not overbook myself, which still a struggle.
BISSETT: Horror is considered an inclusive genre. Would you agree? In what ways have you felt welcomed? Excluded?
ADDISON: The horror field has been supportive of my work since my first collection, Animated Objects (Space & Time Books, 1997). When that was released I had been going to different conventions and made contact with other authors, publishers, reviewers, etc. and found most open to talk about the the writing process and business. These conversations were often like mentoring sessions for me. I learned a lot and this encouragement was uplifting.
Since that time there has been more women published and recognized in horror, but there is space for more to be done. It’s not enough to say you’re open to women or others, and then create a project that doesn’t include others. It has been said many times and it’s true: we need the gatekeepers to include people who are from other communities.
BISSETT: What was your first experience with horror?
ADDISON: When I was growing up in Philly, my Mom and I would watch scary movies on Chiller Theater. I didn’t know they were horror movies until later in life, but that was definitely where my love of horror began.
BISSETT: What advice do you have to women working in the field?
ADDISON: Forget any voices inside or outside your head that says “…girls can’t…” and write what ever comes to you. Forget glass ceilings, invisible barriers and write the stories/poems/scripts, etc. you want.
Pay attention to evolving the skills to write well. After all these years I’m still learning new things, open to feedback.
When it’s as good as you can make it, submit your work, starting with the top markets.
Don’t let rejections stop you. If you can make a piece better, then do so, if not, send it back out.
BISSETT: What attracts you to horror as a genre?
ADDISON: It’s a mutual attraction, LOL! In the journey of my life I’ve come to terms with my shadows and together we give voice to my anger, fears, etc.
About The Place of Broken Things by Linda D. Addison (Crystal Lake Publishing (July 2019)
Bram Stoker Award® winners Linda D. Addison and Alessandro Manzetti use their unique voices to create a dark, surrealistic poetry collection exploring the many ways shattered bodies, minds, and souls endure.
They created poems of visionary imagery encompassing death, gods, goddesses and shadowy, Kafkaesque futures by inspiring each other, along with inspiration from others (Allen Ginsberg, Pablo Neruda, Phillis Wheatley, etc.).
Construction of The Place started with the first bitten apple dropped in the Garden. The foundation defined by the crushed, forgotten, and rejected. Filled with timeless space, its walls weep with the blood of brutality, the tears of the innocent, and predatory desire. Enter and let it whisper dark secrets to you.
Carina Bissett
Carina Bissett is a writer and poet working primarily in the fields of dark fiction and fabulism. She is the author of numerous shorts stories, which are featured in her debut collection Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations (Trepidatio Publishing, 2024), and she is the co-editor of the award-winning anthology Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas. She is currently a Bram Stoker finalist for her essay “Words Wielded by Women” (Apex Magazine, 2023), a comprehensive retrospective of women in horror. Links to her work can be found at http://carinabissett.com.
Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations
In this powerful debut, Carina Bissett explores the liminal spaces between the magical and the mundane, horror and humor, fairy tales and fabulism. A young woman discovers apotheosis at the intersection of her cross-cultural heritage. A simulacrum rebels against her coding to create a new universe of her own making. A poison assassin tears the world apart in the relentless pursuit of her true love—the one person alive who can destroy her. Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations erases expectations, forging new trails on the map of contemporary fiction. Includes an introduction by Julie C. Day, author of Uncommon Miracles and The Rampant.
Praise for Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations
“Carina Bissett is one of my favorite speculative authors writing today—magic and myth, horror and revenge, wonder and hope. Her stories are original, lyrical, and haunting—Shirley Jackson mixed with Ursula LeGuin and a dash of Neil Gaiman. An amazing collection of stories.—Richard Thomas, author of Spontaneous Human Combustion, a Bram Stoker Award finalist
“Carina Bissett’s collection is a thing of wonder and beauty. It is a true representation of Carina herself: whimsical, visceral, lovely, and fierce. You can hear women’s voices screaming while roses fall from their lips. Dead Girl, Driving and Other Devastations is a triumph.”—Mercedes M. Yardley, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Little Dead Red
“From fairy tale revisions to fresh takes on monstrous transitions and the absolute horrors of being female, no one knows how to write a story like Carina Bissett. Fierce yet fragile.”—Lindy Ryan, author of Bless Your Heart
“In a debut collection weaving folklore and fairy tale and told in magical, lyrical, irresistible prose, Carina Bissett inveigles readers with the breadth of her skill. A feat of woven wonder, with spells sketched in the air and strands stretched taut, Dead Girl Driving and Other Devastations is an enchanting tapestry of silken stories, the collection establishing Bissett as a world-class author of fabulism, fantasy, and horror. A must-read for lovers of Neil Gaiman, Angela Slatter, and Carmen Maria Machado.” —Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Awards-winning author of Grotesque: Monster Stories
“Ravishing flights of fantasy.”—Priya Sharma, Shirley Jackson award-winning author of All the Fabulous Beasts and Ormeshadow
“Dark, often violent, Dead Girl, Driving & Other Devastations doesn’t lie to you about the nature of its stories. Between the title page and the Afterword lies a harrowing alliance of nightmare and fairytale. The pages are full of strange birds, resurrections, second chances, monstrous women, enchantments, and inventions. These stories explore a dark and permissive imagination, unafraid to disturb the monster at the back of the cave. It is a collection for the brave and forlorn, for those seeking escape, vengeance, transformation, or grace. There is wonder here, and freedom from shackles—for those fierce enough to wrench loose of them.”—C. S. E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Saint Death’s Daughter
“Carina’s short stories are absolutely luminous and deeply unsettling. Savour this collection like a fine blood-red wine. It’s absolute perfection and will linger long after the pages are closed.”—KT Wagner
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