Today on MASTERS OF HORROR we get to meet Holley Cornetto. Holley is a writer, librarian, professor, book reviewer, and transplanted southerner who now calls New Jersey home. Her debut novella, WE HAUNT THESE WOODS, is available from Bleeding Edge Books. Her short fiction has appeared in magazines such as Daily Science Fiction, Flame Tree Press Newsletter, Dark Recesses Press, and anthologies from Cemetery Gates Media, Eerie River Publishing, Dark Ink, and several others. In 2020, she was awarded a grant from the Ladies of Horror Fiction. In addition to writing The Horror Tree’s weekly newsletter, she regularly reviews for Booklist, Ginger Nuts of Horror, and The Horror Tree. She teaches creative writing in the online MFA program at Southern New Hampshire University.
Here’s what one reviewer had to say about WE HAUNT THESE WOODS.
“WE HAUNT THESE WOODS is a masterful piece of coming-of-age horror. Holley Cornetto deftly uses two intertwining timelines to examine friendship, folklore, and the trauma we carry with us from childhood. Her characters, and the Forest Man himself, will haunt you long after you finish reading this wonderful novella. I LOVED this book!”
Let’s get to know this amazingly accomplished writer, librarian, professor and book reviewer!
Tell me a little about yourself.
Hi! I'm Holley. I grew up in a very rural part of Alabama, and while I no longer live there, my experiences growing up there certainly shape my writing. I work as an academic librarian at a community college, and I teach in the MFA program at Southern New Hampshire University. I love my day jobs, and I don't think I'd quit them even if I could.
Why write horror? What is it about writing terrifying scenes that excites you?
My mother loved horror, and we bonded over that love. Growing up, we used to go to thrift stores and used bookstores and search for horror paperbacks to read together.
What’s the scariest book you’ve read? And why?
You aren't going easy with the questions, are you? It's hard to say! I think scariest for me is when people lose control, because it feels so real and true. I can read about a vampire or a monster and walk away feeling secure that that wouldn't happen to me, but reading something about people going mad, or being addicted, or losing control of their faculties? That shit's scary.
What are you working on now? Is it a standalone? Part of a series?
I have a couple of projects. I'm working on the second book in a series that I'm coauthoring with a dear friend of mine. The first novel in that series is set to be published in summer 2023. I'm also working on a standalone novel set in a place based on the rural area I grew up in. For the collab project, we're pitching the series as "The Craft meets Old Gods of Appalachia" (Sorry the last isn't a movie. It should be a Netflix series or something.)
Where can we find you?
Special thanks to the amazingly talented and multi-faceted Holley Cornetto for stopping by and sharing with us today on MASTERS OF HORROR.
These interviews have been a labour of love. I love learning about the lives of fellow horror writers. Where did they grow up? What jobs have they done? Or still do while they create these amazing stories? What scares them? What they’re reading? What drives them to create the stories we all love to devour? So thanks again to Holley for letting us peek behind the curtain on the life of an amazing talent!
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