Haunted Hearths

I'm very pleased and proud to be one of the authors in Catherine Lundoff's fantastic anthology, Haunted Hearths. Catherine is a fantastic person, a great writer, as well as a great editor. Check the book out here.

As part of her promo for the book she's been asking the authors about their stories and other fun stuff. Here's mine:

Can you talk a bit about your inspiration for "The One I Left Behind"?

Well I tried to put a different spin on the whole idea of what a ghost could be: we know that it's supposed to be the 'spirit' of a dead person – but what if what died wasn't a whole person but instead just a part of us? We've all had dreams we've had to let go of, so what we were haunted by the partial 'self' we had to let go of, or was taken from us? That's what I was playing with – I just hope people like the result!

Have you ever had an encounter with a ghost?

Nope, sorry – not as far as I know. But then who's to say what's out there? Lots of people look like they're sleep-walking … maybe they're dead and just don't know it. Or maybe I am but I don't … ☺

What's your favorite ghost story (you can pick a movie if you prefer)?

Aside from classics I have a thing for ghost stories from different cultures, particularly Japan. It's lots of fun – and enlightening – to see how the idea of a ghost or a spirit reflects the values or worldviews of a culture. Like the Kasa Obake: in Japanese mythology if an object gets to be 100 years old it develops its own spirit – which is what an umbrella gets is called when it gets to be that ripe old age. Very fun stuff!

What are you working on now and where can readers find out more about you?

The main place to look is M. Christian which is my site. Right now I have whole bunch of fun things out: Brushes, an erotic romance novel; Me2, a gay horror/thriller; Filthy, a collection of my gay erotica; and from the fine folks at Lethe Press a reprinting of my gay horror/comedy The Very Bloody Marys, and my new noir/SF/erotica novel Painted Doll: An Erotist's Tale.