Reclusive Reads

The Sisters of Horror. They don't sound familiar.  Well, give me a few minutes and you will have a couple of good reasons to check out Independent Horror"s new diabolical duo. Readers say hello to the Sisters of Horror, Michelle Garza and Michelle Lason.

Reaper's Harvest Horror - Here is a question to get you both started. What made you decide to write cooperatively? 

Michelle/ Melissa - The answer is we have been writing together since we were eight years old, so writing separately seems foreign to us. Like a lot of twins, we just love doing things together. I (Michelle) was published on my own in The Horror Writers Association's poetry showcase volume one, but about 99% of the time we write together. It's fun, it feels like when we were little girls playing pretend, creating worlds and characters. We feel lucky to get to share that with other people. 

RHH - I know Michelle has an affection for werewolves. How about you, Melissa? Do you have a favorite monster?

M/M - Melissa's favorite monster is the werewolf as well. Since we were little we were drawn to them. We would pretend our cats were werewolves and play like they were attacking our dolls. We could recognize the whole "even a man that is pure in heart..." thing since we were six or seven. Our mom is really into old horror movies and we watched the original wolfman and we just loved him from the beginning. Nowadays it's much more acceptable for teen girls to like werewolves, but when we were in school people really thought we were strange for being into stuff like that... screw them lol! 

RHH - How many stories do you have published? Where can they be found?

M/M - Together we have been published/waiting for acceptances to be published five times and I (Michelle) had a poem in the HWA poetry showcase volume one. We will list them here.

PROMISES TO KEEP VOLUME TWO- by Miles to go clothing. milestogoclothing.com

WIDOWMAKERS anthology of dark fiction- Amazon.com

WISHFUL THINKING-  Amazon.com, Fireside Press.

HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION POETRY SHOWCASE VOLUME ONE- Amazon.com

ISOLATION- Eternal press an imprint of Damnation Books. Release date soon to come.

An untitled benefit anthology in the UK supports cancer research. Release date to be announced.

RHH - Any authors/books you are reading right now?

M/M - We have both been reading WISHFUL THINKING, it is packed with good stories, including one of Kevin Strange that was really amazing. Adam Cesare is really saying it right now too.

RHH - In your story, The Gift, a gift is passed that grants one wish? If you could have one wish, what would it be?

M/M - Our wishes would be:

Melissa: That something that I write can inspire others to never give up on their dreams of publication. 

Michelle: That my kids grow up to be horror nerds and listen to heavy metal so when they get mad at me and lock their bedroom door, I can stand outside of it and heading to the music they crank up in teenage angst. 

RHH - When are you releasing something new?

M/M - We are awaiting release dates for ISOLATION and the UK anthology. When those dates are available, we will announce them. We also have some submissions out and if they get picked up we will be sure to let everyone know.

RHH - Any advice you have for new authors looking to be published?

M/M - Our advice to new authors is to never give up, rejection will happen, but it won't be the end. It took us over a year to even get one acceptance. Learn from your rejections, get feedback on stories and keep honing your skills... it will happen. 

RHH - And finally a question from my 10 year old step-daughter (who I bounced this off of this morning). Do you have any plans of writing "kid books"?

M/M - About kids' books- HELL YEAH! We are totally kicking around ideas for books for children. They would involve monsters, of course, because we know there are kids out there that love creepy stuff just like we did when we were young. 

RHH - Is there anything either of you want to add?

M/M - We want to thank you, Scot. This was too much fun! We would love to talk more with you in the future :)

Well, there you have it. 

So, go check out the Sisters of Horror. You may find yourselves pleasantly surprised at the writing prowess of Michelle & Melissa.