It’s almost the end of the week and OBS reviewer Lindsay has a new interview with author Tally Harbour author of ‘Strange People, Scary People’, where they discuss the inspiration behind the short stories, its characters, curious facts about animals, future projects and more. Enjoy!

Read the review for ‘Strange People, Scary People’ here.

Lindsay: What made you decide to write Strange People, Scary People and where did you get the inspiration for the stories?

Tally Harbour: Horror always intrigued me, even as a young kid, and when, in my early twenties I finally realized that I was meant to write, this subject naturally governed my pen.  And so I gathered together a collection of short stories and called it SPSP.  As for the inspiration: it came from within and without.  The former from my own hangups, fears and nightmares and the latter from strange and scary  people I have known in my life.

Lindsay: In many of these stories, the main characters seem to be average people. Some are hiding secrets and others are struggling with mental disorders or illnesses. Did any of your characters evolve from people in your life or did they all evolve from your story ideas?

Tally Harbour: Most originated, I suppose, in my own head, others came from real people.

Lindsay: In Cousin Pete’s Armadillo Farm, why did you choose armadillos for the mutant’s in the story? Do they hold any significance for you or was it just an idea that come out of nowhere?

Tally Harbour: I consider them quite repulsive creatures, and when I heard a rumor that they carry leprosy (or Hansen’s disease) a spark went off in my mind for a story.  (And some of them, by the way, do carry this affliction.)

Lindsay: As I mentioned in my review, Rebecca’s Hand was my favorite story.  I have to ask what was your inspiration was for this story and also for Ezra Stone’s character specifically?

Tally Harbour: I think it is my favorite too.  Anyway, I was for some reason perusing through a bible one day and I happened to discover the scripture mentioned in the story.  It’s very cruelness inspired the tale. As for the inspiration for Ezra Stone, it was based on no one in particular.  I just needed a real self-righteous bastard to make the story complete.

Lindsay: Could you please explain what you feel makes a good horror story?

Tally Harbour: Although I suppose I get fairly graphic at times, I think subtleness is the recipe for a truly great horror tale.  Hint at something terrifying and leave them guessing.

Lindsay: In Procedure Monomania, I am impressed at how you were able to guide the reader through the thought process in Hylas Mire’s head that led to his demise.  What was your inspiration for his character and the mental illness that overcomes him?

Tally Harbour: It was my own OCD.  I just carried it to the extreme.

Lindsay: Please elaborate on what happens in Timothy’s mind at the end of She of the Other Kingdom?

Tally Harbour: His mind, free of conventional thought, became aware both of everything and of nothing.

Lindsay: Do you have any plans to write any more stories or a full length horror novel perhaps?

Tally Harbour: I have several more short stories that I hope in the future to be published in anthologies.  As for a novel, I really don’t think right now that I could ever write one.

Lindsay: Two part question:  who is your favorite horror author and if you could have lunch with  any author, past or present and from any genre, who would it be and why?

Tally Harbour: I suppose my favorite author is H. P. Lovecraft.  But if I could dine with any writer, it would definitely be Edgar Allan Poe because he was the master of psychological horror–which, I think, is horror in its most terrifying form.

 

Thank you to author Tally Harbour for an amazing interview!