I am very excited by Anna’s story. With an early focus on the destruction being done to our oceans and islands, this story instantly grabbed my attention and would not let go.
Now all he could think about was the feel of her skin giving way beneath his blade, splitting open like a tender fruit, her life erupting then draining from her with each crimson slash.
-S[p]lash! byAnna Taborska, featured in A Woman Unbecoming
Q (Crone Girls Press): Author Interview Question 1: What drove your story for this anthology? Tell us the “story behind the story.”
A (Anna Taborska): A friend of mine suggested that I write a story centred around a particular type of monster (to avoid spoilers, I won’t give away the monster’s identity here). I wondered how this particular monster would cope with global warming. I also wanted to incorporate the always topical theme of male violence against women, and particularly sexual violence, which many of use find particularly abhorrent.
Q: What does it mean to read and write horror when you’re competing with news headlines (for example, this anthology came about in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe V Wade)? How has it changed (or not!) your approach to the genre as a writer or as a fan?
A: There is nothing that horror fiction can do to compete with the news headlines. Real life and the real world are infinitely more horrifying that anything we can come up with. As horror writers, the best we can do is try to keep up, hold a mirror up to the world, try to get people thinking, and try to make the world a slightly better place.
Q: There are a number of different flavors of horror. Where does your story fit, and what drew you to this particular category?
A: My story is a fairly light-hearted creature feature. I wanted to write a story with a glimmer of hope for women and creatures and women-creatures.
Q: Why do you write horror? What about the genre appeals to you as an author?
A: I write horror because it best reflects the world we live in. It is the most honest genre and one which can provide both food for thought and a sense of catharsis. When I write my nightmares down on paper, they stop haunting me – at least for a little while.
Q: What’s next in your writing journey?
A: I am currently collaborating on a book project with a fabulous group of women, and I hope eventually to get back to working on my next book – a novel of sorts, entitled “Tales from the Organ Grinder”.
About The Author
Anna was born in London, England. She studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University and went on to gainful employment in public relations, journalism and advertising, before throwing everything over to become a filmmaker and horror writer.
Anna has directed two short films (Ela and The Sin), two documentaries (My Uprising and A Fragment of Being) and a one-hour television drama (The Rain Has Stopped), which won two awards at the British Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2009.
She has also worked on seventeen other films, including Ben Hopkins’ Simon Magus (starring Noah Taylor and Rutger Hauer).
Anna worked as a researcher and assistant producer on several BBC television programmes, including the series Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution and World War Two: Behind Closed Doors – Stalin, the Nazis and the West.
Anna’s feature length screenplays include: Chainsaw, The Camp, Pizzaman and The Bloody Tower.
Short screenplays include: Little Pig (finalist in the Shriekfest Film Festival Screenplay Competition 2009), Curious Melvin and Arthur’s Cellar.
Anna’s short stories have been reprinted in several ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies, including: The Best New Horror of the Year Volume Four (2012), Best British Horror 2014 (2014), Year’s Best Weird Fiction: Volume One (2014) and JWK Fiction Best of Horror 2013 (2014).
Anna’s short story ‘Bagpuss’ was an Eric Hoffer Award Honoree and was published in Best New Writing 2011, and her story ‘Little Pig’ from The Eighth Black Book of Horror was a runner-up for the Abyss Awards 2011.
Her poetry has been published in four anthologies and in the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism (Fall 1995).
Anna’s debut short story collection, FOR THOSE WHO DREAM MONSTERS, published in November 2013 by Mortbury Press, won the Dracula Society’s Children of the Night Award and was nominated for a British Fantasy Award in 2014.
Her latest collection of novelettes and short stories, BLOODY BRITAIN (Shadow Publishing, 2020), was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and two British Fantasy Awards.
You can find them on their official website, Facebook, and on their twitter.
Be sure to check out their story in A Woman Unbecoming
Crone Girls Press 