Meet The Author: A.V. Greene

Bubble Bath is one of those stories I could not put down. It’s beautifully heartbreaking and had me sobbing once I’d finished it. It is a true horror without the use of any gore or risk. There’s no chase scene, no screams, no hiding, just… a nightmare come to life.

Misty can’t focus on much; her eyes loll around in their sockets. Sometimes she nods her head, like she’s enthusiastically agreeing. It’d be funny if I didn’t know she was trying to bite, if her lower jaw wasn’t gone. Neutralized.

_{Bubble Bath by A. V. Greene, featured in Tangle & Fen: A Dark Fiction Anthology (p. 8). Crone Girls Press.}

Q (Crone Girls Press): What inspired your story in this anthology? Tell us the “story behind the story.”

A (Author): This story was partially inspired by all the well-meaning comments early in my child’s life along the lines of “enjoy every minute!” There’s no way to enjoy every minute, but there are at least one thousand ways to feel guilty about it. There are also so many moments in parenthood where you find yourself making less-than-optimal choices. Obviously the choice in this story is quite a bit more extreme than more quotidian dramas about screen time, junk food, or bed sharing (even if those dilemmas can take on life-and-death proportions in online discourse). But then again, parents in the United States where I live have also been dealing with impossible decisions during the pandemic and under the continual threat of gun violence. The mother in this story is trying to do the right thing for her daughter under conditions where there truly is no good option, and it’s the kind of situation that sits right at the root of my deepest, hardest-to-confront fears.

Q: Why do you write horror? What about the genre appeals to you as an author?

A: Horror has always been a safe place for me as a reader and a writer where I can really let my anxieties run wild, hold them up to the light, and take a hard look at what I’m actually afraid of. For me, horror is also a way to access our shared humanity. If you don’t care about the people involved, horror may be gross, but not all that scary. I suspect this is why most of the horror writers I’ve interacted with are some of the kindest people I’ve ever met—empathy is as much a tool of the trade as blood and guts.

Q: There are a number of different flavors of horror. Where does your story fit, and what drew you to this particular category?

A: This is technically a zombie story, but it’s probably better classified as parent horror. I think we’re culturally more accustomed to thinking of parenthood as a sort of love story, which it is — but that love story also casts a pretty ferocious shadow, and that’s where this story sits.

Q: The world has been through some turbulent times in the past few years. How have current events changed (or not!) your approach to the genre as a writer?

A: I think current events have added quite a bit more anger to my writing, for sure. I also find myself much more interested in narrative as an engine of change. So much of the world feels so out-of-control, and we’re facing so many existential threats that require massive, unprecedented levels of adaptation. Literary and genre fiction all show us that change is possible—you can’t have much of a story without it, after all. And if we can train our brains to expect and pursue change, maybe we can find our way through to a livable future.

Q: What’s next in your writing journey?

A: I’m currently submitting a novelette I feel very good about! I’m also taking a LitReactor class with Kristi DeMeester focused on modern Southern Gothic writing, and I’m excited about some of the story seeds that are starting to sprout there. There’s also a haunted house novel draft knocking around my hard drive that I’m hopeful I’ll be able to massage into a finished manuscript.

About The Author

A.V. Greene is a writer living in the Ozarks with her family and an assortment of carnivorous flora and fauna. Though generally a harmless garden pest, she is best handled with care, as the spurs protruding from her ankles secrete a mild neurotoxin. Her short fiction has appeared in Apex, Uncharted, and elsewhere. For more, visit avgreene.com or follow her on Twitter, or Instagram.

Be sure to check out their story in Tangle & Fen: A Dark Fiction Anthology