1. What is your name and what are you known for?
My name is Maria DeBlassie and I’m known for writing about everyday magic and ordinary
gothic. I write what I call cozy gothic tales, or stories that give us plenty of thrills and chills
but also offer up a dose of comforting spookiness and a satisfying happy ending.
2. Tell us about one of your works and why we should read it.
Weep, Woman, Weep is my debut folk horror novella, about a woman who survives an encounter with La Llorona, or the Weeping Woman, and finds out that she didn’t come back quite right. When she cries, bad stuff happens, and she’s got a lot to cry about. This Nautilus award-winning story explores what it takes to break free from ancestral hauntings through plant magic, pulp fiction, and a love so deep it can chase away the darkness.
3. What places or things inspire your writing?
I was born and raised in New Mexico and still live in the Land of Enchantment, so all my stories reflect the land, the history, and the mysticism of my beloved desert home. I also love to explore the quite magic of daily life and the strange, ordinary gothic elements that sneak up on us, reminding us that there is more to this world than meets the eye.
4. What music do you listen to while creating?
I love listening to mellow bluegrass, Spanish guitar, and other folk instrumental music to help me conjure the haunting, ethereal quality of folk horror.
5. What is your favorite horror aesthetic?
I’m a sucker for whimsigoth, the horror aesthetic that draws inspiration from 80s and 90s pop culture witches. It’s one-part classic gothic, one part whimsical witchy, and 100% magical.
6. Who is your favorite horror icon?
Ohhh…this is a tough one! I love all things occult detectives, so I’m going to have to go with
some of the class ghost busters like Thomas Carnaicki, inventor of the electric pentacle, and
Diana Marburg, the Oracle of Maddox Street. They are both products of the incredibly
fascinating Spiritualism movement and are some of the first occult detectives in fiction. Cool
stuff! I also adore Vincent Price, as I grew up watching classic horror films, because he
brings such a visceral, believable quality to even the most far-fetched stories.
7. What was the scariest thing you’ve witnessed?
Besides the papers that keep piling up when I’m behind on grading? Just kidding—teacher
joke! I’d say the scariest thing I’ve ever witnessed was the time my family went to a “quaint”
(read: haunted) rental out it nature when I was a kid. It was on Friday the 13th, no less. It
seemed okay in daylight, but once the sunset the vibe just kept getting weirder and weirder.
We discoved large dark stains under the recliners in the living area and then spiders started
crawling up through the pipes in the bathroom sink, shower, kitchen…everywhere. I lost it
when I found them nested in the bedspreads—literally hundreds of them. They just kept
coming. We suffered through one very strange night there and then hightailed it back to
civilization. It was like something out of a B horror movie!
8. If invited to dinner with your favorite (living or dead) horror creator, who would it
be and what would you bring?
I’d love to have a long talk with Algernon Blackwood. He’s written some of my favorite
supernatural tales and he also did quite a bit of research into the paranormal world, so much
so that people often conflated him with his occult detective character, John Silence. I think I’d
bring a bottle of whiskey so we could sit in his study by the fire, enjoy and glass, and chat.
9. What’s a horror gem you think most horror addicts don’t know about? (book,
movie, musician?)
I recently read The Woman in Black and watched the original film. Both were so genuinely
uncanny and creepy in unexpected ways. The story does such a fantastic job of showing
how dangerous it is to ignore or try to rationalize-away supernatural terrors when then come
our way. I know it’s a classic 80s book, but I definitely think more people should be reading it
today. Never has sunlight seems to strange as in this tale, just as terrifying as a dark and
stormy night.
10.Have you ever been haunted or seen a ghost?
Yes! They are everywhere. I have to be careful when I go into old houses or older parts of
any city. I like to pay attention to vibes and what my instincts are telling me, because ghosts
like to attach themselves to me and, well, it can take a bit to shake them off.
11.What are some books that you feel should be in the library of every horror addict?
As strange as this sounds, I think every horror addict should read fairytales—the original
ones, I mean. Those things are terrifying and bloody. Plus, they’re a good reminder that all
horror is about working through daily horrors, trauma, and psychological terrors.
12.What are you working on now?
I’m currently writing the sequel to Weep, Woman, Weep, titled Mercy Road. It’s about
Santos, the motorcyle-riding, monster-hunting herbalist that falls in love with Mercy in the
first book. He’s got some demons of his own to exorcise before they can get their happily
ever after.
13.Where can readers find your work? (URL #1 place for them to go.)
Readers can subscribe to my newsletter and access all my social media links by going to my
website at www.mariadeblassie.com. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me about my
work!
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