Candle in the Attic Window, an anthology of Gothic horror, is the latest release from Innsmouth Free Press. We are interviewing some of the book’s contributors. Today Amanda C. Davis talks about her poem “A Fixer-Upper ”
What makes your poem Gothic?
The setting. I started with a typical Algernon Blackwood-type house on the moors and eventually decided to cram in as many creepy elements as I could.
What was the source of inspiration for your poem?
The goal was to be as funny as possible, while still invoking a genuinely eerie haunted house. When it occurred to me that folks today are more likely to associate the word “heiress” with Paris Hilton and her generation of rich kids than with the morose aristocracy of years past, that got me started.
What are your favourite Gothic movies and books?
I only came up with a few stock answers – Poe, Dracula – so I went Googling to see what counts. One of the list-makers included The Devil’s Backbone. It hadn’t occurred to me to consider it a Gothic movie, but it’s absolutely one of my favourites. Looking at the mood, the brilliantly spare-but-essential supernatural element, and all those wonderful themes of secrecy and life after death and unfulfilled promise entombed in that unexploded bomb in the courtyard…yeah, I can see it. So, that’s my answer. It’s an amazing movie, absolutely not to be missed.
If you were the star of a Gothic TV show, what would your character be like? Would you be good or evil?
Ha! I’d be the crazy old aunt they keep in the attic and don’t talk about. Just send up food once in a while, and pay no attention to the incessant Victrola tunes and occasional screaming. I’d escape eventually to wreak havoc and possibly revenge, so I guess that makes me a force of evil, but I’m really just misunderstood.
Bio: Amanda C. Davis likes her houses haunted and her moors thick with mist. Her horror stories have appeared in Shock Totem, Triangulation: End of the Rainbow, and Necrotic Tissue, among others. Find out more about her, or read more of her work, at http://www.amandacdavis.com.