Elad Haber has been quietly publishing short fiction for more than twenty years. He attended Clarion when he was eighteen years old. You might find his stories in various forgotten corners of the Internet or in the dusty backrooms of basement bookstores. He has recent publications from Lightspeed Magazine, the Simultaneous Times Podcast, and Underland Arcana. His debut short story collection, “The World Outside” will be published by Underland Press in late 2024.
Website: eladhaber.com
Twitter/X: @MusicInMyCar
BlueSky: @eladhaber.bsky.social
Threads: @ehaberrr
Book Link: underlandpress.com/world-outside
- Can you talk us through the process of ordering the collection, and the selection of the stories in each section?
The stories in The World Outside are sequenced in a loose chronological order but also grouped together by theme. It is my hope that readers will be able to track my writing journey through the stories themselves, both in craft and in subjects I was thinking and working through as I developed as a writer.
I’ve always worn my inspirations proudly and after being introduced by a friend to the work of Angela Carter, specifically The Bloody Chamber collection, I set out to write a series of dark fairytale retellings and those were among my first publications. I always fashioned myself a Science Fiction writer because that was the majority of what I was reading at the time (although that will change), so the next few stories are me stretching my SF muscles with stories set after the apocalypse, stories about time (but not time travel), AI, talking stars, and imagining a future so hot, people take a drug called Chill so they can venture outside.
As I matured and branched out with my reading consumption, a discerning reader will be able to see Magic Realism and Horror start to filter into my work. Ruminations on death and grief, my take on a Golem story, and some experiments in psychological horror are the next few stories. And finally, with the last group, a bit of a homecoming with some overt Science Fiction pieces, a superhero story, a story about drugs that make you forget and some that make you remember, and imagining a future where sleep has been genetically banned.
2. What about short fiction led you to choose this form as the vehicle for your stories and themes? Do you think any stories would work in other formats?
I’ve always been drawn to the short form. I was that nerd in the high school lunch room reading copies of Fantasy and Science Fiction. When I started writing and submitting, probably too early as a awkward teenager, there were just a handful of print magazines and they seemed like these exclusive towers where the barrier to entry was so high and the quality of the writing so strong. Yet, I tried. I was young and confident and I was lucky enough to get into Clarion when I was just eighteen and about to graduate high school. It was a wonderful experience for me and even though it took many years after to finally start publishing, the lessons I learned – and the friends I made – were priceless.
Going back to your question, I’m a big fan of TV. If novels are like movies, short stories are like TV episodes. Sometimes they are short and quick and sometimes they linger for a while and demand a followup. That’s the beauty of short fiction. You could tell an incredible beginning to end narrative in a thousand words. They strip away side stories and meanderings and are lean and direct as if the writer is calling you over for a hushed confession that only you can hear.
As for other formats, one of my favorite pieces in the book (also my first professional sale) is “Number One Hit” and a few years ago a friend of mine reached out to me about adapting that story into a short film. We worked together on a script and started figuring out where we could shoot it. As often happens with these things, the project lost steam and was shelved but I heard recently there’s someone out in Las Vegas is trying hard to make that short film so I’m hopeful that will happen.
3. Do you have a personal favourite story (or favourite few), and what do you think the reader response will be to them?
I’ve been lucky enough to live in three major cities in my lifetime. I grew up in New York City, went to college in San Francisco, and have lived the last twenty years of my life in Miami. A few years ago, I was thinking about the stories I was writing and realized I had never written a story set specifically in Miami, this very important place where I’ve settled down, gotten married, had a daughter. So I started thinking about what a story set in Miami would be like and I started thinking about how hot it gets down here. But I didn’t want to write a story about climate change and its global effects, I wanted something that was more concrete and personal. I’m also a big dog person. I love having a dog and taking them for walks but then I started thinking about how would you take a dog for a walk if just being outside in the heat was dangerous? That was the kernel of the idea for “Stay in Your Homes.”
I put a lot of my various obsessions into that story. I’m a huge Alice in Wonderland fan and I kept an expanded edition of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass on my desk for years for inspiration. I also like to write about big drug-fueled parties as a kind of homage to my youth (not that I went to many of those types of parties, but I would have if I had been invited). Also, that story has an interesting publication story. It was originally rejected by the publisher and then only after they announced the Table Of Contents for the issue, the publisher emailed me to tell me the story had stuck with her and she was a bit hesitant about some of the darkness in the story, she said she had to publish something that really spoke to her. Additionally, it came out during the pandemic when we were all staying in our homes.
In terms of what I would want readers to take away from that piece, I think anytime I look forward in writing a Science Fiction story, I am very interested in ways in which a future civilization adapts to their environment. Whether it’s climate related or the aftermath of some kind of human folly, I believe humans will always find ways to survive. That’s the nature of all animals. In fiction, we always want to focus on the character. And, for my style of writing, I use a lot of first person perspective so character is always first but those background aspects of a civilization surviving allows for some kind of hope, even in a sad story.
4. Are there themes you would like to explore further that didn’t make it into this collection?
It’s clear we live in a fraught political climate, both here in the United States and abroad. I’ve always written stories that center on families or single characters, but as I grow and continue to develop as a writer, I’d like to cast my net wider. I’d like to write stories that imagine larger futures, either hopeful or dystopian, but stories will always have people trying to survive or live better and in that way, even the darkest stories have hope within them.
5. What is next for you in your writing journey?
For me, continuing to write and publish is the reward for two decades in the field. I’m hopeful the book will raise my profile a bit so when I do have something published, it gets more attention in this crowded landscape of published fiction. There’s so much good work out there and I just want to be one more voice sharing my stories. And, maybe, if I’m lucky again, to put out another collection in the future.
6. If you had to pick 3 things you want readers to take away from the collection, what would they be?
Great question! I wanted readers to really get to know me through this book. I included a short biographical statement early in the book as an introduction, not so much to the themes and subjects of the book, but me, personally. Then I let the stories speak for themselves and allow a discerning reader to get know me through my published work. I also wanted to put out a book that was different than your average single author collection. Often, writers pick a lane and stick to it, whether it’s a genre or general subject matter. But I’ve never been able to sit still like that. I imagine myself a slipstream or interstitial writer, a journeyman balancing on the lines and adding Fantasy elements into Science Fiction and vice versa. And over the last decade or so, taking in the amazing things happening in the Horror genre and trying my best to join that conversation.
And finally, to add my voice to the chorus of “Never Give Up.” As I mentioned earlier in this interview, I was lucky enough to attend Clarion at eighteen years old. But my writing journey since then has been filled with mountains of rejections. I’m forty-four now and putting out my first book. So to all the other writers out there, writing and getting rejected or publishing but feeling like nobody really cares: I see you. I believe in you. Never give up.
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