Kaos Emslie (they/them) lives in Southern Arizona with their two children and three cats. They are surrounded by pens, paper, and books constantly. Their projects generally fall under the horror genre, but sometimes have romantic or fantasy elements. They have a dangerous caffeine addiction and are constantly fighting to keep a hold of their ever-slipping sanity.
Author Links:
Instagram: @nightmare.food_
Threads: @nightmare.food_
Website: kaosemslie.wixsite.com
What drew you to eldritch horror and what does that mean to you as a genre?
I think I just sort of fell into it with this story. I had been trying to read Lovecraft’s work for a year or two but he is boring as all Hell, so I had almost no understanding of the genre, I just knew something from somewhere else was bound to a House in a coastal town and it drove people insane, and that’s how I started this whole series in 2006. Now, I know a lot more about cosmic/eldritch/Lovecraftian horror and certain things that go with it. I throw a lot of psychological horror elements into my stories as well.
What were your main influences for Slaughterhouse, and how did they help to shape the book?
The comic series Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez and the book House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski really played the biggest roles in inspiring the story at its core. Without those two works, the story wouldn’t have developed into what it is now. It may never have existed. But Slaughterhouse, as its own standalone story, is a roadmap to madness, it is a period of my life wrapped up into neatly packaged chapters and scenes, it is a step behind the proverbial curtains into my mind. I took a lot of inspiration from music for this book–the chapters are all titled after songs.
What are the main themes of Slaughterhouse and how did these develop, did you always know you wanted to write a book centring on them or did they develop more organically?
Identity is the main theme of the book, and it’s strange because it feels like it has always been this way, but I didn’t really know what it was until I sat down and really took a deep look at the story and what I wanted from it. On the outside, it looks like a simple Good vs Evil story, but when you get down into it, there’s this Search for Self that Nightmare does, and with each move forward toward the end, they learn more and more about themselves as a person, as a god.
Tell us about the queer and mental health/disability rep in your novel, and why this is important to you.
Nightmare Carroll, our Main Character, is Nonbinary and Demisexual/Bisexual. They start the story in a Sapphic relationship. Nightmare was raised by a father who was there as a breadwinner, not a parent, and a narcissistic mother. They have C-PTSD. They have intrusive thoughts, Alexithymia (“no words for emotions”), and racing thoughts, and feel like they have trouble with empathy. Nightmare has ADHD and their experiences are based on my own. This book has been incredibly cathartic to write, not just because I feel myself represented in my characters, but because Nightmare has carried me through some extremely tough times. If it weren’t for them, for their story, I don’t know if I’d be where I am right now.
How do horror and sapphic romance go together in the novel?
Oh, I wouldn’t call it a romance–it’s all rather tragic, really. But we couldn’t have the horror without the love story. Nightmare needed a connection, they needed something emotional that made them human, a friend or a pet or something. Well, I wrote in Hannah and she sort of wiggled her way into Nightmare’s heart and I couldn’t stop it once it started. Lol.
Slaughterhouse (05 Oct 2024) is Book 2 of A Perfect Nightmare: can it be read first? What is the best way into your writing and what would you recommend to a new reader?
I’m all for reading books out of order! But seriously, if you want to stick to chronological order, Paint It Black is first, then Slaughterhouse. Serenade is sort of a prequel novella featuring Andy Hines, so it’s kind of a side quest you can check out between books.
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