NAME: A.M. Loweecey
CREATIVE FIELD: Author
WEBSITE: amloweecey.com
AUTHOR LINKS:
Facebook: @amloweecey
Instagram: @amloweecey
Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/amloweecey
Amazon Author Titles: amazon.com/Alice-Loweecey/e/B00420G03A
AUTHOR BIO:
Baker of brownies and tormenter of characters, A.M. Loweecey grew up watching Scooby-Doo mysteries and Hammer horror films, which explains a whole lot. When A.M. isn’t finding new ways to mystify readers and make them laugh, she’s growing vegetables in the garden and water lilies in the koi pond.
A.M. also writes the Renegade Exorcist series (starting with Demons & Ramen), has 9 books in the Giulia Driscoll, P.I., mystery series (as Alice Loweecey) and 2 stand-alone horrors as Kate Morgan: Staking Cinderella and The Redeemers. She also has several anthologized short stories.
INTERVIEW
What got you into horror to begin with – what’s your core Horror memory?
My dad! Starting when I was 5, every Friday we’d pop popcorn and watch the Friday Night Horror Movie on local TV together, He taught me to enjoy horror and that he’d keep me safe from anything scary on the TV. This started my love of Hammer films and delightfully bad horror movies.
Do you have a favourite horror subgenre (or more than one) and if so, what is it? What/Who are your favourite books/films/podcasts/artists/creatives working in that subgenre?
“So bad it’s good” horror–the kind where you can see the zipper in the monster suit (The Alligator People), and immersive Gothic horror–classic Hammer Films for example.
For novels, I still enjoy how H.P. Lovecraft can make me scared in broad daylight, although I’d like to time-travel to the early 20th century and punch that bigoted git right in the face.
Also Gwendoyln Kiste, Alma Katsu, Victor LaValle, Simon Paul Wilson, Shirley Jackson.
What is the horror project of your heart – perhaps something you’ve already got out there, something you’re working on now, or something you’d like to do?
The Renegade Exorcist series–because it’s a series now!
The first book, Demons & Ramen, was the book I had the most fun writing, and I’ve just completed the first draft of the second book.
A close second is The Ringmaster’s Brother–out soon from Epic Publishing, It’s my retelling of the Oresteia set in a traveling carnival and I had to write 11 books before I had the chops to tackle it.
Which 5 horror books can you not stop thinking about, or have influenced you most in some way? (If not books, you can pick 5 films, 5 pieces of art, 5 songs… or mix & match!)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle,
The Colour out of Space,
When the Wind Blows (the graphic novel just slightly edges out the film IMO),
Ringu (the original–a movie which achieved the impossible: it scared me for the first time in decades),
and R Point (a Korean horror masterclass in atmosphere).
If you had to describe the tones and themes of your own work in terms of movies, books, songs, or art, what would you choose and why?
The Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple movies. Yes, they’re mysteries, but they blend humor, in-depth characterization, mystery, and some light scares and are eminently rewatchable.
I’ve had people tell me they reread my books because they enjoy a good beach read, which is my goal: entertainment and escape. My horror is still “beach read” worthy because I mix in a bit of humor to ease the tension (and gore, and terror).
Introduce us to something you’ve created, and pitch it to the audience!
Meet Emma: the 1200-year-old shapeshifter. My renegade exorcist Denis Kaine released her from a Roman catacomb. She tracks him down and proceeds to gleefully push all his buttons.
He’s a loner; she won’t go away.
He’s angry; she teases him.
He’s got a truckload of baggage; she raids his fridge, muscles into his demon-banishing business, shapeshifts into a multitude of mythological creatures to entertain herself and watch his head explode.
And it does, again and again.