NAME: Sumiko Saulson
CREATIVE FIELD: Author / Poet
WEBSITE: sumikosaulson.com
AUTHOR LINKS:
Publisher: mochamemoirspress.com
Zines: dookyzines.com
Facebook: /sumikoska
Instagram: @sumikosaulson
TikTok: @sumikoska
AUTHOR BIO:
Bram Stoker Award® Finalist for Poetry for The Rat King (2022, Dooky Zines) and Melancholia (2024, Bludgeoned Girls Press). Elgin Award Nominee (2022). 2018 Afrosurrealist Writers Award, and 2021 Ladies of Horror Readers’ Choice Award winner.
Their novel is Somnalia: The Metamorphoses of Flynn Keahi, their latest book of dark poetry, Dance of Necromance: Poetry Book of the Dead coming out this April! Both are available from Mocha Memoirs Press.
INTERVIEW
What got you into horror to begin with – what’s your core Horror memory?
My parents were both horror fans, and as a small child in the 1970s I remember being 5 years old at a drive in move theater playing on the slides and swings in the playground, when the start of the movie “It’s Alive” came on.
We knew that we were supposed to go back to the car with our parents when the cartoons were over, but my brother and I were both treated to a baby leaping out of the womb to eat a doctor’s face before we made it back. I’ve been interested in body horror ever since.
My literary introduction to horror was Peter Straub’s Ghost Story when I was in 6th grade.
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?
I love supernatural horror (Anne Rice, Stephen King, LA Banks), vampire novels, transgressive body horror – filmwise think David Cronenberg’s “Videodrome” and “The Fly“, writing wise think Clive Barker’s “The Cabal” (or the movie version “Nightbreed“), Anne Rice’s “Taltos” and “Servant of the Bones” also serve great transgressive body horror.
Psychological horror like Toni Morrision’s “The Bluest Eye“, “Beloved” and “Sula,” political Jordan Peele’s “Us” and “Get Out.”
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?
On April 1, 2026 Mocha Memoirs Press will release my third full book of poetry, “Dance of Necromance: Poetry Book of the Dead,” a book of poetry about ghosts, banshees, death omens, death and loss that walks in the footsteps of one of my foundational influences, Edgar Allan Poe.
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!)
Toni Morrison – Sula
Anne Rice – Servant of the Bones
Steven King – The Stand
Clive Barker – The Cabal
LA Banks – The Forsaken
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?
My poetry (which I am best known for as a twice Bram Stoker nominated horror poetry) is sort of Edgar Allan Poe meets Jordan Peele – themes of death and supernatural creatures associated with its many faces (ghosts, banshees, zombies, vampires), and political themes (poems that use the supernatural to illustrate current issues and events).
My novel series The Metamorphoses of Flynn Keahi is more a mixture transgressive body horror (along the lines of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, Nightbreed, Candyman – or, some of Anne Rice’s more transgressive body horror works like Taltos) meets the Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris.
Introduce us to something you’ve created, and pitch it to the audience!
“And They Lived Long Enough to Bury Their Dead” is a dark fantasy comic zine about a group of Gen X goth/punk folks growing older and processing the deaths of loved ones.
A paranormal urban fantasy, it centers around Billie, a nonbinary African-American alternative rocker from Oakland who develops the psychic ability to see and communicate with ghosts.
Their nesting partner, Davis, a formerly homeless African-American transgender man, their twin brother Sean, a ghostcat, and the ghost of their mother, are other central characters.
In the story Billie, Davis, and their Gen X circle of friends are coming to terms with aging, the declining health (and loss) of their parents, and adjusting to a new post-pandemic world.
It is an urban fantasy taking place in Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area.