Template:FeaturedAuthor/October 2016

Introduction:

Hi, I’m ChristianWallis. I’ve been active for several months now and have written for most of my life although I probably only became even remotely competent in the last year or so. I love horror because of the sheer imagination that it possesses and I often use my stories as a way to feature some strange idea that came into my head late at night. All of my stories have monsters because I like the imaginative draw that comes from trying to make a unique living thing. But I’m also a fan of violence, gore, and raw unapologetic pulpiness. Horror, after all, should make you uncomfortable and I dislike the stigmatization of horror’s pulpy qualities.

Many of my stories also feature a common trait of things pretending to be other things. Whether it’s the witch from The Witch & The Fatso, the dog from Give it Everything, or the boyfriend from Ixodida, I find the idea of imposters and parasites fascinating. This ties into my love of nature and the way that, in my opinion, it often contains more nightmare fuel than most stories.

Selected Stories:

Ixodida – Ixodida is the Latin name for the arachnid order containing ticks. Ticks are horrible nasty parasites straight from the hellmouth that is the spider’s close family. I wanted to take that idea and combine it with Give it Everything’s premise with a few notches turned up.

I Have Always Been a Monster – A short story detailing the conflict between a great hero and a terrible creature. Think Conan the barbarian meets Half Life.

The Witch & The Fatso – Warning this story is pretty far out in terms of being grotesque. I wanted two interconnected stories that follow on from one another but work as standalone entries. One focuses on a horrible witch who is still alive in the modern age. And the second focuses on the terrible outcomes of her old behaviour.

Other Projects:

I’d like to bring my attention to the series of blogs I’ve written called “A Look into…”, the most recent of which uses a functional example to help offer advice on writing. A lot of these blogs are shaped by my experiences offering help on the Writer’s Workshop and tend to focus on the most common problems I see over and over. Also if anyone wants to join the collaboration then I'd like to bring attention to that and let you know submissions are still open!