1). Tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m fiercer than I look and softer than I like to let on. I believe in second chances and unexplained connections between people. I’m happiest when I can watch sunlight sparkle on water and hear the wind moving through leaves. Because making a difference in this world is important to me, I teach and try to write stories that entertain and make the reader think at the same time.
2). Who is your favorite vampire author?
I love it all! From old school like Bram Stoker and John Polidori to more recent stories by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Tananarive Due. If it’s got fangs, I’m interested.
3). If you had the choice, would you be a vampire?
Depends on what sort, I suppose. The gift of more time definitely sounds like a boon to me right about now when I’m facing turning fifty, but giving up sunlight might be more than my heart could take.
4). Who is your favorite vampire?
Eli, from Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Creepy children are a favorite element of horror for me, and Eli gave me the shivers.
5). What do you like the most about Slay?
When I first heard the premise and saw the anthology call, I sat up and paid attention. Vampires are fascinating, but so many stories about them seem to go down the same paths again and again. This collection is going to take us to some unexpected places, and there’s nothing I like better as a reader than a feeling of discovery and surprise.
6). What inspired you to write His Destroyer?
Most of my writing, even when I’m not writing horror, is about things that scare me. As a teacher and a mother, harm coming to children sends cold arrows into my heart, so this story taps into that.
7). Tell us a bit about your story.
“His Destroyer” draws from the Biblical story of the ten plagues of Egypt, one of the stories that frightened me the most when I was a child. The idea that all those children paid for the crimes of one man tore at my budding sense of justice and fairness, though I’m sure that’s not the lesson my grandmother intended me to take.
The thing is that the stories, at least as I was told them, don’t give much detail about exactly what happened--who the destroyer was and how exactly the first-born sons of Egypt met their demise. So, that left room for my imagination.
8). What do you hope to accomplish with His Destroyer?
I hope at least one reader gasps aloud as they read. Double win if later on they cry.
9). Will there be more stories of Dienihatiri?
I don’t have plans to bring Dienihatiri back for more stories at this point, but I never say never! We’ll see what she has to say about it.
10). How do we keep up with all things Samantha Bryant?
Knowing my name is usually enough to find me, but you can definitely start with my website: http://samanthabryant.com I’m on Instagram and Twitter as @samanthabwriter and on Facebook as @samanthadunawaybryant so that people who knew me when I was a Dunaway can find me, too. I’m best known for my Menopausal Superhero novels, so googling that phrase is a good start, too. Of course the verb best way to get all my author news is to subscribe to my once-monthly newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bwgsxD
11). What advice would you give to Slay readers about this anthology?
Buckle up! You’re about to see 29 ways to slay, each something you haven’t seen before.
To read His Destroyer by Samantha Bryant and the other amazing stories in this fantastic anthology, preorder your e-book today!
For more exciting speculative fiction titles,
visit Mocha Memoirs Press
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