Chris Marrs lives with her partner in Calgary, Alberta where it’s a lot colder and drier than the West Coast she’s used to.
She’s published novellas and has had short stories appear in various anthologies, most notably the Bram Stoker award winning The Library of the Dead (edited by Michael Bailey 2015) and the Bram Stoker award nominated A Darke Fantastique (edited by Jason Brock 2014).
More recently, her story, TO YOU I OFFER MYSELF, appeared in Solstice in Purgatory (Edited by Sarah Pratt and Rob Bose 2023), PIECES OF PRUE in Terrace V: Penitent’s Gold (Edited by Sarah Pratt and Rob Bose 2022) and THE FROSTLINGS in Prairie Gothic (edited by Stacey Kondla 2020).
She’s an active member of the Horror Writers Association.
If you had to choose between being a time traveler or a space explorer, which would you pick and why?
I would definitely pick time traveler over space explorer. The thought of plunging through space in a ship freaks me out, touches on that low-grade claustrophobia. And if something happens to the ship, you’re stuck floating there until you’re either rescued or run out of air. No thank you. I’m a joy to travel on an airplane with…
If you were stranded on a deserted planet with only one book to read, but it turned out to be one of your own, how would you feel?
Since I’ve only written short fiction and novellas, I would be wondering if I’d not only gotten myself stranded on a deserted planet, but if I’d also fell into an alternate universe.
If you had to describe your writing style using a fantasy-themed board game, which game would you choose and why?
Betrayal at House on The Hill
I’m a plantser (part pantser, part plotter) and every time I think I have my characters going where I want and need them to, one of them inevitably turns on me.
If you had to choose between being a mermaid or a dragon, which would you pick and why?
I grew up on the ocean and love everything about it so I would say mermaid. Though not the Disney-type of mermaid many of us think of when we think mermaid. I’d be more “protector of the sea” (move over, Aquaman). Lure the misbehavers to their demise. Sink a few boats with my orca pals. Kelp for hair and talons for fingernails.
Name the strangest/weirdest place you’ve ever written. What made it so odd?
A tent at Mosquito Lake, Haida Gwaii, during the annual Trout Derby. I think that pretty much speaks for itself…
How have you used the phrase “I’m a writer” to avoid an unpleasant situation? What was it?
I used to bartend at a pub. Every once in a while you’d get the drunk person who wouldn’t listen to reason whether it be paying their tab or relinquishing their car keys to our designated driver. One night—I think it was a full moon night—one of our regulars decided he would get belligerent with my younger co-worker when she gave him his tab. Argued about the total and how many he’d had, and then started insulting her. I came out from behind the bar and said “Hey G–, did you know I write horror? Means I know about ten different ways to get rid of a body.” He, being an avid reader, forgot the argument and started chatting about the books he’d read. Then he apologized to my co-worker, paid the tab, and didn’t argue when we arranged the designated driver for him.
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Chris Marrs can be found on Facebook and Instagram – @hauntedmarrs.
