Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam is the author of the horror novel Grim Root, the short story collection Where You
Linger & Other Stories, and the horror novella Glorious Fiends.
Her short fiction and poetry has appeared in over 90 publications such as Popular Science, Lightspeed, and LeVar Burton Reads, as well as in six languages. By night, she’s a two-time finalist for the Nebula Award.
By day, she works as a Narrative Designer writing games for a mobile game.
She lives in Texas with her partner and a mysterious number of cats.
If you had to choose between being a mermaid or a dragon, which would you pick and why?
Mermaid, hands down. For one thing, the ocean is a relatively unexplored landscape, and we don’t get the opportunity to explore truly untouched places much anymore. I’ve always loved swimming, so getting to swim all day would be perfect. Plus, underwater, you wouldn’t hear the roar of highways, or the whine of electrical machinery, or really shrill neighbor kids. Plus, cool tail.
If you were to write a parody of one of your own books, what would be the most ridiculous twist you could add to the plot?
My husband makes fun of me, because I can’t write food without it being disgusting. I love body horror, so it’s a natural path for me to take. So, in a parody of my own work, the food would come to life and, alien-style, emerge from chests and other body cavities and ooze all over the world. Meanwhile, people would still be getting down, even with their chests torn apart, cause I can’t write a sexless book.
If you were to write a book about a group of superheroes with completely useless powers, what would their powers be?
I’m already doing this, kind of! I came up with the story for a video game dating sim/beat em up several years ago. It’s called Bad Heroes, and it’s about a woman who has the power of super-organization and her love interests, who are B-level superheroes. One of them is just a very angry, wet sea creature. Another falls in love with the weapons he creates. Now, I’m programming the game while a team writes and does the art for it—it should come out in a couple years.
If you had to choose between being a time traveler or a space explorer, which would you pick and why?
Time traveler, because space travel is terrifying! Plus, if you travel far enough into the future,
maybe everyone is exploring space like it’s nothing.
Mash together two of your favorite SF properties. What’s the new work about?
Hear me out: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, plus Star Trek. A slayer who has to battle aliens, which are all metaphors for common issues women deal with throughout the same phases of life Buffy covered: from young adult, to new adult, to adult adult. I’d watch the hell out of that.
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My debut novel just came out in June. It’s called Grim Root, and it’s about contestants in a reality TV dating show who have to spend a week in a haunted house to win the heart of a single man.
Additionally, we’re launching a Kickstarter for the game I’ve been working on, Bad Heroes, in the next couple of months.
Webste: www.bonniejostufflebeam.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bonniestufflebeam/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BonnieJoStuffle
Featured image: Cropped version of a Photo by Tony Najera
