Anna Taborska is a British filmmaker and horror writer. She has written and directed two short films (Ela and The Sin), two documentaries (My Uprising and A Fragment of Being) and a one-hour television drama (The Rain Has Stopped), which won two awards at the British Film Festival Los Angeles in 2009. Anna also worked on seventeen other films, and was involved in the making of two major BBC television series: Auschwitz: the Nazis and the Final Solution and World War Two behind Closed Doors – Stalin, the Nazis and the West. 

Anna’s short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Best New Writing 2011, Best New Werewolf Tales Vol.1, The Best Horror of the Year Volume Four, The Best British Horror 2014 and Year’s Best Weird Fiction Volume One. Anna’s short story "Bagpuss" was an Eric Hoffer Award Honoree, and the screenplay adaptation of her story "Little Pig" was a finalist in the Shriekfest Film Festival Screenplay Competition, 2009. Anna’s debut short story collection, For Those who Dream Monsters, was released by Mortbury Press in 2013, with a novelette collection (working title Bloody Britain) to follow. 

When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
I come from a film-making background. The process of making a film is lengthy. It starts with writing a screenplay and, if funding is not forthcoming, often ends there – with an unproduced screenplay that only a handful of people ever read. While trying to find a producer for my film projects, I started writing horror short stories and, in November 2013, Mortbury Press (home of The Black Books of Horror) published eighteen of them in my first book, For Those who Dream Monsters. 
 
How did you pick the genre you write in?
The world is a cruel and terrifying place, and, if art is supposed to hold a mirror up to nature, then horror is the art form that does it best.

Plotter or pantser?
I’m a pantser aspiring to be a plotter. I usually know how my story will begin and end, but my characters often surprise me by doing and saying things that I wasn’t expecting. Usually when I write, I enter what I think of as “the zone”, where I lose time and the words seem to write themselves – that’s my favourite part of the writing experience (I can’t really call it a process, as I frequently don’t have much conscious control over it). I do realise that I need to get my act sorted, take control and start to plot, scheme and outline in a much more orderly fashion.

What do you enjoy reading?
I enjoy reading any type of horror – particularly short stories by my fellow writers. I love the horror classics too, including those by ladies of horror, such as Mary Shelley and Shirley Jackson.

Future plans
In terms of future plans, I am working on a screenplay based on a novelette which will hopefully be published next year in my new UK-based collection. The working title is Bloody Britain, but this might change.

Anna's contribution to Strangely Funny II, "Dirty Dybbuk", is one of the stories from  
For Those who Dream Monsters. It's the tale of a straight-laced Jewish girl who is possessed by a spirit with nymphomania. If you like it, check out the rest of the collection. For Those who Dream Monsters is available on Amazon and directly from Mortbury Press in the UK (where you can also view her trailer for it): http://mortburypress.webs.com/forthosewhodreammonsters.htm

You can view Anna’s full résumé here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1245940/, watch her films and book trailers here: http://www.youtube.com/annataborska and learn more about her short stories and screenplays here: http://annataborska.wix.com/horror .

Gustavo Bondoni is an Argentine writer with over a hundred stories published in ten countries, in four languages, and a winner in the National Space Society’s “Return to Luna” Contest and the Marooned Award for Flash Fiction in 2008.  His fiction has appeared in a Pearson High-school Test Cycle in the US, a Bundoran Press anthology, The Rose & Thorn, Albedo One, The Best of Every Day Fiction and others.

His contribution to Strangely Funny II tells the tale of two astronomers who have been stationed alone in the Chilean desert for several months. Everything has become dull until they find themselves held hostage by a dragon. Does he want to eat them? No... he needs them to help him sign up for Facebook.

“All right,” Ferdinand replied, bending over the keyboard to look at the screen. “There should be a pull-down menu of years to choose from. Here it is. Now what year were you born?”
“Well, that’s the problem, of course. I was born in northern Africa just as Hannibal was sailing for Italy. Of course, I’ve moved since then. But there’s no choice for years before 1900, and besides, I happen to know for a fact that you humans are so dumb that you lost count of the actual years a couple of times in the Middle Ages, so it’s all bunk anyway. What can we do?”
Ferdinand’s mouth fell open in shock; his salvation came from an unexpected source.
“The first thing you’re going to do,” Marko said, appearing from behind the bank of mainframes that had concealed his eavesdropping. “Is to lie about your age. You won’t get any friends at all if you tell them that you’re a dragon old enough to be their grandfather.”
“Technically, I’m much—”
“We won’t get anywhere unless you listen to me,” Marko interrupted. “I can make you popular in a day, famous in three. Now, do you want to bumble through this on your own, or do you want to learn at the knee of the master?”
The dragon looked at Ferdinand, who shrugged. “It’s not what I’d call orthodox, but he does get results – at least online.”
Dubiously, the reptile nodded.
“Good,” Marko said. “Now let’s start with the name.”
“My name is ancient and respected.”
“Are you kidding me? No one is called Tarnetisney. No one. Anywhere. This is the twenty-first century – you’d get beat up for having that kind of name even if you grew up in a yurt in Mongolia. You look like a Jack.” Saying this, he typed ‘Jack Draco’ in the name field, and pressed Enter. “And don’t even get me started on your hobbies. Classifying rocks? Unless you want to be catalogued as the biggest loser on the net, you need to get rid of that pronto. Let’s see…” his eyes lit up and he chuckled to himself. “Skydiving. Yeah, and we wouldn’t even be lying.”
Ferdinand left them to it and went to see if he could find something to eat that hadn’t been in a can for more than a year. Marko’s evil laughter drifted through the once-productive scientific outpost. Ferdinand almost felt sorry for the dragon.

How will this situation end? Will Tarnetisney eat the two astronomers, or will "Jack Draco" make hundreds of Farmville friends? Check out the rest of Gustavo's story for yourself! Strangely Funny II is now available in print and Kindle formats on Amazon, plus several other e-book formats on Smashwords! 

We're also giving away three copies on Goodreads - deadline is August 31st!

When she reads a good story, my cohort at MAHLLC usually tells me that I should take a look at it. When she read "Bedroom Bureau", though, Gwen told me I should go ahead and send a contract. I did read it, of course, and I saw what she meant. Today, we interview its author, Gwendolyn Kiste.

How did you come up with the idea for your story in Strangely Funny II?
Just before writing “Bedroom Bureau”, I had watched “The Sentinel”, a 1970s film about a portal to hell. It’s an underrated horror classic, but it’s also very dark. I thought it might be fun to take a similar premise, but inject humor and levity—including a whole lot of silly bureaucracy—to demons arriving in the human realm. Evil spirits aren’t usually sporting passports and making appointments, so the absurdity of the concept appealed to me.

Plotter or pantser?
I’d like to say plotter all the way, but if I’m being completely honest, my writing incorporates a bit of both. Plotting does help to keep me focused, but I enjoy the spontaneity from just writing on the fly and seeing where it goes.
 
Which author do you most admire, and why?
Shirley Jackson. Her ability to perceive darkness in the mundane of everyday life was so astute and ahead of her time. Plus, her language and characters are so richly imagined. I return to “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” again and again just to visit the Blackwood estate. Though there’s nothing overtly supernatural at play, it’s the most darkly magical novel I’ve ever read. I want a best friend like Merricat (though I’d be careful never to take sugar in my tea). Also, if you look into Shirley Jackson’s life, she had to deal with a lot of adversity in her family’s hometown, including injustice not so dissimilar from the townspeople in “The Lottery”. It’s always inspiring to see writers transform their personal hardships into indelible stories. 

Which place that you haven’t visited would you most like to go?
Loch Ness. Although I doubt Nessie would make an appearance, it would be fun to have a picnic there and just watch. You never know! I could get an awesome blurry image!
 
Okay, so you're an author. What do you enjoy reading?
Twentieth century horror stories are my favorites. Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, and, of course, Shirley Jackson inspire me every single day. 

Thanks for talking with us!

With parents who married on Halloween and read her Bradbury stories long before she started kindergarten, Gwendolyn Kiste considers horror, fantasy, and all things strange to be her birthright. Her genre editorials appear regularly on sites such as Horror-Movies.ca and Micro-Shock, and she is the resident “weird wanderer” for the travel-centric Wanderlust and Lipstick. With a background in cinema and theatre, she has written and directed several feature-length and short horror films, and her plays have been produced as part of the Big Read, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. An Ohio native, she currently resides in the wilds of Pennsylvania with her husband, Bill, and cat, McQueen.

Check out Gwendolyn's story for yourself in Strangely Funny II, plus twenty other hilarious stories! Strangely Funny II is now available in print and Kindle formats on Amazon, plus several other e-book formats on Smashwords! 

We're also giving away three copies on Goodreads - deadline is August 31st!

Instead of an interview with a Strangely Funny II author today, we thought you'd like something a little different: a taste from the book itself!

Our featured author today is Columbkill Noonan, who has an M.S. in Biology and teaches Anatomy and Physiology at a university in Maryland. An avid history buff, much of her writing, which could be best described as “supernatural historical horror”, combines historical events with elements of paranormal fantasy. 

In the excerpt below, young Anfernee Antonius Abercroft III is a new ghost who desperately wants his body to be found so he can travel to the Other Side. Unfortunately, each ghost only gets one power, and our hapless haunt's power is the ability to say "Groch" aloud. He's about to learn the disadvantages of dying at a Catholic school.

Jason Norton is a lifelong fan of comic books, sci-fi and monster-under-your-bed stories. He is a certified personal trainer and massage therapist. When he’s not playing volleyball, he studies wilderness survival skills. Honest. Not even he could make that up. Jason and his wife live in Powhatan, Virginia. He has a son, two cats and two dogs. He prefers the son.

His contribution to Strangely Funny II was "Seven Minutes", a tale of young people living in that idyllic time of good music and nutritious food... the Seventies. The story reminded of my own youth, except for the ending. Then again, no one invited me to play Spin the Bottle. I didn't realize there was a low survival rate. 

When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
I've wanted to write ever since I was a kid, but I never pursued it seriously until 2012 (save for some incomplete comic book scripts). When I was six, I wrote a story called "Murder at the Mausoleum" or something to that effect--it was way too macabre for a kid that age, whatever the case. I folded up sheets of white paper and wrote and illustrated the whole thing in pencil.  Sadly, it never became a best-seller.  Later, one of my friends and I created fictional lab reports about cryptids and unexplained phenomena.  Incidentally, I don't think I got a date till my senior year of high school. 

How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?
I am the product of comic book literacy; I'll never be accused of aping Shakespeare, that's for sure  .I usually write horror; I have always been a fan of EC's Tales from the Crypt comics and love the dark humor and wicked twists those books were famous for.  I do a little sci-fi and pulp as well and am currently working on what I hope will be the first in a series of two-fisted pulp stories in the vein of Doc Savage.   

How did you come up with the idea for your story in Strangely Funny II?
I was washing dishes when the first line hit me. I'm not sure why I was thinking about Spin the Bottle--I definitely had no personal frame of reference for seven minutes in heaven.  But once I had that first line, it sort of just took off on its own. The story wasn't written specifically for Strangely Funny II--in fact I wrote it months before the call for submissions was even announced--but I felt like this anthology would be the perfect home for it.  I got it in just under the deadline and was amazed that it was accepted. 

Plotter or pantser?
A little of both. Sometimes I have a concept and then work around it.  Sometimes I've got the whole thing worked out before I ever sit down at the laptop.  And a  lot of the time, a first line hits me and I have no idea what I'm going to do after that.  But if I think that first line is good enough, I'll do everything I can to work it out.

Which author do you most admire, and why?
Richard Matheson.  He could take ten pages, give you the barest bones of description and detail and haunt you for days, weeks--sometimes years afterward.  If you don't believe me, just go read "The Edge" in his Steel anthology.  Out of respect for potential young readers, I can't write the phrase that came out of my mouth when I finished that story. 

Thank you for talking with us!

Jason's work has appeared at/in Bewildering Stories, Fiction Vortex, Gothic City Press, Daylight Dims, e-Horror, The Horror Zine, Inner Sins, Dark Moon Digest and Pro Se Productions. He currently has stories awaiting publication at Nightmare Illustrated, Horrified Press, and Pro Se Productions. His story "Creeper" is slated to appear in Angelic Knight Press's upcoming Demon Rum and Other Evil Spirits anthology.

Jason Andrew's short fiction has appeared in markets such as Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic SF (Harper Collins), Frontier Cthulhu: Ancient Horrors in the New World (Chaosium), and Coins of Chaos (Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing). In 2011, his story “Moonlight in Scarlet” received an honorable mention in Ellen Datlow’s List for Best Horror of the Year.

His most recent project is The Future Embodied: Evolution of the Human Body, a collection that explores how science and technology might alter our bodies in years to come. 

We host his story, "Victory of the Dark Lord", in Strangely Funny II. It gives the reader a real behind-the-scenes look into the world of sword and sorcery. We would like to give you a behind-the-scenes view of the writer as well.

When did you know you wanted to become a writer?
There is a legend in my family about that very moment when I was around five years old. I loved to watch the Creature Feature. My grandmother loved Perry Mason.   We had a difference of opinion about what to watch on television. She won and so entertained myself by writing a picture story about the werewolf eating Perry Mason and thus canceling the show. It caused a reaction. I never looked back.

How did you pick the genre/setting/era you (usually) write in?
I tend to wander a lot between genres and settings.  I have a special place in my heart for fantasy. I think it was because my first love was The Hobbit.

How did you come up with the idea for your story in Strangely Funny II?
I always wondered about the secret lives of the comedic sidekick and then a question occurred to me. What if the villain conquered the hero by tricking him into being his best friend?

Do you think certain genres lend themselves to a humorous twist?
I think you find the funny in things that you love. I tend to write horror so this was a fun twist for me.

Plotter or pantser?
Typically, I am a plotter, but it is strange to try to plan for humor.

Which author do you most admire, and why?
Neil Gaiman can do it all and you always know a story he wrote just by the style.

Which place that you haven’t visited would you most like to go?
I’d love to visit Scotland. One day!

Okay, so you're an author. What do you enjoy reading?
I read everything from biographies, history books, and novels.  I devour anthologies like crazy.

Thanks for talking with us!

Read "Victory of the Dark Lord" for yourself, along with twenty other amusing tales in Strangely Funny II,  now available in print and Kindle on Amazon. It's also available in a wide array of e-book formats on Smashwords.

What would a book launch be without some giveaways? We're giving away three print copies of Strangely Funny II on Goodreads! Be sure to sign up before the 31st!

But wait, there's more! Right now, we're GIVING AWAY free e-copies of the original Strangely Funny on Smashwords! Go to our Facebook Page at:

https://www.facebook.com/MysteryAndHorrorLlc

to get the coupon code for your free copy!


Can life get any better? Okay, okay, if we had winning lottery numbers it might. But in the meantime, take a fun read instead!

Our first 2014 anthology, Mardi Gras Murder, is already up at Amazon. Have no fear, authors, we have at least three more planned.
The first is Strangely Funny II, this year's collection of humorous paranormal stories. The guidelines are available on our Submissions page, and we hope to have the cover shortly.
The other two will be:

• History and Horror, Oh My!
  
• History and Mystery, Oh My!
  

We haven't set the guidelines for these yet, but one will be a collection of historical horror stories and the other will be a collection of historical mysteries.
In this case, 'historical' means your story should be set in a time at least fifty years ago. You know how they're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles playing the Ed Sullivan show? Yeah, your story should be set during that time or before.
Let us not discuss members of the MAHLLC staff who qualify as historical under these standards... please. Just warm up those keyboards!