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There’s a brand new small press on the block, World Weaver Press! Their mission is to produce quality science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction and I was really impressed with their desire to give lots of different formats and styles a home, including their very first published project, Cursed: Wickedly Funny Stories by Susan Abel Sullivan. Cursed is a collection of smart and funny little short stories with a slightly twisted edge and we’re happy to be able to welcome Susan to the blog today to see how she does it!

Susan, we’re so happy to have you stop by.

S: Thank you, Barbara!

You have a completely crazy vast repertoire of writing genres and formats under your belt. Is there any particular genre that you like best, a direction you’d like to focus on? Anything you’ve ever done that you’ve vowed you’ll never do again?

S: I’m particularly drawn to quirky urban fantasy for both adults and YA. By quirky, I mean I tend to take traditional “horror/fantasy” tropes and turn them on their heads in a humorous or light hearted way like limericks that change fate, a haunted Velvet Elvis, vampire hookers from outer space, a restaurant that serves fried zombie dee-light (we Southerners will fry anything), and a were-daughter—a family dog that shape shifts into a teenaged girl during the full moon. There is nothing I wouldn’t try again, although I currently have no desire to write serious heroic fantasy.

I’ll admit, the cover for Cursed caught my eye first – it’s completely adorable. But the synopsis of it kept my interest since it’s completely different than anything I can recall reading lately. Can you tell us a little about it, why you decided to go with the format you did?

S: Thank you! I think the cover is adorable, too. My publisher designed it and did an outstanding job. As for the synopsis, I don’t chase the markets. I write what I write and it usually doesn’t fall neatly into any specific genre or even age group. We’re promoting the collection as targeted at YA, as well as the young at heart. As for the format, a short story collection seemed like a great way to test the waters of eBook publishing. I think this is something we’ll see more of as electronic publishing continues to grow.

I usually have to reign in my inner silly Monty Python/Beavis when I write because I’m guessing I’d be the only one laughing at my own jokes. It takes a brave, brave person to write humor for public consumption in my opinion – is it just something that comes easily for you or something you worry about?

S: Not really. I’ve had reactions to my work from laugh out loud funny to amusing to didn’t find it funny at all. I’m okay with that. Humor, like horror, is subjective. Once I realized that I wrote comedy in varying degrees—and there’s a whole backstory as to how that came about—I started deliberately tapping my funny bone. I write to my own sense of humor, but keep my target audience in mind, too. Many times I employ humor that works on several levels. Kids might find the idea of picketing midgets in the fractured fairytale “The King’s Story” to be fun, but adults will appreciate the workers-on-strike humor behind the use of the word scab.

Cursed found a home with a brand new publishing house – and you’re the very first author to be published with World Weaver Press. That sounds exciting!

S: Yes, it’s a definite honor and I’m thrilled to work with such excellent people. Every publisher in existence had to start somewhere. I’m excited to get in on the ground floor with World Weaver Press and grow with them.

Now that the book is out there in the wild, what new projects can we look forward to from you?

S: Next month I’ll be releasing another predominantly YA short story collection titled FRIED ZOMBIE DEE-LIGHT! GHOULISH, GHOSTLY TALES. I’m currently shopping my urban fantasy THE REAL HAUNTED HOUSEWIVES OF ALLISTER, AL to literary agents and publishers while revising the next book in the series THE WEREDOG WHISPERER. I’m also in the process of writing the discovery draft of a lighthearted YA novel THE SIMON SYLVESTRI SCHOOL FOR THE SUPERNATURALLY CHALLENGED. And as if all that weren’t enough, I’ve written two humorous spec fiction songs complete with music and lyrics that I plan to professionally produce in the near future.

Thank you so much for spending time with us today, Susan! I’ve listed links below where you can find Susan, World Weaver Press and purchase Cursed.

Thank you, Barbara!

Susan Abel Sullivan lives in a Victorian house in northeastern Alabama with two dogs, way too many cats, and a ghost. When not writing she likes to get her groove on by teaching Zumba classes. She is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop for speculative fiction. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous online and print publications, including Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, ASIM Best of Horror: Vol II, Beyond Centauri, New Myths, AlienSkin, and Writers’ Journal. She is currently working on a YA novel about the supernaturally challenged. Visit her website at susanabelsullivan.weebly.com or twitter @susan_abel.

Cursed: Wickedly Fun Stories

By Susan Abel Sullivan
Publisher: World Weaver Press
Publication Date: March 4, 2012
Genre: Speculative Fiction

Wickedly fun short stories featuring witches, werewolves, limericks that can change fate, and a sinister vine bent on murder and the destruction of Alabama! Inside quirky settings with creepy plots, characters discover new and unsettling powers as their worst fears manifest.

Let these stories draw you in with their lighthearted tone — then delight you with their wickedly sly sense of humor. You’ll laugh, you’ll shudder, you’ll think twice about taking a deal from a bucktoothed woman.