An Interview with Sarah Karasek

Sarah Karasek lives in rural Pennsylvania with two long-haired cats and one long-haired human. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing from Rosemont College and is currently a freelance writer and copyeditor. She’s also an assistant editor at Space Squid Magazine. Weird Waypoints: A Speculative Travel Guide to the Between is an anthology she edited, and it’s full of really stellar stories by really rad authors.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

I was going through a really rough patch. I’d just broken up with an SO of four years, I had my bachelor’s degree but couldn’t find a job in my field, the cat I’d had since first grade just died, and a deer totaled my car on the way to take care of that ex’s cats while he was on vacation. Then of course there was the whole political climate. Sometimes it felt like I was just getting through my day so I could watch Colbert laugh at the world burning for an hour. Then I saw that this small press I’d been following since my sophomore year of college (Eraserhead Press) was accepting submissions from new authors. I knew I had to send them something. I decided I wanted to help people on both sides of the growing political divide find some common ground, and I wanted them to have something to laugh at while doing it.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

I’m generally terrible with titles except for those rare occasions when the title comes to me first and I write the story around it. This was not one of those occasions. I have to thank Rose O’Keefe of Eraserhead Press for improving on my first terrible attempts.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Oh, there are so many songs I wanted to Easter egg into this book. I mention Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” more than once, so obviously that would need to be included. “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine, “WeirdWood” by the Slow Poisoner, and “Goat Rider’s Horde” and “Night Marauders” by 3 Inches of Blood all have their parts too. I know I meant to fit “This is America” by Childish Gambino in there, but I honestly can’t remember whether I did. In general, I know there are Beastie Boys and Tank references. I don’t want to spoil too many Easter eggs though. I also imagined this genre based on an experience I had standing in a hallway between a folk metal concert and a bar having Latinx night. Something like that would have to be on this soundtrack!

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

For research on my novel-in-progress, I’ve been reading Community Ecology by Gary G. Mittelbach and Brian J. McGill (a literal textbook), Watchers by Dean Koontz (for the switches between POV, time, and place), and Out There: The Government’s Secret Quest for Extraterrestrials by Howard Blum. I finished Black Dog Folklore by Mark Norman months ago, but I highly recommend it to any folklore/cryptid fans who might be reading this.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

My dad made me want to write. Some of my earliest memories are of him reading Lord of the Rings to me and telling me his own variations of horror stories both old and Stephen King alike. He wrote off and on when he was in his twenties and briefly picked it back up after he retired. The novel I’m currently working on will be dedicated to him. He didn’t make it to read a finished draft, but every time I saw him over the last few years of his life, he’d ask how my characters were doing.

Where is your favorite place to write?

I love writing outside in nature with a notebook and pencil because it clears my head and gives me a chance to unplug, which makes it a lot easier to focus and tends to make room for inspiration. I frequent parks, cemeteries, and abandoned places. On the other hand, I enjoy writing in busy public spaces like bars and coffee shops because I’m super socially awkward and it forces me to get typing so I look busy and don’t accidentally make eye contact and have to actually converse with someone. There’s this great little hometown bar I go to with the perfect shadowy little corner table (picture that table where you meet the dude with the gruff voice in any RPG) where I can sit with my back to the wall and look out the window, watch the door, and listen in on the conversations at the bar when I run out of inspiration.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.