Horror Q&A: Matias Travieso-Diaz (Something Wicked This Way Rides)
“Showing that ‘horror’ things do happen in Texas was a lot of fun for me.”
The short story collection Something Wicked This Way Rides from Dark Owl Publishing is an anthology featuring some two-dozen authors exploring the Old West with a twisted view, showcasing the 1800s through stories featuring the wicked, supernatural, demonic and just plain weird.
Matias Travieso-Diaz contributes "Showdown in the Panhandle. " A Cuban-American author who is a retired engineer and attorney, Matias Travieso-Diaz has authored many short stories of various lengths and genres. Over two dozen of his stories have been published in or are scheduled to be published in the likes of Dream of Shadows Magazine; Emerging Worlds; The Patchwork Raven; Czykmate Productions—How HORROR-able Anthology; the New Orbit Magazine; and many more.
In this interview, the author talks about his fascination with Cryptids, his pride in being such an eclectic writer, and his first two novels.
More interviews in this series:
Q1 What’s your favorite thing about mashing up horror with the Old West?
I usually don’t associate the independent, self-assured, no-nonsense nature of the stereotypical Texas character with horror inducing situations. Showing that "horror" things do happen in Texas was a lot of fun for me.
Q2 Did you approach your story as a western story with elements of horror—or vice versa?
My story, "Showdown in the Panhandle," is essentially a horror story about the general human condition, but the Texas backdrop served to emphasize the points I intended to make.
Q3 What inspired this particular story of yours?
I have a fascination with Cryptids, that is, humanoids (like the “Yeti”) that are similar to the general population yet differ from the rest of us in very significant ways. My interest centers on seeing how “regular folks” react to Cryptids; the Cryptids’ otherness frequently elicits violent rejection instead of acceptance of their differences. Placing a Cryptid in the violent Texas Panhandle of the Reconstruction era allowed me to highlight the adverse reaction of the population to those who deviate from the norm.
Q4 How does your story in this anthology compare/contrast with your usual fiction?
I take pride in being an eclectic fiction writer: about one third of my seventy-plus short stories can, like "Showdown in the Panhandle," be classified as horror; another third are speculative stories, mostly in the genres of fantasy, science-fiction, and alternate history; the balance fall in the literary fiction category.
Q5 What do you want to tell Monster Complex readers about your latest or upcoming work?
To date, over fifty of my short stories have been published or accepted for use by magazines, anthologies and podcasts. I look forward to publishing one or two collections of my favorite stories.
I am also writing a trilogy of novels set in Cuba, my country of origin, in the four centuries between the island being discovered by Columbus and its achieving independence in the 1890s. The first novel, The Taino Women, is already finished and I am busy working on the second one. I hope to see the trilogy completed, and hopefully published, in the next two or three years. In the meantime, I will continue to crank out short stories as inspiration moves me.
FIND THE AUTHOR ONLINE
ABOUT THE BOOK
Something Wicked This Way Rides
(Dark Owl Publishing)
An anthology of weird westerns and genre fiction in the Wild West
Click here for the Goodreads page!
This book is appropriate for teenagers.
The anthology Something Wicked This Way Rides explores the Old West with a skewed view, showcasing the weird western genre through stories that explore the peculiar and fantastic, the wicked that was and could have been. Experience spiritual nightmares, mythical monsters, cosmic outlaws, discerning gods, and science run amok. Even the North Pole Security Division isn't immune to the supernatural strangeness that stalks the late 1800s. In the tradition of pulp and western stories of a bygone era, these are thirty tales to intrigue, amaze, and perhaps downright spook readers out of their boots.
Includes stories from:
Marilyn "Mattie" Brahen
Kenneth Bykerk
Dwain Campbell
Gregg Chamberlain
Vonnie Winslow Crist
Stuart Croskell
Lawrence Dagstine
J.B. Dane
John A. Frochio
Steve Gladwin
L.L. Hill
Adrian Ludens
Stefan Markos
Jonathon Mast
Gregory L. Norris
Q Parker
Peter Prellwitz
Alistair Rey
Darrell Schweitzer
Bradley H. Sinor
Matias Travieso-Diaz
Charles Wilkinson
Martin Zeigler
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