1. When did you first discover fantastic fiction?
I believe I've always been around fantastic fiction in some form or another. The fairy tales that my parents used to read to me were a source of nightmares. I was so fascinated and disgusted by so many of them that I sought out more obscure ones. A couple that I read over and over again in rather intense versions that I'm sure aren't available to kids these days were: ‘One Eyes, Two Eyes, Three Eyes', ‘The Goose Girl' and various versions of Snow White and Cinderella. My mom had this huge book that had hundreds of fairy tales and different incarnations of them, because she was a public school teacher for a few years when we lived in the States. She showed it to me when I was about five or six, and I read nearly every story in that huge book. When I was about twenty, one of my roommate's friends stole that wonderful book. I yearn to see it again to this very day. My parents are musicians and mom was a huge opera buff, so by a very early age I had memorised my favourite operas, ‘Hansel and Gretel', ‘The Tales of Hoffman', ‘The Medium' and ‘Die Fleidermaus (The Bat)'.

Once I got into books, I loved THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, short stories of horror, science fiction and fantasy and a slew of other genres such as mystery, adventure and animal stories.

Since I was born in 1962, there was no cable, no Internet, or videos. If you wanted to see a TV show, you sat there and waited for it to come on and prayed the wind didn't change. THE WIZARD OF OZ was an annual family event at our house. Imagine my joy when the neighbours down the street invited us to watch it on their colour TV when I was about four or so. Colour TV was magical, and I wished so hard that Dorothy's dress would be blue. The other little girl I was watching it with wanted the dress to be pink. That kid whined for half the movie, forcing her mother to fiddle with the TV dials to make that dress pink. It never did go pink, obviously. That kid was more demanding then the Wicked Witch of the West. Still, that movie inspires nightmares in me to this very day. For me, it was the image of that tornado that freaked me out. It's one of my favourite movies.

2. What made you want to become a writer?
I was a huge bookworm. I loved to read and I loved to write. I wrote my first "book" of short stories and poems in grade one. I wrote my first "novel" in grade three. I was always writing during school, whether it was poetry or stories. I also was musical and would try to write songs. For many years, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to be an actress or a writer. Once I hit my twenties, I decided upon writer and went to York University in the Fine Arts Studies program. When I was a teenager, Stephen King came on the scene and I remember reading one of his books and deciding that one day, I wanted to grow up to scare people too!

3. Who are your major influences in the genre and why?
Stephen King is a huge influence. I am the perfect age to be shaped by his work and by his influence in the publishing industry. I eagerly awaited every book he ever wrote and would be so upset that I would devour them in a few days. THE SHINING scared me so much that I wouldn't leave my room until I finished reading it. I love Stephen King's ability to suck you into a book on page one. You always know what's going on and his characters are almost always realistic. I don't know how he does it, but he's a master storyteller. Even his weakest books are better then the average writer's in my opinion.

Clive Barker came to Toronto to host his HELLRAISER screening one Halloween in 1987. I remember the year 'cos I just had my first baby. I had already seen an uncut screening version a few months before for media. My ex-husband was in charge of the film festival that ran HELLRAISER, so he was in charge of amusing Clive while the movie played. We went for drinks at a bar across the street, and I found him so funny and charming that I sought out his new book, THE DAMNATION GAME. My ex had brought home the BOOKS OF BLOOD while I was pregnant and I had read those. I loved how Clive's horror was so poetic, intelligent and nightmarish.

As a voracious reader, I read everything from THE EXORCIST to JAWS to Alfred Hitchcock's short story anthologies. I don't doubt everything I ever read has been some sort of influence on me.

4. How difficult was it for you to get your early fiction published?
The most difficult part was getting the courage to submit. My ex-husband would hound me to submit. He asked why was I writing all this stuff and stuffing it into a drawer. It's never easy to get published, even now. It took about ten years to get ETERNAL SUNSET published. Each rejection, I'd rewrite it. I am always amazed if I get a short story published the first time I submit it. Like anyone else, I have to send stuff out endlessly. It's time-consuming and it takes a lot of energy to comb markets and keep track of things. But I'm tenacious and don't give up easy.

5. Do you prefer writing novels to short stories?
I much prefer writing novels. I find short stories very difficult.

6. What is your background writing for movies?
I studied screenwriting at York University. I married a filmmaker, Julian Grant, who also went to York. I was in second year. We often would sit and hash out ideas and proposals for movies. Back then, TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE, the TWILIGHT ZONE series and ALFRED HITCHCOCK were being done (some of them filmed on the street where we lived and we'd watch from our balcony) and we were aching to crack into one of those. We sent tons of ideas but never hit a home run.

After we graduated, we got involved with some shady characters who were producing movies. They bought Julian's screenplay and were going to make a movie. They had me write a horror movie and they also wanted me to write a romance "Movie of the Week" for some new TV show they were going to do. I got paid $100 for all my efforts. I don't remember what Julian got. Filming was all set for Julian's movie, there was a cast, locations, etc. and then one of the producers skipped town with the money. A couple years later, I was looking in the TV guide and saw a synopsis for a show that sounded like the one I wrote. It was for a new weekly romance show produced by the dude that I had worked with. I never saw the show, so I don't know if they stole my rather clichéd idea or what. School of hard knocks—always sign contracts, always get the money up front, and don't do anything until the check clears.

Over the next few years, Julian independently made BUST A MOVE and CREEP, both movies that I had input in the writing department on, though I didn't hammer out the screenplays on the typewriter, he did that. I have little cameos in both movies too.

Watching Julian swim with the sharks for the past twenty years doesn't entice me to want to jump in that filmmaking pool too much, but I do love writing screenplays. I have a few sitting in my drawer that I don't know what to do with. I worked with a producer to create HOUSE OF PAIN. In the end, it was too big for what he had in mind, so he didn't make it. A few years later, I turned it into a book for Leisure. I had a nibble on the screenplay a couple years ago, but the producer has since evaporated, as these guys tend to do.

I would love to see my books and even some of my short stories become movies. I would love to write the screenplays. I still have my HOUSE OF PAIN screenplay if anyone wants to take a look.

7. How do your tarot and other New Age beliefs feed into your fiction?
About eleven years ago, when Julian and I split up, I started exploring metaphysical concepts deeper by taking courses. I took a three-year tarot course, which has since given me a nice little side income. I've always loved astrology, ghosts, New Age concepts, etc. and read all that stuff since I was a little kid. I had always been afraid of tarot cards and Ouija boards. Taking a tarot class helped me to see that the cards aren't evil at all. They are tools of divination. They can help people.

BORROWED FLESH is about a tarot-reading witch who kills virgins to keep her youthful looks. I've written some short stories around tarot readers. I've gotten some nasty letters from people who don't like my bad witches. I'm a witch myself, so I just laugh at them. No one wants to read a horror story about a good witch who does good things. Fiction has to be exciting and it's fiction. I'm not teaching about witchcraft or any other ideas when I write fiction. My characters do what they want to do whether it is true to pagan beliefs or not.

I wrote HOUSE MAGIC: THE GOOD WITCH'S GUIDE TO BRINGING GRACE TO YOUR SPACE under my tarot name "Ariana" to show that I do know what's right and wrong. I used ideas that I had learned in my studies and from my clients to write a book about creating an auspicious life using different disciplines such as witchcraft, feng shui, crystal magic, astrology, numerology and so on.

8. What are your professional goals, or have you already achieved them?
I have achieved four of them, and I'm so amazed and excited still to think about it. It just proves that tenacity and hard work can pay off. I set a goal to publish a horror novel back in the late 1980s. HOUSE OF PAIN came out in 2001.

I always wanted to write for the HOT BLOOD anthology series and I'm in HOT BLOOD: FATAL ATTRACTIONS.

I wanted to be published in CEMETARY DANCE magazine and a couple years ago they published ‘Binky'.

I wanted to be reviewed in FANGORIA and I was.

I still have goals: I want to publish with a couple of other publishers that I won't name. I want to write screenplays and have movies done about my four Leisure books and ETERNAL SUNSET. I want to win a Bram Stoker Award. I want to win an Academy Award! Hey, the sky's the limit when you dream!

9. What advice would you give to any new authors who are trying to get published?
Read a lot, write a lot. Take courses if you don't have higher education. Format your manuscripts correctly.

Go to conventions in your genre and meet the players. My favourites are World Horror and Necon. Other cons I attend are Ad Astra (a Toronto science fiction con), Eeriecon and Horrorfind. The HWA Stoker weekend is a fantastic networking opportunity. It will be combined with World Horror in Toronto. Two for the price of one!

Be polite and courteous to everyone. You never know if that annoying fan boy will one day be the big editor at that publishing house you're trying to crack. If an editor asks for something, deliver it as fast as you can. Don't bother editors, but also don't be afraid to remind them if they haven't gotten back to you in a timely manner. Things do get lost and editors do forget sometimes that they said they'd do something. Editors are people too, believe it or not. If you aren't clear on your project, discuss it with your editor.

Sèphera and Peter Straub, WHC 2006

Sèphera and her "cousin" Rick Hautala Necon 2006

There's a site I'm part of called Storytellersunplugged.com where professional authors give daily tips to writers. You may or may not be able to get an agent if you've not published anything. There are many houses that take unagented writers. Or if you sell that manuscript on your own, getting an agent should be easy if you're taking him or her a contract to read. Money flows to the writer. Don't get sucked into schemes. Ask other professionals if something seems fishy. Join organisations relating to your genre such as Horror Writers Association. Being part of HWA will put you in contact with authors working in the field, and most of them are friendly to new writers. Some chapters of HWA do many events. I run the Ontario Chapter, and we have a profile at Rue Morgue's Festival of Fear and The Word on the Street as well as an annual BBQ and bi-monthly meetings at a restaurant. You never know who is going to show up at one of those functions. Don't give away too much of your work. Carefully gauge where "freebies" will do you good, such as writing for newsletters with a high profile (ie: HWA) or submitting stories to charity anthologies.

10. How do you feel about being Mistress of Ceremonies at the 2007 World Horror Convention in Toronto?
I am absolutely thrilled, honoured and excited. I can hardly wait!

Sèphera, Diana Barron and Don D'Auria, her editor at Leisure Books, WHC 2005

Sèphera, Yvonna Navarro and Elizabeth Monteleone at WHC 2005