Women in Horror Month 2015 is here! The lovely Lisa von Biela, also known by her other title as “The Queen of the Medical Thriller” (Examiner), has granted us a fascinating interview.
Lisa von Biela practices law in Seattle, Washington and currently serves on the editorial board of the American Bar Association’s quarterly publication, The SciTech Lawyer. The author’s first fiction publication was in The Edge in 2002. She went on to publish a number of short works in various small press venues, including Gothic.net, Twilight Times, Dark Animus, AfterburnSF, and more. She is the author of THE GENESIS CODE, THE JANUS LEGACY, ASH AND BONE, BLOCKBUSTER and SKINSHIFT (coming June 2015 from DarkFuse).
Have you always been attracted to writing horror?
Yes, I have. I tried to begin writing a couple of times, had no idea what I was doing and no clue how to proceed. Each time, I focused on writing horror. I finally found my way and started writing short stories in earnest in the early 2000’s. Some were horror, some morphed off into sci-fi and dark fantasy. Oddly, when I went to write my first novel, I went off into the land of techno thrillers. My novel-length work to date is all medical/techno thrillers. My novellas are different. ASH AND BONE (published last year) is more of a psychological/noir piece. SKINSHIFT (coming in June 2015) is very dark, very fantastical.
Can you tell us a bit about your current book?
Yes, I’m excited to report that my fourth title, BLOCKBUSTER, just came out in early January! It’s a rather dark medical thriller, a fight-to-the-death for market share between two U.S. drug companies. Thanks to new technology in the year 2025, the drug development and approval process takes only a fraction of the time it does in current reality. Denali Labs takes advantage of this to come up with a new business model to generate sky-high profits. Horton Drugs tries to beat Denali at its own game, but in the process something goes horribly wrong and a terrible pathogen is unleashed. Chaos ensues.
That sounds very exciting! Can you tell us who have you been influenced by when it comes to writing?
Different people in different genres. For horror/sci-fi/dark fantasy, Stephen King, early Dean Koontz, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Phillip K. Dick. For thrillers, Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, Allan Leverone, David Morrill. Greg F. Gifune has really served as a mentor to me all these years. I sent him my first attempt at a short story. He rejected it—but was kind enough to say why and how I could improve. After a string of attempts and rejections, he published my first short story in 2002, and has believed in me and encouraged me to be my best ever since. And here I am!
That is an interesting story about the professional relationship between you and your mentor and it leads nicely to my next question. How have you found the publishing process?
For short stories, it really depends on the market/publisher. There’s such a wide range of how the process is handled. When Greg was publishing his small press magazines (THE EDGE, and Burning Sky), I think he ran them very professionally. He was doing it all with snail mail, no fancy submission engines back then, but he would respond within a reasonable amount of time, and he took the time to say why he was rejecting a story. I’ve tried other markets that chronically lost subs, or took a year or more to respond at all. I had one try to stiff me the payment. The level of professionalism really did seem to vary. I haven’t been as active in the short story markets these days—a sub here and there (too busy with my novel-length works on top of working full-time). I can’t speak to current markets as broadly.
For books, I can only speak for my experience with DarkFuse. They’ve been incredible. Very responsive, very committed to putting out quality products. The artwork is fantastic, and they do things on time, when promised. I imagine not everyone is like that, so I consider myself fortunate to be associated with them.
Do you have any tips for others who are interested in writing within the genre?
Read widely in your chosen genre. Who are the best writers in your genre? Why? Learn from their work, and also see what’s been done so you either don’t repeat it or do it way better or differently than it’s ever been done before. And write, write, write! Practice and focus is the only way to hone those skills!
What’s your favourite scary movie?
Oh, The Shining. The Kubrick version with Jack Nicholson, of course. I love everything about it!
Great movie choice. Finally, can you tell us a bit about your plans for the future?
Well, my next scheduled release is SKINSHIFT in June. I signed a 3-year/3-book deal with DarkFuse last year, and turned in the first novel under that contract just a few weeks ago. It’s called BROKEN CHAIN, and it’s about a terrible break in the food chain and the physical and behavioral changes it causes in people. So the first part is the search for the cause, then the second part is somewhat post-apocalyptic, in how people deal with many food items being banned because they pose such a threat.
I’ve just begun plotting out my next novel. It’s shaping up to be a legal/medical thriller this time around…
Thanks, C.S., for coming up with the idea and coordinating this! Here’s to scary women!
Interview End
For more details about Lisa von Biela checkout her website and follow on Twitter.
That’s all for now folks but check back for further interviews with some fabulous female fear purveyors.
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