It began with a tweet requesting when the world could get a collection of horror tales written by Indigenous writers.
Autors Ted Van Alst and Shane Hawk responded to the request and discovered they had received over 100 submissions from young and established authors.
Van Alst and Hawk are Hawk and Van Alst are Indigenous authors in “Never Never Whistle At Night” released on September 1st with Penguin Random House. The KTOO’s Yvonne Krumrey spoke with them about the insanity that lies in the horror genre and the ways Indigenous authors have used it to tell their stories.
This video interview is edited to improve clarity and length.
Listen here:
Shane Hawk: I mean initially it was just an email. Then they basically declared, “Hey, when are we likely to have the Indigenous Horror anthology? You know, it’s the right time.” We went between them. I believe Ted was the first to notice it. We’re sort of contemplating it — who’s going come up with this awesome, innovative thing?
I don’t think any of us was thinking that it would be us initially we’re simply taking a look. Slowly, and surely it sort of grew out of asking others Indigenous writers to let us know if they’d like the idea in the background, via DMs and via emails and everyone said yes.
Yvonne Krumrey What is the word “horror” refer to in an Indigenous setting?
Ted Van Alst: I conducted an interview on horror and the reason for horror and what. Since I believe that the basis of horror is inherently unstable. I also think that the lives of people after contact — if that’s what we’d like to call it — are characterized by many unsettling aspects. There’s plenty of things that happen on the other side of settling there’s plenty of uncertainty and the way people react to it.
This kind of post-apocalyptic scenario we’re in is a perfect fit for those concepts, but what can you do to express them? They’re horrifying, aren’t they? What do you do with them? Do you handle them in a humorous manner? Do you approach them in a graphic way? I believe this collection represents the broad range of how people approach horror, the way people portray the horror they experience, or what it is like.
Shane Hawk: The basis of horror is similar to being able to look into this type of safe playground that says”okay, they’re likely to be put in an extremely difficult situation and we’ll observe how the situation plays out. In terms of the post-apocalyptic element I believe that what’s different with Indigenous fear is people aren’t always placed in horrible circumstances. The fear is already taking hold and across generations.
It’s been very fascinating to read the stories and observing how, in a way, have shared stories, we share experiences. There’s an amazing diversity in how we approach it. It’s possible to make something gorgeous, and really connects readers, regardless of whether they’re Native or not.
Yvonne Krumrey: Can I inquire a bit more about how this anthology and the collection of the stories took place? Did these stories come from stories that weren’t published prior to the publication of this anthology?
Shane Hawk: They’re all original. This was one of our important stipulations in contracts we distributed to our clients. There are 12 names that have been around for a while in this document, and 12 new voices. There’s also Ted as well as me. So it was a good even split between us. This was extremely important to us. Our primary objective was to raise the amount of writers who wrote Indigenous horror. And I believe that our open call inspired the idea.
The deadline was on July 27th, 2021 and we offered people the chance to submit their story the opportunity to submit their stories until November 1 2021. It was Ted and I sharing the link on all social networks telling people, “Hey, if you’re an Indigenous writer — or but you’re not one but you’d like to get started, please submit your best story.” It was an extremely enjoyable process, and really hard to break it down since we had to decline numerous fantastic stories. We’re hoping there will be a second volume, volume three, and volume 27. Continue it for as long as you can.
Yvonne Krümrey: What stories did you receive through the call?
Shane Hawk: We got over 100. I’m guessing it was about 100 or so.
Yvonne Krumrey: I even observed in the first book I was able to read the intriguing blend of numerous ways to tell stories as well as ways to convey horror stories from the past like the mid-19th century of Alaska in the midst of being colonized by industrial. These stories are set in contemporary Texas suburban areas. And I’m curious, What themes would you anticipate to discover that emerged from the pages of these tales?
Ted Van Alst: There’s everything you’ve ever heard about that haunted people, ghosted homes. Monsters and monstrous characters. There are concepts and themes throughout. It’s also important to remember that this is not an ethnography, as you are aware. It says Indigenous dark fiction.
