Meet author Dani Brown:
To start, please introduce yourself:
Hi, I’m Dani Brown – The Queen of Filth Dani Brown, or sometimes Queenie. Variants of the name ‘Daniel(le) Brown(e)’ are exceedingly popular amongst authors and writers of all varieties (and there’s even a character with the name but I haven’t read those books yet). So to distinguish myself, I am the Queen of Filth (and forever in fear of Dan Brown fans, I don’t want to find out what happens if someone accidentally buys their partner Ketamine Addicted Pandas instead of his latest release).
What is horror to you, what makes a work of art one in the horror genre?
The usual answer is the work must ‘horrify’ someone but that can mean vastly different things to different people. Horror is an umbrella with a lot of subgenres underneath it ranging from slow moving, very creepy and scary haunted house stories to a continuous onslaught of blood and gore with everything inbetweeen.
What made you want to work in horror?
I didn’t set out to work in horror specifically. I just write the story as I see it and worry about genre at some point either while writing (when it becomes apparent that I am writing horror) or after the story has been completed and I’m trying to either find the audience (self publishing) or a publisher.
Where do you get your inspiration?
My inspiration is largely from song lyrics and music videos.
What would you like your legacy to be in the genre (or elsewhere)?
I haven’t really thought of a legacy. My brain just doesn’t think like that.
What is Women in Horror Month to you and why is it still important this many years later?
No matter what a woman does, it doesn’t have to be horror,-related it either isn’t taken seriously or is viewed as something designed to attract the opposite sex.
“When’s this little book of yours going to be release?” (Several of my books are available to purchase.)
“If you don’t want it (read X-rated sex), then why do you write it?” (Get away from me creep *vomit*.)
“You need to stop writing and get on with your life.” (Fuck off cunt, if you actually gave a shit about me, you’d accept me for who I am.)
“When are you going to settle down (read get married, stop writing, give up my career outside of writing)?” (If the right man is out there, I will neither have to give up my art or career or any other aspect of myself for him. I would rather die alone and happy than die a slow death miserable but married.)
“You need a man to look after you.” (Really? Because I seem to do a pretty damn good job of looking after myself.)
Who are some of the Women in Horror who you look up to and who do you want to bring attention to in your field or others?
I think Amanda M Lyons deserves more attention for her writing than she currently gets. There’s some seriously creepy American folklore there.
What are you currently working on that you can tell us about?
I work on stories in groups. I’ve just started a new group. I’ll be with this one for a few years as based on the rough drafts (and a novel that needs a rewrite from the same group that 56 Seconds and Strip/Becoming came from) everything ranges from long novella to novel length. The stories themselves nicely slot into either splatterpunk or bizarro (with one erotic bizarro) in their current form but by the time they’re finished, they probably won’t. I have one splatterpunk and one bizarro open on my computer right now (in case I get stuck on one, I work on the other). The first splatterpunk stories follows an impoverished family from the old aristocracy after their youngest child has been killed by new money neighbours. The first bizarro story is about a forgotten council estate and the people left behind.
Where can readers keep up with you?
https://linktr.ee/DaniBrownQueenofFilth