{"id":42737,"date":"2024-03-05T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=42737"},"modified":"2024-02-20T21:35:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T02:35:23","slug":"christine-lajewski-wihm2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/05\/christine-lajewski-wihm2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Author and Former Scare Actor Christine Lajewski Interview [Women in Horror Month 2024]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A former scare actor and teacher, Christine Lajewski is now an author with a creepy vibe all of her own.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To start, please introduce yourself: <\/strong>
\nI am Christine Lajewski. I\u2019m a writer, retired alternative high school teacher and haunt actor. I also love the outdoors and work part-time for Massachusetts Audubon.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is horror to you, what makes a work of art one in the horror genre?
\n<\/strong>I know this is simplistic, but if it horrifies you, it is horror. The worst of human impulses and behavior, including war and terror, belong in that genre. But I also believe all that is eerie, unexplainable, and unsettling, including Gary Larson\u2019s Far Side, has a place there.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What made you want to work in horror?
\n<\/strong>Some of the\u00a0best times in my childhood involved Halloween. My memories are all filled with dark nights, full moons, sounds on the wind and unfettered freedom. Nothing outside of lots of full-size candy bars ever happened, but the fearful possibilities were intoxicating. As an adult, working at haunted attractions allowed me to be the fear, which was also intoxicating.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where do you get your inspiration?
\n<\/strong>During my time as a scare actor, I spent slow times dreaming up horrible ways to die. Some of my earliest stories: Lot\u2019s Wife, Christmas Calendar, Ill Suited, and Katy Did\u2013are stories of that type. But I also found my work in alternative high school, where students had to overcome their personal demons, influenced my writing. Mercy Brown and Me and Child of Reason are examples. I also find nature itself, including what\u2019s living under rocks and logs, inspiring.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What would you like your legacy to be in the genre (or elsewhere)?
\n<\/strong>The importance of compassion, and allowing that, in myself and in my characters, to guide our decisions. Love matters.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What is Women in Horror Month to you and why is it still important this many years later?
\n<\/strong>I love when we defy the ridiculous stereotype of catty women engaged in petty rivalries (yes, that\u2019s still a thing) and support each other. Celebrating WIHM has birthed a number of really great things, such as Strong Women\/Strange Worlds (<\/span>https:\/\/strongwomenstrangeworlds.weebly.com\/<\/span><\/a>) an international monthly panel of horror and scifi authors as well as anthologies featuring of female writers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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?
\n<\/strong>Of course, I\u2019m a huge Shirly Jackson fan. <\/span>White Is for Witching <\/span><\/i>by Helen Oyeyemi is one of the most unsettling books I\u2019ve ever read.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I also like and appreciate Kristi Peterson Schoonover and Elaine Pascal as writer colleagues, but also as editors and mentors for other writers.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are you currently working on that you can tell us about?
\n<\/strong>I received enough positive feedback on my short story \u201cChild of Reason\u201d to convince me to expand it into a novel of the same name. I am currently in search of a publisher (or agent). I\u2019ve started work on a sequel, tentatively titled <\/span>Fallow.<\/span><\/i> My short story \u201cSuyuntu\u201d will appear in the spring edition of 34 Orchard.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Readers who visit my website, <\/span>www.christinemlajewski.com<\/span><\/a>, will find links to my published works. They can also visit my author\u2019s pages on Facebook and at Amazon:<\/span>
\n<\/span>www.amazon.com\/stores\/Christine-Lajewski\/author\/B00P1TCBS4?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for taking the time to this, we greatly appreciate it.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former scare actor and teacher, Christine Lajewski is now an author with a creepy vibe all of her own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1284,8,2673],"tags":[477,1550],"class_list":["post-42737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-festivalsevents","category-interviews","category-wihm","tag-horror","tag-women-in-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42738,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42737\/revisions\/42738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}