Josh Dale: As a seasoned author, how does this chapbook complement your previous works?
Mallory Smart: I wouldn’t say it complements my previous work as much as it fits with my current and future work. I’ve been exploring horror and the macabre lately. I guess if there was a common thread that can be found within this and my previous works is the gallows humor and the way space/location can shape the mind.
JD: What were the challenges and goals you set for yourself when compiling this manuscript? If willing, how many times was this submitted before being accepted?
MS: I’m not someone who really sets out to compile a manuscript. It always just seems to happen. This one happened after watching the Ed Gein Monster thing on Netflix, which led me to getting heavily into Psycho and then into Bates Motel. I started writing a lot about Norman Bates-type characters and became intrigued about how one might behave in a more 21st-century LA setting like in Bates Motel but with a cat instead of Mother.
JD: What’s your opinion on the handmade aspect of TW chapbooks?
MS: I find them fun. I haven’t really worked with them often and find the feel of them quite appealing. They have a more personal touch, and I’m always fond of not relying on POD monopolies.
JD: Tell me how you ‘escape the mundane’? Think habits, rituals, non-creative things; be as detailed as you wish.
MS: Music and long drives. I can throw in my AirPods for hours and just vibe until something jolts in my mind. Drives too. I’ll just drive out to nowhere, which isn’t especially hard in the Chicagoland area. Once you’re an hour outside of the city, it’s pretty much farmland and horizon. I’ll go as far as Wisconsin before turning back.
JD: What is the biggest accomplishment your chapbook has made?
MS: It’s my first complete work of horror. So far I’ve been toying with dark humor and horror-tinged short stories. This is the first step into writing within a genre that I truly love. It’s my favorite style, and up until now I’ve felt a weird need to stick to the writing I’ve been known for that fits more of the indie lit/alt lit aesthetic. So this is exciting.
JD: What is your next book goal, whether it’s a signed contract or abstractly brainstormed?
MS: My next book is Book of David from House of Vlad. If this book was my first steps into horror, then Book of David is me immersing myself in it. The goal is to truly reinvent the way people see me as an author. With this book and Book of David, it’s also my goal to be known as Mallory Smart the writer more than “the editor and chief of Maudlin House.” I’m proud of my accomplishments with that, but being known as a writer has always been more of a priority for me. I am working on another novel as well, which is even more immersed in horror, but I’m not really saying much about it other than the fact that it shares traits with this book.
JD: Pick 1 of each to bring to an island retreat for 1 month: book, album, movie, personal item.
MS: Book- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Album- idk. Maybe Love, Ire, and Song by Frank Turner. Movie- The Mummy
JD: Pick a number between 1-1000.
MS: 666
JD: That's 666 pets for my cat, Grey. He has morphed into the Devil! Thanks for speaking to me.
Mallory Smart is a Chicago-based writer who loves keeping it weird. She’s the author of I Keep My Visions to Myself and The Only Living Girl in Chicago, the host of the podcast Textual Healing, and Editor-in-Chief of Maudlin House, an indie press for restless, unapologetic voices. Her work shows up where you least expect it and lingers longer than it should.
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