Stranded on a Terrifying Island with author Cheryl Low

SRW: Author Cheryl Low's terrific new book, Infernal (out by the fine folks at Grinning Skull Press), is a mixture of riveting suspense, action, and horror, perfect for my needs and I'll bet yours, too. Hey, let's "spontaneously" chat her up!

 

Howdy, Cheryl. Your book is a riveting read. I enjoyed it thoroughly, particularly as I went into it blind, the way I would recommend to all readers. So, readers! Don’t read blurbs and reviews. Just go with it. Please tell the readers what they can expect without tossing the baby out with the bathwater.

CL: Thank you! Infernal is an island horror splashed with nature turned deadly and something oh-so evil lurking between the trees. I am so happy you enjoyed it!

SRW: (Having said that, this interview will be spoilery, so…you’ve been forewarned.) Cheryl, I liked how the book started out as a rousing adventure tale. Then…not so much. The entire genre of the novel seemed to change a quarter through. Intentional?

CL: Definitely! I like getting to know the characters before things go bad and I think the island/ocean setting really builds something eerie. There’s already a sense of danger, because really, the world was dangerous even before the supernatural element. 

SRW: In the opening chapter, you refer to the ocean as female. I know sailors and songs of the sea have been attributing all things nautical as feminine since the dawn of apes. Is this a comment on female empowerment, particularly since the forces of nature play such an important role in the book? Or am I reading way too much into it?

CL: Honestly, it just came naturally. Like many others, I attribute female pronouns to forces of nature. Maybe it’s a touch of ego on my part? I like writing female characters that are forces of nature themselves, so it seems only right.

SRW: Cheryl, you’re from Sweden, yeah? To my knowledge, there aren’t too many jungles in Sweden. What was the inspiration of this novel?

CL: Ha! No, no jungles in Sweden. And I grew up in Northern California—again, with no jungles to be found, just a whole lot of forests. I have been watching nature programs since I was a kid, though and I never miss a shark week. 

SRW: Speaking of jungles, my wife and I spent time earlier this year in the Amazon rain-forest (I like to lift a snooty pinky finger and say, “Back in the jungle…”) Your book captures the sound, smell, sight, and—most importantly—the absolute fear of being in a totally wild environment. Have you been to a jungle?

CL: Never! I love oceans and jungles in that far away, never to be experienced, sort of way. I wrote what I fear/love in Infernal. You will never catch me on a boat, shark-diving, or trudging through uncharted wilderness. I don’t have a single adventurous bone in my whole body.

SRW: Good! The world needs more couch explorers.

Quick! Word association game! Nature!

CL: Struggle. Power. Inescapable.

SRW: What’s the opposite of Nature?

CL: Parking lots!

SRW: (I would've gone with air-conditioning.) I toss these rapid fire questions at you, Cheryl, in hopes of understanding you better. Frankly, I know the answers from your book. Just wondering if you—as a person and separated from your characters—believe in such challenging personifications of what rules us.

CL: Honestly, I think it depends on the day. Sometimes I think we’re governed by some deep and epic fate, souls bounding throughout time and space—a part of nature even when we’re at odds with it. And then other days, I think everything is a random occurrence and we should just be happy we got our moment of existence in a time and place with cookies, wifi, and air conditioning.

SRW: Okay, I’m getting a bit lofty up in here. Enough! (Ahoy, maties, thar be spoilers ahead in this ruff question! Arrrr!). So, Cheryl, you spent some time building characters before the crap hit the fan. You set up a really interesting bad guy. I love bad guys. Wait, wait, don’t get me wrong! I hate ‘em like I’m supposed to, but they’re usually very entertaining. Your poorly mannered jack-ass was the first casualty. As a writer I think you could've got more mileage outta him. SO...why?

CL: Because he was exactly that, a poorly mannered jack-ass, and at the first sign of trouble he saved himself and only himself. I love stories where characters are put to the test and I do enjoy when someone turns out to be better or different than expected, but Oliver was not one of those characters. He was exactly that guy—we’ve all met him before—and we should never trust him in an emergency.

SRW: I gotta ask… Were you a fan of the American show, “Lost?” This reads like the horror-driven second-inbred-cousin version. That’s a compliment! Horror, yay!

CL: Ha! I watched the first few seasons back when it aired. I really did like the set up—a bunch of strangers stranded together on an island. I wonder if that had some influence on this…

SRW: There are many parts of your novel that leaves the reader hopeless. I think that’s the true meaning of horror fiction, honestly. Maybe even the nature of today’s world. But it’s a thing I alternately seek out and despise because it makes me feel ill. Your book accomplished both of those things. Congrats! How do you define horror?

CL: For me, horror is a mix of excitement and anxiety. It’s stressful, but in a good way! And it suggests situations where we’re left wondering how we would handle it. Would I go outside if I heard that sound? Would I run up the stairs? Would I open that obviously cursed box or touch the Ouija board? Could I save my husband? Could I outwit a witch? Repel a ghost? Survive an apocalypse? The realistic answer is usually “no” but it’s still fun to think about.

SRW: From my admittedly poor recall, there’s not a single spider to be found in this jungle tale of terror. That means I can recommend the book to my wife. I’m curious…are you an arachnophobe or did the eight-legged varmints just never occur to you?

CL: Oh no! I’m actually so terrified of spiders that it never even occurs to me to put them in writing. Ever. I honestly never thought of it until now, but in all my life, all the little stories and books I’ve written, there has never been a single spider in any context.

SRW: What scares you, Cheryl? Not as a writer, but as a person. I ask, because, generally, I try to write about things that scare me. Stupid, but therapeutic.

CL: All sorts of things scare me! Both reasonable and completely absurd. I do write about some things that frighten me, like the ocean and sharks and being hunted or eaten (reasonable). But I’m also scared of being on boats, even canoes on pleasant little lakes (absurd). Oh! And people with wide mouths!

SRW: Wide mouths...brrrr. Did you hate the heroine in your book? You certainly put her through the ringer!

CL: Not at all! I really enjoyed writing Val. She’s capable and comfortable with herself. If I didn’t like her so much, she probably wouldn’t have made it as far as she does in Infernal. (Spoiler avoidance there.)

SRW: What’s up next on your keyboard? I’ll be there to read it. Thanks for putting up with my grilling. I imagine you’re well-done by now. Tell everyone where they can find your book.

CL: I just started writing a ghost story I’ve been planning for a while—a little bit romantic and a lot bloody. I think the process of first writing a story is my favorite, so I’m over the moon right now. And this was such a fun interview! Thank you so much for having me!

 
Please check out Infernal on Amazon and take a second to add it to your Goodreads!