Damian Serbu has often found inspiration in Chicagoland. Several characters in his Realm of the Vampire Council series, for instance, dwell in the Windy City itself. Self-described as an “author of gay horror and speculative fiction,” the former college history teacher's newest book, Witch in the Wind, is a genre-bender, combining elements of witchcraft and swashbuckling tales of piracy. I spoke with him about his latest and upcoming work, writing, and better representation of LGBTQIA+ characters and themes.
What made you want to become a writer, and what brought you to the horror, speculative fiction, and romance genres? Have you dabbled in each, or did you decide the kind of writing you wanted to do required an amalgam of all three?
I began writing fiction as a hobby to relax while I was in graduate school. I'd always loved vampires and witches, and my favorite author was Anne Rice, and so I blended these loves with my background as a historian. At the time, there wasn't a lot of gay literature out there in the horror/speculative fiction world. I was writing what I wanted to be able to read. I also got into horror and speculative fiction because it was the farthest thing from studying history!
The genres allowed me to empower LGBTQIA+ characters in different ways. A gay vampire has power over the world other gay people don’t. The same goes for a witch. From the start, those two genres blended with romance in my writing. It's what called to me. I don't like to be confined to one form of storytelling! I've always traveled between the confinements of genre and expectation.
Tell us a bit about your latest book Witch in the Wind and what inspired it?
Witch In the Wind stemmed from a long-time fascination with studying the Salem Witch Trials and the history of pirates. I merged those concrete histories with my desire to write about a gay witch at the time. Also, I had a strong calling to craft a main character who was confident in his ability and place in the world, despite being persecuted. I didn't want a damsel in distress. And, even when being victimized, I wanted someone who stands up to the world around him. Thus Alexander, the main character, was born. He loses his family to a witchcraft accusation but fights his way to the life he envisions for himself.
On your site, you refer to yourself as a writer of “gay horror.” Care to share your feelings and ideas on the term?
Oh, boy! What makes horror gay? Because I enjoy the horror genre and I'm gay, I want to read horror stories that include gay characters. My novels will always have LGBTQIA+ characters driving the story. I also think the queer elements help me play around with horror. For example, the reader explores what actually constitutes "horror" in the various settings. In Witch in the Wind, is the horror at the start from the witchcraft Alexander possesses, or from the nonmagical community around him persecuting innocent people?
What are you working on right now?
I have two current projects in the works. One is a space fantasy. A young adult novel about an alien invasion. I am also writing a dystopian novel set in the future, where the world was snapped back to a medieval time. It's a treatise on the evils of humanity, from the point of view of an angry sorcerer who works to protect people and vanquish monsters, even as he despises how they discriminate against differences and harm one another. Much of that story writing has also been a meditation on our current world.
Is there anything I didn’t ask that you wish I had asked?
I encourage people to read stories written by authors reflecting their own personal journeys, such as with sexuality, race, gender, class, or ethnicity. Support authors who write extremely good stuff for small presses and need the uplift and publicity! Write kind reviews, because your one-minute review can assist an author more than you could possibly imagine.
Witch in the Wind is available at bookstores and through the NineStar Press website.
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