#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Jennifer Anne Gordon

I’d like to welcome Jennifer Anne Gordon back to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you never want to run out of: This may sound ridiculous, but I never want to run out of books…It’s not something I fear in day-to-day life, but it’s the reason I travel with a couple books and a Kindle loaded with books, and my phone loaded with audio books!

Things you wish you’d never bought: Years ago, I bought a couple retro style “rockabilly” and “wiggle” dresses…they looked good, so I bought more, and more…and let’s be honest, where am I wearing these dresses?? They take up over half my closet space now.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Crippling imposter syndrome.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Being able to write the things you are too afraid to say out loud.

Things you need for your writing sessions: I am a beverage goblin. I need to get that out of the way. So…depending on the time of the writing session I will need coffee, a bubble water, and a regular water. If I am writing late at night I will need a bubble water, a regular water, whiskey, and if there is a deadline I need to meet—also coffee. These all need to be in easy reach, but also not close enough for me to flail around and spill on my computer.

Things that hamper your writing: Being talked to, my dog being so cute that I need to stop what I am doing, and ADHD.

A few of your favorite things: Travel, knickknacks that people think are strange (bones, rocks, old rusty keys, very tiny mirrors.

Things you need to throw out: For years I was a professional performer and dancer…I have a ridiculous number of costumes, and wigs, and dance shoes that I can’t even walk in anymore. I hate to get rid of these things because it feels like a door closing completely on a time I will never get back.

Something you’re really good at: Worrying…also I am very good at the waltz.

Something you’re really bad at: Hiking or walking when there is a cliff on one side of me…also going down escalators. Terrible at both of those.

Favorite music or song: “If you Could Read My Mind,” either the original Gordon Lightfoot or the Johnny Cash version.

Music that drives you crazy: after teaching ballroom dance for the last 14 years…It kills me every time I hear “Kokomo” (The Beach Boys), and have to scream “It’s a rumba.”

Last best thing you ate: I was in Latvia this fall and while there I had the best Indian food I had had in my life! We had it almost every night we were there, as traditional Latvian food was…NOT good.

Last thing you regret eating: Um…Latvian Onion Soup. It was a big bowl of brown sadness.

The last thing you ordered online: a giant eyeshadow palette.

The last thing you regret buying: Day of the Dead “temporary” face tattoos.

Things you’d walk a mile for: If there was a sign with an arrow that said “Baby Foxes to pet”

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: If someone is touching their eyeball or even talking about touching their eyeball.

Things you always put in your books: Twins, reflections that are not quite right, grief, ghosts that might not be ghosts.

Things you never put in your books: I can only say never for now…but I have never put in a steamy sex scene.

Favorite places you’ve been: Venice, Prague, Porto, Montenegro, Detroit, New Orleans, Budapest.

Places you never want to go to again: Tampa, Atlantic City, Madrid, Las Vegas (still had a great time in all of those places but for me…the vibes were off).

Favorite books (or genre): horror is my genre of choice…that said my current fave books are- Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman, Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi, The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste, The All-Night Sun by Diane Zinna

Books you wouldn’t buy: Roman-tasy is NOT my thing.

About Jennifer:

Jennifer Anne Gordon is an award-winning author and podcast host. Her debut novel Beautiful, Frightening and Silent won the Kindle Book Award for Best Horror/Suspense for 2020, as well as the Best Horror Novel of the Year from Authors on The Air and was a finalist for American Book Fest’s Best Book Award- Horror, 2020, and a Finalist for the Shelley Award from Chanticleer International Book Awards for Best Supernatural Novel for 2023. Her novel Pretty/Ugly won the Helicon Award for Best Horror for 2022, and the Kindle Book Award for Best Novel of the Year (Reader’s Choice). Her collection The Japanese Box: And Other Stories was an instant Amazon Bestseller and her story The Japanese Box won the Lit Nastie Award for 2023 for Best Short Story.

Her personal essays have been featured on Horror Tree, Nerd Daily, Ladies of Horror Fiction, Miniskirt Magazine, Tangled Locks Journal, and Quail Bell Magazine, and are featured in the collections Such a Loss, Not Ghosts, But Spirits Vol V, and Letting Grief Speak: Writing Portals for Life After Loss.

Jennifer is the creator and co-host of the popular comedic literary podcast Vox Vomitus, as well as a co-host of House of Mystery on NBC Radio.

For benevolent stalking please visit www.JenniferAnneGordon.com