Hi Kelsea, we're thrilled to have you as one of our featured creators on Haunted Trails for this year's #31DaysofHaunting! Tell us about yourself.
Hi! Lovely to be here. :) I’m Kelsea Yu, a Taiwanese Chinese American author living in the Pacific Northwest who writes horror, thrillers, and dark speculative fiction. Nowadays, my kids and my writing take up most of my time, but I do read a lot, and I usually have at least one other creative outlet. I get bored easily, so I’ll rotate what that is. In the past, it’s been: polymer clay, jewelry making, collage, handwriting, bullet journaling, baking, floral headbands, handsewing, and other projects. Recently, I’ve been brewing up flavored lattes and milk teas. So far, my faves have been iced lychee matcha milk tea and ube coffee!
We'd love to hear about any recent projects you've released or completed.
I’ve been wrapping up edits on my upcoming young adult thriller, It’s Only a Game, which will be released by Bloomsbury in summer 2024! It’s about a girl and her friends who are blackmailed into playing a dangerous video game with deadly consequences that forces them to lie, trespass, and steal in real life—but the deeper into the game they get, the more she realizes that whoever is pulling the strings knows too much about the past she’s tried to leave behind.
My inspiration for the book was this: I grew up playing video games with my brothers, and I played lots of World of Warcraft in college. And my husband works in video games. So, I’d been wanting to write a book involving video games and how they can connect people. Then, one year, I got really into thrillers and came up with the idea for It’s Only a Game.
On the adult side, I have a few stories that came out recently! “Wanted: Bone-White Skull-Patterned Lace Trim” is out on PseudoPod—you can listen on your favorite podcatcher or read it here. I came up with that idea after seeing a shopping cart abandoned on the side of the road. I was pregnant at the time, so my mind wandered to what-ifs, and I reimagined it as a baby carriage.
“China Doll” is another short horror story that’s published through the Aseptic and Faintly Sadistic anthology. All proceeds benefit the Chicago Abortion Fund, so it’s a great book to support! My story was inspired by the exoticism of Asian women and the ways in which that manifests.
“The Orchard of Tomorrow” is published at Clarkesworld—read it here or listen to it on the podcast. That piece began as a frame story for a longer work. I ended up pulling that frame out and changing it to fit short form. It’s eco sci-fi inspired by the Chinese classic, Journey to the West, and the importance of peaches in Chinese mythology.
The last one I’ll mention is “A Scarcity of Sharks,” published by Reckoning—read it here. I did a ton of ocean research for a manuscript I ended up setting aside. But from that research, several stories were born. This one is about sharks and how we, humans, have treated them.
All upcoming (announced) and published work can be found at my website. I keep it up to date with the latest!
Having read some of your work, I'm certain our readers will enjoy checking those out! Thank you for sharing them with us!
What's next for you? Are you working on anything new right now?
Yes! I do have something exciting happening that hasn’t been announced yet, but hopefully I’ll get to share that before year end. I also have a few short stories and nonfiction pieces slated for publication next year, which are (or will be) on my website.
Other than that, I’m currently working on a gothic horror novel that I’m really, really excited about. I can’t share more yet, but it’s a piece I first started working on over two years ago. I keep being pulled in other directions (edits on other pieces, short story ideas, admin, etc.), but I’m finally able to focus more on this manuscript again. It involves some elements that lie very close to my heart, and I’m loving writing it.
Horror is widely varied with a variety of sub genres that includes supernatural, folk, psychological, slasher, weird and many more. Which sub-genre are you most drawn to and why?
I enjoy reading a variety of subgenres, but my absolute favorite is gothic horror. I love how storytellers in this space lean unapologetically into the drama, how it’s full of hauntings, how there’s usually an element of psychological horror, and how immersive the atmosphere tends to be. It’s anxiety-ridden and creepy in the best way.
Following closely are social commentary horror and folkloric horror. I particularly enjoy stories that combine those subgenres in an interesting way. I enjoy doing this in some of my own work. My debut novella, Bound Feet, mixed gothic with folkloric. It’s a haunted house story set in a Chinese garden and ghost museum, and it involves Chinese ghost folklore. And my current manuscript is a mix of gothic and social commentary horror.
Is there anything you'd like to see more or less of in the Horror genre, and is it something you try to reflect in your own work?
The biggest thing is that I want to see is more BIPOC and global majority authors in the horror space, and I’d like to see more effort go into uplifting, supporting, and including us. Some of that is happening for sure, but the demographic of the genre (like many genres, unfortunately) is still far from reflecting the reality of our world.
Selfishly, I’d especially love to see this in the gothic horror space, since that’s what I love reading and writing the most. I wrote an essay about this, and Psychopomp published it here.
It's been delightful getting to know more about you and your work and sharing it with our readers! Since we're Halloween obsessed here on 31DaysOfHaunting, there's a few more things we need to know!
Favourite films and books for the spooky season?
Films/TV: Phantom of the Opera, Parasite, Crimson Peak, Get Out, and Lockwood & Co
Books: How much time do you have? (Heh.) Here are some I highly recommend.
The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
Sleep Alone by J.A.W. McCarthy
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due
She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
Linghun by Ai Jiang
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Stargazers by L.P. Hernandez
Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier
Who would be your perfect squad to go trick or treating with? (Can be anyone living, dead, fictional).
I’d definitely go with some of my horror author friends. We’d have a blast dressing up and cackling as we went from house to house.
Forget costumes, you can swap bodies with your favourite horror character for Halloween. Who is it?
I’d swap with Noemí Taboada from Mexican Gothic. And y’know, then I’d have the best wardrobe.
What's the one Halloween candy that you'd rather fight the scariest of monsters than hand it over?
I’m not big on candy, but if monsters tried to take a slice of mango cake from me, I’d be ready to FIGHT.
Finally, what's your ideal way to spend All Hallows' Eve?
Halloween activities with the kids during the day. After they go to bed, I’d love to curl up by the fireplace with autumnal treats and a blanket and rewatch Phantom of the Opera or Crimson Peak with my husband. Or, if the kids were hanging out with their grandparents for the day, I’d want to do a writing retreat somewhere with an atmosphere that matched my manuscript. It would be fun to write horror on All Hallows’ Eve!
Thank you so much for being a part of our Halloween celebration on Haunted Trails for #31DaysofHaunting! We look forward to checking out your stories! Happy Haunting!
Thank you for having me!
You can find Kelsea via the following links to check out her current and forthcoming releases and to keep up with the latest news!
Website: https://www.kelseayu.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anovelescape/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anovelescape