Hello! Carol Gyzander here. I love to write (and read!) horror, science fiction, and weird fiction–particularly anything with tentacles. My taste in horror runs to the quiet side; picture an episode of Twilight Zone where everything seems like usual—then something seems a bit off—another odd thing catches the attention—and then we know we are in a horror story.
I enjoy talking about the different aspects of the horror genre and am Co-Chair of the HWA NY Chapter. It was a great honor to have my weird fiction short story, “The Yellow Crown,” nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, along with its anthology, Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign. I have done primarily short stories so far and feel there is an art to focusing in on the correct amount of subject to fit a short length.
I also love both reading my work aloud and supporting those who do so, and am a budding narrator. I’ve given workshops, often with Teel James Glenn, on reading your work aloud and selecting, preparing, and editing your piece to provide the best impact. I co-host Galactic Terrors, the online reading series from HWA NY, on second Thursdays.
My focus in writing is to show characters that the reader will care about—to get into what makes the character tick so as to have the story change or affect them. If readers don’t relate to the character, then the story is basically a travelogue and doesn’t hold attention. I like to call my work “Twisted Tales that Touch the Heart”! My works often look at women’s strengths.
A current passion of mine is climate change and the ocean, particularly cephalopods like octopuses and jellyfish. As we near the global warming tipping point, there are many ways to reach out and make people aware of what is happening. Fiction is an easy way for people to learn while doing something they enjoy.
As an editor, I have learned so much that informs my own writing! I have edited/co-edited six anthologies of science fiction and horror. There is a particular art to working with an author, giving them feedback while still treating them respectfully. The relationship is key. I enjoy diving into someone else’s brain while reviewing their story and then pulling out any missing threads or identifying areas of confusion that could use clarification. Weird as it sounds, grammar and punctuation make my heart sing and I’ve been known to read The Chicago Manual of Style for fun.
Publishing history
Carol was the editor and a writer for Writerpunk Press, a cooperative charity press that created six anthologies of ’punk genre stories based upon classics. Her contributions include cyberpunk Shakespeare, clockpunk Poe, and a cyberpunk tale inspired by Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space.” They have recently released their latest anthology, Taught by Time: Myth Goes Punk.
Her latest short stories include:
Coming in mid-May: “Call of the Void–L’Appel du VIde” in Weird Tales issue 369, the cosmic horror issue that is the first issue of their second century!
“The Yellow Crown” in Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign, from Hippocampus Press. This weird historical fiction anthology, edited by James Chambers, explores the madness of Robert W. Chambers’ classic work of weird fiction, The King in Yellow (1895) and those under the sway of the Yellow Sign, and includes stories by Lisa Morton, John Langan, and Sarah Read. Carol’s story turns the attention to the women in that world. Both the story and the anthology were nominated for Bram Stoker Awards.
“Runt of the Litter” in Cat Ladies of the Apocalypse, from Camden Park Press–turning the post-apoc trope of a man and his dog on its head! Plus, many of the stories are more hopeful than the usual genre offerings.
“Deal with the Devil” in Across the Universe, the alternate Beatles anthology edited by Michael A. Ventrella and Randee Dawn, in December 2019 from Fantastic Books with some wonderful authors such as Spider Robinson, Gregory Benford, David Gerrold, Jody Lynn Nye, Gregory Frost, and Cat Rambo.
“Dust to Dust” in Taught by Time: Myth Goes Punk, a biopunk story that retells the legend of Echo and Narcissus from Ovid’s Metamorphoses as clones who work in a black lab, cloning human organs–and themselves.
“He Gets Hungry Sometimes” came out in The Lost Librarian’s Grave: Tales of Madness, Horror, and Adventure. A little boy in the park carries his pet in a shoebox–but what’s really in the box?
Editing history
Carol and Rachel Brune co-edited A Woman Unbecoming, the horror anthology of women’s rage and power, immediately after the reversal of Roe v Wade. They actually recruited stories, edited, formatted, and published in two months with a stunning cover by Lynne Hansen.
She co-edited the Even in the Grave ghost story anthology in the Grave with James Chambers, in part as a way to keep in touch with their friends during the pandemic in New York–where Covid was particularly impactful.
Carol was Editor-in-Chief for the last four anthologies with Writerpunk Press, a cooperative press that raised funds to support PAWS, a no-kill animal shelter on the west coast. They created ‘punk genre stories inspired by stories in the public domain, such as Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, classic horror, stories you likely read in high school English class, and mythology.
Carol is Co-Chair of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) NY Chapter and one of the co-hosts of the monthly HWA NY Galactic Terrors online reading series. As HWA Chapter Program Co-Manager, she helps support chapters in the US.
HWA, MWA, SFWA, SinC. Find her as @CarolGyzander on Twitter and Instagram.