Today I am so pleased to welcome E.F. Schraeder to Joyfully Jay. Schraeder has come to talk to us about their latest release, As Fast as She Can. Please join me in giving a big welcome!

Monster Girls: When Naughty is Nice

Real talk: When it comes to my own reading and viewing habits, there’s one thing I cannot get enough of… angry, murdery, and all manner of outrageous female-identifying characters who break the rules. I love all the monster-folk who aren’t shy, demure, or the slightest bit concerned about the expectations people have for them or the havoc they wreak.

Sometimes when you find them, they aren’t very sympathetic. Medusa, I’m very specifically not looking at you! Even so, readings as varied as Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872), Octavia Butler’s Fledgling (2005), Camille DeAngelis’ Bones & All (2015) and more to the monster women in movies like She Wolf of London (1946), Vampire Lovers (1970), Jennifer’s Body (2009), and beyond— when I find them, I love them nearly without fail.

Far from the tragically key-fumbling scream queens of yesterday’s horror, some monsters take a bite out of patriarchy. So when I set out to write a monster’s story, I knew I wanted my main character to be riotous— a girl gone wild homage to those who came before her. I had a clear sense of her as young enough to fall into the tradition of teen monsters, but old enough to identify her best-friend crush and independent enough to take off confidently in a fit of rage. As Ginger realizes her adoptive parents and her world were not as simple or innocent as they once seemed, she grapples with a grim reality that cast her in the role of regular-kid-turned-monster by forces beyond her control. What would someone be willing to do to survive a transition they don’t understand? I hope Ginger’s journey is one where readers find humor in her unique perspective amidst the absurdity of a monstrous before and after. Ginger doesn’t accept her fate without a struggle, although she eventually leans in and embraces her inner monster.

Blurb

Living in a quiet house on the outskirts of town, Ginger isn’t like the other girls.

When she wakes up and discovers the unthinkable about her adoptive parents, she runs away and goes on a rampage straight to the only friend she has. Can she control what they both become?

With a violent, growing hunger and more questions than answers, Ginger has nowhere to turn.

Buy Links: https://www.limfic.com/book/as-fast-as-she-can/

Bio

E.F. Schraeder is the author of the queer gothic novella Liar: Memoir of a Haunting (Omnium Gatherum, 2021), which was an Imadjinn Award finalist in 2022. Schraeder is also the author of a story collection and two poetry chapbooks.

Schraeder’s recent work has appeared in Lost Contact, Strange Horizons, The Feminist Wire, Birthing Monsters, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Mystery Weekly Magazine, Lavender Review, and other journals and anthologies. Schraeder’s nonfiction has been included in Vastarien: A Literary Journal; Radical Teacher; the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom blog, and elsewhere. Awarded first place in Crystal Lake Publishing’s 2021 Poetry Contest, E.F. Schraeder’s work also placed as a semi-finalist in Headmistress Press’ Charlotte Mew Contest (2019). Current creative projects a full length manuscript of poems and an unruly collection of essays. An ex-professor and youth librarian, Schraeder holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. and advanced degree in Library Science. An Active Member in the Horror Writers Association and a Lifetime Member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, E. F. Schraeder believes in ghosts, magic, and dogs.

• Author Website: https://www.efschraeder.com
• Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5989787.E_F_Schraeder?f
• Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com): https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/e-f-schraeder-2/
• Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/E-F-Schraeder/e/B014YYIOK0