This Is Horror

TIH 327: Laura Mauro on Sing Your Sadness Deep, Naming The Bones, and Living with Anxiety and OCD

  • February 7, 2020

  • 4 mins to read

In this podcast Laura Mauro talks about Sing Your Sadness Deep, Naming The Bones, living with anxiety and OCD, and much more.

About Laura Mauro

Laura Mauro started writing short fiction in 2012 and hasn’t stopped since. Born in London, England, her stories have appeared in Black Static, Interzone, Shadows & Tall Trees, The Dark, and a variety of anthologies. Her debut novella Naming the Bones was published in 2017 and her collection, Sing Your Sadness Deep was published in 2019 via Undertow Publications. Her short story ‘Sun Dogs’ was a Shirley Jackson Award finalist, and ‘Looking for Laika’ won the 2018 British Fantasy Award in Short Fiction.

Show notes

  • [03:05] Impetus for writing horror and weird fiction in 2012
  • [08:00] Genre classification
  • [29:30] Projecting your own experience on a story
  • [31:00] Kev Harrison, via Patreon, asks if Laura’s work not fitting within any genre easily has hampered finding venues for work
  • [33:50] Black Static and Undertow
  • [48:30] Sing Your Sadness Deep collection
  • [50:40] ‘Sundogs’ written in the second person—tips for writing in the second person. How to get it right, how people might get it wrong
  • [57:40] Rowan Tree Editing, via Patreon, asks about ‘When Charlie Sleeps’
  • [01:00:15] Opening the collection with ‘Sundogs’ and ordering the stories
  • [01:02:10] David Watkins, via Patreon, asks if Laura keeps the brick warm during outings
  • [01:06:10] Anxiety and OCD coping strategies
  • [01:14:05] Naming The Bones origin story
  • [01:17:30] ‘Obsidian’
  • [01:18:35] Patrick Barb, via Patreon, asks about scary things in pro wrestling
  • [01:32:00] Advice to eighteen-year-old self
  • [01:34:00] Connect with Laura

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