PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Show me a book full of isolation horror and queer characters and set it at a sleepaway camp and I am one hundred percent in. You have my full attention. This brings us to Christina Ferko’s debut horror novel, The Darkness Greeted Her. A flawed heroine, trauma, grief, murder and death… This book ticks all the boxes for a terrifying and wild ride.
Yellowjackets meets Smile in this atmospheric sapphic horror debut, in which a group of troubled girls are stalked through the Appalachian wilderness by a frightening monster that feeds on their deepest fears.
To celebrate the release of the book, I chatted with Christina about crafting the book, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: I loved The Darkness Greeted Her! Isolation horror is one of my favorites, so this was really, really good. And it’s queer, which is even better.
Christina Ferko: I didn’t know that you read it! That’s awesome.
PopHorror: What sparked the idea for the book?
Christina Ferko: As an adult, I had a couple of traumatic experiences, as we all probably end up having, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the way that trauma can linger in your minds and how the effects can feel like they’re haunting us and affect us. How it changes us as people. That’s how it started.
PopHorror: Trauma is a big theme in the book but also grief too. I appreciate that because it shows me that people grieve differently and all of the characters in this book were dealing with both trauma and grief. They had a lot of loss, they had a lot of changes in their lives and their families and situations. Was there anything that you were adamant about keeping in the final draft, no matter what?
Christina Ferko: I didn’t have anything that my editor and I disagreed with so there was nothing she pushed for me taking out that I was like no, this has to stay. I did hope that I have a very sneaky reference to the 1985 Clue movie in there and I was really hoping that was something that I could keep just because it’s fun for me and it did make it to the final draft.
PopHorror: I’m going to be honest. I’m not that familiar with Clue so I did not pick up on that.
Christina Ferko: It’s really sneaky. It’s when they’re in the cabin and it’s turned into fire and they see the Shadow Man, there’s one part where they say, “Let us out! Let us out!”, and someone else says, “Let us in!” and that’s a back and forth in Clue.
PopHorror: I do remember that! If your book was to be made into a movie, who would you cast as Penny?
Christina Ferko: So, I’m not very good with knowing younger actors anymore. At my age, I just can’t keep up but I am a huge fan of Mike Flanagan’s horror works and the actors he casts so I would absolutely love it for like Ruth Codd or Kate Siegel or Samantha Sloyan. I don’t have many men in my book but like Rahul Kohli. If any of them or Mike Flanagan ever adapted it, I would be over the moon and just die happy. Penny herself, I don’t know because I don’t know enough actresses anymore.
PopHorror: I think it would make a great movie. It made me think of Sleepaway Camp a little bit. Your book is being marketed as a queer Appalachian horror novel. How important to you is queer representation in entertainment?
Christina Ferko: I think it’s really important for everybody to see themselves in stories but especially marginalized groups like queer people. I just hope that I can always keep writing stories that help show a variety of perspectives and the queer experience.
PopHorror: I appreciate that. Like I said, I love isolation horror, but I also love a good locked-room thriller and stories set in dorm rooms, summer camps, boarding schools, and when they’re queer, that makes it even better.
Christina Ferko: Yeah, I think people can, even if it’s not explicitly said, always just assume at least some characters are bisexual in my books.
PopHorror: Yes! Why do you feel that some people resonate with the horror genre more than others?
Christina Ferko: I think horror gives people a lot of opportunity to explore more raw emotions or the messier, darker parts of people and I think that really connects with a lot of people on a base or emotional level, being able to explore things that other genres might shy away from, and I just find that horror is lot more accepting of people and their experiences and just really diving into that. I enjoy it.
PopHorror: Anything goes in horror, really. I feel like horror gives you the opportunity to experience what scares you and what you’re most afraid of safely from your own home, either watching a movie or reading a book. It lets us get that adrenaline rush without having to actually be in that situation.
Christina Ferko: Yeah, I think that there’s a cathartic feel to horror when you navigate through your own fears in that safe way, which is a lot of what the book was for me.
PopHorror: I have just one last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?
Christina Ferko: There’s a lot and I like a lot of different types. I like a lot of character driven ones so I can’t not say Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass even though it’s not a movie. Also, Train to Busan is so good. I really like that one. And then I like some more comedic ones like Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead. Those are some good ones too.
Thank you so much to Christina for taking the time to chat with us. The Darkness Greeted Her available now!
