Pride in Horror Interview: CL Hellisen
An Interview at The Temple of Gorse and Thunder
A longtime fan of their work, I now have the privilege of calling CL Hellisen a friend who I have met IRL, as well as a highly esteemed author buddy. I am beyond honored to say I have been able to beta read and even blurb some of CL’s novels and I have thoroughly enjoyed every word they’ve ever written. They are a masterful storyteller in both long and short form, and I truly do aspire to be a writer like them when I grow up.
CL Hellisen lives somewhere between Scotland and the Hypnagog. Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, their stories are influenced by the border places between waking and dreaming, urban and rural, myth and superstition, land and water. Their work has appeared in The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Apex, Shimmer, Strange Horizons, Shoreline of Infinity and others, and been shortlisted for multiple awards.
Their Crossfade novels, The Shape of Monsters and A Million Points of Light, are a dark, gothic fantasy duology where two siblings are slowly corrupted by the magic they think will save them.
When not writing, CL Hellisen throws themself repeatedly at a large block of ice for fun as a figure skater and ice dancer. They like exploring rivers in cities, and finding pubs with crows carved into the beams and pictures of saints who don’t exist on the wall.
I am so grateful CL Hellisen agreed to answer my questions, so without further ado...
Who are you not? Why aren’t you a “insert whatever your alternative career path might have been”?
I’m not a musician. As a teen (and still, sort of) I was absolutely in love with deeply problematic gothic types in bands, and longed to be one. Alas, it required a modicum of musical talent, so I ended up writing stories instead.
Give us three songs, food, artworks, cocktails, whatever to get to know you and or your book by.
If we’re going with The Shape of Monsters and A Million Points of Light, then they would be song: This is Love – Air Traffic Controller, or if we close our eyes and pretend everything is fiiiiiine, then Adrenalize by In This Moment
If they were cocktails, they’d be vodka gimlets
I’m not answering this right, but that’s three things.
Why dark fantasy? Why not thriller or sci-fi or sports romance?
I’ve just always been more interested in that dark ground on the river banks that sucks you in, the small gods in the mud and the water, the bones and the strangeness crawling under rocks. For me, dark fantasy is that quicksand where fantasy and horror meet.
My biggest writing heroes were Clive Barker, Tanith Lee and Ursula le Guin, so I guess it makes sense I went this way.
I enjoy reading SF but I think I’d only write a version of SF that was so steeped in magic that no one would consider it SF at all.
Which trope needs to be taken out back and shot?
None of them! I am adamant that in every trope is the seed of something interesting, as long as you play with them. You don’t have to play nicely, though.
What non-literary hill will you happily die on?
That anyone who thinks ice dance is not a sport should go fucking try it and then get back to me.
If you could resurrect any dead author and have them write one more book, who would it be and why?
Tanith Lee, probably, though as much as it saddens me when authors pass, I’m not keen on necromancy. Too many things can go wrong, so I’ll probably leave the dead sleeping.
If you could collab with any non-author to write a book or short story, who would it be and why?
I would love to do a short story collection that was illustrated by collage artist Sarah Jarrett. Collage art is much harder than most people realise, and her works have a wonderfully surreal, delicate, dark quality that I think would play well with my words.
Would you only have one album to listen to or rather one book to read for the rest of your life?
That is a cruel question. One book, because I can make up my own stories, but I need other people’s music.
If the story of your life was a romantasy, what would it be called in the The____of____and____ format?
The Temple of Gorse and Thunder
Okay, you can only pick one:
Scotland or South Africa? South Africa
Pasta or noodles? ….are these not fundamentally the same thing? Pasta, then, because it contains multitudes
Ice skating or reading? Reading, but I’ll be cranky lmty
E-books or audiobooks? e-books
Brain freeze or stubbing your toe? Brain freeze, because at least there will have been ice cream before
Bonus question:Would you rather be the most powerful human mage to have ever lived or a lesser void prince?
Human mage, for sure -- slightly less chance of being eaten by a relative.
You can find CL Hellisen on all the usual socials by heading over to their website and be sure to check out their novels, The Shape of Monsters and A Million Points of Light, exclusively on Audible!
Climber, tattoo collector, and peanut-butter connoisseur, Xan van Rooyen is an award-winning autistic, non-binary storyteller from South Africa, currently living in Finland. Xan has a Master’s degree in music, and–when not teaching–enjoys conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. You can find Xan’s stories in the likes of Three-Lobed Burning Eye, Daily Science Fiction, and Galaxy’s Edge among others. They have also written several novels including the forthcoming adult dark fantasy novel, Born of Malice (October, Ruadan Books) and the cyberpunk retelling of Dorian Gray, Exquisite Decay (December, Tiny Ghost Press). Xan is also part of the Sauútiverse, an African writer’s collective, with stories in the multi award-nominated anthology Mothersound (Android Press) as well as Sauúti Terrors (Flame Tree Press). Feel free to say hi on all the usual socials.
