Author Ania Ahlborn Talks Brother’s Setting, Influences, Characters, and More!
Debi Moore
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Ania Ahlborn has a new full-length novel, titled Brother, arriving in just one more week; and we recently had the chance to chat with the popular horror author about the book’s setting and characters, her influences, what’s coming next, and more.
Look for Brother on September 29th from Gallery Books.
Dread Central: Why did you choose the rural Appalachia setting? It’s a far cry from Poland, where you were born, and Portland, where you live now! But it does definitely tap into a lot of people’s fears of that Wrong Turn type of inbred hillbilly killer.
Ania Ahlborn: I base my stories in parts of the country I’m genuinely interested in, and Appalachia is definitely one of those places. There’s just something about the idea of being stuck in time that captures my imagination. I wanted that sense of timelessness for Brother, and I think that both the place and the people of Appalachia lend that sort of quality. I mean, there aren’t many spots left in the United States that are genuinely wild, but out there, people are still making moonshine and governing land with a shoot-first ask-questions-later mentality. Obviously, that doesn’t apply to the entirety of Appalachia, but the Appalachia in my mind? It’s scary because it’s untamed, and I love that. I wanted the Morrows to have that sense of wild, reckless, dangerous abandon.
DC: I saw a previous interview in which you said that if you could, you’d follow Delphine Lalaurie and other characters from the “darkest corners” of human history to learn more about how they blended so innocuously into general society. Is that a recurring theme in your works, and by writing about similar people, what have you learned about those types of “monsters” so far?
AA: It’s definitely a theme. It seems like every day we’re faced with a new story about someone shooting up their neighborhood, or a family of five being killed by their patriarch. Most people are revolted by that sort of thing. There’s a tendency to throw our hands up in the air and bang out an exasperated “What’s wrong with people?” onto our Facebook feeds. But for me, I’ve always been interested in the “why” behind what people do. If you spend as much time reading about serial killers as I have, you start picking up on commonalities: trauma, abuse, abandonment, neglect. The more you know about what turns a person into a killer, the more you can imagine what it might be like to be one. And that speaks to the fact that one of the most poignant lessons I’ve learned about villains is that, in their own minds, they aren’t the bad guys. It’s the world around them that made them what they are. And yet, they have no choice but to live in a world they hate. That’s an exquisite sort of tension I can’t seem to get enough of.
DC: What were some of your influences for this story? It seems to be combination of horror, suspense, family drama, coming of age.. anything else?
AA: I don’t really go into writing a story with any particular influence, really. When people ask about Brother, I sell it as the literary love child of Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Deliverance. But I didn’t sit down and say, “Okay, I want it to be this very thing” when I started banging out the first draft. Those influences tend to creep in through the cracks as you work. As far as genres go, I’m not a fan of labels. I was once told, “Horror is supernatural, and thrillers are based in reality.” To me, that’s silly. There’s nothing supernatural in Brother, but it’s a story about a family of murderers. Is that horror? If it isn’t, I’ve failed miserably in what I’ve set out to write. But yeah: horror, suspense… most definitely. Family drama and coming of age… a lot of my stuff toes that line as well. When a story delves deep into what makes a character tick, breaching those themes seems pretty inevitable.
DC: Poor Michael, your protagonist. He’s just 19 years old, and his life path is pretty much predetermined already. Without giving too much away, how does he fight his destiny? What kind of tools does he bring to the battle against his family members who are none too happy about his rebellion?
AA: Michael is an anomaly in that he never quite loses hope for a better life. He’s not very educated, but he knows enough from the TV shows he grew up with that families aren’t supposed to be stalking hitchhikers down lonely stretches of highway. Each member of the Morrow family is different in their own way. You’ve got Claudine, the cruel matriarch and, arguably, the source of the family’s insanity. There’s Wade, the father, whose indifference is Claudine’s boon. Rebel, Michael’s brother, is busy drowning his rage in alcohol. And Misty, Michael’s sister, has blinded herself by living in a dream world. Michael sees all of these flaws, and he’s desperate to reject them to keep from completely losing himself in the nightmare that is his life. But when he meets Alice—a pretty girl that works at a local record store—he genuinely starts to believe that he’s not like the Morrows at all. That realization, that fleeting hope, is all it takes to jump-start his rebellion. And once he learns the dark secret the Morrows have been hiding from him, well, you know that saying “The truth will set you free”? Michael takes that, and he runs like the devil with it.
DC: What specific aspects of the novel will the horror crowd find appealing?
AA: Hopefully the whole thing! The horror crowd gets a bad rap when it comes to sophistication. Sure, some people are only into slash-em-up stuff that focuses on plot rather than character development. And yes, Brother is a complex story that delves deep into the minds of the characters. But there’s a lot of action, plenty of dread to go around, and a great payout in the end. That being said, I truly believe that most horror fans appreciate being drawn into a story via the characters rather than just having the story thrust upon them. Horror is made better with a heightened sense of stakes, and the stakes are far higher when you actually care about the guy who just uttered those four words of doom: “I’ll be right back.”
DC: Is this a totally self-contained tale? Could we revisit the Morrows one day or at least the world you created for them?
AA: Thus far, all of my books are stand-alones. I think the literature world has gone a little series- and sequel-crazy. Personally, I like being able to sit down with a good book and know I’m going to get the whole story in those pages, or at least as much of the story as the author wants to tell me. Every now and again I’ll hint at characters knowing of other characters across novels—like, if a crime had taken place in the past that’s dealt with in one book, a character in another book may refer to it in conversation, which is a fun little Easter egg for readers—but beyond that, I tend to keep the stories relatively separate. There’s no order to them.
DC: You’ve mentioned The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby, and especially Stephen King as huge influences. What other horror movies and authors do you admire? TV is such a burgeoning medium for the genre right now – are there any shows you’re following currently or looking forward to?
AA: As you brought up earlier, my stuff tends to straddle genres, so I’m all over the board when it comes to influences. Book-wise, I’m a huge fan of Gillian Flynn, Joe Hill, John Ajvide Lindqvist. Admittedly, I watch way more TV than I should because, as you said, it’s so good right now. “American Horror Story,” “Fargo,” “Bates Motel,” and “The Leftovers” are a few of my current favorites. I was pretty addicted to “Sons of Anarchy” as well. And my most guilty pleasure is “Ghost Adventures.” It can be hokey, sure, but some of the stories people tell both about the locations and their own personal experiences with the hauntings themselves are fascinating. Lots of great inspiration for the foundations of stories there.
DC: Now that Brother‘s being released, what’s next? Are you already at work on your follow-up project?
AA: I am. I’ve already completed four drafts of the next book, which is called The Devil Crept In. It’s a story about a boy who goes missing and the “thing” that’s responsible for his disappearance that happens to live in the woods surrounding his town. That draft will be with my editor around the end of the year. I believe it’s slated for publication in or around September of 2016.
Our thanks to Ania for her time and to Stephanie DeLuca at Simon and Schuster for facilitating our chat.
Brother Synopsis:
From the bestselling horror author of Within These Walls and The Bird Eater comes a brand-new novel of terror that follows a teenager determined to break from his family’s unconventional—and deeply disturbing—traditions.
Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it’s served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard.
But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he’s sure that someday he’ll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he’s immediately smitten. For a moment he nearly forgets about the monster he’s become. But his brother, Rebel, is all too eager to remind Michael of his place…
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