Nicky Gonzalez is a writer from Hialeah, Florida. Her fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, BOMB, The Kenyon Review, Taco Bell Quarterly, and other publications. She has received support from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Granum Foundation, Millay Arts, Lighthouse Works, and the Hambidge Center. She lives in Massachusetts.
Tell us about your book.
Mayra is a literary Gothic novel about two former best friends, Ingrid and Mayra, reconnecting in a house deep in the Everglades where everything is not as it seems. Flashbacks from Ingrid and Mayra’s childhood together weave through the narrative and illuminate their complicated relationship, and as time goes by in the house, things get a little weird.
What drew you to the Gothic genre?
I’ve always been drawn to uncanny stories in which everything is just a little bit off, so I love the slow build toward terror that Gothic novels have. In the first half or so of a good Gothic, things will be just slightly weird or surprising, and there’s a plausible deniability to the horror or supernatural element. That’s my favorite place to be in as a reader, when I’m still finding my footing in the story and I’m unsure of what I’m reading.
What’s a recent Gothic novel you loved?
House of Beth by Kerry Cullen! If you enjoyed Mayra and want another contemporary Gothic narrated by a tender-hearted bisexual, look no further.
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Who is a fellow author you’d want with you if you were in a slasher movie?
Tananarive Due. I would want a bona fide expert by my side, someone who’s seen and studied all of the great slashers and knows exactly how to survive. Whether she’d want to be hindered by a scaredy-cat like me is another discussion.
What’s the thing that scares you the most?
Loss of control.
What’s your favorite slasher movie of all time?
Nightmare on Elm Street. I find dreamscapes and liminal spaces narratively irresistible—hence the bizarre swamp house in Mayra—so the 1980’s classic is a clear frontrunner. And Freddy is the campiest, silliest, most fabulous villain ever. It’s great fun.
Which of your characters would you be most afraid to meet in real life?
It’s between Mayra and the house, but probably Mayra. I don’t know if she’d like me.
Have you ever scared yourself writing a scene?
I intentionally scare myself while writing certain scenes. At a writing residency in the woods, I would turn the lights off in my studio and write at night in the pitch dark. Sometimes I even try to scare myself when what I’m writing is completely mundane. I listen to instrumental soundtracks to Italian horror movies while writing non-scary scenes in the hopes that the vibes will infuse my prose with a sense of unease.
What’s creepier to you: an anonymous note, a neighbor who knows too much, or a familiar voice on the other end of the phone?
Mayra opens with familiar voice on the other end of the phone, so I feel like that should be my answer, but I think an anonymous note wins this one. The fact that it’s anonymous can only mean bad news. Plus, it makes you paranoid, turning everyone you see into a suspect. In that way, it makes the whole world scary.
What’s your favorite “Gothic trope” to write or read?
A strange and enormous house!
Mayra by Nicky Gonzalez
Ingrid hasn’t heard from her childhood best friend Mayra in years, so when Mayra unexpectedly invites her for a weekend trip to a house in the Everglades, she doesn’t hesitate to say yes. From the moment she arrives, Ingrid is swallowed by the ominous surroundings and past quarrels with Mayra. Little by little, Ingrid begins to lose her grip of time and her own identity.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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