I have known Cornelia since my days in San Francisco.... And am so happy that she has found her calling as an author... She was recently published in a collective short story entitled "Sideshow" out now on Visionary Press Collaborative I am so happy for her success.... I hope you enjoy the interview.

It has been a while....Tell us what you have been up too?

Yes, it has been a while since Kathy Peck (originally from the "Contractions") and I were doing the club scene as "Tammy-Why-NOT and the Bushwackers"; opening for your "Ginger Coyote and the Debutantes" in San Francisco. Kathy and I were also getting H.E.A.R. started to help musicians protect their hearing. Those were good and crazy busy days. Things changed for me when we moved to Oregon near Portland about eight years ago. I love country life and being able to zip to a big city is great but I was still restless. I had been writing for years even all through my husband's long illness when a friend of mine, Mary Underwood, a writer, told me to send a story to her husband, Mikel Classen, who was a indie publisher and writer himself. They were having success with their ventures, one of which was their anthology, I Believe in Werewolves. I decided to give going public as a writer a try. I have piles of notes and stories so I dove right in. This led ultimately to Rob Miller, the editor for Sideshow, and Blaze McRob, the publisher for Visionary Press Collaborative.

Tell us a bit about this Anthology Sideshow. Is it different then the usual collection of short horror stories?

There are a couple of things that, to me, make Sideshow unique. For one, the great cover and color illustrations by Melissa Stevens. Also, that the authors come from all over, including Canada, England, New Zealand and the United States. This makes for a heady stew of various scary flavors to savor. I also think that Sideshow's emphasis is on great story telling with different levels of the frightening, from kicked in the ass scared to out and out terrifying confrontations.

When you were young were you fascinated with Carnivals?

Where I grew up in Michigan we would have several carnivals of different sizes come through the town of Albion yearly. And, yes, one year there was a big ostrich that expertly plucked a button right off my shirt. In fact, now that I think about it, I almost ran away with the carnival after college because I so itching to travel. The carnival people loved my long wild hair and I would have been set up as a card reader. My friends chickened out and my parents were horrified at the thought lol, so after graduating from college I moved to San Francisco to become a part of its music scene.

Cornelia, How dark is your shadow?

That's an interesting question. I have many highly intelligent and sardonic to outright depressed and pessimistic friends. Some times I wonder how they can stand me, for all in all I am a pretty chipper person. What may save me in their eyes is that I am a fairly brave person, one who is not afraid to ask the deeper questions and quest into the depths and heights of the human soul. In my interview on the Sideshow web site, I speak more deeply on this and on the nature of good and evil and how that is explored in our art, especially in horror and fantasy stories. Inner shadows are not necessarily evil but can also be places of mystery and strength. In those shadows you might lose your naivety and gain your power.

Are you happy with the support you have at Visionary Press?

Absolutely.

Tell us what do you have in store for your readers in the future?

I have another short story, a novelette, a story poem, and a novel, all of which are in the can, so I have been very busy. There also is a more personal book that is almost finished on my life and how poetry was weaving its way through my life with me almost not noticing. And when I eventually did notice, it gave me a kind of spiritual awakening.

Do you have any Internet sites to share with our readers and closing words?

Thank you, I do. For those that are curious Sideshow has a Facebook page and a great web site at Sideshow Journey into Shadow Also, the web page for Visionary Press Collaborative is http://www.visionarypresscoop.ws/. My site http://ciraina.wix.com/cb-doyle. And Blaze McRob's site http://www.blazemcrob.com/. We are days away from Halloween, a time of masks and disguises. It's also a time to remember to honor one's dead, to honor the spirits of the unseen and the mysteries that both attract and terrify us. There are discoveries and consequences. Things do go bump in the night and yes, they are looking for your shadow. http://www.jaggeddarkness.com