On July 12, 2023, the queen of cosmic horror, Mary SanGiovanni, joined me for the sixth episode of the Scene It First series, sponsored by Fictionary. In this series, I speak with bestselling, award-winning authors to talk about first scenes, share secrets of writing craft, and celebrate the stories that thrill and inspire us all.

In this episode, Mary talked about her fiction, author collaborations, cosmic horror, and her recent novel in the Alien universe: Alien: Enemy of My Enemy. (You’ll also want to watch for a quick cameo from a certain horror legend.)

Upcoming interviews can be joined live by registered members of the Fictionary community, and it’s always free to register.

In addition to hosting the Scene It First series, James Gallagher is the owner of Castle Walls Editing, a Fictionary-Certified StoryCoach Editor, and the copy editor of more than 250 books.

About Mary SanGiovanni

Mary SanGiovanni is an award-winning American horror and thriller writer of over a dozen novels, including the Hollower trilogy, Thrall, Chaos, the Kathy Ryan series, and others, as well as numerous novellas, short stories, comics, and nonfiction. Her work has been translated internationally, and she has a master’s degree in writing popular fiction from Seton Hill University, Pittsburgh, and is currently a member of the Authors Guild, International Thriller Writers, and Penn Writers.

Mary was a cohost on the popular podcast The Horror Show with Brian Keene and her own podcast-turned-blog on cosmic horror, Cosmic Shenanigans, and she is currently a cohost of The Ghost Writers Podcast. She has the distinction of being one of the first women to speak about writing at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and she offers talks and workshops on writing around the country. Born and raised in New Jersey, Mary currently resides in Pennsylvania.

About Fictionary

Fictionary is a story-editing software that allows writers and editors to glean insights and perform developmental edits on their works using Fictionary’s 38 story elements for character, plot, and setting.

The software also provides attractive visual reports, including the story arc (showing location of the inciting incident, plot point 1, midpoint, plot point 2, and climax), as well as reports illustrating such items as the story map, character list, and word count per scene.

More information can be found at Fictionary.co.

The Fictionary community can be found here (free to register).