Women in Horror Month is technically over, but we still have more good stuff to share. Today, an interview with H.I. Moscato. If you didn’t know about her already, you might not have discovered her easily on your own. Enjoy!

H.I. Moscato is the author of a two-book vampire series, Vampire’s Song (2009 Amazon) and The Sound of Blood (Vampire’s Song) (2013 Amazon), as well as various short stories.

Can you give our readers a brief introduction?

My full name is Hortenzia Ilona Moscato and I publish under my initials, H.I.M., due to its length. I’m an author of a two- book vampire series and several short horror stories. I found my love of writing rather late in life when I caught up on reading all the books that my favorite author of the time had written and was having a hard time finding a replacement read that filled the same void. After a great deal of frustration in not finding what I was looking for I thought it would be fun to write something myself–  never thinking anyone would ever see it. That was all it took to fall in love with the craft. It’s now been 12 years, and my love affair with writing is still going strong.

Why do you write horror?  What draws you to the genre?

As all young children I feared the monsters under my bed and somehow early on I realized that the only way to keep them– the monsters– from eating me up was to befriend them with offerings of cookies. Now I chase their friendship on paper.

Can you describe your writing style or the tone you prefer to set for your stories?

I prefer to take a seemingly normal start to a story and then slowly twist it into something the reader never saw coming.

Who are some of your influences?  Are there any women authors who have particularly inspired you to write?

I find I’m influenced by every author I read. I can’t help but pull out everything I love, hate, got excited about, mad at or cried over out of every story. I’m not sure how you can’t be influenced one way or another– that’s, in my opinion the beauty of reading.

What authors do you like to read?  Any Recommendations?

Wow, that’s a tall order to fill. There are so many great writers. I’d have to say the best place to get a taste for an author’s work is through anthologies. I see them as sampler platters for novels.
Where can readers find your work?

I have two novels out, Vampires’ Song and its sequel The Sound of Blood both available on Amazon in hard copy and Kindle, as well as several short stories through Horrified Press and James Kirk Ward Publishing.