Set against the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas, Chloe Lauter‘s debut novel, The Flayed Man, blends horror, dark fantasy, and family drama into a gripping story of survival and sacrifice. Ellis Karsten spends her days caring for patients in the emergency room and her nights searching for blood to keep her family’s monstrous curse at bay. But when her uncle disappears and her mother’s worsening dementia becomes entangled with terrifying warnings about an ancient creature known as the Flayed Man, Ellis must confront the possibility that the greatest threat to her family is no myth at all.
We asked Lauter to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers can get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.
What was the first book you were obsessed with as a child?
I’ve always had an affinity for fairy tales. We had this book of Perrault fairy tales with incredible art deco illustrations. When I was a little older, I became obsessed with Rootabaga Stories, a series of delightfully bizarre folktales by the poet Carl Sandberg. I still have the paperback!
What book helped you through puberty?
One of my favorite books as a teen was Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar. I loved its weird, voicey, occasionally absurd approach to the supernatural. I’m not sure it actually helped with anything but I still have a soft spot for it.
What book do you wish 16-year-old you had read?
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. I was so late to that book and it’s unbelievable. And more Ursula K. Le Guin, generally. I would have been fascinated by The Dispossessed as a teenager.
If you were to teach a class on Damn Good Writing, what books would make the syllabus?
My dream writing class would have to focus on short stories. I have at least twenty tabs open on my laptop at all times, and usually nineteen of them are short stories.
A few current favorites, pulled directly from the Notes app list I keep on hand for anyone who makes the mistake of asking me for recommendations:
“Pretty Boy Crossover” by Pat Cadigan
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates
“Mothers” by Carmen Maria Machado
“Xiaogui” by K-Ming Chang
“Los Angeles” by Ling Ma
“Drive” by Brian Evenson
What books helped guide you while writing your book?
A book that I looked to constantly was Black Flies by Shannon Burke. It’s a novel about EMTs in Harlem, which on the surface has very little in common with my book. But it illuminates how care work can warp people in a way that, to me, approaches psychological horror.
Another one was Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow. It’s a novel in verse about werewolves. Parts of it are so gnarly, and other parts make me cry.
What books are on your nightstand now?
My nightstand is overflowing… from a quick survey: Superstars by Ann Scott, Stainless by Todd Grimson, Body Double by Hanna Johansson. Emily Doyle’s collection Please Don’t Touch the Body. That one comes out in July but I was lucky enough to get an advance copy. There is a story in it from the POV of Ronald Reagan, who has been reincarnated as a puppy. It’s fabulous.