Tell us a bit more about you and where you’re from.
Heluk: I’m from the East Coast of the United States where I have been writing since I was a kid.
My interests are varied, from collecting oddities and antiquing to lazy beach days.
I appear soft glam on the outside but when presented a choice in literature or movies, it’s horror first, comedy or ultra-violence second. Think Sisu.
I’ll leave the romance for someone else.
I was, and still am, enthralled by Famous Monsters of Filmland, the stop-motion magic of Ray Harryhausen, and Fangoria Magazine, which only deepened my love of monsters and practical SPFX.
As for writing, I am firmly planted in horror.
My roots run deep.
What inspired your winning story? Why did that particular theme resonate with you?
Heluk: Truth be told, I’m a what if girl.
This challenge piqued my curiosity regarding changes inside safe spaces.
We should feel comfort in a bedroom, or even a hotel room. But what if a past event, particularly a crime, was altered by the unseen? Coordinated by something hidden, occupying the space with you—a malevolence intent on causing suffering, horror and pain.
It says…you have no control here.
Blending paranoia with a publicized murder, a disgraced punk icon and a haunted hotel like The Chelsea, and there it was.
Out came Vicious.
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