They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with author Christina Sng, whose A Collection of Nightmares won the 2017 Bram Stoker Award for Best Poetry!
What does Christina love when she’s not writing award-winning poetry? Spoiler alert: a book to take to a desert island, an assassin who’s allowed to tell her own story, keeping safe from demons, too much television, and lots of comics. Interested? Read on to learn more!
My Favorite Book: Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. It’s been my favorite book since I first read it at 16, and I’ve read it more than 20 times my entire life. The scale of this epic post-apocalyptic tale of good versus evil is breathtaking and wild, beautifully written, and absolutely unforgettable. If I have to take just one book to a desert island, it would be Swan Song.
I love the Adversary Cycle series of The Keep, The Tomb, Reborn, Reprisal, and Nightworld by F. Paul Wilson. Repairman Jack is one of the best characters ever written. I always imagined Treat Williams playing Jack and Josie Bissett as Gia. Scott Glenn today would be perfect as Glaeken in Nightworld as he was in the movie version of The Keep back in 1983.
The Grand Tour series by Ben Bova was life-changing for me, in particular, Venus and Jupiter which are my favorites. I never imagined in my lifetime ever going up into space, let alone visiting another planet and discovering life. Ben Bova changed all that. In his books, I am there with the characters, on Venus, in Jupiter’s swirling clouds. I’ll forever be grateful to him for writing these books.
My Favorite Movie: Elektra. I’m a huge Jennifer Garner fan. She was magnificent as the meticulous, stoic, and graceful assassin in her own story. It was beautifully shot and remains one of my favorite movies of all time.
Demon Knight. Jada Pinkett Smith — perfect as Jeryline, our fearless heroine. William Sadler and Billy Zane wonderful as polar opposites in this story of good versus evil. I was especially intrigued by the idea of blood sealing a door and keeping the people behind it safe from demons. If only we could do this in real life! I’d offer up a pint of blood.
Deep Rising. Gargantuan octopus eating everyone on a luxury cruise ship. Treat Williams in a Han Solo-esque role. Famke Janssen as a clever thief. Loved it!
My Favorite TV Series: I love too many. 🙂 Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and most recently, The Handmaid’s Tale and Game of Thrones.
I do crave a good comedy which I’ve missed in recent years. How I Met Your Mother was great in the early seasons as was Castle and Bones. The new series with Rachel Bilson Take Two has been fantastic.
My Favorite Comic: The British weekly comic from the 1970s and 1980s Tammy which featured serialized stories for girls and in particular, the stories “Glenda’s Glossy Pages” and “The Button Box” were my favorites.
Every Sunday, I’d speed down to the newsagent to buy a copy and devour them. Sadly, my collection was accidentally thrown away when we moved, and I’ve spent most of my adult working life trying to buy copies off eBay to replace them. Happily, I did manage to collect the entire story of “Glenda’s Glossy Pages.”
I also collected Princess, Mandy, and Misty. As an adult, I read and loved The Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
Christina Sng is the Bram Stoker Award-winning and Elgin-nominated author of A Collection of Nightmares (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2017), Astropoetry (Alban Lake Publishing, 2017), and An Assortment of Sky Things (Allegra Press, 2016).
Her poetry, fiction, and art have appeared in numerous venues worldwide and garnered over 70 awards and nominations, including the 2018 Jane Reichhold International Prize and Honorable Mentions in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and the Best Horror of the Year.
Christina is also an avid gardener and an accomplished musician, and can be found most days in a dark corner deadheading her flowers while humming Vivaldi to the swaying branches.
Visit her at http://www.christinasng.com and connect on social media on Twitter and Facebook.
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I really need to get around to reading Swan Song because this is the third or fourth time that I’ve seen it recommended here.
You’ve introduced me to lots of new media, Christina. Congratulations on your Stoker win!! Thanks for bringing Christina to us, Speculative Chic.