Can you, for those who don't know you already, say something about yourself and how you became an author?
Certainly! My name is M. Regan, and I’m a queer author of dark fiction. I’ve been writing for close to twenty years, and in that time have accumulated credits in everything from creative fiction to localized scripts to advice columns to poetry. (Variety is the spice of life, right?) Up to this point, though, the majority of my work has been in short stories, which have appeared in collections from publishers like Flame Tree Press and WatchMojo, as well as on podcasts such as The Wicked Library, Tales to Terrify, and Shadows at the Door. My twitter profile describes me as an aspiring eldritch horror, but between us, it’s more accurate to say that I’m just fond of a certain aesthetic.
As for how I became an author, I suspect it was the usual way: via Faustian contract. Also by writing, I suppose. A lot of writing. And being too stubborn to quit in the face of setbacks and rejections. But mostly because of that contract.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up all over the place! Most of my childhood was spent moving around the continental United States, and then I lived abroad for a good chunk of my twenties. I’m back in America now, and things have calmed down a bit in recent years, but at this point I believe I’ve called about 15 different places home.
If you knew you’d die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?
After hanging out with my loved ones, I’d dress myself up in something suitably ethereal and find a beautiful place in the forest to lie down and await the inevitable. Save everyone the trouble of tossing me into the woods later. Which, to be clear, is how I’d like my corpse handled. I have widely known feelings about returning to the earth after I die. The other day, one of my coworkers told me she saw an article about organic burial pods and thought of me. I was delighted.
What kind of world ruler would you be?
Benevolent, but incompetent. My reign would later be referred to as proof positive that good intentions pave the way to hell.
What are you passionate about, these days?
If by “passionate about” you mean “hyper-fixated on,” that would be “The Magnus Archives,” a cosmic horror/tragedy podcast produced by Rusty Quill.
When it comes to media, I am— to put it kindly— difficult to please. The flip side of this quirk in my wiring is that when I do fall for something, I fall hard, and remain helplessly in love with it for ages. In TMA’s case, that love began when quarantine did. I discovered the series when searching for something to listen to on my daily walks, and in a testament to what the power of good storytelling can do to help people, it quickly became my reason for getting out of bed in the morning. “The light of my life,” I once called it in a recorded interview. And while I said as much with a wink and a grin, the sentiment is genuine.
As it was for countless others, 2020 was a year of stress, uncertainty, and anxiety for me. 2021 has in many ways been harder. There were days that listening to TMA was the only thing I had to look forward to— the best reason I could think of to keep going. When the finale dropped back in March, I cried for days. (Four and a half days, to be precise. There was a whole grieving process involved.)
After opening my heart to “The Magnus Archives,” I began listening to a bunch of other fantastic podcasts: “Old Gods of Appalachia,” “Death By Dying,” “Thirteen,” and “Victoria’s Lift,” among others. I enjoy (and recommend!) them, too! But nothing makes my brain produce serotonin quite so enthusiastically, nor provides me with quite as much immediate comfort, as turning on an episode of TMA. As the kids say, I’ve got a lot of feels about this series, its creators, and its fandom. They did so much to brighten an incredibly dark time in my life, and I remain indescribably grateful.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
I take walks around my neighborhood and try to befriend the local cats.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When I was 13, I think. I wrote before that, and have enjoyed telling stories since I was 4, but I believe 13 is when I began posting stories on the internet, and thus first started receiving feedback. The realization that I had an audience, full of people who were allowing me the chance to entertain them, really flipped a switch in my head.
Do you have a favorite movie?
Project Itoh’s “The Empire of Corpses” ranks highly in my mind. So does Yōjirō Takita’s “Departures.” I have watched that movie a dozen times, and it never fails to leave me sobbing. I also really enjoy showing Travis Betz’s “Lo” to people who have never seen it before. For the most part, though, I prefer series to movies, as they tend to allow more character development. (Also, they’re shorter. I get distracted and antsy fairly quick.)
What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
While I was living in Japan, another author friend and I made a pilgrimage to Ishiyama-dera, the temple at which Murasaki Shikibu allegedly began writing the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji. It was raining that day, and almost no one else was there, so the grounds were empty, lush, and absolutely spectacular. I still have a collage of the trip hanging on my wall.
Thanks for the Q & A. I love hearing about the author of a book. And what a book! It sounds very spooky.
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