Hillary: What is the most magical/terrifying place you’ve visited?
Annie: Ireland is the most magical place I’ve visited. The atmosphere there just felt different to me, shimmering with myths, legends, and secrets. The beauty of the land itself heightened everything, all vivid green and drizzly moody. I wouldn’t call my experience there terrifying, but I did have some deliciously spooky moments visiting old cemeteries and a haunted inn.
Hillary: How does place generally fit into your writing?
Annie: In my work, place tends to be either extremely important (“Vestige,” “If Those Ragged Feet Won’t Run”) or just a neutral backdrop to a story with other priorities (“Redless,” “Hide”). My history as a reader/writer includes a lot of classic gothic fiction, and that has influenced my use of place in much of my writing–atmosphere as character and meaning beyond simple setting.
Hillary: What is one place that is top of your to-go list and why?
Annie: In real life I’ve only visited 2 out of the 13 locations in my LitReactor post “13 Tourist Destinations for Horror Lovers.” https://litreactor.com/columns/13-tourist-destinations-for-horror-lovers The other 11 are my creepy bucket list! Priority to the Hoia Bacia Forest in Romania and the Winchester Mystery House in California.
Annie Neugebauer is a novelist, blogger, nationally award-winning poet, and two-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated short story author with work appearing in more than a hundred publications, including Cemetery Dance, Apex, Black Static, and Year’s Best Hardcore Horror volumes 3, 4, and 5. She’s a columnist and writing instructor for LitReactor. She’s represented by Alec Shane of Writers House. You can visit her at www.AnnieNeugebauer.com.
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Hillary Dodge 
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