We caught up with the brilliant and insightful E.B. Hunter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

E.B., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Being a writer is pure risk. You may not be dangling from cliffs or walking across rickety bridges (though we make our characters do) but we as writers risk our minds every time we open up the laptop. We risk putting our souls on the page and then having it mocked. We must risk starting, even if we don’t know where we are heading. I started an online writing alliance last June, and I have talked to a lot of authors since then. I have seen people self sabotage in the hopes that the perfect phrasing will come to them without putting pen to paper. That has never been the case. We must risk bungling our words and looking a fool (even if only to ourselves). So with that in mind, I can say that the risk I take is submitting my work. You put all your spare time and creative energy into the art, then send it into the world. Then you hope when it gets returned to you it’s with a kind word or maybe some practical advice. I have rarely received either, mostly form letters, but I continue to take risks. It was on my fiftieth, or maybe fifty second attempt at publication that I got the email. The one I had so desperately wanted. Over fifty rejections, fifty times I took a risk that my work wasn’t up to snuff. That I would be snickered at behind closed doors. I kept risking my feelings, my sanity, and it paid off. To any other writers who may read this; keep risking it all.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started my writing career in 2021. I, like most of us who started at that time, was working from home. I had my young daughter with me during the day and I was juggling her care and my full time job. It was quite hellish, as much as I love my daughter and enjoyed the majority of the time we had together. There was too much going on, and too much noise coming in from the outside world. I needed an escape from that, and I decided that I would pick up writing again.

I had written a book when I was 16 (the title should have been ‘worst book ever’), then decided that I wasn’t cut out for it. Not that I didn’t enjoy every minute of writing it, but I figured there were more practical things I should be doing. So I went to business college and then out into the ‘real world’. I found myself full circle and back in my small home town in rural Alberta in 2015. I did all the things I was supposed to do. I got bought a house, got married, had a child and a stable career. But something was missing. Beside the need for escape, I needed a way to be creative. I took up songwriting for a bit, but my guitar skills are sub-par and I couldn’t sing in front of people. I found the thing I liked the most about songwriting, were the stories. With that realization, I decided to pick up the craft again. I had a thought for a story a year or so before, and when I sat down to write, it came alive. A month later I had my novel finished (I thought) and decided that I would get an agent (wrong again).

A few months in the trenches, and I was looking for some hope. I got some practical advice from a lovely agent, and it changed everything. I went on to bulk up my novel, and decided to write some short stories in between writing the novel and editing.

I wrote my first short story, ‘Graveyard Shift’, then came across a submission call for horror stories from a company called Dragon Soul press. I submitted the story, thinking it was destined to fail, but lo and behold, they accepted! They had another submission call for a second horror anthology that was coming out the next month. I was so jazzed about the acceptance, that I went a little nuts and wrote four more horror stories. I submitted the two I liked best for the second anthology (Beautiful Darkness: Volume 1) and they took both!

It was at this time that I decided to steer into the skid and embrace that I had found myself as a horror author (I had primarily written fantasy and sci-fi before). I wrote a fantasy short story and a sci-fi/romance story after that, just to say I could. I submitted those and both found homes in Dragon Soul Press anthologies.

My most recent short story called ‘Luck’ was just accepted by a cool little press called ‘Starlite Pulp’ based out of Cathedral City California. This story is about a man who blacks out after an encounter with a stranger. He wakes to find he’s been made a pawn in a game between two Irish deities.

So that is what I have out there now. I have been incredibly lucky to have had so many stories picked up in a short amount of time. I completed my horror collection of short stories, and I am hoping to find a home for that by the fall. I also have my novel, ‘Into the Grey’ which is about a group of young mages who are trying to save the world from a demon invasion that I will be finishing up and taking back to the querying trenches this fall.

My complete bibliography:

‘Graveyard Shift’ featured in Dragon Soul Press Anthology ‘Haunt’ (A down on his luck cashier makes an unwitting deal with a supernatural being)

‘Everglades’ featured in Dragon Soul Press Anthology ‘Beautiful Darkness: Volume 1’ (A mother does all she can to save her son after a home intrusion sends him to the ER)

‘As you Wish…’ featured in Dragon Soul Press Anthology ‘Beautiful Darkness: Volume 1’ (A man is possessed by a djinn and granted wishes that he didn’t make)

‘Kjell of Vittra: Rising Smoke’ featured in Dragon Soul Press Anthology ‘Reign of Fire’ (Kjell faces his first monster, squaring off against the dragon that took his sister)

‘Pink Lights’ featured in Dragon Soul Press Anthology ‘Union’ (The last earthling must come to terms with the loss of his planet as he learns to love again aboard the F.S. Okanis)

‘Luck’ featured in Starlite Pulp’s ‘Starlite Pulp Review #2’ (A man blacks out after an encounter with a stranger. He wakes to find he’s been made a pawn in a game between two Irish deities)

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My mission is to be able to write full time. I don’t dream of Maserati’s and McMansions or anything like that. I want to be able to make a living doing what I love. I am going to do whatever it takes to make this a reality. I have had success in the last year with my short stories, and I hope that I can grow enough as a writer and a person that I can continue that success. I want to create, and I want to make peoples lives richer with my art. If I can do that for the rest of my life, I would be happy.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had more people around me when I started. It was tough in the beginning, not having anyone to talk to about writing or to have any guidance.

That was why I created the Fantasy & Sci-Fi Writers Alliance in June 2022. It’s an online place where you can ask for help and get your head on straight when you are feeling lost in the world of writing. There are so many things you need to do, caps you must wear, when you are an indie author. You need to do social media, book touring, editing and so much more. Through the Alliance, I have made some really great friends, and met people I wouldn’t have met otherwise. It feels good to know you aren’t alone, or you aren’t the only one struggling with balancing life and art. I hope the Alliance has made a difference in people’s lives. One of the core members (organizers and all around extraordinary people) Isa Ottoni wrote an article called ‘How Finding a Writing Community Changed My Life’. I think finding a community like the Alliance is incredibly impactful, and Isa says in the article,
‘Finding yourself a writing community is the best advice I can offer new writers everywhere. Even if you are stranded in a small country away from the publishing business, the internet is here for you and believe me when I say that there are people out there who would love to read your words. ‘

I agree with her whole heartedly, and recommend those in this lonely craft of writing to reach out to others. It is only lonely if you want it to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ebhunterauthor.ca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/e.b_hunter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082564309567
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EBHunterAuthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbSGf1fRKw-C-c_kzvvzyog
• Other: https://www.fsfwritersalliance.wordpress.com

Image Credits
I am the photographer for all of the pictures I have provided.