After posting a review of The Jewish Book of Horror we were delighted to hear from one of the featured authors, Rami Ungar. Rami was brave enough to volunteer to be the first author in the Bookishly Jewish author interview series and Evalyn happily took him up on the offer. Read on to see the results of their e-interview. Evalyn’s questions are in bold followed by Rami’s responses.
What drew you to horror as a genre?
A lot draws me to the horror genre, but it was Stephen King that made me decide to be a horror writer. I was twelve when I read IT, and it gave me nightmares, but it also fascinated and amazed me. The storytelling, the characters, the ability to terrify with just words. I could not get it over it! As I sat on the porch of my bunk at summer camp (Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, by the way. Great Jewish summer camp) after finishing the novel, I realized I wanted to write horror stories like IT. I’d been wanting to be a writer for years by then, but that was a turning point for me. And since then, a lot has happened.
What are you hoping readers take away from your stories?
I hope they come away scared, first and foremost. That’s what every horror writer wants with their stories. But I also hope they enjoy the stories and that they are tempted to come back for more. That, and they let me know what they think of my work somehow.
As a writer of both short and long fiction, what do you feel are the strengths and weaknesses of each form?
Long fiction is actually a lot easier for me to write. I’m an expansive storyteller, so I like being able to spread my wings and spend thousands and thousands of words on a single story. That being said, novels require a lot of time and energy, and several more drafts than a short story or a novelette. They also may take a few years to find a home for, whereas a good short story might find a home in a matter of months. On the other hand, while short stories and novelettes are challenging for me because I have to be succinct and make every word count, there’s something about the punch of a short story that I love. They can disturb your inner Zen and leave you feeling unsettled for days, and in just only a few thousand words. It’s something I’ve been trying to master for years, and I’m glad I’m finally seeing some progress (though I will always maintain I have plenty of room to improve).
How does being Jewish impact your writing or your career?
Well, some of my earliest stories had Jewish themes and characters. For a number of years, my stories had my moral perspective on the world, which is informed by my Jewish beliefs, though they didn’t usually have Jewish characters. Lately, though, I’ve been putting more of an effort into including Jewish characters in my work. I like seeing myself represented in the fiction I consume, and since I write the stories I would like to read, that’s going to reflect in future stories I write. In fact, I hope to start on a novel sometime next year revolving around a mummy, and most of the characters will be Jewish. If we’re lucky, I’ll be able to make a joke about Moses and the Exodus while I’m at it.
What do you like to read?
Horror, obviously. I’m a big fan of Stephen King, though I also read a bunch of other authors. I also read a lot of fantasy, such as the Witcher novels and Japanese fantasy light novels. And I consume lots and lots of manga. In fact, I was known as a bit of a nut for manga back in high school as well as a horror nut. Plenty of people still remember me for both.
What is your favorite Jewish Book?
Night by Elie Wiesel. Not because it’s a Holocaust memoir, which makes it a horror story in a way, but because some of the passages still haunt me to this day. If you compare the beginning, where Wiesel is learning Kabbalah even though he’s not old enough and it’s sort of a blissful spiritual existence, and then compare it to the end of the book, where he sees himself in a mirror for the first time in years after the camps are liberated and all he sees is a corpse of a teen, it’s a striking image that shows just how much the Holocaust scarred so many people.
Actually, I met Elie Wiesel once. He gave a speech at the synagogue I attended as a kid. Later on, I got to take a photo with him. I wish I remembered more of that night, but I was young and my attention wandered much more easily then. So I only remember his opening joke in the speech. It saddens me.
Rami Ungar is a horror novelist and the son of two rabbis from Columbus, OH. He has published four books and has another book, ‘Hannah and Other Stories,’ on the way from BSC Publishing Group. When not writing, Rami enjoys reading, watching anime and following his interests, and giving people the impression he’s not entirely human.