Interviewed by Lassiter Jamison Fiction editor at Chaotic Merge
Lassiter Jamison: If you could have any story of yours adapted, which one would you pick and why?
Lori D’Angelo: I think I’d choose “I Met Death at the Patteson Drive Kroger,” which is a story that I wrote years ago and which was recently reprinted in Bulb Culture Collective because I feel like it would lend itself well to adaptation. It’s a story about a woman who meets the Grim Reaper at a local grocery store. Here’s a link to that story: https://www.bulbculturecollective.com/read/i-met-death-at-the-patteson-drive-kroger-lori-dangelo
Lassiter Jamison: Do you have any upcoming projects or pieces you’re working on?
Lori D’Angelo: I’m working on a novel about two people who fall in love. But she doesn’t know that he’s an important and powerful businessman, and he doesn’t know about her family’s dark past. At one point, I thought it was going to involve time travel, but I think that it may just be a more traditional love story. I’m also working on a murder mystery short story that involves a psychic pairing with a police detective to try to find a killer. I’m also working on a short story about a girl with sword hands. Generally, I tend to be working on a whole bunch of things at once.
Lassiter Jamison: “When Your Sister Went Poltergeist” has a supernatural premise but also holds a more human day-to-day element in its center which is the main focus of the piece. Is this typical of your work and if not, what inspired this departure?
Lori D’Angelo: I’ve definitely been working on a lot of speculative fiction, especially lately. For example, I’ve written a flash piece from the point of view of a monster. That story is here: TFT – Basically, Don’t – D’Angelo — Litmora Literary Magazine (litmoralitmag.com)
I’ve written another flash piece about a group of people finding a body in the water, but to their surprise the body isn’t dead and how they respond to that: Unearthed – Lori D’Angelo (twinbirdreview.com)
I’ve written a story about a woman who is visited by a Christmas Gnome:
The Christmas Gnome by Lori D’Angelo | Ellipsis Zine
One of the cool things about writing fiction is that you can ask the question of what if and go wherever the story takes you.
For this particular story, I just started thinking about how the girl in the movie Poltergeist was sucked into the TV and what would happen if that occurred in real life, especially if the person who got sucked into the TV never returned.
Lassiter Jamison: Within the story there’s a sort of ambivalence to the main character regarding their sister’s spiriting away. Was this a deliberate choice on your end and if so, why?
Lori D’Angelo: I guess I just started thinking about sibling tensions and family rivalries and also in the situation described in the story it would be so weird that you would kind of have to find a way to make the best of it. I feel like the expected emotion would be sadness, but really it would likely be more complicated than that especially since siblings don’t always get along.
Who is Lori D’Angelo?
Lori D’Angelo (she/her) is a grant recipient from the Elizabeth George Foundation and an alumna of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. Recent work has recently appeared in Beaver Magazine, Blood Moon Rising, Bullshit Lit, Idle Ink, JAKE, Litmora, One Art Poetry Journal, and Wrong Turn Lit. Find her on Twitter @sclly21 or Instagram and Threads at lori.dangelo1.