Gay of the Dead: "LET ME DIE A WOMAN" author Alan Kelly, Part One

[Shana A]

Gay of the Dead: "LET ME DIE A WOMAN" author Alan Kelly, Part One

http://www.fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2771:gay-of-the-dead-qlet-me-die-a-womanq-author-alan-kelly-part-one&catid=48:gay-of-the-dead&Itemid=162

A creepy little book slithered into my mailbox recently. The tome shares a title with the classic Doris Wishman quasi-documentary, LET ME DIE A WOMAN, and yes, like the film, the book's plot does involve a transgender character. But whereas Wishman's film examines the transgender experience through documentary footage and straightforward fictional vignettes, author Alan Kelly's gruesome meditation mixes sci-fi and horror with a dash of noir revenge drama into a squirming, half-dead stew.

Kelly, (not to be confused with previously-interviewed horror filmmaker Alan Rowe Kelly) is a novelist, short fiction writer, essayist and reviewer living in Ireland. In this first of two parts, Kelly and I talk about growing up different in Ireland, and examine the effects on some of his short fiction.

[Shana A]

Gay of the Dead: "LET ME DIE A WOMAN" author Alan Kelly, Part Two

http://www.fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2812:gay-of-the-dead-qlet-me-die-a-womanq-author-alan-kelly-part-two&catid=48:gay-of-the-dead&Itemid=162

SEAN ABLEY: I really like your first novel, LET ME DIE A WOMAN. It's a fun read, starts off one place then goes a completely different direction, which I love. First, let's talk about the title, which you totally nicked (more British slang!) from Doris Wishman. Cheeky move! Did you back into the title after choosing it, plot-wise? Did the film's subject matter (transgender documentary) inspire you? Or maybe you finished the book and discovered the title?

ALAN KELLY: In the beginning it was called "Blood Rag: Let Me Die a Woman" but my publishers preferred LMDAW as a title so "Blood Rag" was later dropped. I was aware of Doris Wishman for a while before I even considered writing the novella, most notably her documentary on transgender identity, but it wasn't until (character) Bunny Flask's revelation after her bitch fight with Alice Fiend that I settled on that title. While writing the book, I wasn't really thinking about representation at all and I was writing to a deadline which is good as it forces you to get to the end fast.