Interview with Tyhitia Green, author of Margie
The Author
Tyhitia Green writes horror, fantasy, and science fiction. She sometimes dabbles in other genres as well. She began writing poetry as a child and ventured into fiction years later. Her horror flash story, Margie, appeared in the July 2009 issue of Necrotic Tissue magazine, and her non-fiction has appeared in Lightspeed magazine and on Black Girl Nerds.com.
The Book
Tyhitia Green’s short story Margie appeared in the July 2009 issue of Necrotic Tissue. It was the 7th Issue of the quarterly horror magazine. Necrotic Tissue got its name from the medical horror genre, and offered a lot of stories in that genre but wasn’t limited to it. This tended to up the gore factor. Generally well-received, the writer-centered publication offered advice to aspiring horror writers, along with an open call that introduced many new and upcoming authors to the genre. It gained a reputation for helping to show where the future in horror lies. It went out of business in 2012 after 18 issues. See a review of Issue 7 below.
The Interview
A. Margie was about an elderly woman whose husband tried to encourage her to go to the doctor because she was very ill. She hid from him and when he found her, it didn’t fare too well for him.
Q What were your non-fiction pieces in Lightspeed magazine and on Black Girl Nerds.com called, and what were they about?
A. I conducted two author spotlight interviews for Lightspeed magazine’s special issue: People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction. The interviews were with authors Nick T. Chan and Lisa Allen Agostini, and were in regard to their works that appeared in the special issue, as well as their careers in general.As for Black Girl Nerds, I wrote a guest post on Black Women and Feminism in Horror Films. This subject is close to my heart for obvious reasons, but I wanted to point out some of the (very few) films in which Black women were seen as heroes and not some type of plot device. Films in which not only did we survive the beginning, but we kicked butt in the end.
A. I have been writing horror for a long time. I can’t remember when I first began writing it, but I was inspired to write it after reading Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, Annabel Lee, and William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily. Both of which I read as a high school freshman.
A. I’m currently working on several short stories and I’m researching for my young adult dark fantasy series.
A. Under-representation is a huge problem. Growing up, I didn’t know there were Black folks who even wrote horror because only White males were presented to everyone. That’s who publishers went with. I didn’t discover Black horror writers until I was in college, which was sad, to say the least!I think there needs to be more Black women who are editors, publishers, first readers, etc. Publishers need to realize that not only do Black women read horror, but we also write it. We expect to be taken seriously in this field. We need to be able to tell our own stories, and this is why the #OwnVoices movement and We Need Diverse Books are so vital.
A. Novels: I love My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due, Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, and I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, just to name a few.Television: Ash vs. The Evil Dead, The Walking Dead, Channel Zero, American Horror Story, and Superstition; which is more like urban fantasy, but it leans towards horror.
A. I feel honored to be placed amongst such an astounding group of writers; some of whom are my favorites!
Sumiko Saulson 
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