As we have recently announced REBELS & RAINBOWS – An Australasian Queer Speculative Anthology – we thought we’d interview Leanbh Pearson, one of the editors of Rebels and Rainbows.

Hello Leanbh. To get started, can you tell us a bit about yourself – who you are, where you live, a hobby / passion you have outside writing?
I’m an award-winning artist, LGBTQI and disability author of horror and dark fantasy living on Ngunnawal Country in Australia. My writing is inspired by folklore, fairy tales, mythology, history and climate. I’ve also judged numerous awards and been an invited panelist at conventions. I’ve received ASA, AHWA and HWA mentorships and 2023 HWA Diversity Grant.  I’m a photography enthusiast, museum-devotee, avid book reader and reviewer and insomniac. My alter-ego is an academic in archaeology, evolution and prehistory. You can find more about me including social links here.

Before we get stuck in, what are you currently reading?
Psykhe (Kate Forsyth), An Artificial Night (Seanan McGuire), The Secret History (Donna Tart), and This Ravenous Fate (Hayley Dennings).

Who are your literary heroes?
Stephen Graham Jones, Eric LaRocca, Kate Forsyth, Angela Slatter, T. Kingfisher, Juliet Marillier, Seanan McGuire, Anne Rice, Sheridan Le Fanu, and Mary Shelley. 

What do you write, and why?
I write dark fantasy and horror incorporating fairy tales, folklore, mythology, history and climate. Dark fantasy and horror are my favourite genres to write in as they provide many ways to explore social norms, history and subliminal messages where I can explore LGBTQ and disability themes and provide an empowerment of marginalised groups.

Rebels & Rainbows is a collection inspired by and to celebrate Pride. What does Pride mean to you?
I was relatively late to identify as LGBTQ+ but Pride has become something that I recognise many authors and readers who identify as LGBTQ+ and struggled to find representatives in books/movies/comics/graphic novels that they can identify with. For me, Pride is part of recognising we exist, we should be represented in literary and graphic artworks. Mine is a small contribution among many who want to empower LGBTQ+ individuals and see more unique and diverse voices in the fiction we read. I’m excited to be coediting the Rebels and Rainbows anthology with Deadset Press for 2025. I have a recent Pride Month interview with Horror Writers Association here. 

How important is it to you that LGBTI+ / Disabled / Neurodiverse people identify themselves proudly as such?
This is a highly individualised response as everyone has different circumstances in their lives and past. For me, I was empowered as an early teenager by The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. These were characters who sexuality, gender and disability were aspects of a greater whole. All people are highly individual and I feel, identifying openly was something I could do to empower others and express both my disability, sexuality and gender fluidity in my works. In each story I write, I’m getting bolder with this and exploring more aspects and ways to let others who may not be LGBTQ+/disability to hear the voices of those long marginalised and empower others to express themselves freely in their writing.

We’ve been lucky enough to publish a number of your stories in our anthologies, including Stories of Survival, Revolutions, and several of our Zodiac anthologies.  Thanks for submitting your wonderful pieces. From the stories published by Deadset Press, which one do you think best captures your writing style?
I loved contributing to the Zodiac series and being part of The Best of the Zodiac collection with my story “The Bull of Heaven” which blends dark fantasy and horror and my passions for folklore and history. There are two stories I’m most proud of though: “The Golden Lion-Monkey” in the Leo anthology and “Serket’s Curse” in the Scorpio anthology, both of which are being expanded into a novel trilogy of interconnected dark academia and gothic Gaslamp fiction exploring the marginalisation of women, LGBTQ and disability characters in Victorian era society which is still relevant today. More on this trilogy coming soon!

Can you let us know about another book or story (in any anthology) that you’ve written which you’re particularly proud of, and what you like about it?
I have a story coming out in November 2024 in Spawn 2 anthology edited by Deborah Sheldon called “These Bloody Lanes” which is an Australian 1920s alternate history horror of the Razor Gangs focusing on the suppression of women’s rights, witchcraft and possession by an ancient Mesopotamian demon goddess. I’m proud of it because it’s the first story I completely dictated the draft due to my disability and it’s an unusual combination of themes with a strong emphasis of feminism and equality.

If you have any other new releases coming up, can you tell us about them, and what makes them special to you?
Sure. Lots of exciting stuff! I’ve got two new releases this year with edited and authored Cursed Shards: Tales of Dark Folklore, a shared world dark fantasy anthology of folklore, fairy tales and legends and my debut collection Three Curses and Other Dark Tales of dark fantasy and horror short and long fiction reimagining of folklore, fairy tales, myth and history both from IFWG Publishing. Next year, my debut novel The Ghost Warrior of dark fantasy climate fiction from IFWG Publishing and an alternate history, LGBTQ+ and disability horror novella trilogy In the Devil’s Garden beginning with reissue of Bluebells from PS Publishing in 2025.

How else can we support the wonderful work that you do?
I think the fiction community can do so much more to support LGBTQ+ and disability authors so these are no longer marginalised voices. The rise in publishers supporting female, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ authors has expanded greatly but these are still marginalised in the greater scheme of works internationally. The need for Neurodiverse and Disability fiction is also growing and so emerging authors and unpublished authors, young authors have an industry to step into freely.

Thanks for answering our questions, Leanbh! We are very excited about Rebels & Rainbows and are looking forward to the submissions.

Stay tuned for more updates on Rebels and Rainbows, and for more author interviews!