Honestly? My schizoaffective disorder. I have been writing since I was four years old. I've also been sick since then. I had childhood-onset schizophrenia, basically. The bipolar-ness came later. I really don't know what made me start writing. Even back then I was watching really gory movies like 30 Days of Night and really stupid ones like Superhero Movie, the parody of Spider-Man/Batman. I remember the first comic/piece of writing I made, I made when I was 4. It was about some quadruplet children who were superheroes and were involved in a plane crash that led to some horrific shit. I still have that notebook somewhere, but it's falling apart since it's nearly two decades old.
2. What are some of your favorite tropes to use in your writing? What do you love about them?
Male pregnancy! I'm not ashamed to say that, and I never have been. I think it's very interesting when the man is the one who carries the child, whether they're a trans man or an intersex cis man. In most of my universes, male pregnancy is not too uncommon. Especially in the Vampiric Blood Disease (VBD) Series where the fictional intersex condition allows otherwise cis men to conceive. I'm not sure what attracts me to it. I just think it's neat! I have been told that my portrayal is very different than the highly sexualized and eroticized portrayal in most fanfiction or even in the mpreg tag on Amazon. People have also jokingly told me I am normalizing mpreg the way some people normalize gay and trans people in their works without making it a big deal. Krishna, in Immolation-Man, is a cisgender intersex man who is carrying his daughter. It's not made a big focus. Jakub, the priest from Vermination-Boy, carried his son, Chuy. Jakub is an intersex trans man. It won't be made a big focus. A big part of Florid Eyes Without the Sun is the fact that Orlev is a pregnant trans man who was infected with VBD. Even then, that's not the main focus of FEWTS. The main focus is about how Orlev is the fucking devil, basically.
3. You specialize in writing horror stories featuring a disease that essentially turns people into vampires. What inspired you to ground your vampires in something more scientific instead of making them purely paranormal creatures?
I grounded my vampires in more scientific processes because I love medical horror! I am a product of medical horror haha... eh... As someone who is chronically ill from one of the worst body horrific disorders (or, as I call it, the skin exploding disorder), I wanted to explore what it'd be like to have vampires not be the fantastical creatures from Twilight, but rather just be severely infected humans who need to consume human flesh. I am medically inclined and always have been. Even when I was writing about superheroes in middle-high school, I wrote it as if it were a genetic brain disorder. I plan to become a medical scientist to see if there's a cheaper way to give people with my disorder (hidradenitis suppurativa) medication, especially those who have the severe cases like me. Right now, I am getting a degree in medical laboratory technology. Cannot wait to study parasites!
4. If you had to pick another fantasy creature to do your own take on, which one would you choose and why?
1000% witches. Specifically those who practice brujería. Mexican witches are fucking insane. It's part of my culture, too. In some legends, la lechuza is a female witch that can turn into an owl. I think Mexican folklore in general I would want to take on. Any urban legends I read about in elementary would be amazing. American media does not do it justice, even if they do get Mexican actors. I'd also LOVE to take on Christian mythological creatures besides angels, demons, God, and Satan. Nobody ever depicts the nephilim like how they were described to be, nor do they ever bring up that scary ass sea monster/demon, Leviathan. The hierarchy of angels in the Bible itself is insane.
5. What's your favorite story you've read recently, either on or off Wattpad?
So far, it has to be Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Odd of me reading a YA drama about two gay teens in the 1980s, I know. However, I don't see LGBTQ+ Mexican-Americans ever being depicted authentically. Or... at all. Sáenz is a Mexican-American gay man himself. Some other LGBTQ+ published authors (nobody here on Wattpad) I will not name show their Whiteness when depicting LGBTQ+ characters, especially when they try (and fail) to depict Hispanics. I am sick of it. So, I'd rather read a realistic drama about two gay boys discovering their sexuality and attraction to each other than read a highly speculative work about a trans boy that just isn't based in reality of what it's like to be a non-White queer person. I use non-White instead of person of color since I am technically White, but I am still Hispanic.
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Huge thanks to VICENTE-CASTANEDA for the amazing interview! We hope it will encourage more people to check out their terrifyingly amazing stories.
