Called "the next Anne Rice" by some critics, Tampa resident Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc is one of Tampa Bay's premiere horror fiction authors. Van Scoyoc, 37, gained a loyal following with her first self-published book The Two. Since then, through Ephemera Bound Publishing, she has released two more novels: Man of Two Worlds, which won the 2005 Preditors & Editors Horror Novel of The Year Award, and her newest novel, Michael. She visits the Carrollwood Barnes and Noble on Feb. 3 from 1-4 p.m. for a reading and book signing as part of the Florida Horror Writers Mass Author Event.
Van Scoyoc describes her style as Horror Sinisteria. "I have my own style of horror that is always sexually charged, but it's graphic, it's brutal, it's twisted, it's sadistic." The writing is so graphic that at conventions she won't sell her books to minors without their parents' permission.
She has a clinical fear of mannequins and ventriloquist dummies.
Van Scoyoc wanted to be a funeral director when she was younger. "Death fascinates me," she says. "I don't find it creepy or morbid."
"I've had my fair share of stalkers," she says, sharing a story about a man who once came to her home, stole her laundry and slashed her convertible's canvas top. Police never apprehended him.
Her other hobbies include photographing cemeteries, shopping for antiques and making soap.
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2007.