E.M. Carroll’s horror graphic novel A Guest in the House is out in paperback, and Cemetery Dance is excited to share the a few pages below. The graphic novel, which follows a new wife who becomes suspicious about the death of her husband’s previous wife, won the 2024 LA Times Book Prize. Cemetery Dance spoke to Carroll about being drawn to dark subjects, the book’s inspiration, and the creative process.
(Interview conducted by Danica Davidson)
CEMETERY DANCE: You’re often drawn (no pun intended) to dark subjects. How long have you been making art about the darker side of life?
E.M. CARROLL: In terms of comics, I started around 2010, and the first comics I made were horror, or at least darkly themed. Since I was a kid I’ve always loved the genre, and I certainly drew some gruesome things growing up, but hadn’t really tried my own hand at storytelling until later.
What was the inspiration for A Guest in the House?
The first point of inspiration was a dream I’d had, about a man and his daughter who walked out of the sea and married a woman who lived on the coast, unaware that they were actually deep sea creatures (this is not the plot of the book). Key elements like the man, daughter, and a house on the water remained, but ultimately it was shaped more by novels like A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence and Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, as well as my own internal reflections regarding gender, sexuality, and the internal worlds we create to get by.
What is your creative process like?
Not especially efficient! I work in frenzies, which tends to burn me out, but I feel like it’s how I make my best stuff. Working through a comic methodically (by which I mean script, then pencils, then inks, etc) absolutely smothers my enthusiasm and passion for any particular project, so I usually just leap right in and start drawing what will eventually become final art. It does mean a lot of artwork gets thrown out eventually, as edits scoop out the old matter that no longer works, but I’m fine with that, it’s part of the process at this point. For a book like A Guest in the House, I knew what the major plot points were right away, so going in I would work from one waypoint to the next, and events and scene will fall into place along the way. It’s intuitive.
What would you like readers to take away from A Guest in the House?
There’s no grand lesson to be learned, and no real takeaway I can think of, or would presume to give — I would hope, along with much of my other work, it creates a lingering impression that invites a reread.
Where can people find out more about you and your work?
Personally I like to remain a little mysterious, but for more of my work (which honestly I feel like tells one more about me than any detailed biography could) I would invite anyone interested to visit my site, emcarroll.com. There’s comics on there going back a decade, primarily horror, some art as well, all free to read, with links to my books!
