Alice casey
Why did you choose Stonecoast for your MFA?
I was drawn to Stonecoast first because they are one of only a few programs that offers a concentration in popular fiction, and I knew I wanted a program where that was respected and taken seriously. I also liked that Stonecoast encourages cross-genre work. Although you concentrate in one area, you are able to take workshops and attend seminars in other concentrations, and work with faculty who write outside of your genre. The low-residency model was a must for me. And finally, I was acquainted with an alum who spoke highly of the program and particularly about how strongly the program encourages building community. From day one it was clear that this is true, and that sense of community is something that’s really important to me.
Why did you join the editorial team for the Stonecoast Review?
I wanted to join the editorial team to get a better sense of the editing process, and how a literary journal is run. I hope to augment my writing with some professional freelance editing after graduation. One benefit that I did not anticipate, but that I found really helpful, was that working on The Stonecoast Review meant working with and checking in regularly with the rest of the team. I think, since between residencies we are largely doing our own independent work, that having that regular connection to the program (and again, the community) helped me to stay focused on my own work as well.
In what genres do you write and why?
I primarily write speculative fiction that leans towards fantasy, horror, and magical realism. I think that these genres appeal to me most because I sort of imprinted on the fantasies, folklore, and fairy tales that I read as a child. They were my first love and that’s never left me. Straight up horror novels came slightly later, but let’s be honest; fairy tales are absolutely horrific already. While I primarily write for adults, I’m also interested in writing middle grade children’s fiction, and am slowly working on a middle grade fantasy, that might also be a little horrific.
Is there an author or artist who has most profoundly influenced your work?
I really can’t name one particular author or artist that has most profoundly influenced my work. I am influenced by so many different authors, and I take elements of what I like from all types of literature. I definitely have been profoundly influenced by the children’s fantasy I read when I was young. Books like The Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in Time, The Secret Garden, and Alice in Wonderland still to this day enter into most of my work. On another hand, my favorite books at age 11 were The Handmaid’s Tale and Interview with the Vampire, so things took a dark turn pretty quickly. Some of my favorite contemporary authors who I feel have influenced me a great deal are Karen Russell, Kelly Link, Joyce Carol Oates, and Mariana Enriquez. On the non-genre side, Anthony Doerr writes some of the most stunning prose I think I’ve ever read, and Richard Powers’s The Overstory was one of the most beautiful books I’ve read in a decade. And just to round things out, I think Hanif Abdurraquib is writing some of the most incredible creative nonfiction out there right now. I guess my point is, my influences are all over the map, but I think that’s a positive and can only make my writing better and more textured.
Where can your work be found?
At the moment the only work I have published is a creative nonfiction piece in my undergraduate literary magazine, The Lowell Offering. I have been amping up my submission game, and obviously I hope that list will be a lot longer very soon.
What do you hope to accomplish in your writing future?
Well, of course the dream is to write and sell enough novels that you’re able to make a living off of writing fiction alone. But realistically, that’s pretty uncommon, so I hope to also do some editing, and some teaching to round it out. Even if I don’t end up a wildly successful novelist, I want my work to be out there in the world and to know that I added something to the creative collective. As I mentioned that I also write some middle grade children’s fantasy fiction, I would love to think that someday some kid will read one of my books and look back on it thirty years later as one of their influences, the way I look back on, let’s say, A Wrinkle in Time. It’s a lofty goal but I like to think that it could happen.
Instagram: @alicehelencasey
New Bio:
Alice Helen Casey (she/her) is an editor and writer from the Boston area. After working in veterinary medicine for 13 years, the confluence of a global pandemic lockdown, a brief but soul-killing stint in the corporate world, and a good old-fashioned midlife crisis caused her to throw all her proverbial eggs in a basket and fully commit to her first love of writing. Alice’s writing interests lean towards fantasy, horror, and “the weird,” particularly drawing inspiration from fairy tales and folklore. Among her many influences are authors like Kelly Link, Mariana Enriquez, and Karen Russell. She primarily writes for adults but is also slowly working on a middle-grade fantasy novel. Alice is a current student in the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. Along with her neurotic rescue dog, Freyja, and a cat called The Future, she now lives in the woods of Midcoast Maine, right where the forest meets the sea.