About the Author

a little bit about Kira Butler, horror writer

Kira’s interest in the macabre bloomed early on. Her influences recall her first forays into dark fantasy and horror. She is a taphophile, a friend of Forteans, fascinated by the occult, and a lover of all things Victorian. You can often find her haunting her favourite local tea spots, basking in the warm glow of her MacBook Pro.

Biography

Kira Butler is a speculative fiction writer and creative professional from Montreal. She holds a BFA from Concordia University, is a supporting member of the Horror Writers Association, and a member of the Quebec Writers Federation. She has been writing fiction for over ten years, having produced over twenty short stories, and three novels.

With a vested interest in folklore and the supernatural, she brings her love of all things spooky to The Midnight Society, where she's maintained a bi-weekly column since 2014. She is currently seeking representation.

READ THE FAQ
Kira Butler: About the Author

FAQ

How long have you been writing?

I started writing fan fiction for fun about ten years ago. I really loved Harry Potter and X-Men, so playing with other people’s characters and universes laid the groundwork for my interest in writing my own stories. Writing fan fiction taught me a lot; you learn to produce work quickly, and you get instant feedback. Working with some great beta readers taught me the fundamentals of story structure and how to self-edit. I’m infinitely grateful for the time I spent in fandom, cultivating those friendships and developing an interest in story worlds. I haven’t written fan fiction in several years, but I’m still a fangirl at heart.

I began drafting my own original novel five years ago. Wake the Dead began its life as a NaNoWriMo novel, but it no longer looks anything like the first draft. It’s been through two rewrites, and it’s now in its first revision.

Where do you get your ideas/inspiration from?

I read a lot and I have a wildly overactive imagination. Growing up as an only child, I used to make up imaginary worlds all the time. It’s been second nature to me to keep myself entertained, usually quietly. I don’t think I was a particularly weird kid, but I eventually grew into an affectation for subversive and stranger stuff: folklore, mythology, superstition, the supernatural, and setting are all Really Big Deals for me when it comes to getting the muse going. I latch onto subjects that make me curious, and I explore them as deeply as I can.

I also like using Tumblr and Pinterest, and collecting a lot of interesting pictures to draw inspiration from.

I think no two people can look at a photograph or a piece of art in exactly the same way, so it follows that no two people could describe an image the same.

Is Wake the Dead based on fan fiction?

Nope! Wake the Dead is a completely original work.

Who are your influences?

I appreciate a lot of different writing styles, but I’m most influenced by Neil Gaiman, Laini Taylor, Daniel Kraus, Ilsa J. Bick, Holly Black, Kendare Blake, Cassandra Clare, Julie Murphy, and Rainbow Rowell.

Growing up, I read a lot of Stephen King, Christopher Pike, and Anne Rice. I also really admire the work of Paul Tremblay, Joe Hill, and Ronald Malfi. These guys are my heroes.

How did you get into horror fiction?

I started reading horror novels when I was still a pre-teen. My mom hated that I brought Stephen King’s books into the house so often. It was a mix of Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night and Stephen King’s Dark Tower series that prompted me to start reading horror early, and that kept me reading well into adulthood. I did read a lot of Christopher Pike as a kid too, but the first spooky book I ever read was Bunnicula when I was still in grade school.

I began writing horror novels because I’ve always been fascinated with darker themes.

When will Wake the Dead be released?

If you’d like to get more information about when Wake the Dead hits the shelves, you can subscribe to my Newsletter.

Where did you go to school?

I studied Liberal Arts at John Abbott College, Multimedia Design at International Academy of Design and Technology, Design Art at Concordia University, and Art History at McGill University.

I’ve also participated in Workshops at the Quebec Writer’s Federation, and I’ve taken creative writing certifications from Concordia.

Where do you live now?

I grew up in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and I’m still here.

How long have you been blogging?

I’ve had a few different iterations of a blog over the years, but KiraButler.com has been around since 2013.

What is your favourite book?

That’s so hard! You’d make me choose just one? Of all time it’s probably a tie between the Harry Potter series and Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Both were seminal works in shaping my passion for writing.

Will you review my book?

Sorry, my blog is currently closed to book review requests, but you can check out the Resources section for other websites that are currently open to review submission.

Who designed your website?

I did! I’m a graphic designer of twenty years — ten of those professionally. I started designing websites for myself when I was thirteen years old. Back then, you needed a dialup modem to connect to the internet.

If you want to learn more about my graphic design services, you can find my portfolio at Noisy Ghost Co. I freelance occasionally for the right clients, and the right projects — time permitting of course.

How can I contact you?

Kindly visit my contact page and pop your details and comments into the boxes provided. A cloud of bats will wing your query over to me swiftly.

Press

For your convenience, press packages are downloadable as PDFs containing all the information presented here in two flavours: the author’s biographical data, and a media kit of the author’s works.

Kira Butler Press Kit: The Author

The Author

Biographical and FAQ Information

BY REQUEST ONLY
Kira Butler Press Kit: The Works

The Works

Press releases and media kits

BY REQUEST ONLY

News

Press Releases
Announcing “Lady of the Grain”

Today marks the twelfth release in a year-long series of short horror stories. Lady of the Grain is the brainchild of several influences stemming most notably from the folk horror tradition. I’m dipping my toes into the rural backwater to celebrate the beginning of autumn with old gods, bloodletting, and some good old fashioned harvest sacrifice. Always remember to feed […]

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Press Releases
Announcing “Soghrum’s Inheritance”

I began the Short Fictions & Curiosities experiment partially for the love of the fantastic, and partially because I wanted to take mini-vacations from the novel I’ve been toiling over. I look at Short Fictions & Curiosities as a collection of oddities that didn’t quite want to fit anywhere else: misfit creatures that occasionally poked their heads out of […]

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Press Releases
Announcing “The King of Eight Legged Things”

Nine months in, and I’ve learned that I still prefer long format fiction to short, but sometimes short stories yield interesting results. Today’s release is an experiment in tone and language that I’m not wholly sure what to think of: The King of Eight Legged Things wants to be a fairy tale wrapped up in […]

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Press Releases
Announcing “Chatham’s Body”

Better late than never, so they say. With so much chaos surrounding the move, I had to make some serious decisions regarding the two releases I had planned for the end of May and the end of June. Both short stories were pushed back so I could treat them fairly and give them the attention they […]

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Press Releases
Announcing “Hanging Tree”

Sometimes you think you’re following the right path with a short story, and sometimes the road forks and you end up in places unexpected. Today, being the sixth release in the Short Fictions & Curiosities collection, I ventured into the woods in search of an urban legend: A shoe tree whose cursed existence sometimes takes […]

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Press Releases
Announcing “Fortune’s Son”

Today marks the third release in a twelve-month series of short horror stories. Fortune’s Son is particularly special to me, because it revolves around two characters who you will doubtless meet in the not so distant future. It is a prequel to The Neverafter Sequence, and follows the life of Cicero leading up to the events of […]

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Press Releases
Announcing “Second Line”

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a love affair with New Orleans. I attribute my fascination with Louisiana as a whole to Anne Rice — her book The Witching Hour inspired me to visit the first time over Mardi Gras when I was in my early twenties. I made a point of visiting the […]

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Occasionally, Kira runs a giveaway, a contest, or supplies the horror community with interesting tidbits of useful information that she’s collected. She likes to curate the weird and wonderful, but is a real stickler about who gets that information first. Subscribing to her newsletter is the golden ticket.

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