Dragon Soul Press had the opportunity to interview Sara Jordan-Heintz, an author featured in DSP’s Sea of Monsters.
- Introduce yourself.
My name is Sara Jordan-Heintz and I’m a journalist, biographer, author, and book editor based in Iowa. I am also a 20th century historian with an interest in popular culture, the Golden Age of Hollywood, the Cold War, and the JFK assassination. I am the author of the biographies Going Hollywood: Midwesterners in Movieland and The Incredible Life & Mysterious Death of Dorothy Kilgallen. I have written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines, many republished through the Associated Press and USA Today Network. I am a recipient of the Genevieve Mauck Stoufer Outstanding Young Iowa Journalists Award from the Iowa Newspaper Association (2018).
My cultural critique of the 1950-era Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book was published in Queen’s Quarterly in 2022. It is a Canadian peer-reviewed academic journal of cultural studies that was established in 1893 and has also published Margaret Atwood.
My novella A Day Saved is a Day Earned was published in Rod Serling Books’ inaugural anthology Submitted For Your Approval, edited by Anne Serling, in 2015.
My work has been published in several magazines and anthologies (fiction and non-fiction). I lead a group for writers called The Write Club. I’ve been nominated for two Pushcarts. I’ve edited three books in the Behind the Shadows horror series for Inkd Publishing. My other clients’ books are in post-production. - What prompted you to begin writing?
My father Larry Jordan. He’s been a journalist since his early teens and I grew up writing for our family’s business, Midwest Today magazine, for which he served as editor/publisher. He is also the author of biographies on Jim Reeves, Marilyn Monroe, and one forthcoming on President John F. Kennedy. My love of the macabre, nurtured by Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and The Twlight Zone, led me to fiction writing. I’ve never looked back. - Do you have a favorite story or poem you’ve written? What’s it about?
My tale “Splitting Image,” published in the book Hidden Villains: Betrayed through Inkd Publishing, tells the story of school teacher Beatrix Bissette whose headaches and fatigue signal more than a mental split in her personality, but also a physical one, and it’s looking for retribution. She teaches at an all-girls academy in the Scottish Highlands in the 1880s, and I loved setting it there. It was inspired by the story of Émilie Sagée. - How many projects do you have planned over the next few years? Tell us about one.
I’m a journalist, so I always have newspaper and magazine articles planned. I am also a monthly columnist for the Kansas City-based magazine Discover Vintage America. I write poetry and speculative fiction only when the spirit moves me. I proudly compiled 30 short fictional tales (many previously published and some nominated for awards) this summer into my new book: In The Blink of An Eye: Short Stories to Keep You Up At Night. I could envision a volume II eventually. I also stay busy promoting my previous books. - What is your writing process like?
Plotting is important when you’re researching and fact-finding. However, I enjoy pantsing when it comes to my fiction writing because I like that feeling of being along for the ride, experiecing the unknown alongside the (future) reader. I find when I can’t get the story out of my mind and I keep writing ideas on scraps of paper, it’s time to sit at my desk and get cracking. - Where do you draw inspiration from?
For my fiction writing, it comes from film noir, The Twilight Zone and everyday observations. I find comfort in what haunts us because it is familiar. I enjoy delving into the unknown and the unseen. - Who is your favorite author / what is your favorite book?
Tough question. My favorite horror author is my friend Ann O’Mara Heyward and I love her new book No One Heard Her Screams. For the classics, I like Twelve Years a Slave, Little Women, and anything by Graham Greene, especially Our Man in Havana and A Burnt Out Case. Greene really understood the human condition. I also worship Edgar Allan Poe. Some people are surprised to learn that I am a huge cozy mystery fan. But I can’t write it to save my life…maybe that’s why I seek it as an escape? - What is one goal you have for your writing future?
I want to continue doing what I love. I’m always trying to challenge myself as a writer, be it writing in a less comfortable genre or on a less familiar topic. When you’re a journalist, you’re used to becoming a (temporary) expert on your subject matter. I’d love to collaborate on an article or book with my husband Andy Heintz (also a writer) someday, and/or my daughter Louisa, 4, who is already into horror like I am. - What do you hope readers enjoy most from your work?
Whether it’s a human interest profile, hard news story, investigative piece, or comes from the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind, I want to move people and provoke deep feelings and opinions. - Where can readers learn more about you?
Dorothykilgallen.net
www.discovervintage.com/memory-lane/
www.facebook.com/sara.e.jordan
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sara-Jordan-Heintz/author/B00NBGA5FU
