UnCensored Ink Interview – Melissa R. Mendelson

Hey everyone,

Ian Tan here, lead editor and project coordinator of UnCensored Ink: A Banned Book Inspired Anthology, set to release this October 29. Here is the UnCensored Ink interview series to introduce you all to the incredible writers, as well as the local bookstores and libraries that gave them safe creative spaces. Hopefully, you can put these incredible places on your to-visit list, and feel inspired to support your own local bookstore, library and indie authors.

Today, I am with Melissa R. Mendelson, from New York. She is a poet, a horror, science-fiction and dystopian author. She has been published by Sirens Call Publications, State of Matter Magazine, Altered Reality Magazine, Transmundane Press, Owl Canyon Press, Wild Ink Publishing, The Horror Zine and The Yard: Crime Blog. She is the author of a self-published sci-fi novella, Waken. She is also the author of the prose poetry collection, This Will Remain With Us published by Wild Ink Publishing.

You’ve written a fine piece for UnCensored Ink: a banned book anthology. Can you give us a synopsis? How did the idea for this piece come about?

They Took Her Away – I never belonged in school, always the outcast, but what if it wasn’t me? What if it was them, their programming, which I did not understand nor wanted to follow, but somehow, I got sucked into it, ensnared over something simple, a book, and it was a book not approved by them. But what really did me in was her, someone I barely knew but trusted, and when she fell, she took me down with her.

Your Last Shot – In college, I took this, I think, Anatomy Class, where I followed the digestion of a cupcake. I even got the professor to laugh at my enthusiasm because I found it fascinating, and I still do find some Science especially in the human body interesting. But not everyone shares my enthusiasm especially with Covid, and there was, I believe, a lot of hatred toward Scientists. What if that hatred grew into an angry mob successful in destroying all the texts that could help save us from the next catastrophe, leading us straight into extinction? All of us except for one.

She Kept Her Words Inside A Pillow – Growing up in a house with five brothers, there was no privacy. I used to have posters all over my walls, and one day, my brothers decided it would be funny to tear them all down. I did not find it amusing and started arranging things in my room to know when they were there and what they touched. The pillow is a good hiding place, if you want to keep your words, your thoughts private especially if you live in a world, where you have to be careful with not only what you say but what you think. Unfortunately, if they are determined to find it, they will, and the consequences could be dire. But even in the darkest situations, there’s still a faint trace of hope.

2. Now, we would love to know you more! What do you enjoy doing in your free time, what is your favorite book quote, and how did you get into reading and writing?

In my free time, I like to take walks around the duck ponds in town. I like to read Poets & Writers Magazines, even if I’m behind by two years. I love YouTube but not for funny cat videos. I enjoy watching Film Courage, Big Think, TED, Letters Live, and Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum.

Favorite book quote? I really don’t have one, but my favorite movie quote is from The Last Unicorn: There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.

When I was a child, my parents signed me up for this book club, where I would get books in the mail, and I loved reading them.

I did not write until the seventh grade, where I met two wonderful creative writing teachers, who were convinced that I had talent as a writer. It took some time for that to sink in, but it eventually did. And in my senior year of high school when I should have been paying attention to my subjects, I was too busy filling my notebooks with stories and poems.

3. Do you have a favorite local library or bookstore? Also can you remember bookstores and libraries from your childhood, if they are not the same as the ones now?

My most recent favorite bookstore is Eureka Books and More in Sugar Loaf, NY, where I just had a reading for my book, This Will Remain With Us.

I remember the library in my high school. I used to hide out there to escape the bullies, and I would love to read the Choose Your Own Adventure Books and flip through the Audubon Magazines.

4. Tell us more about this bookstore/library. What do you love most about it?

The bookstore, Eureka Books and More, is my favorite because you can feel the warmth and dedication that Elizabeth, the owner, puts into it.

5. What do you have to say on the importance of sustaining bookstores and libraries?

Growing up, I always turned to the libraries and later years to bookstores because they always felt like a haven to me, somewhere I could escape to and disappear into the pages that I read, and there were moments in my life that I needed to escape from. These places gave me what I needed, and the books later inspired me to pick up a pen and write my own stories.

6. Do you have any projects that your current and future readers can look forward to?

For the last few months or so, I have been working on a Dystopian novella called, For My Son. This story is different from other things that I have written and very, very detailed, which is not like me at all. But my hope is that when it is done and published that readers will feel like they are there, walking among the characters.

7. Lastly, what platforms can we find you? (Social media and websites are all encouraged, this is to highlight and champion you guys)

Website (Updated Monthly): www.melissamendelson.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.r.mendelson/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fallenhazel/