Mistress of horror? Local writer delves into dark side of human nature

In some ways Cindy Rosmus lives a double life. She is the editor of textbooks by day and the author of cutting edge, even risqué fiction the rest of the time.

Described by one publication as “a Jersey girl,” Rosmus recently released a collection of short stories that explores some of the dark aspect of human nature, and how obsession can twist a person’s life into odd shapes. Rosmus will be signing her new book “Angel of Manslaughter” at Unique Books on Jan. 20 from 1 to 5 p.m.

Although not the first woman to write what some critic called hardboiled horror fiction, Rosmus is a rare breed among female writers, wandering into realms normally associated with male writers.

It is a distinction she enjoys, exploring areas of human psyche that might make other women – and many men blush, creating situations in which characters confront their own demons, sometimes with stark and painful results.

Rosmus has already earned a reputation in a field of writers dealing with cutting edge tales, publishing them in a range of publications from Hardboiled to Black Petals and Thin Ice. But she has also proved her worth as a literary writer with work appearing in the North American Review. One tale was eventually appeared in an anthology called “Sleeping with Dionysus: Women, Ecstasy and Addiction.”

The title piece of her newly released collection is in fact an older tale, winner of the 1986 Margarita G. Smith Award for Short Fiction from the New Jersey School for Social Research.

She also expects a story called “Gutter Balls” to appear in an upcoming issue of Hardboiled.

Rosmus also wrote pornography for a while as a part time writer and saw her work appear in “Fox,” “Oui” and other publications.

“Writing pornography is boring,” she said, describing the creative process as simply including specific scenes required by the publisher.

Although her fiction may delve into the same areas from time to time, she finds this speculation much more creatively challenging

“I only wrote that for the money,” she said. “I decided if that’s how I had to make a living, I’d rather be broke.” All this said, Rosmus considers herself a devout Christian, although calls herself “a very liberal Episcopalian.”

Although a resident of Bayonne for 22 years, Rosmus grew up in Belleville where she attended Catholic School. She started writing at five years old as a way of entertaining herself, but found that writing also provided her with a way of dealing with the uncomfortable social stigma of being a misfit.

She described herself as “a classic misfit,” with weird parents and abusive classmates. She said writing was also a good way of getting even with those who abused her.

Her road to publishing hasn’t been easy, filled with high hopes and a carton full of reject slips she keeps stashed under her bed.

“Never let rejection slips discourage you from writing,” she said as advice to other writers.

She describes the subject matter of her stories as “wild” with some characters and situations loosely derived from her own experiences. While she tries to alter the real places enough for most people not to know where they are, some places just stand out.

“If you’re from Bayonne and you read my stories you’ll know what bar I’m talking about,” she said. “It’s the same bar but not the same bartender.”

Although a lot of the geography of her fiction is Bayonne, she also reaches back to other parts of her life for memories such as when she worked in Atlantic City as a waitress in the early 1970s during the change over from old to new.

She said she likes to party, but never parties the night before she is planning to write, preferring to be alone with her thoughts when she writes so that she even turns off the telephone.

She does not use traditional plot lines or accepted moral or social values in her tales.

“In come cases the characters change, but not for the better,” she said. “My stories generally aren’t what the typical reader will expect.”

Some of her themes delve into pain, frustration, revenge and fantasy.

“Most of them are obsessed about something,” she said. “I create an obsessed character and see what that character does.”

While she explores many areas of human behavior, she won’t delve into Satanism or anything against the spirit. Her stories delve into horror, not science fiction, and she said she can’t write romantic love stories. Over the years, she tried writing a novel and later turned it into a screenplay. She has several screenplays she seeks to market.

Her reading is diverse from very powerful literary writers such as Carson McCullers and Chekhov to some of the darker fiction created by other horror writers.

“It has to have an edge for me to want to read it,” she said.

Critics call “Angel of Manslaughter” a collection of “15 gritty stories by a hardboiled Jersey female. Bloodlust, just plain lust, a serial killer’s “coming of age…jail bait, jealous wives…even a leap of faith in the right direction.”

Her book sells for $7.95 and will be available at the book signing on Jan. 20.

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