We Obedient Children

We Obedient Children
Karris Rae

Etchings Press, University of Indianapolis
ISBN 978-1955521352
36 pages
Order at bookshop.org or other online sellers

Delving into the dark corners of human experience, where rose bushes entangle generations and girls turn to ghosts, Karris Rae’s prose chapbook We Obedient Children confronts loss of self through a blend of myth and raw truth. In this hybrid of fiction and nonfiction, Rae finds revelation in the spaces between life and death, where ghosts carry messages of both warning and hope. We Obedient Children will certainly leave its mark on you.

Interview with the Author

Etchings Press: How did you come to learn about Junko Furuta? What about her story inspired you to write this collection of stories?

Karris Rae: I first heard of Furuta Junko on Reddit. After that, the story never let me go. I lived and taught in Japan from 2021-2023 and while I was there, she’d appear in my mind at odd times and places. She and her torturers were the same age as my students—their uniforms were even similar. It was hard to believe kids could hurt each other like that. On the other hand, I was exactly Furuta’s age when a group of older boys hurt me, on the other side of the planet, thirty years later. We Obedient Children is the product of those ruminations.

EP: In all of your stories, you feature spiders. Are you fascinated by them, scared of them? Why spiders?

KR: I love spiders and have kept tarantulas since I was nineteen. They’re symbolically powerful creatures. Females often live for twenty-five years, while males live for five. Their primary sense is touch, and they can feel emotions (mechanically—racing heartbeat, shaking, etc.) through your skin, and respond in kind. When they’re injured, they remove their own legs—and then grow them back. Not a single person has ever died from their bites. They’re creators, weavers, and ecological balancers. So why do people kill them on sight? To me, they seem to face the same prejudices as monsters and women. It made sense to tie them together.

EP: How did these stories come together? Were they all random stories you had written and then put them together or was there a goal in mind to create stories to go with the final story about Junko?

KR: From the beginning, this was supposed to be a cohesive but eclectic collection. I started just wanting to write about ghosts. Then it became female ghosts. Then I challenged myself to use different voices, tenses, points of view, genres, locations, and time periods. At some point, spiders crawled into my draft (they often do) and I went with it. The creative process is like unfolding a page, expanding one bit at a time.

EP: What is something you have always wanted people to know about your writing such as your process or a fun fact?

KR: My fun fact (and the craft tip I most wish my students would internalize) is that I read everything I write out loud, usually several times. Usually my audience is my long-suffering husband, but I’ve read stories to my cats and even a tōgarashi pepper plant once.