Good evening! I hope you are keeping well and staying warm. It’s unusually cold here for my region, lately, although, I grew up in colder, so I’m used to it, just a bit out of practice. That just means a lot of staying inside, reading, cross-stitching, and watching Olympics. It also means it’s time for another SSBA 2025 Finalist Featured Author. (nice segue!) Today’s author is Alvar Theo and their book, Benothinged, a finalist in the horror category.
As usual, more information on the SSBA can be found here, and links to all of my other SSBA posts can be found here. Side note, nominations are open for the 2026 awards – so send them in!
On to the author spotlight!
Alvar Theo – Author Biography
Alvar Theo lives in Wolverhampton with one old cat and two young dogs, all of whom are colossal pains. They have been writing their entire life, a mixture of screenwriting and prose. Their work has been featured in podcast sketch shows and acting showcases. They have a degree in Psychology and Creative Writing. They have previously worked as a bookseller, library attendant and administrator. At the time of writing, they are horrendously unemployed.
Where you can find Alvar Theo:
You can find Alvar Theo on Bluesky.
Interview
1. How did your writing journey begin/come about?
I’ve been a writer in some form or other for as long as I can remember. I have fond memories of writing my own Red Dwarf stories in the form of picture books when I was very small (possibly before I could even write). I used to write short stories in the spare pages of my school books at the end of the year. I basically never finished anything I started until I went to uni and got my Creative Writing (and Psychology) degree. In terms of taking writing seriously as a possible career, that probably started around a decade or so ago. That basically just took the form of entering whatever competition/submission callout I happened to see online. This was how I got my work in front of Rebecca at Haunt Publishing which led to Benothinged.
2. Who are your biggest influences/favourite authors/books?
The very terrible novel I wrote at 14 was an obvious rip off of The Cold One by Christopher Pike so I suppose it’s fair to say he was an early influence. I’m a big Discworld fan and I’d say that definitely influences the humour in my work. I’d also say Loki: Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing and Lee Garbett was fairly influential personally and professionally (I just happened to read it around the same time I had something of a revelation concerning my gender). I’ll read anything by Akwaeke Emezi, their writing is very aspirational. And, thanks to the TV shows, I’m going through an Anne Rice phase again (I’m an eternal teenager).
3. What are some recent books you’ve enjoyed and can recommend?
The best books I’ve read this year are: The Day We Ate Grandad by C. M Rosens – the third in her Pagham-on-Sea books which are amazing, truly like nothing else I’ve ever read; Hummingbird by T. C Parker – I was constantly surprised by this book but the twists and turns never felt cheap; The Woods all Black by Lee Mandelo – very dark, sexy and cathartic; Deadendia: The Divine Order by Hamish Steele – fantastic end to a fantastic series; Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle – the M.C’s relationship with formative TV shows from his youth really spoke to me and I loved how the ending hinged on asexual invisibility.
4. Please tell us a bit about some of your other writing/work
To date, my only other produced work is sketches/short films. I am desperately trying to get back into prose writing after a lot of covid-related difficulties.
5. What’s next for you?
By the time this is published, I’ll hopefully be done with edits/rewrites on my second novel. It’s a departure from Benothinged (less supernatural, arguably less of a horror) but still dealing with a lot of the same themes.
Benothinged by Alvar Theo
Unemployed, depressed and grieving, all Mask wants is to be left alone to enjoy their misery. But they are haunted: in the day by a tea-obsessed elderly neighbour and in their nightmares by a spectral shapeshifter.
Then there’s V, a secretive busker who regales Mask with stories about The Nothing, a soul-sucking monster who bears an uncanny resemblance to the spectre in Mask’s dreams.
When The Nothing makes its spectacular debut in the real world, Mask must race to destroy it before it destroys them. But after years of isolation, who can Mask truly trust?
To survive, Mask needs to do the impossible: find a reason to live.
Benothinged is an ambitious horror-comedy that confronts grief, isolation, mental illness and poverty. Told with cleaver-sharp wit and insight, Benothinged will consume whoever opens its pages.
1. What inspired you to write this book?
I was inspired by the mundane horrors of Austerity Britain and my own loneliness, grief and feelings that I was wasting my life. Although I started before, I wrote the bulk of the novel during lockdown when I was isolated, gloomy and listening to a lot of The Magnus Archives. I wanted to create something dealing with all those themes but with a message (as much as Benothinged has a message) that none of those things make anyone a lesser person. If there’s no one to care about you, you still exist. If it’s not too trite to mention Buffy, think the season 2 finale when she’s asked what’s left once everything’s been taken from her and she answers: “Me”. And I wanted to make a point about how spite is often all that keeps us going.
2. What was your favourite part of writing it?
Either the cinematic dream sequences because they were fun to visualise or Mask and V’s friendship. I like their back and forth. Or maybe just the humour in general. I can never resist adding a joke even if it’s at an inappropriate moment.
Thanks for reading!
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