@work: Ghost writer

St. Paul author edits Halloween anthology.

By Todd Nelson

August 17, 2012 — 4:05pm

Bestselling St. Paul writer Theresa Weir, author of 19 novels and her recent memoir "The Orchard," loves Halloween. She just hasn't gotten around to planning that costume party she's been wanting to host.

She may have gone one better, however, by editing "Deadly Treats," a short-story anthology of 19 Halloween tales, 10 of them from local writers.

Stories in this literary version of a Halloween party range from the humorous to the paranormal and to the dark and disturbing.

"I asked a lot of writer friends to participate, people who were good writers," said Weir, who is online at www.theresaweir.com. Halloween "is a fun holiday: the dressing up, the spookiness, the decorations. All of that appeals to me, and several of the contributors said the same thing."

This year, Weir is likely to celebrate Halloween by watching "Nosferatu," the 1922 silent vampire classic. That's if she's not too exhausted from promoting "The Orchard."

It's her account of life on an apple farm, run by her husband's family, where she moved shortly after getting married. That's where she learned that even producing apples can have a darker side, in the form of pesticides and their environmental toll.

Writing nonfiction, in her studio in rural Wisconsin, was often more trick than treat for Weir.

"With fiction, I could control the plot," Weir said. "Coming up with events in my own life that fit the theme and fit the structure, that was really hard."

Three and out with Theresa Weir

A writing studio in a gothic church in Wisconsin?

I moved to St. Paul from rural Iowa. I could not get used to writing in the city. I have to have total isolation. I just happened upon this church and immediately fell in love with it. It's the best writing space in the world.

How did you start writing books?

I married really young into a totally different life on a farm. I felt like an alien there. I just suddenly decided to try to write a book. It was driven by boredom and isolation. It's weird that now I seek out those things in order to write.