"“I never thought I would write a horror,” she told BuzzFeed, “but when I was writing it, I was like, 'I don't think I can write about the modern Hawaiian experience without showing it as a horror.'”"
"“I feel like a lot of colonialism is making you feel like an outsider in your own culture.”"
"“I've had this experience with friends who are diaspora, who I've met on the mainland, who've never been to Hawaiʻi, who don't have that connection. They can be like, 'Oh, I'm from there,' and to see how they get ostracized and cut off, it just feels like a deeper cut"
A Native Hawaiian YA horror debut centers on Lehua, who visits Hawaiʻi for the first time and feels unmoored. The story frames modern Hawaiian life as horror, linking fear and discomfort to colonialism. The creator’s own background—born and raised in Hawaiʻi and later living in Los Angeles—parallels the theme of feeling like an outsider in one’s own culture. The narrative also reflects diaspora experiences, including how people without deep connections to Hawaiʻi can be ostracized and cut off. The work draws inspiration from social commentary horror and blends cultural perspective with genre tension.
Read at BuzzFeed
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