27
Feb
Interviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com
Eric S Brown is a 34 year old author living in NC. He has been called “the king of zombies” by places like Dread Central and was featured in the book Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead as an expert on the genre. Some of his books include Space Stations and Graveyards, Dying Days, Portals of Terror, Madmen’s Dreams, Cobble, The Queen, The Wave, Waking Nightmares, Unabridged Unabashed and Undead: The Best of Eric S Brown, Barren Earth, Season of Rot, War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies, World War of the Dead, Zombies II: Inhuman, etc. He was the editor of the anthology Wolves of War from Library of Horror Press. Some of his upcoming titles include Bigfoot War, The Human Experiment, Anti-Heroes, and Tandems of Terror. His short fiction has been published hundreds of times. Some of his anthology appearances include Dead Worlds I,II, III, and V, The Blackest Death I & II, The Undead I & II, Dead History, Dead Science, Zombology I & II, The Zombist, and the upcoming Gentlemen of Horror 2010 to name only a few.
He also writes an ongoing column on the world of comic books for Abandoned Towers magazine.
ML: First, why don’t you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your most recent releases?
ESB: Some of my best releases last year were War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies, Season of Rot, World War of the Dead, and a zombie SF book entitled Barren Earth. Coming this year, I have my first two superhero books (The Human Experiment and Anti-Heroes), a new giant sized collection with John Grover called Tandems of Terror, and a paperback novella called Bigfoot War (from Coscom Entertainment). I think Bigfoot War is one of the most carnage filled and fun things I have ever written.
ML: You’re well known as a zombie author. Lately there’s been a lot of disillusionment with the sub genre, with many people blaming tired plots and recent mash ups, like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, for a decline in zombie fiction. What’s your take on this?
ESB: I think Zombies are one of those monsters that rises up in popularity and hits the world like a nuclear bomb from time to time then goes back to being a cult thing until the dead rise again. There are tons of great zombie books out there but there are also tons of not so great ones. Like anything else, you just have to be careful what you buy so you don’t waste your cash. With War of the Worlds Plus Blood Guts and Zombies, my retelling of H.G. Wells’ alien invasion classic, I did my best to take it seriously and deliver a hard hitting Z tale not a parody.
ML: Likewise, horror in general is often dismissed or over looked by readers and libraries because of the belief that it’s all Freddy, Jason and Hostel type stories. Do you believe that horror is a genre that appeals to readers of more mundane stories, or do you think people are wrongly dismissing it?
ESB: I think it’s a bit of both. Horror fans expect a certain formula and go looking for that in general but the more discerning horror reader
stays on the quest to find that new and original masterpiece that will leave them having nightmares and talking about it for weeks.
ML: In the same vein, what are some horror classic that you believe deserve a place on more reading lists?
ESB: F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep is one of my favorite WWII horror novels. It inspired my own book World War of the Dead. I would also list
Earthworm Gods, Empire, Swan Song, and Dead in the West as must read books. If we’re talking school reading lists though, I think H.P. Lovecraft’s work should replace most of the Poe stuff they teach.
ML: What’s the draw to horror for you, as a writer and a reader?
ESB: I like to be terrified and disgusted. Can’t help it, it’s who I am. I also love action so I tend to steer more to horror with a war, military edge to it. Some good examples would be Aliens, Z. A. Recht’s books, and again F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep.
ML: What are some of your goals, as you write and edit your books? What do you want readers to take from them?
ESB: I always put a bit of me in each of my works whether that’s just my inner child/zombie fan part coming out and playing or deciding to
include a moral message behind the battle of good vs. evil. Above all, I want my readers to have a good time and read the kind of stuff I enjoy as a fan.
ML: So, why zombies and not vampires, or werewolves?
ESB: Zombies are the modern monster. They fit better with our world today and they are a lot scarier. The idea of a virus or plague alone killing so many people is disturbing enough in its self but toss in them getting back up and chewing your face off with no remorse and you have a winner in tears of fear.
ML: How do you think the sub genre has changed since the original zombie movies like, White Zombie, Things to Come and Night of the Living Dead? How has the zombie itself changed?
ESB: The zombie is constantly changing, getting smarter, faster, even hopping species. That’s one of the great things about the
sub-genre. Everyone is trying to do something new with it but keep that old end of the world, flesh eating fear intact.
ML: What do you look for in a good book?
ESB: Well developed characters that move me, an interesting plot, and above all, enough action to make me dream about it and keep me turning the pages as fast as I can read.
ML: Finally, what are you working on right now?
ESB: I just finished The Human Experiment and am for the moment caught up on longer projects so I am writing mostly short fiction and my columns until I feel ready to return hardcore to the world of zombies with a brand new book that has been growing in the back of my mind. You can find some of my short fiction this year in anthologies like The Zombist, Dead History, Dead Worlds 5, Gentlemen of Horror, an upcoming installment of the Zombology series, and others. I will also be adding chapters to Pill Hill Press’s upcoming collab zombie novel they will be releasing this Fall/Winter (2010).
This interview originally appeared on MonsterLibrarian.com
David Dunwoody is the author of Empire and the sequel this year Empires End.
ML: Your specialty, if you can say you have one still so early in your career, is zombie tales. How did you become the up-and-coming zombie writer? Is it a topic you pursued on purpose or did it just work out that way?
DD: It wasn’t the plan (not to imply I ever had one). In 2004, I hadn’t subbed anything to any market, and had no idea how or where to begin. I also didn’t know what “market” meant. Eve Blaack of Hacker’s Source magazine, for which I was writing film reviews, passed along word of a new publisher, Permuted Press. It had just opened to subs for a zombie anthology. “Grinning Samuel,” which appears in THE UNDEAD, was my first sale, and I think I was so energized by that success that I became focused on the walking dead, and what other creeps perhaps lurked just outside the frame in Samuel’s world.
ML: Especially lately, the zombie genre has been gifted with a surplus of titles to chose from. How do you think your stories stand out from the rest?
DD: I try to write tales that will surprise hardcore zombie fans, twisting the basic rules of the undead. A lot of my fellow fanatics feel the Romero rules are sacrosanct, and so they might not be into all of my rotters, but stories like those in the EMPIRE universe are written with respect for The Master and gratitude for the creature he’s given us – perhaps the last great monster, one whose impact and resonance was immediately recognized and who is already on par with the vampire and werewolf.
That said, my zombies range from slow and brainless to fast and/or smart – some almost human, others very far from it – and sometimes a headshot only pisses them off. There’s often an element of dark fantasy too, as with the Grim Reaper hunting zombies in EMPIRE.
ML: Your lauded first novel, Empire, first showed up as a free serial, then was published through Permuted Press. Now Empire will hit bookstores through Pocket books in the spring. Can you tell us a little about the differences you’ve encountered with each new edition?
DD: There’s not a ton of difference between the first and second print editions in terms of content. But in the transition from a 2006 web serial to a 2008 book, there were many minor tweaks and some major additions. I think the novel grew by twenty percent as I prepared it for print, mostly in deeper exploration of the military perspective and the 105 years of the plague prior to EMPIRE’s opening in the year 2112.
I think the greatest difference will be between EMPIRE and its sequel – you can still detect EMPIRE’S episodic origins in the print version. The process of writing the second book was very different, and from its first pages it begins hurtling toward a climax far bigger, and of far greater consequence.
ML: Your short story “Shift Change” in the Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths anthology remains one of my favorite zombie stories to date. How do you manage to keep the zombies interesting, and yet not change their essential nature?
DD: I try not to tweak everything at once and lose the source. Dan O’Bannon recently passed away – his RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD is a big influence for me, a beloved zombie classic that nonetheless plays fast and loose with the rules. Zombies that can run and talk, chowing down alongside desiccated corpses with nary an ounce of meat on their bones. Split dogs – SPLIT DOGS! The wild variety of zombies like Trash, Tarman and the jaundiced cadaver set my mind racing.
I do think some would say I’ve lost the essential zombieness on more than one occasion. Sometimes when I look for new undead, I dredge up something else entirely (as in “Shift Change”). But we gotta keep digging! There’s something moving down there, dammit!
ML: Some say there’s a divide between literary writers and genre writers and the debate between writing for art or writing for entertainment is a monster of its own. Which side do you stand on? Do you think zombies have a place in high literature?
DD: I think the divide only exists for those who choose to take a side. The rest of us are somehow walking on air in the middle of that chasm. Like Wile E. Coyote, I will not fall into that debate until I look down. And then I will die.
I don’t think art and titillation are always mutually exclusive. There are definitely works of mine in which I invested more thought and passion, works that meant something more to me – and for that reason I would consider them closer to art than, say, the one about sentient strips of zombie bacon. But that’s only because I say so – art is intent.
As to the question of quantifiable literary sensibility, I don’t really know what that is. I know I don’t have it. I’m not trying to be Rodney Dangerfield sticking it to the dean here, I just know that I write for me and other crazy people.
ML: Empire isn’t the only work you’ve released for free. Do you believe free online content is merely a trend, a valuable tool for today’s writers, or is it absolute essential in the new digital age?
DD: With so much out there, and with virtually anyone able to publish and make it available to the general public, I think free online content is a good way to get noticed, to connect and communicate with readers. The immediacy of posting an entry and reading someone’s reaction to it in the same hour is pretty cool. It’s also a sort of intimacy that might make you uncomfortable at times. But that’s the story of the Internet.
I don’t think it’s a passing trend, but I don’t know if it will become an essential either. For me it was an experiment from which I expected nothing, and I was lucky to be on the radar of a press who is all about looking for new permutations in horror fiction.
ML: Likewise, how do you believe that your choice to include readers in the actual writing of the book has affected your career?
DD: When I had the Halloween 2006 “Who do you want to die?” poll for EMPIRE, I think readers liked being involved in that way. I don’t know if anyone thought it was gimmicky or that I wasn’t taking the story seriously. Probably, but I was fully prepared to go along with whatever the results were, and was excited at seeing how it might challenge me. The essential plot wouldn’t have really changed, but…well, if they’d killed Voorhees (who came in second place), the sequel would be completely different.
ML: So if you couldn’t pick on zombies, what topic, if any, would you find similar fascination in?
DD: I think werewolves, which are tied with zombies for my favorite creature feature. I have some ideas for a werewolf story – nothing’s fleshed out yet, but it’s another case of trying to think of weird angles that’ll intrigue diehards.
ML: Where do you think the zombie genre, and horror in general, is going?
DD: Zombies are never going away. They may peak in the mainstream in a few years, but they’re definitely never going away. The Romero-type zombie can be taken in so many different directions, and speak to so many themes. I don’t know anything about trends, but I think the horror genre overall is gaining more and more legitimacy, and that’s certainly reflected in how zombie fiction is evolving.
ML: Finally, what do we have to look forward to when it comes to David Dunwoody fiction?
DD: Later this year, EMPIRE’S END, the sequel to EMPIRE. The Reaper discovers where he came from, and where he’s meant to go – undead aberrations encroach from both ends of that long road, and this time the great reckoning will take place not in a ghost town, but a snowbound city.
This year Library of Horror Press will release a collection of very weird horror tales called UNBOUND. Permuted Press has picked up my other serial, THE HARVEST CYCLE, which mixes Lovecraftian aliens and genocidal androids in a post-apocalyptic world.
I am currently at work on a volume of all-zombie short stories. I really think it’ll be my best stuff yet. I was burned out on the undead after EMPIRE END, but some things just won’t stay…well, you know. Thanks Michele!
Michele Lee: How much fun did you have playing with all the monsters out there?
RTR: I had a blast with exploring the issues and situations in my new collection. The experience was bittersweet, however, as there is a definite theme of loss and betrayal running rampant through the collection. The themes were not necessarily deliberate, but I think that is why the collection is so strong on many fronts and will connect with many people because the majority of the stories are based on my own personal experiences. To me, there is nothing better than a little bit of truth in fiction.
ML: Do you have a favorite story among the collection?
RTR: Actually, I have two. The first one is “Twin Thieves”. This story is very special and dear to my heart as it is so intensely personal. It was extremely difficult to write in many ways for me. It was easy to write in the sense that I knew exactly what I wanted to say with this piece, but very difficult in the sense that I was working through some major personal issues and living, examining, and experiencing those feelings during the process. The second story is “Brittle Bones, Plastic Skin”. Once again, there’s a lot of “me” in this story.
ML: How have the readers’ tastes or opinions of your stories differed from your own?
RTR: For a long time I really didn’t like anything once I finished with it. For a number of reasons, either I wished I could’ve expressed things better or once they were published I saw something else I could’ve added. For this collection, there are very few stories that I am not completely satisfied with. I’m very happy with how the majority of the stories turned out. One thing I’ve noticed so far are that the most personal stories are the ones that are getting the most comments and reactions. Then there are other stories that I really like and readers have not and vice versa. That’s normal, though.
ML: What do you feel that you bring to horror?
RTR: I bring realism to horror, I think. The themes and situations in my fiction can actually happen. Man is the most fascinating monster to me. What we, as humans, can do to one another is very disturbing to me. Everyone is capable of the things I write about, I think. There’s just some small line that we don’t cross that separates us from other who have chosen to cross that line.
Sure, I write about supernatural monsters and the like, but they are merely archetypes and stand-ins for issues that everyone has gone through at some point in their lives. I write what I know.
ML: Apex Publications is notoriously “anti-monster”. How did you manage to sell them a collection that features vampires, witches and even a unicorn?
RTR: I’m still trying to figure that out myself! Basically, Mari Adkins and I met on a message board in 2005. We started chatting and when the defunct Nocturne Press published my first collection, Mari picked up a copy, dug the stories and wrote a review of the collection for Apex. She passed the book onto Jason, I think, and based off the strength of those stories he got in touch me and offered me a shot at being a feature author for Apex in 2006. One thing led to another, and Jason offered me a slot in Gratia Placenti and I jumped at the chance. I can still recall the email I got when I sent him the story “Only Spirits Cry” and warned him it had a unicorn in it. He was dubious at first, but wrote back quickly and accepted the story. A few months later he offered to publish “The Monster Within Idea” and then went even further and offered to re-release my first collection in 2010. Like I said earlier, Jason saw past the ‘monsters’ and saw the stories were about life and things everyone has gone through. Jason recognized the world is a really messed up place and I was dealing with it in my own way through the fiction I wrote.
ML: You’ve been published both “traditionally” with ink and paper and been involved with epublishing in the form of the Amazon Shorts program. What have you taken away from these experiences?
RTR: I’m always looking for new ways to reach readers. The Amazon Shorts program allowed me to reach readers that normally would not have come across my books. I see that as a positive. Both methods are viable and have worked for me. I write for myself first, but like any author, I want to be read as well.
ML: Do you think more people in the industry will begin to recognize ebooks and epublishing as a beneficial tool, or do you think we’ll all keep digging our heels in against the change?
RTR: I think there will always be a certain percentage that will dig their heels in against this change. People still want to hold a book in their hands and turn the pages. There is a growing majority of publishers that are realizing that there is a market for e-publishing and are exploring it. For me, I’m eager to explore any new method to reach new readers.
ML: You’ve called yourself a company killer in the past. Any advice to those out there trying to figure out which markets to submit to and support and which to avoid?
RTR: Google is an author’s best friend. Before I submit to any market, I do an extensive search on them to see what I can find out. Message boards are a good place to find out both good and bad track records of publishers. If a publisher has a bad record people will definitely talk about it somewhere on the internet. I’m also much more wary these days of the authors that some markets may choose to publish. My reputation and integrity are extremely important to me and I don’t like being associated with “nitwits”. In the past, I have actually withdrawn projects from certain publishers when they chose to publish individuals I didn’t want to be associated with. Put simply ask around before you submit to a publisher. Contact their authors and see how they’ve been treated. Usually, these authors are happy to rave or rant about their publishers.
ML: Can you pin point a book, author or movie that triggered your desire to write horror?
RTR: Yes, I sure can. The first book I ever read was “The Stand” by Stephen King. I was 12 or 13 at the time. The book simply blew me away and started my obsession with all things horror. I was raised in a very sheltered environment and was quite protected, but once I read King, I searched out anything horror-related and my love affair with the genre blossomed very quickly. Currently, some of the best authors in the business, both small and mainstream presses, are Brian Keene, Tom Piccirilli, James A. Moore, Ray Garton, Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston, Nate Kenyon, John Skipp, Jason Brannon, and John Grover.
ML: What can we fans look forward to seeing from you in the future?
RTR: I’ve got a lot of projects in the works. At present, I am trying to place a co-authored novel with John Grover entitled “If God Doesn’t Show”. John and I are also working on another collaboration “At the Foot of the Mountains”. I also have projects forthcoming from Permuted Press and Library of the Living Dead Press. You can find out more about all of these projects on my myspace blog.
Originally appeared at Monster Librarian.com
Nancy A. Collins is the author of several novels and numerous short stories. She is a recipient of the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award and The British Fantasy Society’s Icarus Award. Her latest work is a young adult vampires series titled Vamps is reviewed here.
ML: You started your novel writing life with Sunglasses After Dark, the first Sonja Blue novel. How have you gone from rather adult horror novels to YA vampire princesses?
NC: It’s been a long road, but not a terribly surprising turn, at least for me. I have always had a good number of young/teen readers with the Sonja Blue series, and with my work in the comics industry. It wasn’t that huge a leap, personally, to start looking at the YA market. The biggest changes I’ve had to face are the differences in length (the average adult novel is 90 thousand words, while the average YA novel is half that) and some of the subject matter. Young Adult themes nowadays are far more ‘mature’ than when I was in junior high & high school. I do have a tendency to be dark, though, and I have to remember that the audience reading my books has yet to enroll in the School of Hard Knocks most adults attend after they graduate from college, so I have to remind myself to dial it back a few notches.
ML: You’ve been a rare, strong female voice in horror for a while. Do you think that being a woman has affected your career, either positively or negatively?
NC: I’ve never run into sexism in the publishing industry per se, whether from the editors or fellow writers. However, I become well aware that it exists whenever I deal with Hollywood, especially in regard to Sonja Blue. If she had been a male character named ‘Jason Blue’, there would be three movies out by now. But I think my being a woman does affect the characters a great deal. They tend to share a sense of responsibility (or a resentment thereof) to their family. But then again, I was raised in the South.
ML: The YA world has a lot of big dog vampire books, such as Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. How does VAMPS compare?
NC: I think VAMPS is for those readers who are looking for a storyline driven by something besides boyfriend/girlfriend drama. There is plenty of who-really-likes/loves-who or who’s-messing-around-behind-who’s-back going on in the VAMPS series, but that’s just a part of what’s going on. If you’re looking for a rehash of TWILIGHT, you’re probably not going to like VAMPS that much. However, if you like the Anne Rice vampires series or Harry Potter, you will probably enjoy VAMPS a great deal.
ML: Sonja Blue and Cally Monture are both half-blooded. What do you think the draw is to characters who aren’t of one world, or another, but are somewhere between?
NC: I feel that most women, on some level, view themselves as being caught between two worlds, whether it’s mother-wife, daughter-girlfriend, student-employee, or however you want to mix-and-match it. It’s also an excellent allegory for coming of age, whether you’re sixteen or fifty-two. In the Sonja Blue series the underlying theme is her constant inner struggle to remain human in the face of monstrosity. In the VAMPS series Cally is being tempted to forsake her human heritage in order to fit in with her new peer group. People are in too big a hurry to throw away their humanity, whether in exchange for ‘cool’ or ‘money’ or ‘fame’, if you ask me.
ML: In VAMPS, I have to admit I abhorred Lilith, the reigning social queen of Bathory Academy. But by the end you’d managed to soften her snottish personality and make her sympathetic. Does muddying the good guy/bad guy trope make for a better stray, in your opinion?
NC: When writing a character like Lilith you have to remember that no one ever thinks they’re a villain. Hitler, Bin Laden, and Jeffrey Dahmer all had a perfectly good reason (to them) for the evil they committed. With Lilith, I just took your basic self-absorbed, insecure, high- maintenance high school rich-biyatch and added the fact she’s a, you know, shape-shifting, blood-drinking MONSTER to the mix. Part of why Lilith is the psycho-sister that she is has to do with how she was raised–or not raised–by her parents, and the society she lives in, which is VERY Darwinian and favors the strong over the “weak”, and where ruthlessness is viewed as a virtue. It doesn’t make her any less evil, at the end of the day, but at least you can understand where she’s coming from.
ML: You’ve written novels, short stories, comics, nonfiction and novelizations, and edited anthologies. Do you have a favorite medium?
NC: They all have their different strong and weak suits. Comics are probably the easiest/most fun to write. I’m always excited to see how an artist interprets what I’ve described. I love writing short stories because you can experiment with style and format far better in short form. Novels allow you a great deal of freedom in regard to character development. Novelizations are definitely the least fun, because you’re working with other people’s characters, and while that can be fun if you’re a fan of a particular series or character, you have and have to abide by a fairly rigid ‘bible’ supplied by the producers, so there isn’t a lot of room to be creative and explore your own vision.
ML: Unlike a lot of authors these days you have very little web presence. Do you think this is a boon to your career or draws away from reaching potential readers?
NC: Actually, I have had a My Space page for several years now. It’s at
http://www.myspace.com/golgotham I’ve recently created a profile with Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1501539605&ref=profile
and Blogspot
http://arkansylvania.blogspot.com
Also, HarperTeen.com has an author page for me at
http://www.harperteen.com/authors/32665/Nancy_A_Collins/index.aspx
that features some Q&A and other fun stuff.
I used to have a LiveJournal blog for several years, but I closed it out when I changed my ISP. It was too much hassle to change all the jpegs I’d posted from my account over the years to Photobucket.
ML: What’s the draw to vampires?
NC: Since they look like us, and, in fact, used to BE us, they are a perfect allegory for the human condition. Depending on what you want to focus on, they can be a symbol of man’s darker drives (cruelty, ruthlessness, predatory behavior), or they can symbolize passion and romance (the love that lasts forever, the all-consuming passion that never ends). They also make excellent Byronic heroes, flawed heroes that battle with their inner demons in the name of love or beauty. They can also be painfully accurate portrayals of the perils of modern dating (the handsome charmer who seemed perfect at first, only to later reveal himself to be an inhuman monster).
ML: Do you think the vampire story will ever die?
NC: No. No more than the detective story, the love story or the ghost story will die. Indeed, the vampire story combines elements of all three. In the last 30+ I have seen several vampire-based books and movies become huge pop
culture successes: SALEM’S LOT, INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, FRIGHT NIGHT, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, BLADE, FRANCIS FORD COPPOLLA’S DRACULA, UNDERWORLD, and now TWILIGHT. And then there’s the upcoming sequel to TWILIGHT and the DARK SHADOWS movie starring Johnny Depp. So, no, I don’t think vampires are in any danger of disappearing any time soon.
ML: What do you have in store for Cally and Lilith and the true bloods of Bathory Academy? According to your blog on Amazon.com there’s a movie in the works?
NC: Actually, the producers are working on trying to turn it into a TV series. But I would be just as thrilled if they can turn it into a feature film. As for Cally, in AFTER DARK, the 3rd book in the series, her relationship with Peter is going to undergo a huge shake-up, due to circumstances beyond their control. The same goes for Lilith and Jules. Both sisters also suffer deep personal losses that change their lives forever, and are given a chance at living a dream come true. Of course, how they react to these nearly identical parallel situations is completely different from one another. Lucky Maledetto, the twins’ older brother, will be playing a larger role in the third book, as will Exo. We also discover a great deal more about how Old Blood society works, and just how dangerous the Shadow Hand can be. Oh, and there’s an all-vampire fashion show.
1. So let’s get the big question out of the way. Your first novel, I Will Rise, received a Stoker Award nomination earlier this year. What did that feel like?
It was a tremendous honor. I am a huge fan of horror fiction and many of my favorite books have been Bram Stoker award winners or finalists. To be counted among them is simply mind blowing. It’s a distinction I wear with great pride. The award banquet was awesome. I met so many great writers.
2. When I read I Will Rise I was both distracted by the prose and blown away by the similar feel to Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Is Palahniuk a role model for you?
When I started writing I WILL RISE I was definitely on a Palahniuk kick. I read three or four of his books back to back (CHOKE, SURVIVOR and INVISIBLE MONSTERS – oddly enough I still hadn’t read FIGHT CLUB, but if you read Palahniuk, his style is pretty consistent from book to book). At the same time, I was also really heavy into James Joyce’s short story collection DUBLINERS, and his crazy novel ULYSSES, and I was re-reading T.H. White’s take on Arthurian legend, THE ONCE and FUTURE KING.
Like all art, IWR draws its inspiration from an eclectic mix of sources. Along with White and Joyce and Palahniuk, I love filmmakers like Lynch and Cronenberg and Gordon and there are shades of their influences buried in the narrative as well. I think the book is a messy mash up of all these disparate styles fused with my one true literary love – horror.
Since it is written in the first person, it tends to get a little crazy with the stream of consciousness thing – gloriously self indulgent and proudly experimental. It worked for some and turned off others, but it was a fun experiment.
As to the question, Mr. Palahniuk is definitely a role model. He is one of my favorite writers and to draw such comparisons is a huge honor.
3. Are there any lessons you’ve taken away from the writing and publication of I Will Rise?
Tons. On the writing side, like with each new book, I learn what works and what doesn’t. I play with pacing and voice and grow from the practice of hammering away at a narrative each and every day. Writing is an incredible art form because you get better with age. Every new book I write shows me just how much I don’t know and what I have to go out there and learn. I WILL RISE was a lot of fun to write because I became this selfish, neurotic, foolish character and just went off. My other books are written in the third person and as an omniscient narrator you have a different role and a responsibility to all of the characters. Writing in the first person as an extremely unreliable narrator you can goof off a little.
Since IWR was my first publishing credit ever, I basically learned everything I know about the publishing industry in this past year. When I started submitting IWR I knew nothing about small press and the mass market and the horror writing community. I didn’t know any of the business intricacies. Now, I feel much more confident about my role within the industry as an artist and I am prepared to make those important career decisions. It was a tough thing to wrap my head around. I want to write. I don’t want to look over contracts and market and sell, but the reality of the situation is that in order to be successful you have to understand all of these things. Like with my writing, I get better and better at it with each passing day.
4. You teach high school English, does that give you hope for the future of fiction or take it away?
Hope. It’s all about hope. That’s why I am a teacher and that’s why I love my job. At the beginning of the year I take a survey and ask my kids (I teach ninth graders) who likes to read. I’ll get maybe two or three hands (out of 40) per class. Throughout the school year I try to talk up fiction (horror in particular) and get kids excited about reading and hope to win over a few converts. I usually snag a few.
On a wider scale, the world is moving so fast and a leisurely paced hobby like reading fiction for the pure joy of it seems to be falling out of favor. Why read when I can watch cable or play video games? I love watching cable and playing video games, so it’s hard to argue, but then somewhere along the line I also learned to love to read. Where did I get it? Who knows? My parents aren’t big readers; I just sort of gravitated toward it on my own. With all of these modern distractions, books are looking less and less interesting to kids with no desire to read. It’s a scary time.
5. Other than world domination, what plans do you have for the future?
Well, world domination is a pretty all-consuming goal. It lives little time for much else. Until I get there, I plan on teaching and writing and writing and teaching and enjoying the hell out of my rather charmed life.
6. In the punk/underground/social commentary feel of your work, would popular success be good or bad? Can you be popular without selling out?
Popular success is never a bad thing. It is my ultimate goal. The more people I reach the better. I’m not doing this so I can be the king of some exclusionary scene. Selling out is settling for mediocrity. I’m not here to grumble at the machine. I’m here to infect it and write edgy fiction that entertains and gives use something to think about. My punk / underground sensibilities come from my love of punk / underground sensibilities and the subversion inherent will probably always be a part of my fiction, but this isn’t to say I am not trying to have a little fun. This is what I like about Palahniuk – his books are uncompromising and perverse, yet he has a legion of fans that get it.
Look at some one like Larry David of HBO’s CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASUM, he’s made a fortune hating everyone and everything! I aspire to be the Larry David of popular horror fiction.
7. So I Will Rise has zombies, and As Fate Would Have It has cannibals. What’s next?
So much stuff…
I just completed two novellas with two great writers I’ve met through the HWA (Horror Writer’s Association). One called UGLY SPIRIT, written with Benjamin Kane Ethridge, about the seriously screwed up ghost of a serial killer and his haunted estate, the other called THE INFINITE, written with Michael McCarty, about an ancient blood witch, awkward dorks and bored teenage girls. They are both looking for homes.
I have a dark fantasy trilogy called THE BASILISK, about lizards, sun Gods, telepathic zombies and a serial killer tasked with killing 1000 virgins to save the world, doing the rounds. My agent is currently pushing it to the majors (fingers crossed).
I finished two new books in ‘08 and have just started shopping them. LAMBS is about three teens, one haunted by murderous ghosts, one a pyromaniac, and one a Satanist, whose lives collide. DEATH & DESIRE in the AGE of WOMEN is about women going crazy and taking over the world and one married couple’s struggle to survive the violent onslaught. I’m going to start sending them out soon.
I just recently finished my half of a dark, urban fantasy called ORDER of DEATH. I’m writing it with Benjamin Kane Ethridge and it is looking to be pretty awesome. Violent, dark, high fantasy in the tradition of George RR Martin, but twisted in our own special way. I can’t wait to get it out there.
I have a short story collection entitled BLOOD & GRISTLE being considered by a publisher.
I just started a book tentatively titled BIRD DREAM. Should be done in March and then it is on to a new one.
Oh, and I write video game reviews for Fear Zone (fearzone.com). You can find new stuff and any of my old reviews archived on the website.
8. Is there any horror trope you won’t touch?
No. I’m willing to tackle anything and put my spin on it. It’s all about imagination and reconfiguring those tired old tropes into something new and vibrant. Vampires have been done to death and right off, I’d probably put my foot in my mouth and say, “I will never write a vampire book,” but then, I was recently approached by a writer who wants to collaborate on a vampire book (though its about a psychic vamp rather than your traditional bloodsucker) and I’m excited to dig in and give it a shot.
I’m good with any and all tropes, just not the boxes they tend to come in.
9. Why don’t you give us a bit of blatant promo for As Fate Would Have It?
Glad to.
So yes, AFWHI is about cannibals and heroin addicts. Those are the big, easy selling points. Cannibals – yuck! Heroin addicts – oooh edgy! Put them together and you got literary gold. Blah, blah, blah. What the book is really about is love and death.
I was lucky enough to make it to my late twenties without having to experience much in the way of death, but in the last few years I’ve lost a few people who I have been really close to and it hurt like hell. I entered my thirties more freaked about death than ever. While writing FATE, I purged a bit. I got a lot of things out and tried to come to terms with inconsolable loss. I wish I could say I emerged secure and happy and all of that. I still fear death and still think about it everyday. Truth is, the book is pretty damn grim. It’s darkly funny and reasonably entertaining, but there is a big streak of unrelenting black running up and down its spine and it might leave a bad taste in your mouth or raise a lump of discomfort in your throat. Alas, misery loves company (or so they say). I’m hoping readers can commiserate and fish a bit of catharsis out of it.
10. Who is the one person you’d get the warm squishies from if they read your book and sent you a (public or private) note about how much they loved it?
Stephen King (me and every other horror writer, right?). He is the reason I love to read and (though there are many writers I admire and call influences) he is probably the real reason I write. Back in seventh grade, I stumbled upon THE BACHMAN BOOKS in my junior high school library and nothing has ever been the same.
*My review of Dance with Deception is here.
-Of all the periods of the past, why did the Victorian era call to you?
Both the Victorian and Regency eras are among my favorites. The reasons that I chose the Victorian era as the setting for Dance With Deception were quite simple, really … plot and research.
Dance With Deception is the first of a trilogy and, when choosing the time period, I had to keep all three novels in mind. I knew where I wanted to take the plot and what politics/inventions/modes of transportation/battles were necessary so I set the plot in early Victorian times.
-Gwen is obviously an intelligent woman, and split between defiance and duty. Did you model her after anyone in particular?
From the beginning, I always saw Gwen as an intelligent, compassionate woman whose opinions were cast aside for no other reason than the fact that she was born a woman. When writing about Gwen’s plight, I didn’t model her after anyone in particular but, rather, tried to put myself in her shoes. I imagined being in a situation where women had no rights and were beholden to their guardians. I tried to delve into Gwen’s emotions and wanted to portray not only her helplessness but her anger at being placed in such a position where she must chose between her heart’s desire and her duty to her father.
-What about Sebastian? Yum! Can you tell us a bit about the difficulties of making these two characters so passionate about each other?
The love and passion that Sebastian and Gwen felt for each other was truly easy to write – perhaps because I’m a romantic at heart? What I had to work extremely hard on was goal, motivation, conflict – what every Romance Author learns about when studying craft. I had two characters who truly loved each other and then had to make their actions, their journey believable.
-Dance with Deception is a very texture-oriented story. How did you manage to pack such sensory details into your book?
With a great deal of effort! I want readers to feel transported to the world I write about so the necessity of the characters and, therefore, the readers to experience the tale through all senses is something I concentrate on from that first draft straight through to the final draft.
-How much research did you have to do for Dance with Deception?
Every Historical Author does a great deal of research. My office book shelves are overflowing with research books on topics spanning everything from the Victorian era and British history to costumes, etiquette, and even the complete guide to horses and riding. I also have research books on Greek mythology, astronomy, a dictionary of plagues and pestilences, Latin quips, castles, and royal palaces. It never ceases to amaze me where inspiration originates or, for that matter, how much of it flourishes from research.
-Have you thought about tackling any other periods?
I have considered other time periods and currently have several stories outlined (in the Regency and Contemporary periods) but, for now, I continue to write about the Victorian era.
-What are some challenges you feel romance writers have that other genre writers might not?
Romance writers tackle the stigma that comes from writing Romance – the same stigma that comes from reading it, for that matter. Despite the fact that Romance fiction is a billion dollar a year industry (per Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine), there are still people who shun Romantic fiction. How many times has someone frowned when seeing that you’re reading a romance novel? The same holds true when some discovers that you’ve written one. But, regardless, the fact remains that people both write and read romance for the same reason – because we enjoy it. I hope that my love of the Romance genre is evident through every page of my novels.
-Do you think as a romance writer you have any advantages over writers of other genres?
I can’t speak of other genres, but I can say that the Romance community is the most wonderful and encouraging that I can imagine, thanks in part to organizations such as The Romance Writers of America. In what other genre can a debut Author receive Author quotes from New York Times Bestselling Authors Barbara Dawson Smith and Hannah Howell, and from Bestselling Author and RITA winner Gayle Wilson? I count myself blessed to be part of such a genre.
-I love hearing about the origins of stories. Where did Dance with Deception come from?
Dance With Deception began as a story in my imagination, one that I’d wanted to tell for some time. I honestly don’t know where or when it originated but perhaps it was born from every novel I’d ever read such as my favorite classics by the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen?
After imagining my characters and this story for so long, it was my husband who encouraged me to finally write Dance With Deception. Honestly, so much of Authoring a novel stems from love – love and encouragement from your loved ones, love of your story, your characters, the genre and the craft. Many of us don’t know if anyone will like the story we’re writing or if anyone will publish it but we write it anyway – because we love doing so. For anyone currently experiencing this, I want to add that dreams do come true … I’m proof of it. Dare to dream!
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-What do you have planned next?
I am currently completing my next two in the trilogy, Enticing Eve and The Skilled Seduction. My hope is that, like with Dance With Deception, people enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.
My interview with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is live.You can read it here.