Author Spotlight
WHAT WOULD A SITE DEDICATED TO FILM BE LIKE WITHOUT A SPOTLIGHT SHED UPON THOSE PROLIFIC WRITERS WHOSE EARLY INFLUENCES WERE SPAWNED BY WATCHING CLASSIC HORROR FILMS?
AND LET US NOT FORGET EDGAR ALLAN POE AND H.P. LOVECRAFT, WHOSE INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GENRE WERE LATER ADAPTED FOR FILM: RE-ANTIMATOR, DREAMS FROM THE WITCH HOUSE, THE RAVEN, AND THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER.
THEREFORE, I WILL GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE, AND PRESENT AUTHOR INTERVIEWS WITHIN THESE PAGES AS WELL, AND PAY HOMAGE TO THOSE WRITERS WHOSE LITERARY GEMS STILL CONTINUE TO TERRIFY US LONG AFTER THE DVD PLAYER HAD BEEN TURNED OFF.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I SALUTE YOU.
IRON DAVE
New horror fiction ezine!
TO VIEW THE ZINE, FOLLOW THIS LINK HORROR ZINE
MIchael McCarty / Liquid Diet
LIQUID DIET
By Michael McCarty
Publisher: Black Death Books / Demonic Clown Books
Review by Terrie Leigh Relf
Michael McCarty's Liquid Diet is an awesome tome!
While the Russian Doll or Chinese Box metaphor might be used to describe the plot and all its labyrinthine complexities, I'd like to bring the term and concept of "Coffin" Tale into the mix. .It's a coffin within a coffin within a coffin. . .open up one lid, and you have the story of Andrew Bloodsworth, a successful horror writer who happens to be a vampire. Open up the coffin inside that coffin, and you have Bella Donna, the Goth radio hostess for Wolf 99.9 FM, who is sure to fall under Bloodsworth’s spell. If this is satire, it's poking fun at those unbelievers and peeling back layers of skin, flesh, and bone to reveal the pulsing heart of goth culture, the media, and all those other creatures that dark obsessions spawn.
Liquid Diet feels--and sounds--like a live performance, what with Bella Donna's interviewing of Andrew Bloodsworth with station breaks, great one-liners, and bands with awesome names and lyrics. As to the satire label, clearly, McCarty is spoofing his favorite writers; however, I see this more as a hats-off to them rather than actual satire. From Anne Rice's Interview- with- a- Vampire- inspired chapter by the same name, to a variety of anti-Hollywoodisms, vampire cons and their fans, this book will leave you drained--but in a good way. There is magic afoot here, as well as the dietary—and culinary--tastes of "real" vampires.
And who wouldn't love a cappuccino-drinking-clove-smoking vamp? I'd go out with
him in a heartbeat. . .even if it will prove to be my last. . .
Queens of Scream / by David Byron
QUEENS OF SCREAM: THE NEW BLOOD
Written by David Byron
Published by BearManor Media
Publication Date: 2009
Format: B&W - 200 pages
Price: $19.95
It was only a matter of time before someone came along and recognized the growing trend within the industry.Author David Byron is one such person who has devoted an entire book to the special individuals known as the scream queens. While it explains in the book that the actual term has evolved from whence it came from, the modern day scream queen is a combination of beauty, talent, intelligence, drive, with and charisma. In fact the term itself has become a staple for women in horror specifically. This book honors a portion of those women who range the gamut in looks, experience, backgrounds and personalities. While some (in fact many) have gone the route of low budget films till they get a big break route, there are others who multi task as web site owners, business owners, film makers, reporters and related.
If one thing that's clear...its that women play an important part in our horror genre movement. So much in fact fact that many would argue that they are stealing the lead in drive on making these films a reality. ......to the point of new production companies being started, screen writing, directing and producing.
The book itself is not a complete overview. In fact anyone in the business could easily tell you that it represents only a portion of the mass of scream queen talent being outpoured today. My guess is if the book deems successful there will be many additional additions in the future to cover the 2nd round of talent. In fact I could bank on the fact that the publishers start receiving ....."can I be on your next edition" emails shortly after its release.
David Byron has made every attempt to ask questions that aren't always a mirror copy of the last interview. The answers usually follow similar suite as expected, though it's nice to see that he made conscientious attempts to keep the interviews interesting. As you go through each of the profiles, you'll notice a mix of attitudes and work ethics. Most as you'll find are very accommodating, thankful and excited about the industry and being able to work in it. Now one could ague that the book serves as a promotional vehicle for many of these starlets....well of course it does. but i think that intention presents itself in some of their answers rather than from a publisher point of view.
What would I have liked to have seen? Probably more pictures in the next edition if applicable to show us more of the ladies. One thing though, I have to plug our Horrornews.net Vamps section which many of these girls have galleries in. So if you read the book, stop by our section and check out the photos. You wont be disappointed.
So all this talk about ladies....who are we talking about. Well for starters the book profiles talents such as Brenna Lee Roth, Bianca Barnett , Monique Dupree, Rachel Grubb, Sarah Virginia Brock, Scarlet Salem and many more! If you don't recognize some of the names then I'm sure you will eventually. These ladies largely work on the independent film circuits, some of which churning out role after role on low budget productions in anticipation of a big budget film break. Which of course I believe is only a matter of time on the circuit. One thing that producers like to see is a nice list of breaking grounds on the film circuits prepping them to take on the bigger roles with the confidence and experience that they call for. The competition is large, however so is the determination.
In summary, I think this is a book that was overdue to come out. The interest is high, the industry is evolving and with shows popping up on TV, internet and magazine features..our ladies are paving the way for great things.
One unfortunate reality is that many of the hard working or bigger name talents couldn't make time available to contribute to this first edition. We don't have name all the names as we know who they are. Perhaps wirth conflicting time schedules and a attitude of "lets see how his first one goes" they will find there place among future volumes. In any case, it's a great way to get to know the ladies of horror in today's market. They are from a different mold, they are hungry , driven and will seduce you and swallow your souls. Rock on ladies of the night!
Available from AMAZON
Available from BEAR MANOR MEDIA
REVIEWED BY "BONEDIGGER"
Noah Copley's Late Season
In the year's late season, Hell has come to Jalagee, West Virginia. The town's dead work alongside the living, filling tenuous business contracts for an energy starved planet. Black magic blankets the land and God has abandoned Jalagee's people. The pathway between dimensions is opened and the devil no longer waits to walk upon the world...
''Noah Copley's Late Season reads like a living nightmare that you will never wake up from. I was glued to it from the beginning. Noah Copley is going to be a force to be reckoned with within the horror fiction genre. ''
- Iron Dave / CEO NVF Magazine
''Late Season is a rural horror tale written in the grand tradition of Jack Finney’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Noah Copley’s writing style is so unsurpassed and individual that it is a pleasure to say that he is one of the finest writers I have ever come across. Late Season is the most imaginative and entertaining novel that I have read in years.''
- Horror Writer Glynn Barrass
Stranger Aeons
COME AND VISIT NOAH'S WEBSITE HERE NOAH
LATE SEASON PURCHASING INFO MAY BE FOUND HERE NVH BOOKS
Noah Copley Interview
NVF Magazine Interview
with
Noah Copley
Greetings and salutations, Noah. Been keeping busy?
Non-stop, it seems, but that’s good. I’ve always dreamed about being this busy doing something I love. Horses and horror stories…my plate is full.
It is really an honor to have you numbered among the special guests represented here. I believe that Joe McGee, the fellow this book is dedicated to, would have really liked you and your book as well. What was the paticular inspiration for this book? Or...should I fear to ask? {Laughs}.
I wanted to write about Appalachia, particularly the southern half of West Virginia. I needed something to write about. Coal mines came to mind. I researched the coal mining industry for six months, trying to learn the procedures and protocols that go with that particular employment. My father was a huge help to me in that regard. He was an underground coal miner for nearly thirty years. I did extensive library research as well. When I knew everything I possibly could about the coal business, I sat down at my computer and stared at the screen for a long time before realizing that I had nothing. I went to work the next day and was finishing up on some business when the story developed in my mind…"of course, zombies as coal miners!" It took another four months to flesh out characters, plotlines, and action. So to make a long story short, my inspiration was West Virginia, coal mines, and monsters.
Late Season, in my opinion, is one of the best horror novels I've read in years. Maybe it's my imagination, but, I get a sort of Ramsey Campbell-Clive-Barker-esque vibe here. You a big fan of their work?
I love Ramsey Campbell, I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve read enough Ramsey Campbell. What I like most about Campbell is his use of imagery setting up scenes. The prologue in The Parasite made me afraid of shadows for days. The only Clive Barker I have read would be his Books of Blood. I read them as a kid and liked them. I would probably appreciate them more if I went back and re-read them. These guys are some of the best in the business. Anyone who can write that volume of work, coupled with the customers/fans who keep buying their literature is amazing to me.
Who were your major literary influences as a writer? One of mine was Stephen King.
He’s a good one and I can easily say that his writing is where I cut my teeth reading horror. I could say I’m his number one fan, but I won’t. I’d say he’d prefer it that way. I will state here, flat out, that some of his earlier work is among my favorites. Salem’s Lot, The Stand, The Dead Zone, Firestarter…all good stuff. I’ve had many writers who I think have influenced me at different stages in my life. Who among the horror writers couldn’t say Bram Stoker or Mary Shelley didn’t influence their writing? Maybe some can, but not me. Shelley realized the concept that man may be more monster than the monster itself. Stoker’s ability to letter-write scenes was pure genius. For me, Mark Twain made quite the impact too. Not a horror writer per se, but some of his work was real life horror in his day. There are too many others to list here. Maybe a short list: Frank X. Walker, Marilou Awiakta, Denise Giardina (all three Appalachian writers).
Speaking of Stephen, he once stated that ''We create our own horrors in order to deal with the real ones.'' Do you agree? Is coming to terms with our own fears a good creative outlet?
Writing is cathartic. It’s easier to kill the good or bad guy on paper than in real life. The real horrors are horrible. The world is a tough place. Evil people are everywhere and death is as constant as is life. Writing about horrors that you can kill is fun.
What was the title of your first story? Go on, tell me, don't be embarrassed.
Cowboys. It was a short story. I was twelve. I wrote it on Halloween for my grandmother’s birthday. Yes, it was a western. I was reading my grandfather’s collection of Louis L’Amour westerns and took a stab at writing one as a birthday present to her. It was awful. She said she liked it. I didn’t even like it. There was much too much gun-slinging and little storyline. She still made me happy when she said she liked it. I started writing horror stories the next day.
There is alot of horror fiction - vampirism, lychanthropy, ghosts - that have tended to become stale, and cliched over the years. Too much commercialism and not enough TRUE horror. And, now, we have all of these {so-called} ''subgenres''. Do you ever miss the old classics, like Poe and Lovecraft? I'd stack them up against Anne Rice clones {Buffy the Vampire Slayer} any day.
Without any trepidation, I heartily admit that I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. Times change, the tastes change…it doesn’t mean that we should quit writing, reading, or viewing ‘classics’. There is a place for work like Buffy the Vampire Slayer in our fiction consciousness. Buffy handled important societal issues during its run as other forms of fiction have during theirs. For me, horror can be fun and thought provoking.
Speaking of cliches, what's your opinion of all of the {lame} remakes of classic horror films these days? I mean, paying homage is one thing, but literally butchering a film is something else entirely.
I hate the butchering. Stop all remaking of horror, please. Pick a topic, write on it, develop it and create your own horror.
What would you say is your favorite genre film? Or book? I know that may cover a lot of ground.
There are too many great books and films to name here. I’ll name one of each, but certainly not my ultimate favorite. Book: Salem’s Lot. Movie (not horror): No Country for Old Men. If I named my favorite horror film (I’d have to name four): Meet Joe Black, An American Werewolf in London, Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931)
What's on the horizon for Noah?
I’m going to promote my debut novel, Late Season to the best of my ability and hope that those who read it like it. I know I enjoyed writing it. I also have a short story collection that I’m going to try to get published, and I’m in the process of starting my next novel (like Late Season, it’ll take a while to really get moving, I’m sure). Of course, there’s my farm, the horses, and my cats to keep me busy.
Any last words before you leave us?
Writing something good is not easy. Writing something good that people will take time to read is harder. I have so much respect for people who write for a living. I’ve read so many stories from authors who unknowingly have helped me more fully realize my potential. Hopefully something I write will help someone realize theirs.
***
I’m a West Virginia boy, born and bred, Appalachian until the day I die. We’re a minority, I hear…Appalachians are, that is. I was educated at small, rural county schools. I can read and write, add and subtract with the best of them. I spent my latter teenage days at Marshall University, where I eventually graduated. I hopped around Lexington, Kentucky as an apprentice horse trainer for a year before coming home to my mountains. I’ve been here ever since. I direct television in Huntington, pretty good gig. I still train and show horses from my family’s farm. We’ve won championships, but we’re not in to selling horses. We either buy them, or they’re born on the property. They live out their lives there. I’m an animal lover. I take in strays. Been a vegetarian for 23 years. Haven’t missed the flesh one bit. I’m a writer. I try to be a good one. Let me know if I try hard enough. *** Books: Late Season / novel / NVH PUBLISHING / June/2009 Published Short Stories
For Joel, Winter 2009 Champagne Shivers
Boy Troop, Fall 2008 The Edge of Propinquity
Pretty Horses, Spring 2008 Nossa Morte
Winter Solstice, Spring 2008 Blood Moon Rising
Severed Hands, Spring 2006 Black Petals Magazine
End’s Beginning, Fall 2005 All Hallows Magazine
Zebra, Fall 2005 Black Petals Magazine
War of Words, Spring 2005 Black Petals Magazine
A Businessman’s Itinerary, Winter 2005 Black Petals Magazine
Brutal Reality, Fall 2004 Black Petals Magazine
Butterfly Chaser, Summer 2004 Black Petals Magazine
Beauregard-12, Winter 2004 Black Petals Magazine
The Cumberland Pass, Fall 2003 Black Petals Magazine
Personal contact: www.noahcopley.net
Interview
Roberta Lannes sold her first story, "Lorraine," to Stone River Review in 1966. Her high school creative writing teacher, Marjorie Bruce, encouraged Roberta to write towards publishing as well as to find her personal voice.
Ms. Bruce mailed Roberta’s story to fiction magazines, along with other stories by her classmates, and that brought about the sale of the story. Roberta believes that without Ms. Bruce's encouragement and belief in her ability, she might never have gone on to publish. The power of a good teacher is equal to that of a good parent, so it inspired Roberta not only to write, but to go on to teach as well.
From 1983 to 1990, Roberta attended extension writing courses at UCLA, where she received experience and gained insight into her strengths as a writer. An assignment in her class on Horror Writing with teacher Dennis Etchison (a master short story writer in the genre), Roberta caught the attention Etchison who bought the story "Goodbye, Dark Love" for his award winning anthology Cutting Edge. With his encouragement and backing, she was able to meet and establish relationships with authors, publishers and editors in the field, two of whom remain her friends and most supportive editors, American Ellen Datlow, and Brit Stephen Jones.
With Cutting Edge published in eleven languages, Roberta's work began to build a fan base in Italy, France, Japan, The Netherlands (where filmmaker Ian Kerkhof created Ten Monologues from the Lives of the Serial Killers using her work), and especially the United Kingdom. Her strong sci fi, dark fantasy, and horror fiction is disturbing, yet it is considered to be powerful and effective storytelling by reviewers and fans alike.
She was approached by Silver Salamander Press in 1995 to publish a collection of her short stories. John Pelan, a fan and publisher/writer, edited the collection which can be found in specialty bookstores, and even though it is now out of print, it can also still be found on Amazon.com and other internet vendors.
Her stories approach the darkest of thoughts, passions and behaviors with vivid descriptions and convincing detail from a remarkable imagination. People who meet her after reading her work are surprised to find a personable, happy and normal person; nothing like expected judged from her deliciously dark writing. She asks her readers to relinquish their safe worlds and immerse themselves in the worlds of disturbed thinkers and brutal monsters. Extensive research into some of the darkest macabre and deviant minds has given Roberta fodder for the most chilling of tales.
When asked how such a ‘nice person’ could write such dark and disturbing fiction, Roberta has said, "I'm fascinated by things that are not in my reality and I believe others are fascinated, too. I don't want to live in the dark realms, in futuristic sci fi worlds, but I enjoy visiting from the safety of my armchair, and I hope many readers do, as well. I write from my research, meetings with some of the most discomforting, creepy people, and those who treat them. In understanding these people, their needs and perceptions, and how they got there, I can be their voices in the same way an actor might portray them. It doesn't change that I'm a good person. In fact, it fuels my desire to people my life with sane, sweet, and loving friends. At the end of the day, I want to come home to my wonderful husband and have good times with my friends. I guess that makes me an enigma."
Though she continues to publish in the sci fi, dark fantasy and horror genres, she writes mystery, poetry and articles as well.
***
NVF Magazine Interview
With
Roberta Lannes
David: Nice to have you with us, Roberta. How are you today?
Roberta: Doing well, thank you. All is good with the world and within my home.
David: It is true you were a standup comic? And the member of an improvisational comedy troupe?
Roberta: Yeah, way back in the old days when The Comedy Store was first open on Sunset Strip, some of my funny friends started with amateur night, and I just tagged along. Now, I was funny with them, but didn’t consider myself comedienne material. Still, they talked me into going up on stage one night, and of course I bombed. It was quite humiliating, but a New York comic who was a regular Comedy Store lineup tried hitting on me that night, and said I should try again. He helped me ‘’refine’’ an actual set, and the next time, I was really good! I had started teaching then, so I couldn’t get there every amateur night, but I persevered for about 8 months. I got to know some of the headliners, like Freddie Prinze, who was my favorite. When Kathy White had to drop out, I stepped in for awhile. I loved it. Best thing to keep your mind sharp {man, do I need it now in my old age!}. But it was an uphill struggle, and teaching and performing both were burning me out. I quit doing standup, went on to write for some of the comedians. Writing funny stuff is ten times harder than writing horror. I lasted about a year, then went on to try some science fiction. My goal was to get into The Twilight Zone magazine. I never did.
David: I understand you were writing stories at the age of six. I was eight, myself! I hear you wrote a story about a cat with 40 toes that ate up little kids. How did your mom react to that one?!
Roberta: I clearly remember my mom finding my stories annoying, embarrassing, and confusing from my first one. She wanted to be proud of me, show off my creativity, but was terrified about what other folks would think. She told me when I was in my teens that what I wrote was ‘’sick’’ which actually egged me on to push the envelope. Everything I published, she asked for a copy of the anthology or collection. She bragged about her author daughter and embarrassed the hell out of me at a couple of signings, so I assumed she read what I wrote. After she died, when we were packing up her life in boxes, I found a crate of my books, dusty and taped shut, still wrapped as the gifts I had given her. She’d never read a word.
David: What was it exactly that made you want to write scary stories? It is something different for all writers, I guess. For me, it was watching old Hammer films and reading old comics like Tales from the Crypt.
Roberta: Oh yes, by the age of ten, seeing scary movies and reading Famous Monsters Magazine made a huge impression on me. I learned quickly what really scared the crap out of me! But before that, I had discovered the old cartoons of Charles Addams and my beloved Graham Wilson. My mom plunked my six year old butt down in the book section of the local department store while she shopped – this was in the days you didn’t have to worry about leaving your child unattended for fear of kidnapping or trigger an amber alert – I gravitated toward the picture books where I found the dark masters of cartoon. I was captivated! Something in the off-kilter and sardonic mind of Charles Addams touched me, and out came that cat story!
David: The first short story of yours I read was ‘’Goodbye, Dark Love,’’ in Splatterpunks 1#. I have been hooked on your stories ever since. May I be nosy, and ask what the basis was for that piece? It left me mortified, which is hard to do. But, I liked being mortified!
Roberta: Wow; I love hearing you have been hooked! I am thrilled!
I have told the story behind "Goodbye’’ before, and it isn’t as personal as readers assume. Sorry to disappoint! I had a student who was thirteen at the time, who had been abused by a man, who was her neighbor, I believe, and she confided this to me. When I learned it was still ongoing, and what he’d done to her, I realized I had to report it. The ensuing arrest, court trial and finally acquittal, so disturbed me {and hurt this young girl} I wrote the story in an angry fugue. Of course, I took a lot of creative license with the story, but the heart of it was real. I was taking a horror-writing course through UCLA with Dennis Etchison and turned "Goodbye,’’ in as an assignment, expecting him to find it simply too relentless and grim, but he loved it, bought it, and premiered it in The Cutting Edge back in 1986.
David: Did you enjoy being among the other authors in Splatterpunks? I know I would! That’s a great collection of stories, and featuring one by the late great Rex Miller, "Reunion Moon,’’ which gave a whole new meaning to the term "bathroom humor.’’
Roberta: Hell, yes! I even knew some of them, and admired them. They inspired me! I was lucky enough that Paul Sammon liked some of my work, and fit me into both of his Splatterpunks series. Strange to think I will always be lumped in with the Splatterpunks! But, many of us have gone on to conventional horror. I think if asked to write a Splatterpunk story now, I wouldn’t know if that raw anger is still inside of me to draw from. Wait; give me a minute to think about the last seven years of our administration in the Whitehouse…..Darfur, Sudan, and the "rebuilding of New Orleans,’’ after Katrina……and yeah! I could churn something out!
David: Do you enjoy reading horror fiction as well as writing it? I mean, sometimes, I will sit down, read a book by Danielle Steele, freak everybody out!
Roberta: Your are freaking ME out! Danielle Steele? Whew…..
Truth? I don’t read horror. I read the work of some of my friends on occasion, like Lisa Morton, Ramsey Campbell, for instance, and sometimes read stories in an anthology I am in, but I normally don’t enjoy absorbing more of what scares, disgusts, or grosses out. I love reading the psychological, suspenseful, the deft plotting of good fiction that may just happen to have horrific elements. You don’t find that in the shelves of the local bookstore any more, though. What I read are daily mysteries, Ruth Rendell, Denise Mina, Sarah Rayne. But I am no elitist. I have my weaknesses for British chick-lit author Jane Green and Cornelia Read who write hysterically funny unclassifiable novels that are sold as mysteries. And, give me some historical fiction any day.
I love writing horror because I get to exorcise my dark side, my twisted ego-dystonic imagination. I know what may well creep me out may creep others out, too. So whatever I may cut out of my gut and serve on the platter just might be to someone a great taste treat!
David: Okay, my dear, now for some boring Q&A: What would you say is your favorite scary film? Book?
Roberta: Boring for whom? You aren’t boring. I think you are a sweetheart. Sure I have a favorite scary film and book. The movie would have to be The Beast With Five Fingers, {b/w from the late 40s} and the book would have to be Psycho, by Robert Bloch. Wow….that really outdates me, doesn’t it?! A recent favorite that isn’t marked as horror {though it does have ghosts and creepy stuff in it} is The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield. And, it’s her first novel!
David: Got any good news about any current or upcoming projects? I bet you do!!
Roberta: I am working on a novella for PS Publishing and have a bunch of new stories going out to various magazines and anthology publishers, and there is also a trilogy in my future. I retire from teaching in less than a year and will be devoting my time to the novels I always said I’d write. {And rewrite the three I did over the last twenty years} and never had time to finish.
I also have my own art-design business and my husband and I own a web design service aside from teaching. So, I am far too busy to spend quality time writing as much as I wish to. But……..I will never stop writing horror!!
Well, Roberta, as much as I hate to, I better let you go for now, busy, busy! But, please keep us informed about you and your projects, and I wish you the best in life.
Will do! Great magazine, too. May it inspire many!
***
Chronology:
Cutting Edge "Goodbye, Dark Love" (Etchison, ed.)
Lord John Ten "Auntie" (Etchison/Yellin, ed.)
Alien Sex "Saving the World at the New Moon Motel" (Datlow, ed.)
Off Limits: Alien Sex II "His Angel" (Datlow, ed.)
Still Dead:Book of the Dead II "I Walk Alone" (Skipp/Spector, ed.)
Splatterpunks "Goodbye, Dark Love"; Reprint(Sammon, ed.)
Splatterpunks II "I Walk Alone"; Reprint (Sammon, ed.)
The Bradbury Chronicles "The Late Arrivals" (Nolan/Greenberg, ed.)
Dark Terrors "Feast at Grief's Table" (Jones, ed.)
Deathport "When Prayers are Answered" (Campbell, ed.)
Dark Voices 5 "Precious" (Jones/Sutton, ed.)
Best New Horror 4 "Dancing on a Blade of Dreams"; Reprint (Jones/Sutton, ed.)
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 7 "Precious"; Reprint (Datlow/Windling, ed.)
Mammoth Book of Werewolves "Essence of the Beast" (Jones, ed.)
Mammoth Book of Frankensteins "A Complete Woman" (Jones, ed.)
Golden Tears, Ruby Slippers "Roach in Loafers" (Datlow/Windling, ed.)
Darkside: Horror for the Next Millennium "Stealing the Sisyphus Stone" (Pelan, ed.)
Razor Kiss (Love in Vein II) "When Memory Fails" (Brite, ed.)
Lethal Kisses "Butcher's Logic" (Datlow, ed.)
Mammoth Book of Draculas "Melancholia" (Jones, ed.)
Dark of the Moon "Good Girl" (Jones, ed.)
Mammoth Book of Best New Horror "Butcher's Logic"; Reprint in UK (Jones, ed.)
Dark Terrors IV "Mr. Guidry's Head"(Jones/Sutton, ed.)
White of the Moon "Feng Shui" (Jones, ed.)
Presence du Fantastique «Les Loups Garou»; Reprint in French (Sadoul, ed.)
Dark Terrors V "Pearl"(Jones/Sutton, ed.)
Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women "Turkish Delight" (Jones, ed.)
Taverns of the Dead "Dès Lors" (Burke, ed.)
Don't Turn Out the Light! "The Other Family" (Jones, ed.)
Dark Delicacies "The Bandit of Sanity" (Gelb/Howison, ed.)
Best New Horror 17 "Other Family" (Jones/Sutton, ed.)
Dark Passions: Hot Blood 13 "Tres Hermanas" (Gelb/McGarrett, ed.)
Summer Chills "The Anguish of Departure" (Jones, ed.)
Magazine Publications
AfterHours "Forever Midnight" (Issue 19, Interview/Story #25)
Fantasy Tales "Invisible Boy" (UK#5 & American #2 Edition)
Iniquities "Apostate in Denim" (Premier Issue)
Pulphouse "Dancing on a Blade of Dreams" (Issue #15)
Skull "Lithium Nights" (Premier Issue)
Phantasm "Last Song for the Dying" (Issue #4)
Tenebres--Story "Apostate in Denim"; Reprint in French (Jan. 1999)
Tenebres--Article "Why Teens Love Stephen King" (Sept.2000)
Stephen King Reader (French)-Review "The Green Mile" (Domis, ed.)
Other Appearances and Publications
HWA 1996 Calendar-February (with Lisa Morton)
Artwork in Horror Show and Phantasm Magazines
The Daemon Lover/DAW books «My Favorite Horror Story»
Co-host to Steve Barnes on Hour 25 (LA radio KPFK FM 90.7)
Clive Barker's A to Zed-The Book (Jones, ed.)/BBC Channel 4 TV program
The Tiger Garden-Writer's Dreams-For Amnesty International (Royle, ed.)
Event Horizon-Round Robin Online Fiction at www.SCIFI.com w/Beth Massie, JRRussell, & Brian Hodge (Ellen Datlow, ed.)
Another 100 Best Horror Novels II-Essay "A Sight for Sore Eyes" by Ruth Rendell (Jones, ed.)
Interview
John Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946 in Liverpool) is an English writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."
***
NVH Magazine Interview
With
Ramsey Campbell
David: Greetings, Ramsey. How are you today? Good I hope.
Let me begin by saying this: One reason I love your books is because you actually write horror. You strike me as a man who would appreciate the classics: Poe, Lovecraft, Stoker. Did you read their works growing up?
RC: I certainly did, borrowing books of ghost and horror (and science fiction) stories from the adult public library on my mother’s tickets well before my teens. Poe I read in quantity, M. R. James too, and many other classics. Lovecraft wasn’t as available in the fifties, but I was awestruck by “The Colour out of Space” when I was seven or so. (I finally found a whole book of Lovecraft – Cry Horror – when I was fourteen, and reading it was the foundation of my earliest published stuff.) Once I was eleven I was allowed to buy science fiction and fantasy magazines, not least Weird Tales. One of the treasures of my collection was Best Horror Stories, edited by John Keir Cross. Besides specialists such as Poe, Bierce and M. R. James it included tales by Faulkner, Graham Greene and Herman Melville – his “Bartleby”. The editor admitted that some readers might not consider this a horror story, but I thought my pocket money (which I’d saved up to buy the hardcover) well spent. I believe that more than any book this one persuaded me that horror fiction was a huge field, by no means wholly defined by narrow generic conventions, and part of literature. By contrast, when I read a paperback of a thirties Not at Night anthology – the series in which the editor declared she had set herself against literature – I found the gruesomeness of the material no substitute for good prose.
David: By the way, I really enjoyed the personal introduction you use at readings and panel discussions; ‘’Hi, I’m Ramsey Campbell. I write horror.’’ That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell, huh? How do folks react to this greeting?
RC: They sometimes tell me don’t like horror, which they don’t read (a situation that prompts me to ponder how they can know). Sometimes they even tell me that they don’t like the sort of thing I write, although they haven’t read it. On occasion they approach me to let me know as much. We’re speaking here of social occasions, you understand. At panels and readings I assume they must know what they’ve come to hear.
David: I read your book Count of Eleven, and found it quite enjoyable. {As I do all your books}. One thing, though; Weren’t you afraid to release a book about a serial killer when there was so much of that type of literature and films out already out there? A lot of critics {Myself excluded} think that particular genre has grown stale.
RC: It’s certainly in danger of doing so, just as much as the vampire sub-genre seems to be. Indeed, it already was when The Count of Eleven was first published almost twenty years ago. The point about that book, I think, is that it’s a comedy, more overtly so than most of my tales (though I’d class Needing Ghosts and The Grin of the Dark – perhaps also the novel I’ve just completed, Creatures of the Pool – as nightmare comedies rather than just black ones). It didn’t satirise the genre, but perhaps it took it in a new and necessary direction – necessary to me, anyway. All that said, I think a genre only grows stale if it doesn’t engage the imagination of the writers afresh, and I had another go quite recently at the serial killer in Secret Story – again, with a lot of dark humour (at least, it made me laugh).
David: Speaking of your books, I recently read Ancient Images, and it reminded me of my youth, watching old scary movies. Did the inspiration for that one come from your love of older classic films?
It did indeed, and also from my interest in film censorship. In The Grin of the Dark I have another go at making these interests central to a novel (in this case, silent comedies are the subject of the search).
David: You have stated that you believe you are in a ‘’minority’’ of writers who say that write horror. What exactly did you mean? I am nosy.
RC: Simply that many writers and filmmakers in the field deny they’re part of it. I understand how they feel, mind you. Early in my career I had a tendency towards denial myself. As I put it in the original introduction to The Height of the Scream, there are ‘people who, when I tell them what my job is, say “Good heavens” smirking, or “Oh, really?”, or “Can you make a living writing that sort of thing?”, or, in one fascinating example of human behaviour, pretend not to have heard and proceed to recount the plot of an archetypally banal spy story for quarter of an hour (in an attempt to convert me to higher things, perhaps). These are the people who brought me to the pass of saying I write “Oh, science fiction, ghost stories, that sort of thing” or replying “I suppose you’d describe them as, er, tales of unease” or muttering “Er, um, er, ah, horror stories, actually.” I know exactly how Errol Undercliffe felt. Well, the hell with that, and the hell with them. I write horror stories, and I reckon I’ve written some pretty good ones.’ That may have been the point (back in 1975) where I came out as an unashamed horror writer.
David: You have also stated that one reason you have stayed within the horror genre is because you haven’t found its boundaries. I, myself, feel the same; I have yet to find them. Do you think there are really boundaries in horror?
RC: Only those of the imagination, and those differ from writer to writer.
David: I’d like to pause now to inflict a couple of boring questions on you: What would you say is your favorite horror film? How about book? I know that may cover a lot of ground.
RC: Favourite horror film, without question, Jacques Tourneur’s Night of the Demon. I fell in love with it when I was fourteen or barely fifteen, from the opening – the voice-over, the great Vaughan Williams-influenced score, the wonderfully atmospheric and menacing drive through the night and its outcome. (I even like the demon, although its early appearance rather throws off the structure of the film, which is very carefully organised as a process to undermine scepticism). On the other hand, the most terrifying horror film remains for me Lost Highway, which deeply affects me no matter how many times I watch it, especially the opening section with Bill Pullman. Favourite book – difficult to decide. Something by Fritz Leiber would be very high on the list – Night’s Black Agents was the book that helped point me in my own direction after I moved away from Lovecraft. So did Lolita, another lifetime favourite.
David: I am quite sure I already know the answer to this one, but here goes; Do you intend to keep writing horror? I hope so.
RC: At least as long as I’m alive, and after that if I can.
David: Ramsey, let me say it was an honor to have you here, and I wish you the best in life, and I can’t wait to read your next book. Best wishes!
***
Novels
The Doll Who Ate His Mother (1976) (Revised text: 1985).
The Bride of Frankenstein (1977) (novelisation of the 1935 film, written as Carl Dreadstone).
Dracula's Daughter (1977) (novelisation of the 1936 film, written as Carl Dreadstone).
The Wolf Man (1977) (novelisation of the 1941 film, written as Carl Dreadstone).
The Face That Must Die (1979) (Restored text: 1983).
The Parasite (1980) (published in the US with a different ending as To Wake the Dead).
The Nameless (1981).
The Claw (1983) (AKA Night of the Claw, Claw ) (written as Jay Ramsay).
Incarnate (1983).
Obsession (1985).
The Hungry Moon (1986).
The Influence (1988).
Ancient Images (1989).
Midnight Sun (1990).
Needing Ghosts (1990).
The Count of Eleven (1991).
The Long Lost (1993).
The One Safe Place (1995).
The House on Nazareth Hill (1996) (AKA Nazareth Hill).
The Last Voice They Hear (1998).
Silent Children (2000).
Pact of the Fathers (2001).
The Darkest Part of the Woods (2003).
The Overnight (2004).
Secret Stories (2005) (AKA Secret Story).
The Grin of the Dark (2007).
Thieving Fear (2008).
Creatures of the Pool (2009).
New from Michael McCarty
LIQUID DIET
By Michael McCarty
Publisher: Black Death Books/Demonic Clown Books
Review by Terrie Leigh Relf
Michael McCarty's Liquid Diet is an awesome tome!
While the Russian Doll or Chinese Box metaphor might be used to describe the plot and all its labyrinthine complexities, I'd like to bring the term and concept "Coffin" tale into the mix. It's a coffin within a coffin within a coffin ... open up one lid, and you have the story of Andrew Bloodsworth a successful horror writer who happens to be a vampire. Open up the coffin within the coffin, and you have Bella Donna, the Goth radio hostess for Wolf 99.9 FM, who is sure to fall under Bloodsworth spell. If this satire, it's poking fun at those unbelievers and peeling back layers of skin, flesh, and bone to reveal the pulsing heart of goth culture, the media and all those creatures that dark obsessions spawn.
Liquid Diet feels and sound like a live performance ... with Bella Donna interviewing Andre Bloodsworth with station breaks, great one-liners, and bands with awesome names and lyrics. As to the satire label, clearly McCarty is spoofing his favorite writers ... however, I see this more as a hats off to them rather tahn actual satire. From Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire inspired cahpter by the same name, to the variety of anti-Hollywoodisms, vampire cons and their fans, this book will leave you drained -- but in a good way. There is magic afoot here, as well as the dietary - and - culinary tastes of "real" vampires.
And who wouldn't love a cappuccino - clove smoking vamp? I'd go out with him in a heartbeat ... even if it will prove to be my last .....
Michael McCarty
PURCHASING INFO CAN BE FOUND HERE DEMONIC CLOWN BOOKS AND HORROR MALL
New from Joe McKinney!
Great news, everybody! My new novel, Quarantined (Lachesis Publishing, 2009), is now on sale at Amazon and Lachesis Publishing!
Here’s a look at what’s inside…
The citizens of San Antonio, Texas are threatened with extermination by a terrifying outbreak of the flu. Quarantined by the military to contain the virus, the population is in a desperate struggle to survive.
Inside the quarantine walls, a San Antonio Police Homicide Detective named Lily Harris is working burial statistics duty at the Scar, San Antonio’s mass graveyard, when she finds a murder victim hidden amongst the plague dead.
But from the very start, Lily’s investigation makes a lot of powerful people very uncomfortable, and she soon finds herself caught up in a vicious battle between a corrupt local government, a beleaguered medical institution, and a civilian population threatening to boil over into revolt at the quarantine.
Now, with a second and even deadlier strain of the flu virus surfacing, Lily is forced to do the unthinkable. With the clock ticking toward annihilation, Lily must lead her family through the quarantine walls and escape with news that just might save us all.
I’ve had some enthusiastic early reviews, and here’s what they’re saying…
“McKinney has woven a taut whodunit, then ramped up the suspense and the stakes by spreading it across the backdrop of an apocalyptic plague. But as grisly as the murders and the disease are, the author wisely holds everything together with the powerful passion of a mother’s love for her daughter, thereby making his tale all the more satisfying and memorable.”
—Dr. Kim Paffenroth, Bram Stoker Award-winning author
of Dying to Live and Gospel of the Living Dead
“A crisply written police procedural set in the ravaged plague zone of a quarantined metropolis, rich in character and action, often brutal and sometimes touching, Joe McKinney’s latest is the kind of novel that may keep you up late into the night because it’s so hard to put down.”
—Bruce Boston, author of The Guardener’s Tale
Quarantined is a personal favorite of mine. Not only did it give me a chance to use some of the training I received working in disaster mitigation for the San Antonio Police Department, but it also gave me the chance to talk about women in policing. For the last ten years or so I’ve felt uneasy about the way female officers are treated, both by the public at large and, in a few cases, by their fellow officers. Female cops are expected to be physically tough, yet they’re frequently snickered at when they fail to maintain their femininity. If they are as strong and as tough as their male counterparts, people make jokes about them being dykes. If they are pretty, people assume they’re too girlie to do a cop’s job. Or worse, make jokes about them being sluts and sleeping their way up the chain of command for easier assignments. The issue really bothered me, and until I got to know Detective Lily Harris, I had no way to wrap my mind around the issue. What I needed was a way to walk a mile in a female officer’s shoes, and Lily Harris allowed me to do just that. I hope that when readers meet Lily Harris they see a woman struggling to be the best cop she can be, while at the same time trying to be a lover to her husband and a nurturing mother to her daughter. She is pulled in every direction at once, sometimes succeeding and sometimes not, but always doing the best she can with what she’s got.
Oh, and if you enjoy Quarantined, and I hope you do, check out my story “Plague Dogs” in the recently released anthology Potter’s Field 3 (Sam’s Dot Publishing, 2009). While not a sequel in the true sense of the world, “Plague Dogs” takes place in the same world as Quarantined…and gives you a peak at Lily’s world four years into the future.
I hope you get to read some great books this year, everybody!
Wishing you the best,
Joe
New book released by NVF Magazine publications!
COME AND CHECK OUT THE NEW BOOK BY NOAH COPLEY, A WRITER DESTINED TO BE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH IN HORROR FICTION! CLICK HERE LATE SEASON FOR MORE DETAILS!
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