HORROR INTERVIEW : IAN BROOKER
7/11/2013
 It is with great pleasure that I welcome Ian Brooker, the star of the recent fantastic film The Casebook of Eddie Brewer (You can read my review of this film here) to Ginger Nuts of Horror for one of my infamous in depth horror interviews.
Ian Brooker is a very versatile character voice actor with considerable experience in the audio medium. He has appeared in over fifty radio drama productions for BBC Radio 4 & 3 and for many years played the voice of Radio Borsetshire,Wayne Foley, in The Archers. Ian has just won Best Actor in a Feature at Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival, Buffalo NY, for his role in The Casebook of Eddie Brewer. He is a seasoned Big Finish performer having recorded innumerable audio productions for CD since his first Doctor Who adventure, Embrace the Darkness, with the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann, in 2001. He has regularly worked with Big Finish producer, Nicholas Briggs, on his four Dalek Empire and two Cyberman series. He can be heard on nearly fifty Big Finish CDs covering the Doctor Who, Doctor Who Unbound, UNIT, 2000 AD, Sapphire & Steel and Bernice Summerfield ranges - sometimes playing several characters in one production. He is the only actor to have played both Doctor Who (the shortest-lived incarnation at the end of Full Fathom Five) and Doctor Who’s creator, Sydney Newman (with alternating Canadian and Australian accents in Rob Shearman’s Deadline), but also several weird and less than wonderful aliens including the robotic R.O.S.M, the scary Cimmerians and Solarians in Embrace the Darkness, the Dalek-like Supreme One in Deadline, the eerie Shewstone in A Storm of Angels, and the Krotons in Return of the Krotons. He also voiced the talking elephant, Surus, in Auld Mortality. For John Ainsworth’s Noise Monster audio series, Space 1889, Ian played the authority on Martian archaeology, Professor Golightly.  Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself? For many years I taught English, at one time or other at the high school, middle school and university. At Rutgers University I taught creative writing, expository writing and technical writing while pursuing a graduate degree in English. I obtained a second graduate degree and became an academic librarian and later an educational media specialist. I finally took an early retirement so that I could write fulltime. Do you prefer the term Horror, Weird Fiction or Dark Fiction? Actually—all of the above. Who are some of your favourite authors? The first horror or dark fiction writer I ever read was Edgar Allen Poe. He wrote brilliant “weird” fiction stories as well as creating the modern detective story. Later on when I became an English teacher, I always used “The Tell-tale Heart” as one of the Halloween stories. Students loved Poe. Ambrose Bierce is another favourite of mine. Years after, I read Lovecraft and was impressed by his talent. He inspired several of my short stories as well. I took a graduate seminar in the works of William Faulkner at Rutgers University. One of the best gothic stories I ever read was “A Rose for Emily.” What are you reading now? I still read Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I think they’re very talented authors and have been so consistently for a great many years. I like novels these days that combine mystery, horror and sometimes romance. I read a little of everything. I enjoy variety. How would you describe your writing style? I should say that I don’t have only one style of writing--just like I don’t write in just one genre. I hope that won’t confuse or irritate readers.My tendency is to experiment with different genres and different styles of writing. My goal is to excel at each if it’s possible. Describe a typical day spent writing. Do you have any unusual writing habits? I like to get up while it’s still quiet, before what most people would consider a civilized time. I like to work in silence and focus completely on what I’m writing, truly get in the zone. I’ll work for several hours before breaking for breakfast, go back to writing for several more hours afterward, and then stop writing to take care of whatever normal activities I need to do like shopping or cleaning. I usually go back to writing in the evening after dinner. What’s your favourite food? I’m not a gourmet. I like pizza and Italian food in general. I also like Asian food and enjoy cooking both types of food for my family. What’s your favourite album? I still enjoy British rock. Love Fleetwood Mac. Love the Eagles. I also love blue grass music. I’m a fan of the older country music of artists like the Johnny Cash. But I can listen to operas like Madame Butterfly or Carmen with complete pleasure. What’s the most important lesson you have learned about writing? If you want to be a writer, you’ve got to write. That means self-discipline. Pick a time that suits and don’t allow for excuses. Practice pit bull determination. Fame and fortune, or respect? That would all be terrific, but most of us just don’t get much of it. We write because we need to write. Anything else is just frosting on the cake. What piece of your own work are you most proud of? There’s no one book, short story, play, article or poem that I would point to and say that’s my best work. They are all my children. I’m just happy when they are published so that others can read what I’ve written. Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next? My last novel THE THIRD EYE: A PINE BARRENS MYSTERY, published September 2013 in hardcover by Five Star/Gale, combines mystery, horror and humor. It’s co-authored with my son Andrew. In many ways it’s about coping with fear. A fourteen-year-old boy has to deal with bullying. He also finds two dead people who have been murdered. The police investigation turns toward the boy’s mother and he intends to prove his mother is not guilty. The viewpoint alternates from the boy who writes in the first person and his mother’s viewpoint which is third person. Reviews have been very good. My next print novel will be THE BAD WIFE: A KIM REYNOLDS MYSTERY. It’s the fourth Kim Reynolds mystery and will be published by Perfect Crime Books which does a lot of noir. Kim Reynolds is a librarian that wants desperately to be “normal.” Unfortunately, she has a sixth sense, a paranormal awareness that she can’t quite suppress. The result is that she finds the dead—or they find her. She also has a talent for discovering murderers which places her life in jeopardy.  Multiple award-winning author, Jacqueline Seewald, has taught creative, expository and technical writing at the university as well as high school English. She has also worked as both an academic librarian and an educational media specialist. Eleven of her books of fiction have been published to critical praise including THE INFERNO COLLECTION, THE DROWNING POOL and STACY'S SONG, all published in new e-book editions by L&L Dreamspell. Her short stories, poems, essays, reviews and articles have appeared in hundreds of diverse publications and numerous anthologies.
Her short stories currently appear in six Dreamspell anthologies among others: DREAMSPELL NIGHTMARES, THE MYSTERY OF THE GREEN MIST, CATS IN A DREAMSPELL, YOUR DARKEST DREAMSPELL, ROMANCE OF MY DREAMS 2, PMS: POISON, MURDER AND SATISFACTION, PASSIONATE HEARTS, LOST ON ROUTE 66, THE MYSTERY MEGAPACK, TOUCHED BY WONDER (story nominated for a Nebula Award),CERN ZOO (Nemonymous 9), RUINS TERRA, RUINS METROPOLIS, WRONG WORLD'S ONE MORE TIME, TWO OF A KIND AND OTHER STORIES OF THE PARANORMAL, and WITH ARMS WIDE OPEN. Jacqueline Seewald’s mystery short stories have also appeared in: THE LONDON MYSTERY SELECTION in England, VERMONT INK, BLUE MURDER, PALACE OF REASON, ORCHARD PRESS MYSTERIES, MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE, WINTER MYSTERY ANTHOLOGY, THE GUMSHOE REVIEW and SLEUTHS IN CAHOOTS.  Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?
Well, I have a pod cast called Dark Dreams. We read stories by writers such as Joe Lansdale, Tim powers, Peter Straub. I’m also editor of a new magazine NIGHTMARE ILLUSUSTRATED. My first book was published by Horrified Press called A six gun and the queen of light. Lately I’m included in anthologies Ugly babies, Tales of the undead series 1-3 and Diabolic tales III. Do you prefer the term Horror, Weird Fiction or Dark Fiction? Horror is fine. I also seem to gravitate to the kind of dark fantasy/urban horror that writers like Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch wrote. I love writing twisted stories, especially to do with supernatural and surrealism. Who are some of your favourite authors? Oh too many to list. Matheson, rod Serling, ray Bradbury, clive Barker, ed mcbain…just too many to list. Most from the days of 1930s-1980’s, heyday of pulp and horror boom of 1980’s. What are you reading now? Right now I’m reading loads of comic books, the new DC 52 is very interesting. Reading friends books like E.s. Wynn, David-north Martino and L.A. Sykes is a great british crime writer. And Hilltop Manor by Horrified Press publisher Nathan Rowark. How would you describe your writing style? Bare bones. Tell it as the characters see it. I try to tell it that way. Depends on what I’m writing. Like a flash piece might be more cerebral, surreal, not much dialogue. I’m still learning the craft. Describe a typical day spent writing. Do you have any unusual writing habits? My habits are terrible. I did have a good habit, writing in afternoon, then it moved to early morning, late night. Now its when I have time. What’s your favourite food? Bananas, potato chips…Lasagna, caffeine What’s your favourite album? Wow. Theres tons. Physical graffiti by Led zeppelin, Ah…via musicom by Eric Johnson, Who’s next by the Who, The Extremist by Joe Satriani. Giant Steps By John Coltrane. What’s the most important lesson you have learned about writing? Make sure you have your info on the first page for editors and your by-line after the title. Then theres the other stuff, maybe try to figure out a good first line. Fame and fortune, or respect? Respect. Definitely, or just love from family and friends. What piece of your own work are you most proud of? I guess so far The Seed in Diabolic Tales III and The Auction and The three hells of Guy Franklin. I achieved what I wanted with those. Going for Twilight Zone and Matheson type- stories. Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next? A Six Gun and the Queen of light : I have a western Horror novella and its backed by Nathan Rowark story which is a western as well and my Tim Burtonesque poem with drawings by Ida Tabaka. A gunfighter rides into town sick from eating what he believes was a boar but really another creature altogether that cause you to shape-shift and he is there to escort a wealthy ranch owners wife to a far away land, and of course she’s not who she appears to be. And my horror mag that illustrates horror stories and publishes comics.  Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself? I’m the sort of person who’d rather be alone with the contents of his own imagination than in a room full of people. Do you prefer the term Horror, Weird Fiction or Dark Fiction? I prefer the term Weird Fiction. In my mind ‘horror’ is a very broad term, but most people have very narrow ideas about it. I get so tired of hearing people say: “This isn’t horror! It isn’t scary!” Now I’m a Weird Fiction writer. I absolutely hate the term Dark Fiction. If you look at someone like Ray Bradbury, what was he? A horror writer? Sci-fi? One of his stories is about a man who meets Picasso on a beach. What’s ‘horror’ about that? I think he just wrote whatever popped into his head, regardless of genre, and that’s what I want to do. But people get so obsessed with how you ‘fit’. Who are some of your favourite authors? Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Tove Jansson, Mervyn Peake, Iris Murdoch, Alice Munro, Ray Bradbury. Mainly women for some weird reason. What are you reading now? I’m reading a lot of short stories because I have two very young children and I haven’t been able to finish a novel in about two years. Jeffrey Ford, Alice Munro, Joe R Lansdale, Ray Bradbury – all great short fiction writers. How would you describe your writing style? Descriptive, vivid prose, but very pared down. I started out wanting to write like Mervyn Peake and Angela Carter – very descriptive, kind-of flowery prose – but then I realised I hadn’t the talent for it and now anything that doesn’t need to be there goes. Describe a typical day spent writing. Do you have any unusual writing habits? It’s a case of writing whenever I can fit it in. I plan days in my head so I can grab a couple of hours writing. That’s the only way to do it if you have other commitments. It doesn’t always work out, but I’ve found now that I can write more or less anywhere. Before I had to sit down at my desk and ‘get in the zone.’ Now ‘the zone’ is wherever I can find it. What’s your favourite food? The Spanish do a great bean casserole. What’s your favourite album? I’ve been listening to ‘Appetite For Destruction’ by Guns’ n’ Roses since I was 14 and it never gets old. That, or ‘And She Closed Her Eyes’ by Stina Nordenstam just to show I have a sensitive side. What’s the most important lesson you have learned about writing? Rejection makes you a better writer. At first you think: “How dare they reject my work of genius that I poured my heart and soul into!” Then, after a while, you think: “What’s wrong with this piece and how can I fix it?” You have to learn to take the blows, but also trust in your own judgement. That’s a difficult balance. Editors aren’t always right. Fame and fortune, or respect? Right now I’ll take fame and fortune. What piece of your own work are you most proud of? A story called ‘Three Winters’. It’s the story that I always wanted to write, almost to the point where I don’t need to write anything else ever again. Job done. Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next? It was a collection of short stories called ‘The Lucky Penny and other stories’ which I somehow managed to write whilst my oldest daughter was still a baby. The next book will be another collection called ‘From Elsewhere’. I’m also making hesitant plans for longer works.  Tim Jeffreys is originally from Manchester, UK. He started producing short stories whilst enrolled on a Graphic Arts & Design course at Leeds Metropolitan University in the late 1990s. Encouraged by his tutor, he set aside thoughts of becoming an illustrator (or perhaps an animated film-maker, he wasn't sure at this point) and decided he wanted to write. The growing number of supporters for his writing, if not his bank balance, assure him that he made the right decision. His short fiction has since appeared both on-line in ezines, aswell as in print anthologies and magazines.
In his work he incorporates elements of horror, fantasy, absurdist humour, science-fiction and anything else he wants to toss into the pot to create his own brand of weird fiction. Visit him online at www.timjeffreyswriter.webs.com. |
Archives
May 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|