Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

I’ve been a horror fan since childhood (loved watching The Blob and The Tingler and reading Poe). In junior high, I read Stoker’s Dracula, discovered Dark Shadows on TV, and decided this was definitely my genre. Sold my first story at 17, and have since appeared in several magazines and anthologies, including DAW’s Time of the Vampires, Norilana Press’ Under the Rose, Cold Fusion Media’s Arcane II, and Diabolic Publications’ Dying to Live, among others.

Do you prefer the term Horror, Weird Fiction or Dark Fiction?

Horror, though what I write might be more appropriately called “dark fantasy” or even “horror light.”

Who are some of your favourite authors?

Richard Matheson, Connie Willis, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuin, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Edgar Allan Poe.

What are you reading now?

Blackout by Connie Willis; Matheson Uncollected by Richard Matheson.

How would you describe your writing style?

Intense. Weird. Quirky.

Describe a typical day spent writing. Do you have any unusual writing habits?

Outline, write, revise, rewrite, repeat. I write everything in longhand – in a real notebook with a spiral binding – first, then do final drafts on the computer. In WordPerfect. I detest MS Word!

What’s your favourite food?

One word. Chocolate.

What’s your favourite album?

The Moody Blues’ Nights in White Satin.

What’s the most important lesson you have learned about writing?

Practice. Believe in yourself. Practice more. Send it out. Send it out again. Persevere.

Fame and fortune, or respect?

Well, respect, of course. Fame I can definitely do without, though I certainly wouldn’t mind trying fortune on for size.

What piece of your own work are you most proud of?

Probably “Walking Tour” in the DAW anthology Time of the Vampires.

Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next?

My two most recent appearances: “Nightcrawlers” in Arcane II, Cold Fusion Media; and “Turning Worms” in Dying to Live, Diabolic Publications. Working on: more stories to submit to more anthologies and magazines. I’m like those pesky poltergeist critters: you just never know where I might turn up next.

As you know the aim of this website is to introduce you all to what what in my opinion is some of best horror authors out there.  It was  Ghostwatch legend Stephen Volk who brought Russell Mardell to my attention.  Russell was looking for outlets for his new novel Bleeker Hill, a dystopian horror novel set in a near future UK.  By the time I had read the first few chapters of this excellent novel I knew I had to do a full indepth interview with Russell.  

Russell  Mardell is a novelist, playwright, producer and sometime director based in the south west of England.

His first published book was Silent Bombs Falling on Green Grass a collection of twelve weird and wonderful short stories centered around the town of Mewlish Lull. His follow up Stone Bleeding is a dark dystopian satire of reality TV and celebrity culture. Most recently he has published Bleeker Hill a dystopian horror.

Russell has also written for the British stage with the plays Cool Blokes: Decent Suits, and its sequel Suits 2: Back From the Cleaners performed at the Salisbury Playhouse, and The Seventeenth Valentine and Freestate playing at The White Bear Theatre in London.

Having studied film production in London he has written and directed a couple of short films, and continues to develop a number of screenplays.

Today's participant in this ingoing series of rapid fire author interviews is Jennifer L. Barnes.  Jennifer lives in Southern Indiana with her patient husband and perhaps the world's most ungraceful cat. She was raised with wolves by a crazy biologist Shawnee Medicine Man so being normal was never an option for her. With a fascination for things that go Bump in the Night since she was a small child, she turns this towards her writing, else she'd go insane. Her preferred genre is Urban Fantasy and has already had several stories published by Pill Hill Press and Norgus Press. Due to her love of 80's movies and comic books, she describes her works as "Big Dumb Fun" with sharp, witty dialogue and page turning action. 

Today's participant in this ingoing series of rapid fire interviews with horror writers, is Phil Voyd.  Phil Voyd caught the writing bug while living in Osaka, Japan in the mid-1990s. He has been trying to shake it ever since with no luck (and believes his condition may in fact be worsening). His fiction has appeared in various magazines, anthologies and podcasts, including On Spec, Not One of Us and The Sonic Society. He has received a couple of Honorable Mentions in the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. One of his stories, "Mr. Bronze", was adapted into a radio play at the CBC and another story, "Having A Drink", was recently made into an independent short film (havingadrink.com). More info about Phil's writing can be found at www.philvoyd.com. 

Today's participant in this ongoing series of rapid fire interviews with horror writers  is MP Johnson.   MP Johnson has had his face peeled off no less than three times – all before reaching the third grade. Of course he grew up to write bizarro horror stories.

He’s been chased through the back alleys of Beijing by a Chinese hooker and a gang of knife-wielding thugs. He’s laughed off muggings in the shadows of Amsterdam. He’s fought robot monsters beneath the streets of Berlin and dined on cheese with the natives on top of the Andes. He’s smashed boards in grimy basements while accompanied by notorious punk bands, been in Fourth of July street fights and eaten sandwiches in New York’s sleaziest sex clubs. And he’s straight edge.

His bizarro horror fiction has been published in more than 25 underground books and magazines, including Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex and Black Petals. He is the creator of Freak Tension fanzine, the longest running (and possibly most sporadic) horror and punk zine in the Midwest. He also writes for punk music magazine Razorcake.

He is a B-movie extra whose roles have included a drug dealer who gets shot in the stomach by legendary action hero Rudy Ray Moore in “It Came from Trafalgar.” He’s also an aspiring drag queen and mixed martial artist. He was born in Wisconsin and lives in Minnesota.

Today's participant in this in going series of horror author interviews, is the writer Paul L. Bates.  

Paul  writes dark fiction, both short and long form. His work often crosses genre boundaries or ignores them altogether. Ever mindful of the surging wall of venal vacuity threatening to numb all our minds, crush all our spirits, his offerings, including the novels Imprint and Dreamer are available from independent presses of similar concern.

Please welcome James S Dorr, to this ongoing series of horror author interviews.  
James Dorr is a short story writer and poet with three primarily prose collections, Strange Mistress Tales of Wonder and Romance  and Darker Loves: Tales of Mystery and Regret  published by Dark Regions Press and The Tears of Isis from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, and an illustrated all-poetry collection, Vamps (A Retrospective), from Sam's Dot Publishing/White Cat Publications. He also has a novelette, The Garden, available in electronic and print chapbook form from Damnation Books; electronic chapbooks Vanitas and I'm Dreaming of a . . . and novelette Peds from Untreed Reads Publishing; Poludnitsa in Chamberton Publishing's "Chimera" short fantasy series; and nearly four hundred individual appearances in magazines and anthologies in the US, Canada, Britain, France, Australia, Holland, and Brazil. .