CARLOS CARDOSO ENLISTS IN THE NIGHT GUARD!

27/9/2022

The sanctity of the nuclear family. There are far too many stories where the protagonist is trying to restore their nuclear family at all costs. These bore me no end, and are often very reactionary. Please only write this trope if it’s a red herring!

Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

I was born in 1977 in Lisbon, Portugal. Started reading in English at a very young age as the long, hot summers would have been very boring otherwise, and I couldn’t find many books in Portuguese that I liked. I loved nighttime TV and my parents let me stay up late, so I watched whatever was on, mostly cheesy horror and sci-fi. My dream had always been to make low-budget movies, but I was born in a terrible country for it. After a million screenplays and cancelled projects, I decided to start writing novels as a way to be completely in control of my creative output. I also play the electric guitar and have performed dozens of gigs across London and Lisbon.

Not a fan of labels, but being a vegan (12 years and counting) and a lefty (lifelong) are both very important parts of my identity.

Which one of your characters would you least like to meet in real life?

From The Night Guard it would have to be Noor. I’m exactly the type of victim she’d have no trouble in dispatching.

Other than the horror genre, what else has been a major influence on your writing?
I’m an avid reader of experimental fiction and literary fiction. I had read every William Burroughs book by my mid-20’s, and there are few things more satisfying than digging into a thick Thomas Pynchon. And then there are all the books from the non-Anglo world which I’m lucky to be able to read in their original language (currently Portuguese, Spanish, and French).

The term horror, especially when applied to fiction, always carries such heavy connotations. What’s your feeling on the term “horror” and what do you think we can do to break past these assumptions?

Horror has an incredible tradition from cautionary tales spread around the campfire to cutting edge video games. No matter what narrative medium we come up with, there will be horror stories in it. Unfortunately, horror’s popularity also means that there are a lot of stories out there that include all the aesthetic elements of horror, but nothing of what makes it a vital part of our culture. This has given horror a bad reputation, but we shouldn’t let that discourage us from exploring this genre and pushing its boundaries.

As far as my own writing is concerned, labelling my work as horror means that I owe my reader scary moments and tension. Everything else is up to me to decide. It’s hard to imagine a theme which could not be explored in horror. Seen from this perspective it’s a very liberating genre to work in, where we can use existing tropes to surprise our readers and perhaps do more than just tell a scary story.

If I’m allowed to give fellow writers a piece of advice, I’d say read far and wide. If you only read horror, then you likely will only recycle what horror has already produced. Nothing wrong with that, but why not open up new terrifying vistas?

A lot of good horror movements have arisen as a direct result of the socio/political climate, considering the current state of the world where do you see horror going in the next few years?

We’ve got a global pandemic that looks like it will rear its ugly head again soon. We’re at 100 seconds to midnight on the Doomsday Clock which is the scariest it’s been since its creation. There will be water wars soon, and the number of climate refugees will rise to tens of millions before this decade is over. All the while, Mother Earth dangles a Damocles sword over our heads and it’s only a matter of time before we pay the price for our mismanagement of the planet. Young people are increasingly depressed and disillusioned about the future, refusing to engage with it and not making plans.

In a world like this, the horror writer competes with the news bulletin for attention! I can only imagine that there will be a bigger and bigger appetite for horror stories.

Given the dark, violent and at times grotesque nature of the horror genre why do you think so many people enjoy reading it?

Either as catharsis for real life tragedies, i.e. living painful emotions through fiction, or as escapism, i.e. “I’ve got it bad, but not as bad as this character in this book”.
And people like feeling scared without actually being under threat.

What, if anything, is currently missing from the horror genre?

Better and more serious criticism of it by people who are neither writers nor typical horror consumers. These kinds of third party perspectives are often instrumental in advancing a fiction genre.

What new and upcoming authors do you think we should take notice of?

I’ll take a rain check on this one as my to-read pile is full of classics I never got to read and I struggle to keep up to speed on new authors.

Are there any reviews of your work, positive or negative, that have stayed with you?

An early reader asked me why I hated my protagonist since I put him through so much trouble. Well, that’s the point of a thriller isn’t it? The protagonist suffers so the reader turns the page.

What aspects of writing do you find the most difficult?

Apologies for the technical language, but it would be first person POV’s for characters which are very different from me. It’s a struggle to imagine the thoughts of people similar to me, let alone those who might be on the opposite end of the behavioural spectrum.

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author?

Anything that could be construed as propaganda for things I don’t believe in such as demonisation of poor and homeless people, any kind of racism or bigotry, cheerleading for war, etc.

Writing is not a static process, how have you developed as a writer over the years?

Mostly I’ve grown in confidence which lets me try new things. The more I write, the more curiosity I have about how other writers have overcome the problems I might be facing which leads me to study them and get excited about expanding my range.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing?

“You have to read if you want to write,” to paraphrase Irish author Keith Ridgway who taught me at Faber. The best writing instruction is in existing fiction already, no need for how-to guides.

If I’m allowed a second piece of advice, then it’d be that you don’t need anyone to give you their approval as a writer. No agent, no publisher, no reader. If you write, you’re a writer. You might not be a very good one, but you’re a writer. That’s something to build on.

Which of your characters is your favourite?

The one I’ve been writing in my current short stories (published on Medium). I started by basing him on MC Ride from the band Death Grips, using his lyrics as a character portrait. But when I put him in actual stories, he developed organically as a character and now I feel like I know him very well. He also lets me write in this style which I’m enjoying more and more. Very hard-boiled and hip-hop-ish, and a million miles from my usual unadorned, clearer style.

Which of your books best represents you?

I’ve only published one so far, so I have to say The Night Guard.

Do you have a favourite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us?

From The Night Guard:
“It started as a lack; a piece missing from his own body. Not a big piece, just a little bit that was supposed to be there but wasn’t. From humble beginnings, it propagated like a rapacious cancer. The hunger went from cell to cell taking over, until his whole body was more hunger than any other feeling. If he was asked his name, then the answer would be Hunger.”

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

The Night Guard is a horror thriller set in Europe about an illegal immigrant trying to flee a supernatural horror. This is the official blurb:

“In a forgotten Eastern European country, Andrei celebrates his 30th birthday by himself in a tacky nightclub. He has achieved nothing in life and he's finding it harder and harder to pretend that it doesn't bother him. His brother, his parents' pride, offers him an unwanted gift—a job as a night guard.

Across town, Andrei's future boss Niko is also celebrating his 30th birthday, but in an exclusive nightclub. His fabulous entourage have turned up to party with him, but they can't relieve Niko's terminal boredom. That is until he lays eyes on Noor, an exotic beauty that is much more than she seems.

As Noor takes Niko down a dark path, Andrei is dragged along first as a pawn, later as a victim. For the first time, Andrei's decisions could mean life or death for himself, his family, and his friends, as a shape-shifting, supernatural predator hunts him across Europe to London.”

My next book which is very close to being ready is called If a Tree Should Die. It’s a shorter novel with paranormal elements, but not what I’d call a horror.

“A young woman is found dead in the forest, yet, when the authorities come back to collect her body, she's gone, having walked away on her own two feet.

Rowan believes she's the woman he loves, but when he comes to the forest to find her, he meets others who think the same, and none of them are wrong.”

In early 2023 I’ll start on the second book of the Human Dregs series (The Night Guard being the first). It will be a more collective story than the single protagonist The Night Guard, set among call centre workers in the UK.

If you could erase one horror cliché what would be your choice?

The sanctity of the nuclear family. There are far too many stories where the protagonist is trying to restore their nuclear family at all costs. These bore me no end, and are often very reactionary. Please only write this trope if it’s a red herring!

What was the last great book you read, and what was the last book that disappointed you?

I thought The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling was fantastic. Couldn’t put it down. Would have been 5 stars except for the ending.

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood was disappointing to say the least. It's not that there is nothing interesting to say about being terminally online; it's that the author only has banalities to say about it. A book that is all narrator can't afford one that is void of ideas and is a mere sponge for the consensus her echo chamber produces.

What's the one question you wish you would get asked but never do? And what would be the answer?

I wish I was asked why I wrote The Night Guard in the first place. The answer would be that I was inspired to write this book from my experience immigrating to London with no job, no money, nowhere to stay, and no idea on how to get any of those. I wasn’t in quite a bind as the protagonist of this book, but I did have to take on some unsavoury and scary jobs to survive. I also met a wonderfully diverse array of people—both allies and villains—who have ended up in the book in one shape or another.

The Night Guard (Human Dregs Book 1)
by Carlos Cardoso

In a forgotten Eastern European country, Andrei celebrates his 30th birthday by himself in a tacky nightclub. He has achieved nothing in life and he's finding it harder and harder to pretend that it doesn't bother him. His brother, his parents' pride, offers him an unwanted gift—a job as a night guard.

Across town, Andrei's future boss Niko is also celebrating his 30th birthday, but in an exclusive nightclub. His fabulous entourage have turned up to party with him, but they can't relieve Niko's terminal boredom. That is until he lays eyes on Noor, an exotic beauty that is much more than she seems.

As Noor takes Niko down a dark path, Andrei is dragged along first as a pawn, later as a victim. For the first time, Andrei's decisions could mean life or death for himself, his family, and his friends, as a shape-shifting, supernatural predator hunts him across Europe to London.

CARLOS CARDOSO

Carlos has been writing scary stories since he was a teen, later going on to train at the National Conservatory of Arts in Lisbon and at the Faber Academy in London. He currently lives in Hertfordshire, UK and works in Corporate HR, a job which has its particular kind of horror.

WEBSITE LINKS
http://www.carloscardoso.uk/
https://twitter.com/CarlosCardosoUK
https://medium.com/@carloscardosoUK
The Night Guard - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B85GXXHD