FIVE MINUTES WITH AUTHOR CHRIS JOHNSON

Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?
I live in West Yorkshire and share a big old house with a wife two kids. I've worked in a variety of jobs over the years, from cinema projectionist to a telecoms rigger working on radio towers.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Isaac Asimov once said that time not spent writing was time wasted, unless it was time spent with his wife. I have to agree with that, when I'm not writing it's family time. I've always been into movies, so an evening with a bluray, with DTS sound blasting out, is perfect – with wine and snacks, of course!


Other than the horror genre, what else has been a major influence on your writing?
Travelling and meeting people. I've travelled extensively across Asia, Japan, China, Malaysia. They say write about what you know, and I think what's meant by that is cherry pick from your personal experiences, the places you visit, the people you come across. Every place I visit has a potential place in a story, everything I hear is potential dialogue. People are fascinating. You can't write convincing dialogue or great characters if you don't get out and open your ears.
 
 
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?
I think if you say you love horror, there's a misconception that you love blood and gore, monsters, listen to death metal, only fuck Goth chicks, live on take-out and would never watch Downton Abbey. OK, I'm exagerrating for dramatic effect. Horror is a very wide-ranging concept in fiction, and I think people who like the genre should embrace all of its forms, and that applies to people who say they are not into horror. Horror fiction isn't just  about blood and guts, monsters and  the occult, it can be about the darker side of life, the things that scare us or we find creepy, it's the fear factor most of all. The feeling that a cold hand is going to creep up the covers, grab your ankle and drag you to the bottom of the bed. I think if there's any assumptions about horror, then the way to change those assumptions is for publishers to embrace horror that might not be in the traditonal vein. It might a psychological thriller, but one that leaves a lasting impression on the reader.


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?
That's an almost impossible question to answer. But to take a guess, I can see horror returning to its roots, yarns about zombies, vampires and werewolves. I think also distopian, apocolytpic survival stories seem very popular now – Walking Dead meets Mad Max. A lot of up-and-coming horror authors are influenced by what's popular in the media, right now that seems to be the end of the world, zombies and gangs fighting for survival across a nuclear wasteland or those futuristic urban thrillers where one night a year you can kill anyone you want for free. I can also see horror moving into gang warfare, if you look at what the drug gangs are doing to each other in South America, especially Mexico, there's a lot of fertile ground there to throw in a few twists for the horror genre. There's the digital age of horror to consider now as well, in real life brutal murders are being filmed on mobile phones as entertainment.

What are the books and films that helped to define you as an author?
I was a big movie nut as a kid so I read a lot of movie novelizations, mostly by Alan Dean Foster. Through Bladerunner I got introduced to Phillp K. Dick, through The Shining I discovered Stephen King. Reading all that Alan Dean Foster taught me to not woffle as a writer, just to get on with it and tell the story in a very clean and precise manner. Foster has a very easy, straight-forward style, it's almost workman-like. I also read a lot of Robert E. Howard. I think Howard taught me to make a story thrilling and exciting, above all entertain the reader and don't bore them. Been a child of the 80s, I grew up with all of the so-called video nasties, and I loved every single one of them. Last House on the Left, A Clockwork Orange, Driller Killer, Suspiria, The Evil Dead, all those Italian exploitation movies. I think movies that made a lasting impression were the ones that threw a spanner in the works and did something totally unexpected – Caligula showed what you could do when you threw the rule book out of the window, and John Carpenter's The Thing showed what could be achieved when you let your creative side go all the way. I mean, some guy's head tearing itself from his body, growing spider legs and eyeballs on stalks and then scurrying across the floor ? That is pure genius !

What new and upcoming authors do you think we should take notice off?
Myself, of course, but  I reckon that'll be the stock answer for everyone interviewed here. There's a lot, too many to mention. But the sad thing is, all those great authors with terrific novels might remain unheard of and unread because publishers won't give them a chance.

How would you describe your writing style?
Straight forward, easy to read. As Elmore Leonard called it, without any of that hooptedoodle. I hate dense prose, long paragraphs, and repitition. You can say a lot with the right choice of words.

Are there any reviews of your work, positive or negative that have stayed with you?
Criticism can be harsh, but dumb criticism is the worst. Somebody hating your book for all the wrong reasons. But criticism is good, all authors should embrace it.

What aspects of writing to do you find the most difficult?
The sitting down and writing part. Motivation and having the time to get into my writing zone.

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author?
Vampires. A love story with vampires.

How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning?
I want the characters to be real so they need names that sound normal. I don't want my hero to have a name that draws attention to itself.
 
Writing, is not a static process, how have you developed as a writer over the years?
By reading and doing a lot of writing. But mostly having that writing read and critiqued. You can't improve as a writer if you don't let people read your work.  I think my writing style has become cleaner and more precise, I've dumped the hooptedoodle and stopped trying to be a smart ass.


What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers? 
A computer and a printer.  A place to work away from everybody.  A desk that doesn't wobble. An open imagination, you can't be a good writer if you are narrow-minded.


What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing?
This is shite, you can do better.
 


Getting your work noticed is one of the hardest things for a writer to achieve, how have you tried to approach this subject?
My publisher, Wild Wolf Books, has a pretty interesting business model for its authors. They are a traditional publisher, but they expect the author to be very hands on with their own marketting, which I feel is fair play. I thought social media would be the way to go, but it's only a tiny slice of the cake. The problem with Twitter and Facebook, especially Twitter, is that it's full of authors all shouting the same thing and fighting for attention. Word of mouth is by far the best way to get noticed, although for that to happen people have to know that your novel exists. And when Waterstones is only interested in celebrity books and Jamie Oliver, the only avenue is to direct readers to Amazon. I'm planning an advertising campaign that will target the places where my potential readers might hangout, drink coffee, the magazines they might read. I've got a novel that will appeal to a certain reader, so the marketting has to be laser-precise. I intend to attend literary fairs and horror conventions. The plan for next year is to attend comic con with two hot Asian models.


To many writers, the characters they write become like children, who is your favorite child, and who is your least favorite to write for and why?
One of my favourite characters in Pornopsychedelica was a guy called Martin, an ex-soldier who goes to work for the villian of the story. A major critique came back and said he was the least interesting character in the story and was in fact boring. I had to have a major rethink, decided the criticism was right, and changed the character. It actually made the character way more interesting and gave those parts of the story a darker, more realistic tone. I don't have a least favourite of my own characters, otherwise they wouldn't be in the story. I hate stories with the token whiny kid, you know like Wesley Crusher in Star Trek. You just want to shove him in an airlock and blast him into space.


What piece of your own work are you most proud of?
The action scenes. I write pretty good action. I think I write good dialogue, too.


 
And are there any that you would like to forget about?
Time will tell, when the reviews start to come in. The reader will be the judge not me.

For those who haven’t read any of your books, which of your books do you think best represents your work and why?
I've not written that book yet. I find all kinds of fiction interesting, so I want to switch genres whenever I get a great idea – fantasy, dark horror, sci-fi, literary. So no one book could represent me as an author. I think Pornopschedelica shows I can write action, snappy dialogue and I'm not shy to push a few boundaries.



Do you have a favorite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us?
 
He didn't like Asia. Now they had refugee Americans and Europeans treating the country as their own. He once heard a Chinaman say Americans were like fleas on a dog.
And there was nothing worse than an itch you couldn't scratch.
A Road Runner you couldn't catch.
     Martin kicked open the twisted door of the car.    'Sumbitch.'
 
Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next?
The lastest book is Pornopsychedelica, a violent crime thriller set in Malaysia and Japan. It's set in the near future and is about a woman called Tomoko who goes on a mission of revenge against the crime boss who keeps her a virtual prisoner, using her as a killer for hire. Imagine if Takashi Miike had made Pulp Fiction. I wanted the story to be erotic and violent, with strange, almost trippy parts to it, but with a head-long narrative drive – very much a story driven and with great characters. Currently, I've moved away from genre fiction and I'm writing a literary novel about a guy who's spent the last five years searching for his missing children. The writing style is totally different, the approach is different. I want to flex my writing abilities and not just stick to the same thing. It might be literary, but it's very dark. It'll certainly be shocking and stay with the reader for a long time.



If you could erase one horror cliché what would be your choice?
I hate clichés. How about the killer coming across the couple having sex?


What was the last great book you read, and what was the last book that disappointed you?
The Letter Bearer by Robert Allison was a great read. I can't remember the last book I was disappointed by.

What's the one question you wish you would get asked but never do?  And what would be the answer?
Hey, you're an author. I'm writing a novel, would you mind critiquing it?
The answer would be, sure, love to.
Too many wanna-be authors are terrified of people reading their books, so they remain in this bubble with the firm believe that they are brilliant, yet the only person who has ever read them is their mom and their gay best friend.

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about ​CHRIS JOHNSON

Author of Pornopsychedelica and currently working on a thriller. I have travelled extensively across Asia and write in a variety of genres, from sci-fi to horror to literary. My working life has been just as diverse, with careers ranging from cinema projectionist to telecoms rigger.
 
Pornopsychedelica is available on Amazon as an E book and will soon be appearing as a paperback.
 
Twitter chrisjohnson66

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Pornopsychedelica​

Tomoko Iwamoto is kept a virtual prisoner in Malaysia by crime boss Peter Yang, using her as a killer for hire, a highly-trained trophy he thinks he can control. Until Peter pushes Tomoko too far, ordering her to kill his own wife.

With her repaired android lover, who could prove to be even more dangerous than Tomoko herself, Tomoko sets in motion a plan of escape that will threaten Peter's criminal empire and force him to a final confrontation in Japan.

Pornopsychedelica is a heady mix of sci-fi thriller, erotica and violence, where ruthless gangs own the streets, and murder and sex are turned into sadistic performance art.

Fans of Anime and Kill Bill will devour this novel.

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