For The Night Is Dark: Gary McMahon

Continuing this series of short interviews to celebrate the release of the new charity anthology For The Night is Dark, is an interview with GNOH favourite Gary McMahon

Today’s victim is another favourite author of mine, Gary MacMahon.  Gary is the in my opinion one of the leading lights in UK horror.  His stories are terrifying and emotional power houses that stay with you long after you have finished the book.  

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Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

I’m the author of several novels, including Pretty Little Dead Things, Dead Bad Things, The Concrete Grove and Silent Voices. My short fiction has appeared in numerous venues in the UK and US, and I’ve had stories reprinted in several yearly “Best of” anthologies. I have a website at: www.garymcmahon.com

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

If I’m trying to sell a book to a publisher, I use the term Dark Fiction, but that’s just because in marketing terms the word Horror has little value. Otherwise, I usually say Horror, just because I don’t have to explain what that means. Recently I’ve come to dislike genre labels. They exist to pigeon-hole writers, make them fit a certain category or demographic.

Who are some of your favourite authors?

Ramsey Campbell, Charles Bukowski, Stephen King, Dennis Etchison, Graham Greene, and more recently I’ve started to love Truman Capote’s short fiction.

Can you tell us anything about your story in the anthology?

My story, The Darkest Room in the Darkest House on the Darkest Part of the Street is about love, death and the often unwise desire to know what’s hiding in the dark.

What is the first thing that pops into your mind when someone says South African horror?

Richard Stanley’s brilliant Dust Devil, which was filmed in the Namib Desert.

Why did you decide to submit a story to this anthology?

Because of the wonderful cover art and also because I know Joe Mynhardt, who runs Crystal Lake Press, from other projects I’ve worked on. He’s a great guy.

And other than yourself who would you like to see open and close the anthology?

Ramsey Campbell to open and the much-missed Charles L. Grant to close.

Could you recommend one of your own stories to the readers?

I’ll recommend my latest novel, if I may: Silent Voices, published by Solaris.





The Dark is coming! Call your friends over. You don't want to go through this alone. You will be taken back into the past, down to the depths of the ocean and across the borderline between our world and the next. You will see snapshots from the lives of small children, old-time cockney gangsters and aimless stoners. You will journey into the darkest house on the darkest street, wander hospital basements and take a flight in the comfort of first class. You will meet Mr Stix. This tome includes stories by some of the best horror writers around: G. N. Braun, Carole Johnstone, Armand Rosamilia, Daniel I. Russell, Scott Nicholson, Gary McMahon, Joe Mynhardt, Kevin Lucia, Tracie McBride, Stephen Bacon, Benedict J. Jones, Blaze McRob, John Claude Smith, Tonia Brown, Mark West, Robert W. Walker, Jeremy C. Shipp, Jasper Bark, William Meikle and Ray Cluley. Are you scared of the dark? You will be.



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