For The Night Is Dark: GN Braun

To celebrate the launch of  For the Night Is Dark, the new anthology from Crystal Lake Publishing, I will be running a series of interviews from the authors featured in the book.  First up is GN Braun 

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G.N. Braun was raised in Melbourne’s gritty Western Suburbs. He is a trained nurse, and holds a Cert. IV in Professional Writing and Editing. He is currently studying for a Dip. Arts (Professional Writing and Editing). He writes fiction untied to any genre, and is the author of ‘Boneyard Smack’, ‘Bubba wants YOU’, ‘Insurrection’ (all available as free downloads from Legumeman Books) and ‘Santa Akbar!’ (published in Festive Fear: Global Edition, out through Tasmaniac Publications in Australia). 
He has a short story–’Autumn as Metaphor’–in the charity anthology Horror For Good and a short story–’Brand New Day’–in Midnight Echo #7, as well as numerous articles published in newspapers. He is the current president of the Australian Horror Writers Association, as well as the past director of the Australian Shadows Awards. He is the guest editor for the upcoming Midnight Echo #9, the magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association. His memoir, Hammered, was released in early 2012 by Legumeman Books.
He is the owner of Cohesion Editing and Proofreading.

Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

I have always been a reader with a close-to-eidetic memory. I spent many years of my life as a drug user and addict, but am now over five years totally clean. I write because I have to. It helps me cope with this crazy world we live in. It’s a way of getting the darkness out there. I spent many years as a nurse, but am now re-educating myself in Professional Writing and Editing at college. I am the current president of the Australian Horror Writers Association, and an affiliate member of the HWA. I am the guest editor for Midnight Echo #9, coming out in 2013.

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

 I find all three terms to be interchangeable. Whatever I write tends to fall into all three, along with a few other literary definitions: slipstream, spec-fic, dark literary, noir, thriller etc.

 Who are some of your favourite authors?

 William S. Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Joe Lansdale, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, Stephen King, Jonathan Maberry and Greig Beck, to name a few.

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

The story in For the Night is Dark began at a local writers' group, with a writing task set around hooking the reader with the first paragraph.
I took that paragraph and expanded on it for an assessment task for college. 'His Own Personal Golgotha' is what came out of that. I tried to fuse symbolism with horror, and came up with something that can only be labelled as 'slipstream'.

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

 Apartheid. The worst horrors are the ones we create in reality and inflict upon other people

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

 I liked the idea of a work of mine helping a charity, and I couldn't knock back the chance to publish in a new continent, especially when asked so nicely.

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

 I think I’ll not answer this one, as I did open the anthology… although I do think the editors chose the order of the pieces very well.

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


‘Brand New Day’ is a junkie-noir tale in the current issue of Midnight Echo (Issue 7), available from the Midnight Echo website (http://midnightechomagazine.com/products-page/midnight_echo/midnight-echo-issue-7-3/).
It follows a not-so-average day in the life of a heroin addict.