HORROR AUTHOR INTERVIEW : TOMMY B. SMITH

Tommy B. Smith is a writer of dark fiction and the author of Poisonous and Pieces of Chaos. His work has also appeared in numerous publications over the years to include Morpheus Tales, Every Day Fiction, Black Petals, Night to Dawn, and a variety of other magazines and anthologies. His presence currently infests Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he resides with his wife and cats. More information can be found on his website at http://www.tommybsmith.com.

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Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

I’m an author and an individual. I’m drinking a latté. I currently live in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where I write and dodge tornado after tornado. I wrote Poisonous and I’m also responsible for Pieces of Chaos.

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

Dark fiction is what I use. It applies to most if not all of my work. Those other two, weird fiction and dark fiction, may only apply to select works when used in my case. 

Who are some of your favourite authors?

Someone mentioned Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time to me not long ago. That’s something I read when I was younger and have always appreciated. I’ve returned to reading some Clive Barker lately and have enjoyed that. I’ve enjoyed the bizarro movement that has seen more recognition in the past few years. Gina Ranalli is an example of an excellent bizarro author. I have lots of favorites, really, and my preferences can wander.

What are you reading now?

Loose Ends: A Zombie Novel, by Jay Wilburn.

How would you describe your writing style?

Sometimes smooth, other times, coarse. Sometimes high-density. My style of writing tends to adapt to the intended specifics of the work I’m writing.

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

It probably isn’t that unusual. I confine myself to an enclosed area and write.

What’s your favourite food?

At the moment, melted cheese, seafood, and tiramisu, not necessarily together at once.

What’s your favourite album?

I don’t think I could choose an all-time favorite, but I can choose a momentary favorite. I’m really into The Great Cold Distance by Katatonia right now.

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

Be persistent. Persistence counts for a lot more than many people acknowledge. Learn and progress. It’s cliché to say that Rome wasn’t built in a day so instead I’ll say that New York wasn’t built in a day.

Fame and fortune, or respect?

Of those three, I’ll take fortune. Respect isn’t that much of a concern to me. If people have respect for me for doing what I do, wonderful; if they don’t, it isn’t my issue. As for fame, I’m all about showing the world my work, but people becoming interested in my work is more important to me than being a famous person. With fame comes a diminishing of freedom and privacy. I hold the pen and put the words on the paper. I’ll take some paper dollars, please.

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

At the moment, Pieces of Chaos, my new story collection.

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

Pieces of Chaos has been a long time coming and it includes some of my best work over a period of several years as well as new material to satiate and intoxicate the neuro-lust of the Chaos Psyche!

I’m currently wrapping up a book steeped in rain, snow, tears, and dead legends. 

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pieces of chaos

This book is a collision of ink and paper and an awakening of possibilities. Captured within are fragments of glass, metal, bone, ice, dreams, visions, and lives. Inside its pages, you will read of a lost village and the burning affliction of its people. You will share in an engineer’s unveiling of a hidden conspiracy. You will visit with a child confined to a tiny rectangular world on the brink of dissolution, and you will follow a girl on her trek from a home of crime and poverty across barren fields of ice to where an unspeakable force dwells. These are but a few of the works you will find among this collection of fourteen tales which blends the cosmic, the psychological, the human, and the inhuman in bringing together the essential dark fiction from author Tommy B. Smith’s pen of chaos.

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