 The title of the collection Screaming Creatures is actually a somewhat flippant description of human beings. We pretend we aren’t animals, but guess what? Look outside today at people refusing to wear masks for no logical reason, beating their chests and hooting. Yeah… we’re fucking animals. So, the press name reflects my love of animals, and the sort of work I’m attracted to. If you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself. That’s the conventional wisdom, isn’t it? It could also be seen as a credo for author Sean M. Thompson, who recently kicked off the founding of his news publishing enterprise Nictitating Books with his own first full-length collection, Screaming Creatures. Something of a small press veteran, Thompson’s work has been published by Eraserhead Press, Nightscape Press, Planet X Publications, Muzzleland Press, Grimscribe Press, Unnerving Magazine, and more. Now he’s taking everything he’s learned as the person being published and flipping the script to become the one doing the publishing. And with upcoming books by Paula D. Ashe and Maxwell Bauman already in the pipeline, Nictitating Books plans to push the boundaries of genre fiction with fresh voices. Below, Sean M. Thompson fills The Ginger Nuts of Horror in on how Screaming Creatures compares to his earlier works, his reasons for starting a new publishing house, and what the heck “Nictitating” even means. So, Screaming Features is your first full-length collection and the first release from your new press, Nictitating Books. Could you tell me a little why you decided to launch the press with this book? Sean: Well, there’s the diplomatic answer, and then there’s the raw unfiltered answer. I will give you both. The diplomatic answer is I’ve wanted to start a press for a long time. A number of years. I had self-published my short chapbook Too Late and my first novel TH3 D3M0N, so I knew I could put out my own material. I knew which artists to talk to, cover pricing, layout pricing, I had a friend who could do the interior formatting, things like that. So, I had this collection, my own material, and I figured if I’m going to do this press, I’d rather have the first book be something of mine, so if there are any issues, I’m not making another writer look bad. I don’t mean this like I’m some spaceshot who has entirely fucked up his previous releases. I mean it like, there are a ton of things you don’t even think about when you release a book, right down to design aesthetic and reception of the material, so it also gives me a way of sort of seeing how people take my own work, and then I can apply that to releases going forward. The raw answer is I attempted to sell this collection for 2 years, and no one was biting. And I would get rejection after rejection, and I’m aware writing is mostly rejection, but I’d be sitting around like I have this thing ready to go, it’s one of my best books to date, and for whatever reason I cannot get another press to put this out. I’ve heard collections are hard to sell, and man, after trying to shop Screaming Creatures, I totally believe it. Now, full disclosure, I don’t cut myself off at the knees with my work. That is to say, there’s stuff in Screaming that is transgressive, that is hard to stomach. There’s drug addiction, abuse, murder, and many other elements that I can understand a horror press going “well, this isn’t really the type of horror we are looking for.” And I get that. Screaming isn’t like dark fantasy, or the sort of weird that’s been making the rounds. There’s definitely influences like Jack Ketchum, Irvine Welsh, and Chuck Palahniuk in the book. We’re not talking like Ed Lee or something, it doesn’t go that hard, but it does sort of go up to the line of good taste, and it sort of dangles a foot just over the line. So, that’s the raw answer: I couldn’t sell the collection, because it’s maybe a bit too over the top for some of the other horror presses. And so I thought screw it, why not have this be the one to start Nictitating Books with. It will set the tone. As you mentioned, you did put out a chapbook-sized story collection a few years back, Too Late. Is there any reason you wanted to wait to put out a full-length collection? The truth is Too Late, was originally supposed to be about 10 stories. But, I was never happy with 5 of them. And since I had decided to put out Too Late myself through McManbeast Books (essentially an in joke, it used to be my AOL instant messenger screenname) I knew I could make it only 5 stories, and I had the freedom to try doing a book that short. And people seemed to like Too Late even though yes, there were some people complaining it was too short. The thing to understand about Too Late is in a way, it’s like an early works book. “Stranded in the Storm,” the second story in the book, is 1 of I think the first 10 stories I ever wrote. And, yes, is that a totally backwards way to do things, having your “early works,” be your first book, of course. But, the plan was always to keep going, so now you can read Screaming then go back and read Too Late and see how I started, and the early stuff, and the themes that survived from then to now. I push myself to put out the best material I can. I’m sure in the eyes of some I don’t always succeed. But, I listen to my gut. And my gut usually feels right when it comes to which stories to use, and which not to use. So Screaming is a full length, because it allowed me many years of writing stories, so I could go okay, using this, and this, but this one I’m very iffy on, so it won’t go in. And again, doing this all myself, it gives me that freedom. Putting out your own material has its issues, I’m not trying to say self-publishing or starting a press is this magical process so far above traditional publishing. Putting out your own work has issues just like more traditional publishing has its issues. One of those issues is not creative freedom. In terms of style and where are you now as an author, how would you describe the material included in Screaming Creatures in comparison to the material from Too Late? Better? No, but seriously, let’s see, how would I compare the two? Well, for one the stories in Screaming are informed by who I have become as a writer. That means I’m stretching my style a bit, experimenting way more. I’m not afraid to try things now, whereas with the stuff in “Too Late,” it is at times a bit more reserved. I’m also dealing with things that aren’t always the more classic horror inspired fare found in Too Late. Too Late was very much an earlier writer going “what would my take on a werewolf story be?” or “what would my take on demons be?” I’m still doing that to an extent in Screaming but the approach is much more on the style and structure of the story. You write a wide variety of material, both in terms of style and length. There's the bizarro novella Hate from the Sky, the intense psychology and supernaturalism of Farmington Correctional, the sleek techno-horror of TH3 D3M0N, and short stories ranging from Thomas Ligotti-esque weird fiction to slasher-esque splatterpunk. Is this diversity of styles something you've strived for intentionally or a natural consequence of your own interests? Oh, it’s all the ghost writers, they can never keep everything straight. No, God, I’m sorry, bad joke. No, the diversity is very much intentional. And it’s also not intentional. Let me explain, I have ADHD, so to keep myself writing and engaged often I do have to try new things. But it is more than just the desire to keep myself entertained. The writers I really admire, Gwendolyn Kiste, Stephen Graham Jones, Clive Barker, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Laird Barron, Brian Evenson, writers like that, they also try a lot of new things. And I’m really drawn to writers who are pushing themselves not only in style and form but in themes and even genre. Genre is a great classification tool, but for a writer it can be stifling. There are times when even though I consider myself a “horror,” writer, I’m not writing horror. I’ve written westerns, and sci-fi stuff, what you might call weird, and then supernatural horror, psychological horror, bizarro. The only real through line is it’s a Sean M. Thompson story. And I like that. It might not be the best direction to try to gain an audience and get my career going, but I’d rather be on my death bed knowing I tried as much as I could, and have the career go slower. On a related note, having written novels, novellas, and short stories, is there any one format that appeals to you above the others? What do you find are the advantages and disadvantages of each? And specifically talking about short stories, how do you think their advantages are reflected in the content of Screaming Creatures? Well, what you have to understand is I actually started as a screenwriter. My first long-form writing was a 60 page script, and a year later, a 90 page script. So before I’d sat down and done my first short story, I’d written most of my first script. And it’s basically a part of my writing style I’ve never entirely been able to get rid of, for good or ill. I mean, I’d love to get better at novels. I feel like I might be a half-way decent novelist if I could get my shit together. I’m getting there—halfway through my second novel—but novels are a marathon, and what I have practice in is sprinting. I would say right now I consider myself a very good novella-ist. I like that length from about 10 to 30 thousand words. It’s like if you’re good at short story writing you can be good at a novella, but then it’s also sort of practice for novels. The advantage of short story writing, for me, is you can really experiment, and if it flops, well, you’ve only spent maybe a month or so trying it. If you try experimenting even with a novelette, you might be washing 3 months down the drain. And a novel, forget it. My first unpublished novel, as in the first novel I wrote, I tried this experimentation, and largely it failed. And that was more or less 2 years gone. So, the benefit of shorter stuff is the ability to try more things. However, novels, there is something about them that hits harder. You get to live with the characters. And, I can go pretty epic with them. As for the advantage of short stories reflected in Screaming Creatures, I think it’s that for the first time all in one book you can see me hopping around from genre to genre, trying to flex my style a bit. I would compare it to something like “Entropy in Bloom,” from Jeremy Robert Johnson, an excellent book. I’m not trying to say it’s as good as “Entropy in Bloom,” that’s not for me to say, but it does have that sort of spirit to it. We talked earlier about Screaming Creatures being the first release from your new press, Nictitating Books. I have to ask, why did you choose the name Nictitating? The nictitating membrane is found in certain predators. It is a film that rolls over the eye to protect it during an attack on prey. I had originally, God, back in say 2011 or 12, written a poem called “Nictitating Membrane,” which was about this weird sort of undiscovered genus of shark. I’m a big shark nerd, and great whites have a very prominent nictitating membrane. I decided on the name because I thought it was a very creepy name, and thematically a lot of my work does deal with the predator and prey dynamic. The title of the collection Screaming Creatures is actually a somewhat flippant description of human beings. We pretend we aren’t animals, but guess what? Look outside today at people refusing to wear masks for no logical reason, beating their chests and hooting. Yeah… we’re fucking animals. So, the press name reflects my love of animals, and the sort of work I’m attracted to. Also, I knew a creepy eye with a film over it would make a cool logo. You've published with multiple independent presses over the years, and also self-published at times. What made you want to start Nictitating Books? What's your goal with this press? Fucking cash money, homie. Tryin’ to make this paper, ya feel me? No, uh… jfc where was I going with this… My goal with Nictitating is to not only have a steady platform to put out my own material, but to find writers I think deserve to be more widely read, and to put out books by them. If you want a press to put out another book by an already well-established writer, that’s cool… but that’s not Nictitating. Yes, I will probably work with well-established writers eventually, but my primary intent is to take the newer writers who I find a story from or a novella or novel, and just get so hyped on, and to take them and try to put out new material from them. That’s what excites me. Finding someone I’ve never heard of and just being like god damn, that was great, I need to talk to them immediately. Could you tell me a little about some of the things Nictitating has in the works for the future? You've already announced upcoming releases from Paula D. Ashe and Maxwell Bauman. Could you tell me a bit about those, and if you have any other projects in the pipeline? I don’t want to spoil things, so for Paula D. Ashe, let’s just leave it at she is putting together a collection, and it is dark, and raw, and beautiful, and I cannot wait for it to be done sometime in 2021 (hopefully). As for Maxwell Bauman, he has a novella lined up, a haunted house/ body horror story which I’m also so fucking excited for. I don’t mind admitting (again, since it’s my material) that I’m currently writing a new novella set in my Whispering Pines universe dealing with aliens and time travel, and this will most likely be an ebook only release for the fall 2020 season, and if it happens to do well I can always make a print book a little later on. And I do have a mini antho with about 6 writers or so (including myself, yeet) aimed at maybe a late 2021 release, which I won’t say the theme of, because y’all ain’t stealing my shit. But I’ve talked to a few writes I’ve yet to work with, and I’m also very excited for it. And probably in Janurary of 2021 I’ll open up subs for a month or so, and perhaps try an ebook only thing with something from that, but that is very much an up in the air thing. But, in the past I’ve been critical of invite only presses, so rest assured, there will be open subs with Nictitating, and I will absolutely consider anything subbed, albeit with the caveat it may be ebook only initially. These projects you've got in the pipeline, how do you feel they tie back to the goals of Nictitating Books that we discussed earlier? Writers like Bauman and Ashe are relatively new, and there is a quality to their work that is often transgressive. I love that. To me, horror fiction is at its best when it is challenging what you are used to. Horror often deals with death, and death is one of the more transgressive things we as a society can choose to be honest about, both in the grieving process and in the fear of it we all have. In any case, the writers and projects I gravitate towards, what draws me to them is this quality of not sugar-coating things, of not turning away when something awful is happening. I just find them to be very exciting writers. Running a press is a lot of work and I know it can get stressful, time-consuming, and expensive. How are you finding it so far? Are there any things you're keeping in mind to try to make the process is a little easier on yourself? Any philosophies that help keep things in perspective? One major thing, and as much as I’d love to do it I just can’t, is the trend to have a ton of books come out each year. I not only don’t have the budget for that, but I don’t think I have the patience to do more than maybe 3 big releases a year, and maybe 1 or 2 ebook only releases. I do plan to crowd-fund, but my thing from the beginning has been to see it as an added bonus, but to in no one expect it to come through. I want these books to be something that can and will happen, whether or not it’s crowd fund assisted, or just me going out of pocket. (But please, for the love of all that is holy, donate some money if you can, I’m a broke person). I think the general philosophy that is going to keep me sane is slow and steady. I want to be able to really give writers a good edit, content and proofing wise, and to really allow writers the time to work on new material, and to edit up the existing. So far, I’m starting to feel like some sexy lady because I keep getting randos like “Hey,” “Hey, can we talk?” “Sup”? Lulz. I’m not trying to dig on anyone, it’s just sorta funny. Trust me everyone, I’ve done plenty of that type of stuff my damn self. Well, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to The Ginger Nuts of Horror Again. Is there anything else you'd like to say about Screaming Creatures or Nictitating Books? How can readers keep up with your work and Nictitating's releases? I plan to do a Linktree soon, and to have an Instagram and Facebook page, Twitter page. There is currently a press email, but I’m not planning to make that public knowledge until the sub period. I’m planning an Indiegogo and Patreon for the press, but I’m very much not ever EVER doing a Kickstarter. I‘d have a fucking heart attack. Other than that, Screaming Creatures is currently up on Amazon, and in the coming weeks I’m planning to do some writer interviews on my Sean M. Thompson YouTube channel, and all other sorts of fun stuff. So keep your eyes peeled. And thanks again. Later.  Enter a world where nowhere is safe. These 14 stories take our everyday lives and turn them upside down. Encounter wendigos and succubi, demons and beings from beyond the stars, travel from the forests of New England to the wasted plains of the old west, succumb to haunted media and plagues of madness. "Screaming Creatures," is a fast ride to surreal landscapes full of hard decisions and frayed sanity.   the heart and soul of horror review websitesComments are closed.
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