The Creeper is about to be unleashed; how are you feeling in the lead-up to its release?

The excitement is real now. And the nerves, of course. But I’m glad to say that the early reviews coming in have been a great encouragement. Any positive feedback works wonders for the old happiness pre-launch, especially as we’re dealing with the tricky second album here.

And Head of Zeus have also organized a blog tour for this book which I’m very privileged to have you opening on the 26th of September. I can’t wait to read what some of my favourite reviewers think of it and then share around all the creepiness.
The Creeper is a very different book from The Watchers in many ways, so there’s always the worry that readers will go into it expecting more of the same. But I want every novel to be something unique. And I think this book is just that. Whatever people are expecting, there are definitely more than a few surprises in there.


Like your previous novel, The Watchers, The Creeper is firmly based on both the Irish landscape and Irish mythology; what is the draw of writing using these themes?

Our landscape and mythology feel tailormade for the genre, and I think the main draw is the sheer amount of potential they give me to play around with.

Ireland, as a location, has so much character and history, and there’s a very sombre beauty to it in the autumn and winter that could basically work as a scene from any horror story. It doesn’t require much imagination to make it spooky, which certainly makes my job easier.

And our mythology is a subject that I’ve always had an interest in, and as a horror writer I’m lucky that it leans so gracefully into the genre. It’s actually quite concerning when you think about it – so much of Irish folklore is basically horror. Cold dark nights and even darker imaginations, or maybe the whole island is genuinely haunted and infested with mythical creatures. One can only hope.


I am trying hard to think of many modern horror authors that use the myths and legends of the Celtic lands as inspiration for their books; why do you think this is?

Is it possible that I’ve carved out a private little niche for myself in the market?

Maybe they’re unfamiliar with the material or are of the opinion that it doesn’t have a place in the contemporary horror scene. Some of the more popular stories (I’m looking at you, Banshee) are so well known that before the reader even opens the first page, they’ll have a fair idea of what to expect. And this would spell disaster for any horror novel as it diffuses the suspense and mystery. And what’s life worth without suspense and mystery?

That’s why there has to be an element of reinvention to keep these stories fresh. If the myths are treated more as an inspiration, then I think they’d become more mainstream. Authors could handpick the ideas that appeal to them and use these as a springboard to create something original that suits their own style. That’s what I do. And it’s fun. I’d highly recommend it.


How do you feel about non-Celtic authors using our myths and legends as inspiration?

I think it’d be wonderful if more authors explored its possibilities. It could offer some interesting perspectives that we haven’t seen before.

The stories are so readily available too. Gone are the days when they’d have to swing by a local library to source out the good stuff. But, in saying that, a few trending Google searches probably won’t cut it. There’d be quite a bit of research involved before they could put pen to paper if it’s to be kept authentic.


What is the biggest mistake that they make?

I suppose when it comes to borrowing a particular myth or legend, there’s the risk that the author might isolate the idea from its origin and landscape, and in doing so lose a lot of what makes it so unique.

It’s important to appreciate how these myths have survived and evolved over the centuries through the lives and history that shaped them. This is especially true of folktales and superstitions which can change between counties and splinter into many different iterations. They aren’t simply old stories that we only encounter when we root out the history books. Instead, they’re one of the most unique parts of our identity.

They’re also how I make my living. So they’re ridiculously important.


It is hard to talk about The Creeper directly as there are too many excellent twists and turns and some massive reveals, but let's give it a go.

It's a book of two halves in terms of style and tone. Was this always the plan when you sat down to write the novel?

Absolutely. I wanted to break convention when it came to my protagonist. Usually, the reader experiences the immediacy of the horror through their voice, but Ben is a diehard sceptic who disbelieves what’s happening, even when the events become more and more challenging to explain. I wanted the creeper to slowly chip away at him.

What starts off as an adventure and the possible beginnings of something great, steadily darkens as the novel progresses. There’s only so long that Ben can refute the creeper’s existence. And the story does get quite dark by its conclusion.

But, come on, this is what happens when you break a superstition’s rules. What did he expect?


The Creeper, wow, where do we start? What was the inspiration for this creature, and where did you develop the creature design? I'm picturing a childhood trauma with the Kinda Egg man.

The Creeper was originally a short tale I wrote a decade earlier that I’d always kept in the back of my mind. But I never thought that it would someday become a fully-fledged novel.

I was lying in bed one night, imagining how terrifying it’d be if someone was just standing at the window, smiling at me. Surely I’m not the only person who’s had this thought? Or at least, hopefully now others will have it too after reading this book.

I played with the idea by bringing in the classic superstitious tropes that Irish folklore does so well. By giving the horror simple rules, such as the three sightings, then it echoes all those scary stories that we dismiss as just a bit of fun.

Not that I can imagine anyone calling the creeper character fun. But then, maybe the poor thing has just been misunderstood.

I can’t really say too much about its design for fear of spoilers. But I can say that the sight of it will be forever burned into my mind. That’s a curse I brought upon myself.


I loved the undercurrent of religious themes within the novel, of a society trapped in time by their own religious beliefs. Did you ever consider expanding on this theme?

I would have loved to delve a little deeper into the village of Tír Mallacht. But it was more important to respect the mystery surrounding it for the sake of the narrative. I’m such an advocate for keeping the reader guessing. But it’s definitely something that I could explore in a short story as a complement to the novel.


Ben, like yourself, is a history major, were you ever tempted to live out any heroic Indiana Jones fantasies through his character?

History is far less exciting than Indiana Jones would have us believe. Unless you get a thrill out of taking tombstone etchings on Clare Island in the middle of winter. Or measuring the various dimensions of a ruined church with the wind whipping the briers into your face. University has many means of making you earn that scroll.

Ben’s circumstances at the beginning of the novel actually mirrored my own some years ago. I worked a lot of jobs I didn’t particularly enjoy just so I could write every night and at the weekends, hoping to someday be in a position to do this full-time.

I even did quite a bit of work on the oral tradition too – interviewing and collecting folklore. And like him, I’d have probably taken Doctor Sparling up on his offer too.


The novel cleverly and masterfully mixes Gothic Horror with full-on body horror. In particular, I loved the thread that involved Dr Sparling locking himself away in his mansion. Is it correct that it had a touch of the Masque of the Red Death?

I adored writing the Sparling chapters. The slow, steady melancholy that defines his days are the most Gothic aspects of the novel. And yes, there’s definitely a touch of the Red Death in there; cloistered away, hiding in fear.

I had so much fun writing in his voice, trying to elicit from the reader the right balance of pity and contempt. And I hold Poe in such high esteem. I learned a lot of my tricks from that man, and any comparison to his work is very much appreciated.


Superstitions live by word of mouth. I'll never forget the night I watched my mother dig a hole in the garden during a massive thunderstorm to bury a broken mirror so she could walk around it seven times to break the curse. Are there any superstitions that you still adhere to?

Our mothers have a lot to answer for.

Thank to mine I spend my days constantly saluting magpies. The old “one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a boy”. I don’t have any offspring so it’s obviously working.

And given how easy salt is to spill, I throw more over my left shoulder than I actually use.

I didn’t realise there was a way to lift the broken mirror curse. Thanks for that! If ever you see me pacing around a freshly dug pit you’ll know what happened.

Oh, and if anyone starts telling you about the creeper, cover your ears. That’s an important one.

A. M. Shine is an author of Literary Horror from the west of Ireland. It was there that at a young age he discovered a passion for classic horror stories, and where he received his Masters in history, before ultimately sharpening his quill to pursue a life devoted to all things literary and macabre. His writing is inspired by the trinity of horror, history, and superstition, and he has tormented, toyed with, and tortured more characters than he will ever confess to.

Owing to a fascination with the works of Edgar Allan Poe and his ilk, A. M. Shine’s earlier writings were Gothic in their style and imagination. When his focus turned to novels he refined his craft as an author of Irish horror – stories influenced by his country’s culture, landscape, and language, but which draw their dark atmosphere and eloquence from the Gothic canon of his past.

His debut novel, THE WATCHERS, is available now, with THE CREEPER due for release Sept 2022.
​
He is represented by John Baker of Bell Lomax Moreton Literary Agency.

Isolation: The Horror Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon, gathers 20 modern masters of horror to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss. Featuring stories by Paul Tremblay, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, M. R. Carey, Ken Liu, Nina Allan, Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Maberry, Angela Slatter and many many more, it explores something that the horror fan has always known: when it comes to the crunch, we all die alone.


This week we’ll be featuring interviews with five of the writers featured in Isolation. Laird Barron, Gwendolyn Kiste, Michael Marshall Smith, Lynda E. Rucker and Owl Goingback will give us a sneak preview of their story in the anthology, as well as their other work in progress, and answer that vital question: why are we so afraid of being alone?




https://titanbooks.com/70997-isolation-the-horror-anthology/

Alone with… Owl Goingback


Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about your story in Isolation?

My story was inspired by the recent pandemic and the insanity it spawned. We all suffered various forms of isolation during those days, trapped inside our homes, unable to go anywhere, watching the world fall apart on the nightly news. People were dying alone in hospitals, family members not allowed to be there to comfort them during those final moments. The pandemic caused frustration, anger, and even panic. We thought things would quickly return to normal once a vaccine was created, but other evils waited on the horizon.


"Full Blood" is about a young Navajo man alone in the Arizona desert. He too has had the rug pulled out from under him. The world he knew has changed drastically. There is no one he can reach out to for help, not even members of his own tribe. He is isolated, standing guard each night as he faces a danger he can barely comprehend. It is a story laced with fear, and uncertainly, sprinkled with just a touch of irony. A reflection on the history of indigenous people in North America, and perhaps on their future.


What in particular appealed to you about isolation as a theme? Is it something you've experienced yourself?

Isolation can really test a person's strength and weaknesses. When you're completely alone, and have no one to call for help, you have to rely on your own physical and mental abilities. In extreme situations, survival skills kick in that you didn't even know you had. Survive the situation, and you come away confident and better prepared to make it on your own merits.

Isolation has always been part of my life in one form or another. I grew up an only child in rural America, living in a mobile home surrounded by forest. I had no companions, and spent a lot of time on my own in the woods. But I adapted to the situation, and was happier being by myself than surrounded by other people.
As an adult, I faced isolation during a vision quest: three days and nights alone in the wilderness with no food and very little water, and only a pair of shorts and a thin blanket for protection from the elements. Definitely a test of my fortitude.


Apart from your own, whose stories are you most looking forward to reading in Isolation?

That's a tough question because the list of authors in Isolation is amazing. A lot of them are friends; and I've been enjoying their work for years. But I will probably read the stories by Joe R. Lansdale and Ramsey Campbell first. Those guys are masters of horror and always take things to the next level.   

What are you working on at the moment?

I've taken a break from writing novels to crank out short stories for various anthologies. I hadn't written short fiction for many years, so it has been a nice change of pace for me. I just finished a horror western story, and I'm about to start on an unknown superhero tale. After that, I will be trying my luck with a story featuring a dead detective. Writing short fiction allows me to flex my creative muscles, and work on some fun projects I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. But I will be getting back to writing longer fiction again in the not-so-distant future. I already have three new novels in the works.


Apart from the story in Isolation, do you have anything else coming out in the next few months that we should be keeping an eye out for?

I have an old west Dracula story that just came out in the anthology Classic Monsters Unleashed. It's a fun tale featuring everyone's favorite vampire facing off against Buffalo Bill Cody and Sitting Bull. I also have a couple of wendigo stories coming out soon. One will appear in the anthology American Cannibal, while the other will be out in comic form. Another story will be published in First People Shared Stories. Audio editions of my novels Coyote Rage and Tribal Screams will also soon be available.


What are you reading at the moment (or what are you most looking forward to reading)?
​
I read mostly nonfiction, because I'm always on the lookout for material I can use in future stories. I'm currently reading several books about the Texas Rangers of the 1800s. Those guys were some serious bad asses, and their true stories are more exciting than anything Hollywood could invent for the silver screen. After I finish reading about "Big Foot" Wallace, Creed Taylor, and the other Rangers, I'm going to grab a cup of Tribal Screams coffee and treat myself to the stories in Isolation.

Full Blood might be the most strait-forward tale in this anthology in terms of narrative structure and plot devices, but that doesn't take away from the stories ability to be  powerful response to nit just this pandemic, but the atrocities of biological warfare that were carried out in the early days in the birth of the American nation.  

The opening to this story is elegantly written and cannot fail to be a cutting reminder of struggles and barbarity that Owl's people have and still face today.  

I loved Owl's use of lesser known monster, in this story and the stoic, portrayal of a warrior ho is a little too old for all of this shit.  Tightly written, utterly compelling, and with a narrative drive a solid as as they come Full Blood is an exquisitely  thrilling survival tale. 

Owl Goingback has been writing professionally for over thirty years, and is the author of numerous novels, children’s book, screenplays, magazine articles, short stories, and comics. He is a HWA Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, A two-time Bram Stoker Award Winner, and a Nebula Award Nominee. His books include Crota, Darker Than Night, Evil Whispers, Breed, Shaman Moon, Coyote Rage, Eagle Feathers, The Gift, and Tribal Screams. In addition to writing under his own name, Owl has ghostwritten several books for Hollywood celebrities.

Lost in the wilderness, or alone in the dark, isolation remains one of our deepest held fears. This horror anthology from Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy Award finalist Dan Coxon calls on leading horror writers to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss.
Experience the chilling terrors of Isolation.
Featuring stories by:
Nina Allan
Laird Barron
Ramsey Campbell
M.R. Carey
Chịkọdịlị Emelumadu
Brian Evenson
Owl Goingback
Gwendolyn Kiste
Joe R. Lansdale
Tim Lebbon
Alison Littlewood
Ken Liu
Jonathan Maberry
Michael Marshall Smith
Mark Morris
Lynda E. Rucker
A.G. Slatter
Paul Tremblay
Lisa Tuttle
Marian Womack

Isolation: The Horror Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon, gathers 20 modern masters of horror to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss. Featuring stories by Paul Tremblay, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, M. R. Carey, Ken Liu, Nina Allan, Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Maberry, Angela Slatter and many many more, it explores something that the horror fan has always known: when it comes to the crunch, we all die alone.


This week we’ll be featuring interviews with five of the writers featured in Isolation. Laird Barron, Gwendolyn Kiste, Michael Marshall Smith, Lynda E. Rucker and Owl Goingback will give us a sneak preview of their story in the anthology, as well as their other work in progress, and answer that vital question: why are we so afraid of being alone?




https://titanbooks.com/70997-isolation-the-horror-anthology/

Alone with… Michael Marshall Smith


Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about your story in Isolation?


It’s pretty personal. My father, who was in his mid-eighties, started to finally lose strength last year. I live in California, and have done for over a decade, he still lived in the UK. Luckily COVID restrictions were relaxing to the point where (albeit plagued by bureaucracy and lots of testing and weird and expensive travel arrangements) I was able to make a number of trips in the second half of the year to be with him and take care of his needs for a week or two weeks at a time. I was very grateful and glad to be able to do this, though I ended up making six transatlantic round-trips in seven months, spending half of that time jet-lagged in one direction or the other, and wound up somewhat exhausted.


He eventually died. It was his time. I wrote this story during that period of endless travel, about the situation. My father was endlessly supportive of my work and read every single thing I ever produced. This was the last story I wrote while he was alive. In some ways it feels odd to have written something public about those circumstances (which have, of course, been highly fictionalized — nothing in the story actually happened in real life) but it’s often been deeply personal events that have inspired me to write. My first ever short story was an attempt at catharsis over a bad breakup I’d just gone through.


Writing doesn’t have to be about life, but for me it comes more easily and more authentically when it is. And perhaps it’s appropriate that the first story of mine that he’ll never read is at least obliquely about him, and me.


What in particular appealed to you about isolation as a theme? Is it something you've experienced yourself?


Isolation is a moveable feast. It means different things to different people. I’ve always been happy in (or perhaps “resigned to”) my own company, and in fact rapidly reach a point where — with the exception of my wife and son, and a couple of key friends — I need a break from people. If I travel on work trips I have to schedule downtime from other humans, or I rapidly lose my mind. I suspect that one of the reasons I’m still a smoker is that it gives me an excuse to bail out of any social event for a few minutes every hour or so, and stand by myself outside.


So I almost never feel lonely, but “loneliness” is different to “isolation”, and fascinatingly so. You can feel isolated in the midst of a group, a family, a couple, or even a whole country. And so within the idea is a contradiction: though it’s usually conceived as being isolated from others, often it’s driven out of yourself, and how you feel about your position in the world. Like a lot of strong emotional burdens (including being in love) it's saying as much about you, as about the world.


Apart from your own, whose stories are you most looking forward to reading in Isolation?


Honestly, all of them. Joe Landsdale, Ramsey Campbell, Mike Carey — these are some of my favorite writers. But Angela Slatter, Tim Lebbon, Lisa Tuttle, Mark Morris, Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron… it’s an amazing list of great people, and there’s genuinely nobody who I’m not looking forward to reading.


What are you working on at the moment?


At the moment my focus is mainly in television. We have an adaptation of my novel The Straw Men out there with streamers at the moment, I’m preparing my novel The Anomaly for TV (early stages), developing a collaborative horror TV project, and developing a few other projects based on other people’s IP.


TV is also a major focus in that for the last four years I’ve been Creative Director of Neil Gaiman’s production company, The Blank Corporation, and so we have a ton of stuff either in production or development.


I’m also trying to gear up to writing a new novel — the last was pre-COVID — though I’m taking my time to work out what kind of thing I really want to write. Writing a novel is a long, uphill climb. I want to make sure I’m tackling the right mountain.


Apart from the story in Isolation, do you have anything else coming out in the next few months that we should be keeping an eye out for?


I wrote a novella earlier in the year called Time Out, which will be coming out from Subterranean — I’m not sure when yet.


Apart from that... I don’t think I do, actually. My short story output has sadly slackened… I tend only to remember to write them when I’m asked to. TV stuff takes up a lot of my time and creative impulse, and before that, novel-writing also pulled focus. I do love short stories, though, and so am trying to get back into writing them more regularly. Not least because the story in Isolation is my 97th published tale, and I really feel I should make it to one hundred!


What are you reading at the moment (or what are you most looking forward to reading)?


Main read right now is The Last Days Of Roger Federer, by Geoff Dyer. I’d been aware of him for ages but never read any of his stuff. This is a series of short, interlinked non-fiction essays, observations, vignettes… much of it informed by reaching a certain age (he’s a little older than me, but I can see it on the horizon) and it’s absorbing and thought-provoking and brilliantly phrased.


I’ve also just started dipping into a best-off selection of Eve Babitz, who is fabulous. Hadn’t read any before and saw a mention of her somewhere… and just last night, oddly, Dyer mentions her in his book. I love it when that happens.


The last fiction I read was Tyler Jones’s debut collection, Burn The Plans — which is absolutely exceptional.

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown has had a profound effect on all of us, from isolation of family members, to the isolation of yourself within your own bubble.  It led to many paranoid feelings, especially when it concerned elderly relatives, who were looking after them could they be trusted, and what really is going on behind the curtains. 

Michael Marshall Smith's creepy tale tackles this notion with tight, and claustrophobic narrative, that keeps the reader wondering exactly where the story is going until the very end.

Smith's use of the motif of the old,  infirm and vulnerable "victim" is used ingeniously here in a tale that wouldn't be out of place in that classic horror film From Beyond the Grave.  

Michael Marshall Smith Is a novelist and screenwriter. Under this name he has published nearly a hundred short stories, and five novels, and is the only author to have won the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction four times. 2020 saw a Best Of Michael Marshall Smith collection from Subterranean Press. Writing as Michael Marshall he has written seven internationally-bestselling conspiracy thrillers, including The Straw Men (currently in television development); now additionally writing as MICHAEL RUTGER, in 2018 he published the adventure thriller The Anomaly. A sequel, The Possession, was published in 2019.
​
He also works in film and television development, as Creative Consultant to the Blank Corporation, Neil Gaiman’s production company in Los Angeles. He lives in Santa Cruz, California, with his wife, son, and cats.


www.michaelmarshallsmith.com

Lost in the wilderness, or alone in the dark, isolation remains one of our deepest held fears. This horror anthology from Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy Award finalist Dan Coxon calls on leading horror writers to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss.

Experience the chilling terrors of Isolation.
​
Featuring stories by:
Nina Allan
Laird Barron
Ramsey Campbell
M.R. Carey
Chịkọdịlị Emelumadu
Brian Evenson
Owl Goingback
Gwendolyn Kiste
Joe R. Lansdale
Tim Lebbon
Alison Littlewood
Ken Liu
Jonathan Maberry
Michael Marshall Smith
Mark Morris
Lynda E. Rucker
A.G. Slatter
Paul Tremblay
Lisa Tuttle
Marian Womack

Isolation: The Horror Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon, gathers 20 modern masters of horror to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss. Featuring stories by Paul Tremblay, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, M. R. Carey, Ken Liu, Nina Allan, Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Maberry, Angela Slatter and many many more, it explores something that the horror fan has always known: when it comes to the crunch, we all die alone.


This week we’ll be featuring interviews with five of the writers featured in Isolation. Laird Barron, Gwendolyn Kiste, Michael Marshall Smith, Lynda E. Rucker and Owl Goingback will give us a sneak preview of their story in the anthology, as well as their other work in progress, and answer that vital question: why are we so afraid of being alone?




https://titanbooks.com/70997-isolation-the-horror-anthology/

Alone with… Lynda E. Rucker

Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about your story in Isolation?

I spent the spring and summer of the first lockdown in England walking miles and miles on the same stretch of shore as Claire does in the story. I grew very attached to it in that time and increasingly intrigued with the sense of its age, how much history was there, how long humans had been there and what had been there before humans, and I started thinking about how I could put all of that into a story. The first paragraph and last sentence of the story both came to me in full and entirely spontaneously while I was walking there — I first wrote them on my phone.

What in particular appealed to you about isolation as a theme? Is it something you've experienced yourself?

I was fortunate enough not to experience the extreme isolation that many others did during the pandemic, but yes, absolutely — I have experienced intentional and unintentional isolation, both psychological and physical. I've travelled to and lived in some remote and far-flung places alone, but for this story, I really wanted to get at the sense of isolation you feel after trauma, when you are in so much pain that no one can get through to you and you feel entirely apart from the world — and how that would play out against the backdrop of an event as singular as the pandemic lockdown.

Apart from your own, whose stories are you most looking forward to reading in Isolation?

Oh my gosh! This is a trick question, isn't it? The only proper response is “all of them!” I'm really, really excited to be in this anthology alongside loads of authors who are, frankly, much better known and more successful than I am. I'm a big fan of Paul Tremblay's fiction. I'm in there with friends like A.G. Slatter and Alison Littlewood, whose work I like as much as I do them! Nina Allan has long been a writer (and person) I admire a great deal. I recommend her blog, where she writes incisively about literature, almost as strongly as I do her fiction. Two huge, huge influences on my own work, writers I've been reading for decades and alongside whom I'm always delighted to appear, are Lisa Tuttle and Ramsey Campbell. I’m also a longtime Joe Lansdale fan. And Chikodili Emelumadu was one of my fellow Shirley Jackson jurors a few years back who I was lucky enough to meet briefly but I've never read her work and I'm really looking forward to her story. But also — argh, this is truly impossible to answer: Mark Morris, Michael Marshall Smith, M.R. Carey, Tim Lebbon and everyone in the anthology are all wonderfully accomplished writers. There are only a few whose work I haven't read although I know them by reputation, and I'm looking forward to diving in.

What are you working on at the moment?

2022 is shaping up to be the year that I finally pushed through a multi-year writer's block/ambivalence about writing fiction and found inspiration again. I've just finished several stories promised to various editors, I'm working on one more and I'm also finally turning back to a novel idea I've had for a couple of years. I know this last bit is going to make everyone who knows me well go “yeah, right” as I am perpetually announcing that I'm working on a novel that then peters out, but this time, honest, I think I've found the book I want to finish.

Apart from the story in Isolation, do you have anything else coming out in the next few months that we should be keeping an eye out for?

I'm the international guest author in the next Great British Horror anthology coming out at the end of September, published by Black Shuck Books (this features a story by Isolation editor Dan Coxon). I also have a story, “The Spirit and the Dust,” forthcoming in the next issue of Supernatural Tales, which will be out before Halloween. There's other stuff in the pipeline, but I can't talk about any of it yet!

What are you reading at the moment (or what are you most looking forward to reading)?

Right at the moment I'm reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, which is really good. I confess that until now, I knew next to nothing about Nigeria's Biafra War (or the Nigerian Civil War) other than that it happened, and Half of a Yellow Sun brings it all to stark life. I'm also reading Salman Rushdie's The Languages of Truth, his collection of essays that was published in 2021. It's a wonderful collection about reading and writing and the power of telling stories and imagination and it's just so, so inspiring; I recommend it to anyone who loves books. Some books I'm looking forward to are Chikodili Emelumadu's debut novel Dazzling, Elizabeth Hand's authorized sequel to The Haunting of Hill House and whatever Unsung Stories has in the pipeline.

Horror has the power to haunt, this might be an obvious and cliched thing to say, but when you read a story, that is a beautifully written as this one, and it still haunts your waking hours, thanks to the hauntingly sombre tone, them it needs to be said again. 

Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone is a powerful and melancholy look at grief and loss and regret.  Rucker's evocative prose captures the bleakness of the coastline and the protagonists predicament perfectly.  And huge props to the author for name checking my favourite dinosaur. 

 Lynda E. Rucker has sold dozens of short stories to various magazines and anthologies including Best New Horror, The Best Horror of the Year, The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Black Static, Nightmare, F&SF, Postscripts, Supernatural Tales and Shadows and Tall Trees. She has had a short play produced as part of an anthology of horror plays on London's West End, has collaborated on a short horror comic, writes a regular column on horror for Black Static, and won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Short Story in 2015. Two collections of her short fiction have been published, The Moon Will Look Strange and You'll Know When You Get There, and she edited the anthology Uncertainties III for Swan River Press. 

Lost in the wilderness, or alone in the dark, isolation remains one of our deepest held fears. This horror anthology from Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy Award finalist Dan Coxon calls on leading horror writers to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss.

Experience the chilling terrors of Isolation.
​
Featuring stories by:
Nina Allan
Laird Barron
Ramsey Campbell
M.R. Carey
Chịkọdịlị Emelumadu
Brian Evenson
Owl Goingback
Gwendolyn Kiste
Joe R. Lansdale
Tim Lebbon
Alison Littlewood
Ken Liu
Jonathan Maberry
Michael Marshall Smith
Mark Morris
Lynda E. Rucker
A.G. Slatter
Paul Tremblay
Lisa Tuttle
Marian Womack

Isolation: The Horror Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon, gathers 20 modern masters of horror to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss. Featuring stories by Paul Tremblay, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, M. R. Carey, Ken Liu, Nina Allan, Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Maberry, Angela Slatter and many many more, it explores something that the horror fan has always known: when it comes to the crunch, we all die alone.


This week we’ll be featuring interviews with five of the writers featured in Isolation. Laird Barron, Gwendolyn Kiste, Michael Marshall Smith, Lynda E. Rucker and Owl Goingback will give us a sneak preview of their story in the anthology, as well as their other work in progress, and answer that vital question: why are we so afraid of being alone?

​And Jim McLeod will be reviewing each of the five stories at the end of each interview. 


https://titanbooks.com/70997-isolation-the-horror-anthology/

​Alone with… Laird Barron

Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about your story in Isolation?

“So Easy to Kill” is a science fiction/horror story that takes major influence from Gene Wolfe and Jack Vance. Visually, it draws on the colors and textures of Richard Corben and Boris Vallejo.

A far, far future human empire sends an expedition to an alien world. Matters go catastrophically, and gruesomely, awry.

What in particular appealed to you about isolation as a theme? Is it something you've experienced yourself?

Isolation pairs well with horror. Often, the entire point of a horror story is to cut characters away from the herd, either physically by marooning them to some degree, or psychologically via social estrangement. In these types of story, the true menace can only emerge once these conditions are met. It’s a broader theme than my examples, and one that invites revisitation.

Regarding my personal experience: I was born in Alaska in the ’70s. Spent many years in remote cabins and mushing dog teams across the state. Alaska is a vast, primordial landscape. An extreme contrast of light and darkness. Even Anchorage, its largest city, with a quarter of a million souls back then, is almost like an irritant pearl embedded in the flesh of inhospitable wilderness.

I’ve written a number of stories that deal with isolation. Generally, these occur in the backwoods and backwaters. “So Easy to Kill” goes in a different direction — interstellar space. It also posits an antagonist that varies from my past cosmic horror tales.


Apart from your own, whose stories are you most looking forward to reading in Isolation?

This ToC is stacked. Can’t go wrong with Lansdale, Tremblay, or Lebbon. I count Ramsey Campbell and Lisa Tuttle as longtime influences. Editor Dan Coxon settled on a dynamite conceit for this anthology. One of the pleasures of reading it will be to see how a bunch of horror authors of wildly varying style and interest tackle this particular prompt.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve been ramping up to a handful of major projects over the past couple of years. “So Easy to Kill” is a piece of a baroque dark fantasy collection that inches ever nearer its ultimate form. That collection is divided into sections — fairytale adjacent; pulp sword and sorcery; and bizarre high fantasy/science fiction set in a mirror universe. Also working on a novel in that setting and a series of novellas centered on my reformed Mafia enforcer, Isaiah Coleridge. Busy days.

Apart from the story in Isolation, do you have anything else coming out in the next few months that we should be keeping an eye out for?

2022 has seen stories of mine in Ellen Datlow’s Screams from the Dark and Sean Hazlett’s Weird World War IV anthologies. Cosmic Horror Monthly printed a dark fantasy story set in my Antiquity cycle. Over the next six to nine months, I have work slated to appear in several anthologies to be named at a later date and the Mystery Tribune.

I recently turned in a fifth horror collection to my agent and am working on a novella series featuring the aforementioned Isaiah Coleridge, and a dark fantasy/horror novel. The novel is in the vein of Corben and Vance. Essentially a what-if Seven Samurai met Gene Wolfe and Karl Edward Wagner in Kane mode.


What are you reading at the moment (or what are you most looking forward to reading)?

Been on a major Paul Bowles kick the past two years. Highly recommend his collection, The Delicate Prey. Bowles was Ligotti before the arrival of Ligotti and definitely more capable of horrific imagery than most avowed horror writers. A stack of Cornwell’s historical Sharpe novels landed on my desk (thanks, Jessica M!). Sharpe’s exploits slot into my current alignment of marrying adventure fiction with high rococo dark fantasy and horror.

As for contemporary authors, I’ve had the pleasure of reading excellent works by Madeleine Swann, Joe Koch, Teri Z. Rocklyn, Eric LaRocca, and Philip Fracassi among others. I strongly suggest that fans of Brian Evenson and Thomas Ligotti scoop up a copy of The Black Maybe, a collection by Attila Veres. Grim, unsettling stories.
​
Weird fiction, horror fiction, are in a good place. I keep waiting for the current tide to peak. Might be waiting a while longer.

Right I'm, going to be honest here, I've read this story twice and i still don't think i fully understand it, buuut that doesn't stop So Easy to Kill from being an utterly singularly mind-blowing and intense read. This tale that spans planets, and  time, at times feels like a brutal and intense stream of unconscious thought, that batters your brain into submission, however once it clicks into place it will feel like you have just been spiked with the biggest shot of caffeine ever.    For an anthology where isolation is binding factor, this time and universe spanning short story might seem an odd choice, for a theme of being alone, but stick with it because it nails the thematic landing with a perfect ten. 

​Laird Barron, an expat Alaskan, is the author of several books, including The Imago Sequence and Other Stories; Swift to Chase; and Blood Standard. Currently, Barron lives in the Rondout Valley of New York State and is at work on tales about the evil that men do.

Lost in the wilderness, or alone in the dark, isolation remains one of our deepest held fears. This horror anthology from Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy Award finalist Dan Coxon calls on leading horror writers to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss.

Experience the chilling terrors of Isolation.
​
Featuring stories by:
Nina Allan
Laird Barron
Ramsey Campbell
M.R. Carey
Chịkọdịlị Emelumadu
Brian Evenson
Owl Goingback
Gwendolyn Kiste
Joe R. Lansdale
Tim Lebbon
Alison Littlewood
Ken Liu
Jonathan Maberry
Michael Marshall Smith
Mark Morris
Lynda E. Rucker
A.G. Slatter
Paul Tremblay
Lisa Tuttle
Marian Womack

Isolation: The Horror Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon, gathers 20 modern masters of horror to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss. Featuring stories by Paul Tremblay, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, M. R. Carey, Ken Liu, Nina Allan, Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Maberry, Angela Slatter and many many more, it explores something that the horror fan has always known: when it comes to the crunch, we all die alone.

This week we’ll be featuring interviews with five of the writers featured in Isolation. Laird Barron, Gwendolyn Kiste, Michael Marshall Smith, Lynda E. Rucker and Owl Goingback will give us a sneak preview of their story in the anthology, as well as their other work in progress, and answer that vital question: why are we so afraid of being alone? And Jim Mcleod will be reviewing each of these five stories at the end of each of the interviews.  


https://titanbooks.com/70997-isolation-the-horror-anthology/

Alone with… Gwendolyn Kiste

Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about your story in Isolation?

My story, “The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall,” is about a woman who is seen walking into her home one day but inexplicably never comes out again. Her inquisitive neighbors begin to wonder what happened to her, only to realize that no one can get inside her house. At the same time, they start to feel a strange need to withdraw into their own homes and not leave either. In particular after living through the pandemic and the shelter-at-home orders, it was interesting to me to explore the idea of being sequestered inside and the reasons why people exile themselves from the world. I kept thinking about how truly bizarre it would be for all of us to have gone into our homes in 2020 if you didn’t know the context of there being a pandemic and how we were trying to protect ourselves and others from getting ill. That context is everything; without it, our collective withdraw from the world would seem much stranger. So I decided to take that basic concept and extrapolate it into an entire story.

What in particular appealed to you about isolation as a theme? Is it something you've experienced yourself?

I feel like isolation is such a universal experience. We’ve all been isolated at some point, either physically (such as during the pandemic) or emotionally when we don’t feel close to anyone around us. That was definitely a huge draw for writing about this theme. There’s so much potential, and there’s so many different directions you can go with it. For my story, I decided to do a darkly humorous take on the idea, but the sky was really the limit in how you can interpret the theme. There’s so much existential horror in the idea of isolation.

Apart from your own, whose stories are you most looking forward to reading in Isolation?

There are so many amazing authors in this table of contents, and I’m so incredibly honored to be included. If I had to pick just a couple authors, I’d go with A.G. Slatter and Ken Liu. I’ve been a huge fan of their work for so long, especially their short stories, so it’s always such a wonderful and unique experience to read their fiction.

But truly, you can’t go wrong with any of the authors in the anthology. I’m in awe of the talent in this book, and once again, I’m just so happy to be part of it. So needless to say, I’m looking very forward to reading everyone’s stories

What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve just finished up a new novel over the summer, so that’s always a major mountain to climb. This book is all about a haunted neighborhood, and the three women who escaped it years ago before the whole street became a ghost. Now twenty years later, they’re forced to return and reckon with the past. It’s a gothic coming-of-age story, and it’s also probably the weirdest, most personal thing I’ve ever written. I’ve also always wanted to write a full-length haunted house story, so I figured why not write a whole haunted street while I was at it?

Otherwise, I’m working on short stories and nonfiction articles, all in the horror genre. There’s always something to be writing, which is a good thing, since I’m happier when I’m busy. It helps to keep the existential dread at bay!

Apart from the story in Isolation, do you have anything else coming out in the next few months that we should be keeping an eye out for?

My new novel, Reluctant Immortals, is out now from Saga Press. It’s about two of the forgotten women of gothic literature — Lucy Westenra from Dracula and Bertha Antoinetta Mason from Jane Eyre — who are living in 1960s California as undead immortals. They’re doing their best to hide out from their past, until suddenly the toxic men they’ve been desperate to escape — Dracula and Edward Rochester — make a very shocking return to their lives. The UK edition will be released in November from Titan Books, so my gothic heroines will be making their way around the world in the next couple months!

What are you reading at the moment (or what are you most looking forward to reading)?

The anthology Chromophobia, edited by Sara Tantlinger, is my biggest must-read for the fall. I also just finished Addie Tsai’s brilliant Unwieldy Creatures, which is a biracial queer retelling of Frankenstein. I can’t recommend those two books enough. Definitely put them on your reading list for the forthcoming spooky season!

Gwendolyn Kiste is the three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rust Maidens, Reluctant Immortals, Boneset & Feathers, And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, Pretty Marys All in a Row, and The Invention of Ghosts. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Lit Hub, Vastarien, Tor's Nightfire, Black Static, The Dark, Daily Science Fiction, Interzone, and LampLight, among others. Originally from Ohio, she now resides on an abandoned horse farm outside of Pittsburgh with her husband, two cats, and not nearly enough ghosts. Find her online at gwendolynkiste.com

The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall is a haunting tale told via the interesting medium of series of articles from a blog site about the strange events that centre on Molly McMarshall.  Despite have absolutely no actual violence or graphic descriptions of threatening monsters etc, this story is one of the most chilling and frankly upsetting short stories I have ever read.  Kiste's inspired use of telling the story through a series of blog posts describing the events that happen after Molly McMarshall decides to enter her house one day an not come out, lends this story a frantic, and oppressive tone that keeps on building until the emotionally charged and eerie conclusion.  

Kiste's skill at being able to tap into the primal human fears of the unknown, and the uncontrollable is majestic, I was mesmerized throughout this powerful short story.  With shades of Radiohead's "Just" you never know why or what is causing the events in the story, which is a genius level move, as it lends a ominous tone to this brilliant story.  And you know what sometimes like Molly we all just want to be left alone.  

Lost in the wilderness, or alone in the dark, isolation remains one of our deepest held fears. This horror anthology from Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy Award finalist Dan Coxon calls on leading horror writers to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face alone: survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss.

Experience the chilling terrors of Isolation.
​
Featuring stories by:
Nina Allan
Laird Barron
Ramsey Campbell
M.R. Carey
Chịkọdịlị Emelumadu
Brian Evenson
Owl Goingback
Gwendolyn Kiste
Joe R. Lansdale
Tim Lebbon
Alison Littlewood
Ken Liu
Jonathan Maberry
Michael Marshall Smith
Mark Morris
Lynda E. Rucker
A.G. Slatter
Paul Tremblay
Lisa Tuttle
Marian Womack

Ginger Nuts of Horror is honoured to bring you an exclusive interview with the comic book legend Cullen Bunn. 

Cullen Bunn  has created horror comics such as Harrow County, Death Follows, The Empty Man, and more. This fall he has a new horror anthology series coming out called Shock Shop--it is a flip comic that features two stories throughout the series run, all framed within a haunted comic shop with a twister retailer who tells the stories.

Hello Cullen, congratulations on the forthcoming release of Shock Shop; how are you feeling in the days leading up to its release? 

Thank you! I’m so excited. It feels like the slate of books I have coming out right now are so true to who I am as a writer, and I love it. Shock Shop is particularly thrilling, because it’s the kind of book through which I can tell countless horror stories for years to come!

I love the concept of framing the series within a book shop filled with some of your previous publications; what was the inspiration for this idea? 

I drew a lot of inspiration from the great horror anthology comics of the past, notably DC’s House of Mystery. Issues of that comic would often start with these great full-page splashes of the book’s host Caine in some strange situation within the confines of this sprawling haunted house. I loved those splash pages, sometimes much more than the stories that would follow. So, I wanted to capture that feel. Rather than setting the framing sequences in a haunted house, I decided to set them in a haunted comic book shop. I feel like comic retailers and fans alike will get a kick out of the “meta” elements of those splash pages. And, yes, having the introductions in a comic shop gave me a chance to throw some hints out there to some of my other books. 

And how did you decide which of your previous books were on show? 

The biggest driving factor is I only wanted to showcase creator-owned books. Beyond that, I feel like I’m pretty open, though Dark Horse books like Harrow County, Death Follows, Lucky Devil, and Manor Black would get preferential treatment. Some others are just completely made up. Some might even hint at future Shock Shop stories. 


You have taken the Tales of the Cryptkeeper approach to framing the stories with a "host", what was the reason for this, and will we learn more about Desdaemona? Does she have her own story to tell? 

The horror host is such a time-honored tradition in comics, and I wanted to honor that. In addition, though, Desdaemona allows me to have a bit of fun, to be cheeky, to throw a few puns into the mix. Her surroundings allow for some wild shenanigans, the likes of which you might have seen in the good old days of horror comics. The comic shop she works in might look like the ghastly, mishmash painting on a county fair haunted house or on a 70s horror SFX record. Anything goes. But then we get into the stories which, at least for this go-round, much more serious and dark. 

Many authors get inspiration from the things that scare them; what scares you, and how do you use your fears in your stories? 

Only one thing scares me, and that’s getting struck by lightning a fifth time!

All joking aside, lately it feels like everything scares me. That’s not being facetious, either. There was a time in my life when nothing scared me. Nothing phased me. As I’ve gotten older, the pendulum has swung drastically in the other direction. Maybe the thing that really haunts me right now is the idea of letting the people I love down in some way. I’ve really been struggling with that a lot. 

Most of the time, the things that are frightening me come to the surface without a lot of hard work. I start writing, and those pesky fears of mine bubble to the surface whether I want them to or not.   

I have to admit I haven't read many comics since the mid-90s; I had an obsession that almost bankrupted me as a student; what has changed within the comic scene? 

There have been a lot of changes! And you’ve missed a lot of amazing comics! There are so many great books. Creator-owned comics have been around for a long while, but nowadays there are so many! No matter what kind of story you like, there’s almost certainly a comic book for you. And the horror genre is very well represented. Every flavor of horror. It’s there for you. Yes, with so many books on the shelves, creators have to work extra hard to get seen. You have to do everything you can to stand out among a sea of amazing content. 

​One of the things that put me off reading comics was the massive multi-comic crossover events. Will new readers of Shock Shop get more out of this series if they have prior experience with your work? 

Prior experience with my work is not necessary at all. Both of the stories in Shock Shop are completely self-contained and completely independent.
One of the things I love about creator-owned comics is that most of them stand on their own and you can dive into them without all the previous books or all tie-ins. 

Now, if someone reads Shock Shop and likes it, there are plenty of books I’d suggest as next steps to exploring my work. Harrow County (also from Dark Horse) is collected in some really easy-entry collections. The Sixth Gun from Oni Press is another great example of my work and is collected and easy to follow. Those are longer series, but completely independent of other books. (And I’m pretty proud of them, to boot.)

When you sat down to write it, did you have a laid-out direction for the series? Did you know what stories you wanted to tell beyond the initial two tales? 

I have a long list of story ideas I’d like to tackle in the pages of Shock Shop, but I had to narrow it down to just two. I chose “Something in the Woods, in the Dark” and “Familiars” because those two just sort of jumped out at me. I haven’t decided for sure which stories I’d like to tackle next, but I have some thoughts. One of them is one that wasn’t even on the initial list I put together!

The first two stories have a similar tone and feel. Was this a deliberate move, or something that just happened by chance? 

It was something of a happy accident, really. I picked those two stories because I thought they’d be fun beginnings to the Shock Shop series. As I started writing them, though, I realized they had a lot of thematic connections. Once I figured that out, I really leaned into it. I enjoyed exploring similar themes in very different ways, and I’ll be doing more of that in future stories. 

Will the tone remain the same throughout the run? Do you have any comical" tales coming up? 

Yes, the tone for the first two stories is set. They’re both fairly serious pieces. In the future, though, I absolutely have plans for more humorous horror tales. I really think Shock Shop will give me the chance to explore so many sub-genres of horror, which is one of the things I’m most excited about. 

You took the, for me, unusual approach of having a different artist for each tale; why did you do this? 

I very much wanted each of the stories to feel like unique entities. If the same artist had drawn both tales, I feel like they would have blended together a little too much for my taste. Shock Shop is meant to feel like you’re getting two individual books in one, and the differing art styles helps that along. Plus, it’s just a celebration of how there are so many great styles of art out there in the world of horror comics!

How well did you know the artists? Was this an easy pitch to make to them? 

I have worked with Leila Leiz and Danny Luckert on other projects. Leila and I just wrapped a run on a horror series titled The Last Book You’ll Ever Read from Vault. And Danny and I did a horror series titled Regression for Image a little while back. When we were planning this series, they were the two artists I wanted to approach first. And, yeah, it was a pretty easy pitch. I told them the story concepts, and they were all-in. 

If you could have any artist, living or dead, draw a future edition of Shock Shop, who would you have?

There are so many! Tyler Crook, Brian Hurtt, Dan Brereton, Kyle Strahm, Vanessa Del Ray, Joelle Jones, Sally Cantirino, Chris Samnee, Emily Schnall… Really, the list goes on and on. 

If the mortal realm was no issue, the only real answer would, of course, be Bernie Wrightson, who helped shape my adoration of the horror anthology comic… and horror comics in general. 

You have written comics based solely on your own creations and other intellectual properties, does your writing process change when writing within someone else's world? 

I don’t know that my process changes that much, but there are definitely fewer steps. When writing something in a world someone else controls, there are more approvals to go through. Sometimes several rounds of approvals. It’s their world, after all. With creator-owned projects, the final decisions fall to the creator. In that case, it’s our world, after all. 

What draws you to write in someone else's world? 

Sometimes it’s nostalgia, a simple joy in becoming part of a world or character that I loved in days gone by. Sometimes it’s an excitement for being involved in a property I’m currently digging. Sometimes I’ll take a project because my kid or a friend is really into the property I’m writing for. Sometimes it’s a feeling of being able to contribute in some small to something bigger. Occasionally, if I’m really lucky, it’s a combination of all of the above. 

Horror seems to be your preferred genre to write in; what draws you into the horror genre more than any other? 

It’s the genre I feel most comfortable with. I feel like it’s a great genre to get a real, emotional reaction from readers. And I feel like it’s a terrific genre to explore so, so many different kinds of stories. There are many flavors of horror, and I love ‘em all!

You are one of the hardest working creators out there; when do you find time just to sit and relax, and what do you like to do during your downtime? 

It’s sad to say, I don’t really feel like I get a lot of downtime. I’m almost always working, always plotting, always writing, always posting marketing content or responding to emails or taking meetings. It’s… a lot. I’ve been seriously considering hiring someone to help with the busy work like keeping my website and newsletter and social media updated so I can just focus on the part I like best—the writing—but I’ve been doing it all myself for so long, it sometimes feels like I’m the only one who can handle those things the way I like. I know, I know. Sounds like a control freak to me. I do try to carve out some downtime, and I love spending time with my wife and son as much as I can. We try to get little vacations and trips in when we can. I have a group of friends I get together with about once a week to relax and just talk. And I’m very excited that I’m planning on attending a convention next year—for the first time in well over a decade—just as a fan. A no work weekend! 

Can you tell us about any future projects you have lined up? 

In addition to Shock Shop, I have a few other horror comics lined up. We just announced Door to Door, Night by Night from Vault Comics; A Foulness in the Walls from Aftershock; and A Legacy of Violence from Mad Cave. And I’m working on several new series that haven’t been announced yet, but they are all going to be exciting for horror fans, I think! I’m always trying to cook up new stories, and I’m very thankful to the folks who give them a read!

Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?


I’ve been writing as a full-time gig and as a side passion for over a decade. I’ve written for various horror sites and even had my own at one point. I tried my hand at screenwriting, going around and around on that hamster wheel for a while before deciding to write my first novel, Devil’s Hollow.

Which one of your characters would you least like to meet in real life?

There’s a character, a cop in Devil’s Hollow, who is just the embodiment of that uber testosterone with a badge type of guy. I have no patience for that type of person, regardless of occupation, and was super happy that I was able to give that character exactly what he deserved in Devil’s Hollow.

Other than the horror genre, what else has been a major influence on your writing?

Comedy and wordplay. There’s a famous interview with George Carlin where he calls words his “babies.” I feel the same way. I grew up reading Piers Anthony’s Xanth series and while the puns in them seem overt and silly to an adult, as a pre-teen and early teenager they were everything. The way two words can play off each other and mean different things based on the context is fascinating.


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 as a community we’re getting it there. You look at how horror has become mainstream. Look at the cinema. Jordan Peele, James Wan. Blumhouse, it’s box office success after box office success.

Growing up Stephen King was considered “trash” by the literary community. Now he’s considered the modern-day Mark Twain.

The key is to keep doing good work. Push boundaries. Don’t fall back on the same tropes just to make a quick buck.

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?


I hope it’s not all pandemic stuff. I think we’re going to see a lot of films about the dangerousness of what I call “group think.” I look at what Carpenter did with They Live and how that film was of its time but at the same time more prescient today than ever. I think that type of film will serve as the template for reflecting our current socio/political environment.

Given the dark, violent and at times grotesque nature of the horror genre why do you think so many people enjoy reading it?


A couple of reasons. First and foremost I think it allows us to tap into something darker that we can’t necessarily do in our everyday lives. We can indulge through words.

Second, and I think most important, horror challenges you in ways other genres can’t. A romance novel isn’t going to present you with the same moral questions as say, The Stand. I think the average horror reader likes to think about what they’re reading. There aren’t too many “popcorn” horror novels, not any good ones anyway. The best of the genre not only tells a great story but they challenge the way we think about the world around us.

What, if anything, is currently missing from the horror genre?


The genre is so big at this point that you can find virtually anything, but I guess if I had to pick something I’d like to see a really good blend of Fantasy and Horror. There are some very good books out there that dabble in both, but as someone who grew up on Tolkien and similar fantasy writers as well as King and Straub and company, it would be great to get something like a horror Lord Of The Rings. I’m sure there is a ton of good dark fantasy out there, I just haven’t found that one thing that’s really scratched my itch yet.

What new and upcoming authors do you think we should take notice off?


I don’t know how new or upcoming they are but if you’re a horror fan and you’re not reading Stephen Graham Jones or Grady Hendrix then you need to get on it!

Are there any reviews of your work, positive or negative that have stayed with you?


“How do you sleep at night? Because after reading Devil’s Hollow, I couldn’t” which was funny because I never dream in “horror.” I always thought that was funny.


What aspects of writing to do you find the most difficult?

I said above how much I love words…but I also hate them. Thesaurus.com is NOT my friend! I’ve sat for a half hour sometimes trying to plug in the best descriptive word into a sentence.

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author?

It’s hard to say. I’ve written about some pretty off-putting things in my books, spousal abuse, drug addiction, and murder (of course). There was a part of the title story to Ghosts From The Ruins that originally culminates in a character getting sexually assaulted. I wrote it, reread it, and immediately excised it. It made me feel disgusting. I’m not saying there aren’t times for that in storytelling, but I felt in that situation I could tell the same story, and get to the same point, without using sexual assault as a plot device.


Writing, is not a static process, how have you developed as a writer over the years?

I used to write something, then immediately go back, reread it, and edit to what I perceived was perfection Now, I’m much more of a just go with it and finish. Fix it later. I get my basic story done first, the vomit draft, if you will, then edit the manuscript as a whole.


What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing?

It’s not from one person but the best advice is always. Keep writing. Write every day.

Which of your characters is your favourite?

I have a character in both of my books, Dana. She is a secondary character in Devil’s Hollow but I fell in love with writing for her so much that I wrote a whole short story prequel about just her for Ghosts From The Ruins.

Which of your books best represents you?

Not a complete book, but I love the story in Ghosts From The Ruins called Breaking Down. It’s the story about Dana I mentioned earlier. It’s got a little bit of everything, humor, tragedy, horror. It’s all there.

Do you have a favorite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us?


They’re all so good. Just kidding.
“Scotch, the drink, not the tape.” is a line I think is pretty clever. Maybe not, but it makes me chuckle,

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

My latest release Ghosts From The Ruins is a collection of seven short stories of varying length that all touch on death and the consequences of dying. I didn’t set out to create a thread in the stories, it happened organically. I didn’t realize what I’d done until I’d finished and started content editing. One of those happy little accidents, but it really helps the collection coalesce into a complete work.
As for what’s next? My next book is tentatively called All The Bodies and is a dirty little novel about two serial killers and the nastiness that ensues when they start hunting the same territory.

If you could erase one horror cliché what would be your choice?

I’m a little tired of the whole 6 teens in a remote place deal. I get it’s generally cheap and easy to do, but it’s all just some kind of variant on Evil Dead or Friday the 13th. If you’re going to go down that road, try to do something different.

What was the last great book you read, and what was the last book that disappointed you?


The last great book I read is kind of a cheat since I just read ‘Salem’s Lot for the umpteenth time. For first-time reads? I think about Stephen Chbosky’s Imaginary Friend a lot.

As far as disappointments? I generally don’t go down that road. As a reader, I understand not everything is for me. Writing is art, and art is subjective. So I’d hate to disparage something and have someone else choose not to read it because of my feelings towards it.

What's the one question you wish you would get asked but never do?  And what would be the answer?

Question: “Is this Joshua Martin? Hi. We’d like to give you this wheelbarrow full of money for the rights to your book. Would you take it?”
Answer: “Yes. Yes, I would.”

You wake up and find yourself in a horror franchise, what franchise would you prefer to wake up in and why?

Something lame, like Leprechaun or Chucky. How hard could it be to outrun a toy? I’ve always found the idea behind Chucky stupid. Once you get past the original surprise that a toy is a homicidal maniac, then it’s pretty easy to deal with.


Think what would have happened if it was possessed Lego instead of a doll? That stuff hurts if you step on it anyway – imagine if it had teeth and a bad attitude?



You find yourself as the “Final One”  which monster / villain would you most like to go up against ands why do you think you would survive?

Jaws. Just don’t go in the water. Simples.


And which creature would you least like to go up against?


The Cybermen from Doctor Who have always scared the beejesus out of me. It was that whole you can only kill them with gold. I’m from the Welsh valleys and when I was growing up in the seventies and eighties, I always thought ‘where the hell am I going to get gold from?’


Also, the Alien. The whole - it grows inside you - thing, with acid blood. Horrific.


Anything from Event Horizon. That is one terrifying film!


One more, because I’m being greedy, the Cenobites. Just holy shit, no….


You find yourself in Scooby Doo, which character are you, and who would most like to have as the other members of Mystery Inc?


I’d probably be Shaggy, trying to hide but getting into trouble anyway.


CC Adams would have to be Scooby as he’s never too far from food, and it takes him to his happy place.


Tim Lebbon would be Fred as he has the physique…! Maybe CC for this one too. Hmmm.


Kit Power for Velma, because he’s so damn clever and sees things others don’t.


Phil Sloman would be Daphne, just for the legs.



Pinhead pops round for an evening of fun, what are your pains and pleasures?

No clue, I’m too busy running like hell.


The Wishmaster gives you three wishes. What do you choose?

1.  You can wish to write in any franchise

Star Wars. Not a very horror answer I know, but I have adored the Star Wars films since I was a kid, watching it all on a big screen when I was about 7. Obviously the prequels dented that enthusiasm, but that whole universe is just outstanding.


I get annoyed with some of the direction they’ve taken with the TV shows – Book Of Boba Fett was fairly pants and I was also disappointed with Obi Wan in the end. People kept saying it was worth sticking with because of episodes 5 and 6. It really wasn’t and highlights the problems with prequels. There is no peril if you know the characters survive and every single character (bar one) in the final episode crops up in later films. It all looked spectacular, but that’s irrelevant if you aren’t made to care. I found it really boring, but appreciate I might be in the minority here: the whole series was a wasted opportunity.


Give me a new story, with previously unseen characters – like the Mandalorian – then you can move a story in a different direction. I’d love to see a horror story set in Star Wars (on screen) or a detective or a love story (don’t give me that prequels were a love story nonsense. There’s no way Padme would have fallen for Anakin).

2. You can wipe one franchise from the minds of everyone

Any of those cheap cash ins that are supposed to be funny, like the Scary Movie franchise. Consistently hitting a low bar for ‘humour’ for its entire run time. Dreadful, insipid and unfunny.

3. You can date your horror crush

Ripley or Laurie Strode from Halloween. Both of those would probably get the seal of approval from my wife.

You wake up and find yourself in a horror franchise, what franchise would you prefer to wake up in and why?

I could give a very cheap answer here. For example, choosing something like Jaws doesn’t put me in a different environment, and all I have to do is avoid the water until Chief Brody kills the shark. I will, for the purposes of this interview, try not to be boring. I would have to go with the Saw franchise. Believe it or not, I think this would be the easiest to survive. So many traps have work arounds and ways to escape without seriously maiming yourself.


You find yourself as the “Final One”  which monster / villain would you most like to go up against and why do you think you would survive?

This is tough. I’ll be honest: I fit the stereotypical criteria to be a final girl in a horror movie, but I think I would probably die pretty fast. I can’t run and I would probably freeze up and panic when trying to deal with a real life threat. Assuming that I somehow miraculously avoided these two factors, I would choose Ghostface. Unlike most horror villains, he is not a supernatural entity. More often than not, he’s just a person. People can be killed, supernatural entities can not. I could also probably pull a Randy Meeks with horror knowledge too, so I would figure out the rules pretty easily.


And which creature would you least like to go up against?

Probably Cujo. I would highkey let the dog kill me, as I would never want to hurt a dog.


Another answer would be Chucky or Pennywise. They feed right into my automatonophobia.



You find yourself in Scooby Doo, which character are you, and who would most like to have as the other members of Mystery Inc?
​
I’m Velma. Allow me to share the evidence.
​

This was my friend group’s Halloween costume in 2018! Also, when I was a baby, the Scooby Doo gang was my imaginary friend. I would probably keep around the whole group for nostalgic reasons, but my friends are cool, too.


Pinhead pops round for an evening of fun, what are you pains and pleasures?
​
Oh my, what a question. I am going to keep this PG for obvious reasons.


Pains: I really can’t stand rude or arrogant people.


Pleasure: I love animals. I have three dogs, a guinea pig, a fish, and a bearded dragon. I also volunteer at an animal shelter. My favorite thing to do is probably to spend time with my dog, Kona. She’s my best friend. I also love writing, reading, learning jiu-jitsu, and coloring.


So I guess Pinhead is making me witness Karens in the wild?


The Wishmaster gives you three wishes:

1.  You can wish to write in any franchise
2. You can wipe out franchise from the minds of everyone
3. You can date your horror crush

What do you choose?

1. The Twilight Zone. Rod Serling is one of my horror idols and the series is a huge inspiration to me. Yes, I know I am a bit late to meet Serling, but Jordan Peele runs it now, and I love his work!
2. Jeepers Creepers. You know why.
3. R.J. MacReady from The Thing or Dewey from Scream.