Today's participant in this ingoing series of rapid fire interviews with horror writers, is Phil Voyd.  Phil Voyd caught the writing bug while living in Osaka, Japan in the mid-1990s. He has been trying to shake it ever since with no luck (and believes his condition may in fact be worsening). His fiction has appeared in various magazines, anthologies and podcasts, including On Spec, Not One of Us and The Sonic Society. He has received a couple of Honorable Mentions in the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. One of his stories, "Mr. Bronze", was adapted into a radio play at the CBC and another story, "Having A Drink", was recently made into an independent short film (havingadrink.com). More info about Phil's writing can be found at www.philvoyd.com. 

Today's participant in this ongoing series of rapid fire interviews with horror writers  is MP Johnson.   MP Johnson has had his face peeled off no less than three times – all before reaching the third grade. Of course he grew up to write bizarro horror stories.

He’s been chased through the back alleys of Beijing by a Chinese hooker and a gang of knife-wielding thugs. He’s laughed off muggings in the shadows of Amsterdam. He’s fought robot monsters beneath the streets of Berlin and dined on cheese with the natives on top of the Andes. He’s smashed boards in grimy basements while accompanied by notorious punk bands, been in Fourth of July street fights and eaten sandwiches in New York’s sleaziest sex clubs. And he’s straight edge.

His bizarro horror fiction has been published in more than 25 underground books and magazines, including Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex and Black Petals. He is the creator of Freak Tension fanzine, the longest running (and possibly most sporadic) horror and punk zine in the Midwest. He also writes for punk music magazine Razorcake.

He is a B-movie extra whose roles have included a drug dealer who gets shot in the stomach by legendary action hero Rudy Ray Moore in “It Came from Trafalgar.” He’s also an aspiring drag queen and mixed martial artist. He was born in Wisconsin and lives in Minnesota.

Today's participant in this in going series of horror author interviews, is the writer Paul L. Bates.  

Paul  writes dark fiction, both short and long form. His work often crosses genre boundaries or ignores them altogether. Ever mindful of the surging wall of venal vacuity threatening to numb all our minds, crush all our spirits, his offerings, including the novels Imprint and Dreamer are available from independent presses of similar concern.

Please welcome James S Dorr, to this ongoing series of horror author interviews.  
James Dorr is a short story writer and poet with three primarily prose collections, Strange Mistress Tales of Wonder and Romance  and Darker Loves: Tales of Mystery and Regret  published by Dark Regions Press and The Tears of Isis from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, and an illustrated all-poetry collection, Vamps (A Retrospective), from Sam's Dot Publishing/White Cat Publications. He also has a novelette, The Garden, available in electronic and print chapbook form from Damnation Books; electronic chapbooks Vanitas and I'm Dreaming of a . . . and novelette Peds from Untreed Reads Publishing; Poludnitsa in Chamberton Publishing's "Chimera" short fantasy series; and nearly four hundred individual appearances in magazines and anthologies in the US, Canada, Britain, France, Australia, Holland, and Brazil. .

Adrian Ludens lives with his family in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Jekyll part of his personality is a radio announcer. The Hyde part of his personality ​has numerous publication credits, including stories in: Blood Lite 3: Aftertaste, Zombie Kong, The Mothman Files, Blood Rites, Darker Edge of Desire, and the Stoker-nominated Slices of Flesh, among others. Adrian won Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine's Mysterious Photograph flash fiction writing contest two consecutive months in 2008, has appeared 3 times in Morpheus Tales, contributed the cover story to the Spring 2012 issue of Big Pulp, and sold a solve-it-yourself mystery to Woman's World. Adrian enjoys horror, hockey, and hair metal. The cracks in the walls of his house give him recurring nightmares. He is glad you took the time to visit!

G.N. Braun is an Australian writer raised in Melbourne’s gritty Western Suburbs.

He is a trained nurse, and holds a Cert. IV in Professional Writing and Editing, as well as a Dip. Arts (Professional Writing and Editing).

At graduation, Braun was awarded ‘Vocational Student of the Year’ and ’2012 Student of the Year’ by his college.

He writes fiction across various genres, and is the author of numerous short stories. He is the past president of the Australian Horror Writers Association (2011-2013), as well as the past director of the Australian Shadows Awards.  He is an editor and columnist for UK site This is Horror, and the guest editor for Midnight Echo #9.

His memoir, Hammered, was released in early 2012 by Legumeman Books and has been extensively reviewed.

He is the owner of Cohesion Editing and Proofreading, and has now opened a publishing house, Cohesion Press.

It was a great honour to be given the chance to interview   Neil Spring one of the bright new talents of British Supernatural Fiction.  Neil is  the author of the rather splendid The Ghost Hunters,   set around the mysterious and haunted Borley Rectory The Ghost Hunters  is a strong contender for supernatural novel of the year.  I highly recommend that you get a copy of this book.  You won't be disappointed.  

Neil Spring is novelist, entrepreneur and Senior Communications Manager for the John Lewis Partnership.

He has a lifelong interest in the paranormal and unexplained. During a visit to the Harry Price Library of Magical Literature at Senate House, Bloomsbury, he discovered a wealth of material which provided the inspiration and basis for his first novel, The Ghost Hunters.

Neil holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Somerville College, Oxford University, where he wrote a thesis on the significance of paranormal events. He is Welsh and lives in London.

Neil’s debut novel, The Ghost Hunters, was recently optioned for TV adaptation by Bentley Productions, part of All3Media, who produce Midsomer Murders.

Neil is currently writing his second novel, based on unexplained events during the Cold War. 

Today's horror author  interview victim is Steve Conoboy.  Steve is the author of the newly released  Macadamian Pliers. 

Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

 Year after year of writing novel after novel and then hording the end results have left me with so many stories that for a long time I've had no idea what to do with it all. I was a bit of a writing hermit, doing it for the love and all that hippy junk. Then my wonderful partner told me to pull my finger out and get some stuff on KDP, God bless her. So I did, and now I can't wait to do more.

So, I'm a huge fan of stories, my wonderful partner is due to release her fantastic children's stories any time now, the two girls read voraciously, and the cats like to sit on piles of books and papers as and when they find them. A Bookist house if ever there was one.

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

I love all of them. I think a lot of my own work dwells deep in an underwater cave somewhere within the Bermuda Triangle these three terms form.

Who are some of your favourite authors?

Other than Stephen King, who is the boss when it comes to character, I've got a few authors who really flick my switches. Clive Barker, who really knows how to let imagination off the leash. Philip Pullman for the towering achievement that is His Dark Materials. Terry Pratchett for satirising everything in wonderful sci-fi/fantasy frameworks. And finally Shaun Hutson, for being so crap that I knew I had to have a go at writing myself.

What are you reading now?

I've got two books on the go at the moment, which is an all-time low for me. Lies, the third in Michael Grant's Gone series, is pretty darn good. Gritty, uncompromising stuff. But after three in a row I'm going to need a break, going to look into some random horror selections from the wide, wild world of indie kindle writers next.

I've been craving a bit of a laugh from a book for a while now, so decided to revisit Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Blasting through 'Equal Rites' on my ereader during the joyful journey to work each day, gives one an excuse to grin amongst all the miserable faces on the train

How would you describe your writing style?

There's an 80's horror vibe to the stuff I'm writing at the moment. A real Gremlins/The 'Burbs type thing. The Devil alone knows where that's come from. My work is also very much character-driven. They make the choices, they steer the story. It's rare for me to plan far ahead in anything I write.

Plenty of comedy can be found in my writing, and I like it quite dark. There's always room for a grim chuckle, I believe.

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

There is no typical day. Writing has to fit in around work and family life, although sometimes it sits on top of both in a kind of wrestling death-move. They do say, however, that where there's a will there's a way, and They are wise to say it. My absolute favourite place to write, however, is on our huge sofa with a pad and pen while Karen busies herself with writing or creating beside me, usually with some good music on or a trashy action film. Unusual habits? Well, I can write at any time, with anything going on around me. Chaos, noise, maths questions, I can carry on regardless.

What’s your favourite food?

I bloody love chicken kiev pizzas. And dairylea cheese with Ritz crackers. And Marmite on toast. And cashew nuts. I refuse to choose between any of these.

What’s your favourite album?

At the moment it's The Chaos by The Futureheads. It's got a ridiculous amount of energy, and it's about as good as pop-punk will ever get, I reckon. But all-time fave has to be Automatic For The People by R.E.M. Every song is perfection. Apart from Star Me Kitten, which is crap.

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

Let the characters tell the story. You don't tell them what to do; instead, they will tell you what they're doing. It all makes a lot more sense that way.

Fame and fortune, or respect?

Any of the above will do me fine right about now.

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

I'm very pleased with my first ebook on Kindle, just published in October, which is a YA horror called 'Macadamian Pliers.' It concerns an unpleasant man with a horrible plan, and an urge to make money at any cost. He sells haunted houses you see, and the really awful thing about it? He made the houses haunted in the first place...

It's a slice of suburban horror with a particularly fragile heroine and a particularly vile man at its core, and it's these two characters I'm most proud of. They began to breathe early on in the first draft, and from that point I could not write quick enough.

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

I've been a bit busy lately. Just finished my next YA horror, entitled 'Make Your Own Monster', which is my demented version of The Monkey's Paw.  It's about a young lad called Cale who finds a way to give life to the creatures in his imagination. It doesn't take long for Cale and his slightly loopy best friend to take themselves down a mad destructive spiral, and when at last they decide to throw the brakes on, the situation proves far too lively to be stopped so easily.

Right now I'm halfway through writing a very dark comedy, which follows the early life of a mad scientist through a series of recorded conversations. What influence do her homelife, her school, her friends have upon her various bad decisions? I won't tell you that yet, but I'm having a hell of a lot of fun with yet another delightfully deranged protagonist. The loopies have the most fun, you know.

Biography

Prologue : My parents met. (Prologues are never much use.)

Chapter One: I am born. The world blinks.

Chapter Two: I toddle. I am introduced to the works of Richard Scarry. The illustrations burn themselves into my tiny mind. This is followed by an intense interest in Winnie the Pooh and the Radio Times.

Chapter Three: Beanos and Dandys and tape recorders enter my life. I read the comic strips aloud, record these performances. Leads to writing my own stories, which are mostly about spaceships or murderous snakes.

Chapter Four: Santa brings a Commodore 64. Writing is forgotten.

Chapter Five: Teenage nerdism strikes. Dragonlance Chronicles are read. An attempt is made to copy them. Results are dreadful.

Chapter Six: Off to university to study ancient history and archaeology. Hat and whip not received. Compaints about this are ignored. University mostly a waste of time, apart from hours spent writing apocalyptic horror-comedy on 386 PC. It's great.

Chapter Seven: Apocalyptic horror-comedy sent out to literary agents. None are interested. Novel not great. Mostly a waste of time.

Chapter Eight: A long period filled with much writing and many submissions and plenty of rejection letters. Decide I can't stand prologues as they're never much use.

Chapter Nine: Short stories accepted by Polluto, Voluted Tales and Kzine. Prompts a vigorous interest in Kindle Direct Publishing. First release is Macadamian Pliers, YA horror with an emphasis on creepy, spooky and other ooky things.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Cherry’s heart crammed into her throat. She was alone with Mr. Pliers. Nobody to hide behind. She turned to see him filling the threshold of the room. He resembled a grotesque ill-fitting door carved into the shape of a black-suited golem. ‘The room,’ he clarified. ‘It’s the one I would have chosen. You have taste similar to mine. Lucky you.’ He turned and tilted so he could get into the room, an obsidian monolith with the power of movement. The top of his head brushed the ceiling. Suddenly the bedroom didn’t seem anywhere near big enough. ‘It’s the view, isn’t it?’ He chuckled then, a sound which made the ends of Cherry’s bones grind together. Phlegm and rust and sparks: these are the things she thought of when she heard that laugh. ‘I would gaze out of the window for hours, imagined I could pick up the little people as they went about their days and place them anywhere else if I wanted to. Drop them from a great height if it pleased me.’ He mimed the action with nimble pinching fingers, plucking a distant imaginary figure from a sidewalk and flinging them off towards the horizon. In Cherry’s mind there was a tiny scream. ‘I think you’re going to have quite a time in this house, Cherry. Don’t you?’ 

Macadamian Pliers is an unpleasant man with a hideous plan. He’s just sold a house to Emmet’s Peak’s newest family, and they’re about to find out it’s haunted. He made it that way. 

In the first volume of a trilogy, Cherry and Frank Raine find themselves in a battle of wits and nerves against both the ghosts in their new home and the man who put them there. Cherry, physically and emotionally scarred by a car crash, must draw from within herself the strength to confront her fears and save her family. Frank must choose between taking responsibility for once or being led astray by firebug Jack, a local boy with a dark sense of fun. As the haunting escalates, Cherry discovers that other homes have been affected by the strange-shaped and evil-hearted Pliers, but what chance do a couple of kids have against such a man? 

Today's horror author interview is with Michael Wehunt.  Michael's stories have appeared in such publications as Diabolic Tales, Shock Totem, and One Buck Horror .  

Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself?

I grew up quietly and still live quietly in the lost city of Atlanta, where I do various freelance writing and editing. And, of course, fiction. If I have a spirit state, it’s Vermont. There is so much majesty in the northern part of Vermont, where the slow, gentle crawl of life and the mountains seem to murmur in a sort of familiar harmony my native Appalachians have never held for me. But I promise I’m not a hippie. I enjoy the drone of the city too much.

I began this crazy journey of being a writer about two years ago. It’s something I’d always dreamed of, but aside from a few short stories in my late teens that I never let anyone see, I allowed my fear of rejection and failure to prevent me from even trying to write. Too many years went by with my dream buried in dust in the back of my mind. Let this be a cautionary tale to anyone who’s young and wanting to write: Try it out. Don’t wait for life to fill you out before you start. As you go along, you’ll experience regular old life, emotion, loss, love, everyday bitternesses and joys. Your writing will grow as you do, and you’ll have an immense head start compared to my own path.

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

I waffle a lot between these terms, because when you tell someone, “I write horror,” certain stigmas and preconceptions immediately arise in the mind. That person might assume your work contains severed limbs and bloody rapists, while you might actually veer more toward insular, low-key, literary horror. The other two terms also have their own preconceptions and parameters. But “dark fiction” seems best to me. It’s a bit more open-ended and can cover a lot more ground, including that shadow in the corner over there. What is that, anyway?

Who are some of your favourite authors?

I’ve loved Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, and the like for most of my life. In recent years I’ve been drawn powerfully toward two authors: Laird Barron and Cormac McCarthy. The former writes dark fiction in a league of his own. I can honestly say that his is the only fiction I have ever been able to truly and consistently call “creepy,” which isn’t a word I use lightly. The latter is probably our greatest living writer. The things he can do with words astonish me, always and endlessly. Another author I very recently discovered is Nathan Ballingrud. His collection North American Lake Monsters is full of literary tales that contain small tears in the fabric, where weird fiction leaks through.

What are you reading now?

I’ve just started Come Closer, a very short novel of demonic possession by Sara Gran. Recently I finished Room, by Emma Donoghue, which really surprised me. It’s simple, effective, and more psychologically and emotionally astute than I expected.

How would you describe your writing style?

That’s tough. I’m fascinated in finding evocative beauty within the dark. Stories that search for that. In my secret, most ambitious thoughts, I dream of writing stories the way Terrence Malick films movies: weaving the beautiful into the everyday and the everyday into the beautiful. Malick will focus on a tree in sunlight while the central action or dialogue of a scene is occurring a few feet away. His cinematography is gorgeous regardless of what’s going on around it. The trick is finding that visual balance—managing to enhance the scene rather than falling into pretension (like this answer has)—and the written word has to go about it in a different way. It’s something I’ll always strive toward and perhaps one day tap into. It’s on my bucket list, so to speak. But I also very much want to creep you out.

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

Really I just write when I can. I spend too much time finding little pockets of free moments to develop any unusual habits. One day I hope to have an array of talismanic objects arranged on my desk, every one of which will be essential for the words to come to me.

What’s your favourite food?

Sushi. Although I celebrate every short story sale with a house burger at Young Augustine’s in Atlanta. Pimiento cheese, jalapenos, bacon, a fried egg…it’s become a tradition.

What’s your favourite album?

The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid by Stars of the Lid. I love all sorts of music, but ambient and classical are what I always come back to in the end. And this band blends both of those genres in the most amazing ways. Gorgeous waking dreams.

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

No matter what your strengths are, you will always have room for improvement in some aspect of writing. Probably more than one aspect. In this way, rejection is your friend in the early going. It teaches you your strengths as well as your weaknesses. The process of craft is a neverending education.

Fame and fortune, or respect?

I’d have to choose respect, although already the line between the two sides has blurred for me. It’s actually that grey middle area I find myself drawn toward. The ultimate dream would be to write fiction full-time, with no other source of income. To reach that rare and lofty goal, one needs to at least veer toward fortune.

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

Of my published work, I’d choose the short story “Pretend,” which is featured in One Buck Horror, Volume Six. It’s a quick one—only 2000 words—and I feel like it comes close to distilling everything I love about dark fiction into its simple frame. There’s another story of mine due out in spring 2014, in Shadows & Tall Trees. It’s called “Onanon” and there’s a chance it will dethrone “Pretend” in my heart. It’s perhaps the strongest dose of “weird” I’ve written yet.

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

I have yet to even begin work on my first novel, although its premise and, more importantly, what I want it to be, are pretty fleshed out. I hope to type “Chapter 1” before the end of the year. All I’ll say is that the novel involves a nice young man who has no idea who his father is. And Dad’s not very nice.

Diabolic Tales III is the most recent book to feature my work. My story “Have a Blessed Day” hangs out in the middle of a great-looking paperback (out on Halloween). I’ve just begun reading my contributor’s copy and it’s great so far.