Simon Dewar is my DFF.....Devil Friend Forever. He was the 666th person to show up on my friend feed, we connected and it is a match made in Heaven. Turns out he knows a thing or two about writing, has an amazingly beautiful daughter and will be hanging out with me at The Overlook Hotel in October, where we will be running up and down the hallways at midnight, knocking on doors and running away. We will probably piss off Jack Ketchum, but that's okay. I just finished a book he edited, SUSPENDED IN DUSK, that has some incredibly well written stories in it, and I just finished reading HIGH ART, co-authored with Karen Runge in DEATH'S REALM. Very creepy, very sexy and highly entertaining, with a wee touch of disturbing. What more could you ask for in a DFF.
1.
When did
you start writing horror?
I started writing almost three years ago. My daughter had just
been born and I wrote my first
story: a guy with a newborn who loses
his mind due to caffeine consumption and sleep deprivation. I sold the story to
the Bloody Parchment anthology and thought I must be some kind of writing
genius. The next dozen or so rejections disabused me of this notion, very
quickly.
2.
Have you
written in any other genre?
Yes, but what genres they are... I’m not exactly sure. Some of the
stories I’ve written feature no supernatural or monstrous element and
the only real monster is you. Or me. Or the guy sitting next to you on the bus.
Some of the stories I’ve written have a very literary bent where I’ve
attempted to use subtle imagery or layers of meaning to achieve an effect for
the reader. So there are elements of
horror, elements of literary fiction, and elements of suspense. I think many
people may not view the stories as traditional horror. I’ll get back to you
on this when I manage to find more homes for these orphans.
I’ve got a scifi-military horror mashup that I’m
working on now, but I’m moving it to the backburner so I can try and finish a
novella I’m working on.
3.
What
makes you uncomfortable?
Explicit sex in fiction generally makes me uncomfortable. I was
raised in a reasonably religious household where sex wasn’t
EVER talked about and was only something to do in the privacy of your marital
bedroom. So I still find graphic sex and sexual violence to be completely
confronting, particularly if it is worked well into a story. Karen Runge wrote
a story called ‘Good Help’ that was published in Shock Totem
recently which blew my mind. It was about a nursing home carer who sexually teases/tortures
one of her patients.
4.
Does your
family read your work?
Nope. Wife hates horror and my daughters are all teeny tiny. I
proudly showed my dad my contributor copy of Grey Matter Press’s
Death’s
Realm anthology, only to snatch it out of his hands when I remembered that the
story I co-wrote for it with Karen Runge is replete with graphic sex scenes. I
wouldn’t
have wanted to give him another stroke. Crisis averted!
5.
Does your
writing make you uneasy?
Everything I write makes me uneasy because I write for myself, in
a way. I’m
aware that the chief purpose of fiction is basically entertainment but I like
to broach themes and subject matter that speaks to me and my personal
experience somewhat. So when I’m writing about bullying or
acrimonious divorce, or family, or fear of the unknown—I’m
really channelling my own feelings on these issues and exploring how I feel
about them. I also believe that this kind of “method writing” is the most honest
way of writing and potentially the most entertaining for readers. From a
literary critics perspective, I suppose it provides a great insight into me
when you look at my work through the prism of The Author v.s The Implied Author.
Or the Man who suffers v.s The mind that creates.
6.
Who would
you say you write like?
I came into horror as a Warhammer 40k/Horus Heresy fan and a HP Lovecraft
junkie. I completely lost my shit though, when I saw how Jack Ketchum writes
something just as scary, —or far more so—and it’s
just about the evil within human beings. I’ve written several stories now where
even the “good” protagonist who has been wronged or poorly treated resolves
the issue through less that tasteful methods. Often in my stories, the
antagonist who does horrific things does them only because they’re
seriously broken by their own horrible experiences. I like to explore the theme
that we’re
all somewhat monstrous, just in varying degrees. Whether my writing is really
reminiscent of Jack Ketchum style, is another matter. One can always dream.
7.
Who are
your favourite authors?
To name a few:
Jack Ketchum
Shane McKenzie
HP Lovecraft
Stephen King
Richard Laymon
Clive Barker
Angela Slatter
Felicity Dowker
Kaaron Warren
Karen Runge
Sarah Read
8.
Who
influences you as a writer?
Most of my major influences at the moment are female writers that
I’ve
made connections with through the horror fiction scene and the Australian
speculative fiction scene. Angela
Slatter is a big influence, not only for the amazing talent of her writing, but
she’s
an A grade professional and has provided me with some great advice. I’ve
also been lucky to benefit from the advice of authors such as Kaaron Warren who
regularly attends Conflux con and is also a member of the Canberra Speculative
Fiction Guild.
Thematically, Jack Ketchum and HPL have been quite big influences
for me. Although I think that the more I move away from being influenced by
HPL, the better my writing is becoming and the more unique my voice is.
Needless to say when Jack agreed to write an introduction for my
first horror anthology, I was beside myself. In truth, I still am.
9.
Do you
remember what your first horror book was that you read?
I was never interested in horror, as a child or an adult. Probably
he closest I came to was a love of the Warhammer 40k/Horus Heresy universe. Now
I find it kinda ironic, given that I was well into the heavy metal scene and
horror has obvious links to that sub-culture. The first horror book I ever “read”
was the extended version of Stephen King’s The Stand. I actually listened to
the 23hr audiobook version. I loved it. The second book I listened to was the
version of The Shadow over Innsmouth from Wayne June’s The Dark Worlds
of HP Lovecraft. It is THE BEST audio version of that story. In fact, every
story written by HPL that Wayne June has read is scary as all hell. He has the
perfect voice for it. From there I looked up other books and authors that Wayne
had read, which included Jack Ketchum’s Hide and Seek, which remains one of
my very favourite stories. I love audiobooks. Something about them makes me
feel like a little kid on the parents knee being read a story. They’re
also awesome because you can listen to them while vacuuming the floor or mowing
the lawn.
10. How old were you?
28, maybe.
11. Is there any subject you will not touch as
an author?
No. The only subjects I won’t touch are ones that I haven’t
thought of or don’t yet know how I want to address. I agree with S.G Larner
and her recent article on the Grey Matter Press blog which broached writing
about taboo subjects such as a rape or child abuse. These things need to be
written about. Writing about them isn’t the problem. Writing about them
poorly is. I sympathise with magazines,
publishers or markets who get a lot of bizarre and upsetting torture porn
fiction or stuff from sickos who are living vicariously through their fiction.
I don’t
agree with blanket bans on subject matter though as it throws the baby out with
the bathwater.
12. What was the best advice you were given as
a writer?
Angela Slatter said: Don’t
be an arse. This was the best
professional advice I was given. The best writing advice I was ever given was
just “Read,
and read widely”. So much of what we
learn about writing, from grammar to vocabulary, to style, to inspirations for
new stories etc, is all learned or appropriated by osmosis, from reading.
13. If you had to start all over again, what
would you do different?
I’d have started earlier that’s all. I’m at the point in my life where we’ve
got 3 kids under age 3 and its making it hard to read and write and devote the
time to my craft that I’d really like to. I’m just trying to be patient and write
when I can and make smart career decisions with regards to my writing and
editing gigs. It’s nt too much of a hassle. I have 3 beautiful girls and
family comes first. It also allows me to bide my time and work out the projects
I really want to do, when I want to do them and how is best for me to achieve
them. I’m
not sure if I’d look my writing/editing career so critically if I wasn’t
forced to take that step back from it.
14. How many books do you read a year?
No idea. I don’t bother to count because the number
is depressingly low. I actually read more short stories and novellas these days
than novels, for the simple reason that I’m constrained by time. Now I wonder
why shorts aren’t absolutely massive. They’re the equivalent of watching a TV
show instead of watching an entire movie. Short doses of entertainment that
people in this modern world can easily slip into their hectic lives and
lifestyles. I guess this is why TOR have recently released a novella range. I
suspect they’re betting on an upswing in popularity for this format, for
the reasons I’ve just described.
14. Do you write every day?
I look at my fiction and
either write or edit every weekday. Weekends is just for family, right now. I
would say I write 5 days a week, even if its only 100 words per day. I get
extremely agitated if I don’t exercise that creative outlet. If I
don’t
get to write I not only am miserable, but I tend to make those around me
miserable too.
Amazon:
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Twitter: @herodfel
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Blog:
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