Amazon Blurb: Jim Goforth is a horror author currently based in Holbrook, Australia. Happily married with two kids and a cat he has been writing tales of horror since the early nineties.
After years of detouring into working with the worldwide extreme metal community and writing reviews for hundreds of bands across the globe with Black Belle Music he has returned to his biggest writing love with first book Plebs published by J. Ellington Ashton Press.
1.
When did you start writing horror?
I guess I probably started
writing horror right away when I was a kid, because my earliest stories were
invariably filled with fearsome monsters and freakish beasts, ghosts and
outlandish settings. I began to write not too long after I first learned to read
and I was one of those kids in class who wrote the kinds of things teachers
seemed to enjoy reading out to the others. Possibly to scare them into line…
2. Have you written in
any other genre?
In terms of published output, no I haven’t; horror is where
I love to dwell and where I see myself remaining in for the foreseeable future,
but in just writing unpublished stories yes I have. I’ve written off and
on for the majority of my life and I’ve ventured into all kinds of
different areas aside from horror. Fantasy, sci/fi, westerns, adventure, urban,
possibly even bordering on erotica due to the pretty explicit nature of some of
the scenes I’ve written, have all played a part over the years, but
horror eventually won out as my most preferred genre. I’ve written a lot of
stories which have been far removed from horror, but the first couple of books
I wrote as a teenager were when I was deeply enmeshed in horror and reflected
that in their subject matter. Everything I’ve so far published in the way of
books and stories have all been rooted in horror, though not all entrenched in
the one same sub-genre of it.
3. What makes you
uncomfortable?
Trying to get to sleep on a hot Australian summer night. It’s
impossible. But in reality, not too much. With regards to writing, nothing.
There are no particular topics, subject matter or things explored which are
uncomfortable, even though they might be wholly unpleasant. When it comes to
horror, I don’t think any stone should be left unturned which is why I
tend to verge more towards the extreme end of the spectrum with my own work and
plenty of others in the genre do likewise, or take it even further than I do,
which is always great.
4. Does your family read
your work?
Some of them do, some of them don’t. My parents are very big readers
too, which is where I attribute my love of books and reading to. Horror isn’t
exactly their cup of tea, but my dad is actually in the midst of reading Plebs
right now. He went into forewarned, so I guess I will find out what his take is
on it when he finishes it. If he finishes it.
5. Does your writing make
you uneasy?
Not particularly, more often than not it makes me laugh at
inappropriate moments. Whether that means there is something obviously wrong
with me is yet to be ascertained, but I write the type of things which I love
to read. Technically I am my own biggest fan in that regard, as well as being my
own critic, but I wouldn’t say anything I write makes me uneasy. I acknowledge the
fact that there are some horrendous things out in the world, and whether I
explore them from a phantasmagorical angle or a more realistic close to the
bone approach, it’s more a case of me making others uneasy with my writing. As
long as I achieve this, as well as entertaining, or shocking, frightening,
intriguing people, then I’m pretty happy with that.
6. Who would you say you
write like?
I think I mostly write like me. I’ve been told Laymon, among others
which suits me, but there is no intention to write like anybody else aside from
myself. When I first decided to try and write a book, the results were highly
derivative of all the authors I was reading at the time. It was full of my own
characters, but the overall aesthetic wasn’t entirely my own style and it wasn’t
until after I encountered Laymon’s work that I realised attempting to
emulate the styles of others wasn’t the way to go, and soon discovered
my own way to write and tell a story. Consequently, there is a vast difference
of styles between my first book foray and everything that has come after it. I
do see some similarities with the likes of Laymon and other splatterpunk
exponents and myself, but plenty of notable differences too. Ultimately, I
write like that Jim Goforth guy.
7. Who are your favourite
authors?
Richard Laymon, Edward Lee, Bryan Smith, Brian Keene, Bentley
Little, Graham Masterton, Jack Ketchum, Stephen Laws are a handful of my definitive
favourites, also the likes of Catt Dahman, Lucy Taylor, Sephera Giron, Matt
Shaw deserve a mention. There are a whole host of awesome up and coming authors
who I can see becoming firm favourites too. Chantal Noordeloos, Scott Essel
Pratt, Mark Woods, Stuart Keane, Alex Johnson and many others are ensuring the
future of horror is in excellent hands.
8. Who influences you as a
writer?
Richard Laymon is my chief influence and inspiration when it
comes to writers and has long held that position, though I’m
also influenced by extreme metal musicians (I could rattle off a list of black
and death metal protagonists here, but in the interests of keeping this under
several thousand words I won’t) as well as horror and grindhouse
filmmakers such as Tarantino, Rodriguez, Roth, Zombie etc. Early on when I
first tried my hand at writing horror many, many moons ago (before I even
discovered Laymon) I was heavily influenced by the likes of Masterton, early
King and Koontz, Dan Simmons, Robert McCammon and Shaun Hutson.
9. Do you remember what your first horror book was that you read?
I honestly can’t remember the very first horror book
I read though it was possibly one of King’s earliest or something of that
nature. I was reading very young and I was a voracious reader, going through
all kinds of books at a rapid rate. Once I discovered horror I read anything
and everything of as many different authors I could find, and when I came
across a particular author I would seek out everything of theirs I could and
read them all. I would pore through the ads that used to be in the back of
various horror imprints; Tor, Headline, Cemetery Dance, all those kinds of
things and make lists of all these other authors I hadn’t experienced yet
and then I would comprehensively mine all the libraries around to find works by
all of them. That was actually how I discovered the late, great genius Richard
Laymon himself.
10. How old were you?
I probably wouldn’t have been any older than ten, maybe
even younger when I first started into horror and though I used to read just
about anything and everything in terms of genre, horror was the grand
favourite, head and shoulders above the other things I liked to read.
11. Is there any subject
you will not touch as an author?
Not particularly no. With my chosen genre, that means I’m
able, perhaps even expected, to delve into the darkest corners and murkiest of
topics, and I will do so without any qualms. By that same token, there are
plenty of distasteful subjects that possibly should be avoided, but there are
certain ways to approach absolutely any of those, without glorifying them or
coming off as condoning them, especially if they are deemed taboo or trigger
material.
12. What was the best
advice you were given as a writer?
The same advice I give to most others when they ask. Just write.
If you love to write, then do it. Don’t be discouraged by critiques, or rejection
or any other things you see as obstacles in achieving what you set out to do.
If you love to write, then write.
13. If you had to start
all over again, what would you do different?
I don’t think I would do anything differently, aside from perhaps
getting back into my horror writing a little earlier than I did. Like I
mentioned before, I started writing very early and even tried to get material
published years and years ago (long before social media even existed and the
ease with which it has made communicating with publishers, other writers etc)
through the old snail mail process of sending physical manuscripts around. For
years after that my horror writing was on hiatus while I was involved in a
number of other things, a variety of different jobs, becoming involved with
working in the universal extreme metal scenes and things like that. However,
from the point of launching back into my writing, finishing books and stories,
researching and seeking out a suitable publisher and having my debut novel published,
I really wouldn’t alter that at all. I’ve ended up with a fantastic publisher
who are a perfect fit for me and I have no intentions of looking back, or
second guessing anything that led up to this point.
14. How many books do you
read a year?
It varies and though I might not read nearly as many as I did
when I was a horror hungry youngster, I still make time to read. A few books a
month is probably a relatively accurate number, though that might equate to
just one in one month and then four or five the following month.
15. Do you write every
day?
Yes I do. The amount I get written day to day is variable, but I
usually average between 2-4k words a day, sometimes more, but generally not too
much less. Most of my writing is done late at night, since my day time is eaten
up by an assortment of other activities, but it would be extremely rare when I
don’t
actually manage to get a good quota of words written.
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Great interview, Malina and Jim! I like getting to know Jim better, I only knew he was a friendly guy whose posts on FB I enjoyed! :) Will be reading your books soon, Jim!
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ReplyDeleteCheers Lori, great to hear you enjoyed it. I probably rambled on a bit, but I certainly had fun with the questions.
ReplyDeleteCheers to Malina too, as always. An exemplary site here :)
Yup, I like him too and will definitely be reading his stuff.
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