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Questions - Men Writers in Horror Month
Lee Allen Howard
1. When
did you start writing horror?
I wrote my first story on ruled tablet
paper in second grade. (I would have started sooner, but I didn’t know how to
print yet.) My teacher passed it on to the elementary school principal, who read
it at a meeting of the local Lions Club, of which my father was a member. As
president of the chapter, Principal Sprunger fined my father a dime because “the
preacher’s son wrote such a sordid tale full of skeletons, witches, and blood.”
That was 45 years ago.
In third grade I wrote stories on
three-ring notebook paper, binding them with construction paper covers. One
memorable piece, titled “Eyeballs Only,” was about a mad scientist who turns
into a monster that goes on a rampage to pluck people’s eyes out and eat them.
They pop when you chew them, you know.
2.
Have you written in any other genre?
A few years back I wrote a pseudonymous
erotic gay romance that did fairly well. But I usually haunt the shadier
literary neighborhoods: dark fantasy, paranormal (The
Sixth Seed), supernatural crime (Desperate
Spirits and Death
Perception), dark crime (“Mama Said,” my most popular
short), and psychological thrillers (Call
of the Piss Fairy).
3.
What makes you uncomfortable?
Underwear that I’ve mistakenly run
through the clothes dryer.
4.
Does your family read your work?
A few cousins have read my books and
stories. My father the pastor has hasn’t. My saintly mother, who has read
little besides recipes, crocheting and sewing instructions, and children’s
Sunday school lessons, read Death
Perception. She remarked, “That was a good story,
but did you have to use all those bad words?” I told her, “Bad characters say
bad things.” God bless her.
5.
Does your writing make you uneasy?
Sometimes it does, but as a writer, I
must honor the inspiration, tell the story, and remain true to my characters.
The abuse scene in “Mama Said” always haunted me. The evil sexuality in “How I
Was Cured of Naïveté” (in Desperate
Spirits) disturbed me. And the entire concept
and execution of the idea of a bedwetting cat-skinner jonesing to shave women
with electric trimmers made me squirm all the way through. Please, Mom, never
read Call
of the Piss Fairy…
6. Who
would you say you write like?
Some have compared my style to Stephen
King’s, but there’s no one writer that I emulate. I hope my style and voice are
uniquely mine, but that’s hard to judge from this side of the keyboard.
7. Who
are your favourite authors?
I loved early King. Others include
Thomas Tryon, Patrick McGrath (Asylum
is a favorite), Cormac McCarthy, Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Trent
Zelazny, Dustin LaValley, Stephanie M. Wytovich.
8. Who
influences you as a writer?
My favorite authors above, of course. Basically
anything I read that strikes a creative chord. I’m also inspired by news
stories, television shows, and movies—whatever sparks my idea-generator or
impresses me with writing skill or visual style. More recently, Joyce Carol
Oates’ Zombie (1995), Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me (1952), and Barbie
Wilde’s The Venus Complex (2012) gave
me the crazy guts to write Call
of the Piss Fairy.
9. Do you remember what your first horror
book was that you read?
A fond memory from elementary school
was running home with the little pulp flier that Teacher handed out
periodically, the one that listed books with an order form on back. How to
spend my 35 cents…? One of my first and favorite reads bought that way was the
humorous and horrific How to Care for
Your Monster (1970) by the late Norman Bridwell, better known for Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Later, Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural (1944) greatly
influenced me, as well as Thomas Tryon’s The
Other (1972) and James Herbert’s The
Rats (1974), all of which I read when I was about 13. I deal with some of
the classic tropes in my collection Night
Monsters.
11. Is
there any subject you will not touch as an author?
Apparently not. “Mama Said” and “How I
Was Cured of Naïveté” deal with child sexual abuse. Call
of the Piss Fairy introduces 26-year-old bedwetter
Russell Pisarek, who grew up different from other young men because his vicious
mother punished him for wetting by shaving his head. After being betrayed by
his girlfriend, he took out his frustration by skinning neighborhood cats. Now
fixated on paying women back, Russell fantasizes about finding just the right
girl—so he can shave her bald. Armed with a military fighting knife, things go
from bad to worse.
Sick stuff, but any subject needs to be
treated thoughtfully and responsibly, and and I feel I’ve achieved that in my
writing, although some might say the stories in Severed
Relations are purely for cheap, blood-sticky
thrills. I can’t argue.
12.
What was the best advice you were given as a writer?
“There are no magic formulas. Do your
best, continue learning, and keep trying.” I can’t attribute that quote because
I just made it up, but that’s the gist.
13. If
you had to start all over again, what would you do different?
I would study the craft of fiction
writing more seriously much sooner in life. I tried for 20 years before I
really understood what a story was. It took me another decade to hone my
mechanics. However, in the process, I became a better writer and a fantastic
editor and publisher: Thou
Shalt Not….
14.
How many books do you read a year?
It varies from year to year, but I read
an average of 30 books a year, and this includes fiction and non-fiction. I typically
read at least an hour a day (more in the winter, less in the summer).
15. Do
you write every day?
I do write daily, although I don’t
write fiction every day unless I’m working on a project. I’ve been a technical
writer for the software industry since 1985 (some consider this qualifies as
horror fiction). I also write non-fiction, do freelance editing, serve as a
publishing consultant, and blog regularly.
Besides being a writer, I’m also a
Spiritualist minister, channeler, and psychic medium, providing intuitive
counsel for writers and other human beings.
Please provide Amazon, Twitter, Linked In,
Facebook, Blog Links
Lee Allen Howard’s Amazon author
page: http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Allen-Howard/e/B004U7773C/
Twitter: @LeeAllenHoward
Facebook: Lee Allen Howard, author
Writer’s site: http://leeallenhoward.com
Editing site: http://wordsmithereens.net
Metaphysical blog: http://building-the-bridge.com
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