December's Featured Author: Peter Mark May
Interview by Rachelle Gagne
Horror is making a comeback in the cinemas, but it’s not getting as much momentum in bookstores. Should horror writers accept that it's a niche market that will never again reach the heights of the '80s?
Who knows, I hope it comes into fashion again, because there are a lot more talented writers doing horror, than doing thrillers or other genres. It’s a damn shame a lot more people aren’t reading them. Things come and go and horror will rise from the grave once more, but no one is quite sure what form it will take. Paranormal romance and YA seems to be the big thing now and with the internet and the daily news, people read and see much scarier things that man does to their fellow man; than I can ever envision. We just need to make sure these teens take up Lovecraft and M R James and us other journeyman writers and turn off the games consoles now and again.
We are now constantly seeing the horror genre rehashing the same tired stories (zombies, vampires, ghosts). How hard is it to come up with fresh ideas and maintain an original voice?
It’s ok to rehash, as long as you find something new to say or a new spin on old fang-toothed favourites. New creatures or old forgotten ones are still there if you dig deep enough, or try to immerse yourself in other cultures. Kumiho has a very Asian feel to its evil enemy, which hopefully people will like.
When you write horror, how do you judge when enough (gore) becomes too much?
I’m probably guilty of not putting enough gore into my books, I’m a less is more kind of guy, implied gore and savage deaths are more my niche.
As a horror writer, do you ever want to venture out of your genre, what flavor would you like to taste? And how do you think your readers would react?
I do tip-toe out now and again, once every blood red full moon. Saying that I have a Sword & Sorcery type short story coming out in issue 8 of Astonishing Adventures magazine in the US soon. Many years ago I started and got 300+ page in, but did not finish just a normal fiction novel, I might finish one day.
A little bird told me that you’ve been working on some shorts. How does short-story writing compare to working on a novel?
Wasn’t a black Raven was it? Since I’ve put The End on Inheritance I’ve just had a surge of short story ideas all very different from the next and I’m loving the freedom to experiment. Novels are normally like a long love affair or marriage, while short stories are brief passionate flings really. You can try out new things every week with short stories, flit from historical ones, to futuristic, to monster stories to very personal stories. I’ve really fallen in love with short stories again this year.
What other writing projects are you working on?
Tons. Editing the Novelblog Anthology A Quart of Blood which probably won’t be out until next year now. Two sets of short story collections, one tales from the Society mythos, one just a general creepy set of new stories. Inheritance an undead romance, with a nasty twist is completed. Khristoff a follow on to Demon I’m copy-typing up and I’ve started another novel called Hedge End, based on very ancient English/Celtic myths set in an old Surrey village.
What do you know now, that you wished you knew when you first started writing?
How long the post writing the actual book process takes. I finished writing Demon in 2005, did not sign with a publishers until April 2007 and it came out in January 2008. You learn as you go on, there are something’s in my debut novel, I would probably write differently now or even edit down a tad.
What gives you nightmares?
Money and something happening to the people I love. Usually I enjoy my nightmares and have gotten a few stories from them, bring on the night terrors.
Name one random thing that your readers would be shocked to know about you?
I’m not a fan of Halloween (31st October) much, it’s just begging in fancy dress to me.
What were some of the influences that have contributed to the road you currently travel? Do you have a muse?
I never travel on the road, in the creepy woods besides the road, during a full moon. M R James is my favourite writer and still creeps me out, Lovecraft, King, Herbert, Straub, Brian Lumley and F Paul Wilson are all in the brain mix somewhere. Everything is a muse to me other books, television, films, things people say offhandedly, I just twist them to fit my warped brain.
Your latest novel Kumiho comes out in the new year. Tell us about it?
It didn’t start off as a novel at all, it was a bit of research into family history, my father fought in the Korean War and I read 20 or so books on the subject and had all this knowledge in my brain and then a story slowly formed. The Kumiho creature the 9 tailed fox of ancient Korean history was the last piece in the jigsaw and I knew I had a gem of an idea and a monster that most westerners had never encountered before. It’s basically about a group of US/UK soldiers/engineers going to build a bridge in the mountainous north of Korean during the Halloween period, just before the Chinese entered the war. They encounter strange forces, mystic temple and the Kumiho trapped on a snow covered plateau.
We ask this questions of all our interviewees: What advice can you give for all the aspiring writers out there?
If you are starting out, just write stuff you enjoy reading it makes it easier, don’t try to copy other people, if someone else likes your stuff it’s a bonus.
TheNovelBlog.com would like to thank Peter for his time and answers.
Rachelle Gagne
Chief Reviewer/Blogger
TheNovelBlog.com