Interview with Steve Burt

Steve Burt is the author of several award-winning series.

His FreeKs series novels about psychic and paranormal teen detectives--FreeK Camp, FreeK Show, and soon FreeK Out, FreeK Storm, FreeK of Nature, and FreeK Accident--have amassed dozens of awards including 3 Mom's Choice golds, a Moonbeam Children's Book silver, a Next Generation Indie h.m., 3 Beach Book of the Year golds, and 2 New York, 2 Hollywood, 2 London, 2 New England, 2 Paris, 1 San Francisco and 1 Halloween Book Festival awards.

Steve's short story collections (Odd Lot, Even Odder, Oddest Yet, Wicked Odd) have earned him a Bram Stoker Nomination for Young Readers Horror (2003), a Bram Stoker Award (2004), and a Benjamin Franklin Award (2001, silver, Adult Mystery/Suspense)among others. Eight short stories from that Stories to Chill the Heart series have received honorable mentions in Year's Best Fantasy & Horror anthologies.

The inspirational Storyteller of the Heart series (A Christmas Dozen and Unk's Fiddle) garnered numerous book awards, with several stories excerpted for the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series, Family Circle Magazine, and other venues. The short story "Unk's Fiddle" won a Ray Bradbury Creative Writing Prize (one of three the author has earned).

In 2009 Connecticut Magazine profiled the retired Congregational pastor in an article, "The Sinister Minister." Steve regularly sells and autographs his books at arts & crafts shows and offers school author visits via Skype. He and his wife, editor Jolyn Joslin, live in Florida.

His Facebook page is FreeKs Series and his website (with blog page) is www.SteveBurtBooks.com Can I get an Amen?

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Interview With Steve Burt
By David Kempf

David: Tell us what it’s like to have two seemingly opposite vocations: ordained minister and Bram Stoker Award-winning horror writer.

Steve: It’s a curiosity, that’s for sure, maybe even a delicious irony. Funny thing is, if you substitute banker, plumber, dentist, or some other profession/job for ordained minister, nobody raises an eyebrow. It’s an odd juxtaposition that relies on two stereotypes: minister (Bible-thumping, gentle-Jesus-meek-and-mild) versus horror writer (excessive blood and gore plus senseless violence). But they’re stereotypes, not reality. In my case, I’m a theologian and pastor/professor who grew up loving television shows like Outer Limits and Twilight Zone, comics and magazines like The Haunted Tank (Jeb Stuart’s ghost shadowing a WWII tank crew) and Tales From the Crypt, or movies like The Mummy, Frankenstein, King Kong, and The Body Snatchers. I loved ghost stories around the campfire and couldn’t wait to get my supply of haunted mysteries when the Scholastic Book Club purchases came in. So it’s simple; I write what I enjoy: young adult horror “lite” (low blood, gore, violence factor) and adult mystery/suspense. You may want to note that I was also well-known for church leadership books and a couple of inspirational collections (including A Christmas Dozen, stories excerpted for Chicken Soup for the Soul and Family Circle Magazine). So it’s not like I don’t use my writing gifts in both professions. But to answer your original question, it’s kind of fun to see people’s response when they learn I do both.

David: And what about this nickname “The Sinister Minister?”

Steve: That came about after my book, Oddest Yet,” won the 2004 Bram Stoker Award for Young Readers. (The previous year, 2003, I was a Stoker Nominee/Finalist but lost to J.K. Rowling’s fifth Harry Potter book.) I moved from Connecticut to Vermont to serve the Waitsfield parish; the word got out that this progressive ordained had won what is arguably the horror genre’s most coveted prize. So WCATV, the largest Vermont TV station, sent someone out to interview this curious pastor/author for an evening news feature piece. At the very end of the story, the interviewer jokingly and with a smile said, “The Bram Stoker Award? For being the best at scaring young readers, eh? Well, I guess that makes you The Sinister Minister.” After that people recognized me at arts and crafts shows all around New England where I was selling and autographing my books, and they’d say, “Hey, I saw you on TV; you’re The Sinister Minister.” I eventually took advantage of the notoriety and put it on my brochures and banners with an ominous publicity photo of me.”

David: How do you reconcile your books with what more conservative Christians might consider the occult?

Steve: I don’t try to reconcile anything or please them at all; I write what I write. The same ones who are quick to damn Rowling’s Harry Potter will sometimes cop the same attitude with me about my books at arts and crafts show signings (again, basing their “knowledge” and opinions on the two overblown stereotypes (minister and horror writer). I’ll ask, “Have you read any of my stuff?” And, of course, they’ll say no (even thought they’ve already judged it and me). So I respond, “But you’ve read your Bible, right?” Of course, they say. “Well, guess what?” I answer. “If you want to have people avoid books with blood and gore, demons, people being raised from the dead, illicit sex, betrayals, torture, and backstabbing behavior, you’d better put our Bible at the top of the list. You won’t find that stuff in my books.”

David: How did your congregation feel about the type of books you’ve written?

Steve: In 2009, Connecticut Magazine did a centerpiece feature on me, “The Sinister Minister.” They interviewed members of my congregation at First Congregational Church of Lyme and found my parishioners all had copies of my books and loved giving them as gifts. They were quite proud to have as their pastor the famous Sinister Minister, the only ordained minister to ever win the Bram Stoker Award for Young Readers. One lady, Doad Jewett, who just turned 100 in April 2013 (still sharp as a tack) asked if she could attend the movie screening with me and my wife when FreeK Camp (she oved the novel) hits the silver screen. I told her it could take years, that I didn’t even have an option for it even though it won a Hollywood Book Festival Award for Teens. She said, “That’s okay, I’ll wait. But try and get them to hurry up.”

David: Is it true you were the first self-published author to win the Bram Stoker Award?

Steve: I don’t think so. The first ordained minister, yes. Maybe the first self-published author to win one in the Young Readers category. But it’s possible. In 2004 it was my Oddest Yet and books by three authors from big traditional publishing houses: Dean Koontz, Clive Barker (co-winner for Abarat), and Jeff Marriote. In 2003 it was pretty much like that, too, with my Even Odder, plus books by J.K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman, and Robert San Souci. If you’re asking, is the deck stacked against self-pubbers, the answer is: Probably. But there’s a sliver of hope, I guess, and more now than in the early days of the award. (I regularly recommend self-published works of quality in several Stoker categories. Quality is quality, to my way of thinking.)

David: How many awards have you won?

Steve: I don’t know how many over the years. We keep them in a file rather than on the walls. My wife tells me that FreeK Show (2012) has seven (including the Halloween Book Festival Award, a Mom’s Choice gold, and the New York and Beach Book Festival awards). Its predecessor in the FreeKs series, FreeK Camp: Psychic Teens in a Paranormal Thriller, won twelve including a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, a Mom’s Choice, and London and New England Book Festival Best Young Adult prizes, among others. Odd Lot (Benjamin Franklin adult mystery silver), Even Odder (Stoker Nominee), Oddest Yet (Stoker Winner), and Wicked Odd (Ippy) did well, too.

Besides the Stoker, I’d have to say I’m the most proud of the three Ray Bradbury creative writing prizes I got early in my career for short fiction and poetry. None of the prizes or awards affected my income or sales, but the recognition is nice. In fact, what kept me coming back in the early going was having eight stories receive Honorable Mentions from Ellen Datlow in various annual editions of Year’s Best Fantasy and Horoor anthologies. The stories didn’t get in, but just getting noticed motivated me to keep at it. (Thanks, Ellen.)

David: What made you decide to start Burt Creations to publish your books?

Steve: I had a half dozen books out, several with traditional publishers. One of them took three years from completion to publication, another took two. The publishers created awful covers and changed the titles, then didn’t market well. Both books did okay in spite of my complaints. So early on, control of product became important to me. Then came a time when I self-published my inspirational book, A Christmas Dozen: From the Christmas Story Pastor, and sold thousands of copies around my home in Connecticut—in four months—partly because I read the short holiday stories aloud on the radio, in senior centers, and in churches.

My agent sent the book and its success story to the five major New York publishers, where the five editorial (read: content quality) loved it and passed it along with glowing comments. In all five publishing houses, though, the marketing departments said, “We have no idea how we’d get it out of bookstores, given there are 25,000 competing holiday books out there.” So all five, despite the quality and the track record, rejected it. They were pitching to bookstores and had no idea what an audience and market for the book might look like; I knew my audience (because I had already gone to where they were) and also knew my market (church folks at readings, senior citizens seeking pick-me-up stocking stuffers—none of whom were in bookstores). If I knew my audience and my market, who needed the big, traditional publishing houses if they weren’t going to come with their advertising/marketing budgets?

So when it came time to collect my previously published horror stories (I kept the rights with every magazine, never selling All Rights), I didn’t bother sending the collections to my agent (or other agents) nor to editors at publishing houses. I simply continued with the name I had chosen for the business entity that did my self-published Christmas book: Burt Creations. And I’ve been at it ever since. I sell mainly on my own at readings and arts & crafts shows or through Amazon.com and Follett Library Resources.

So I’m not in bookstores and I’ve got limited distribution, but I’m okay with that. I employ a top-notch California book designer and a former Hanna Barbera copywriter (back cover material) and a strong editing team, with a goal of publishing only high quality books that will match the production values of the big houses.

My publishing house also creates ebooks for each title. Because my minister’s paycheck funds the operation and there is no significant profit (actually, it’s a loss), I can’t take on others writers’ works. It’s hard enough to foot the bill for a Sinister Minister’s books.

David: How many books have you published?

Steve: FreeK Show is the sixteenth, with FreeK Out due in May 2014. The last eight starting in 2000 are my fiction works and are all under the Burt Creations imprint. The previous eight starting in 1975 are nonfiction, with several out of print.

David: Have you ever written any adult horror?

Steve: The hardcore stuff? No. The FreeKs series is like Harry Potter and Hunger Games in that it’s classified as “crossover” fiction, appealing to young adults and adults (my wife says ages 9-99). The FreeKs series is really paranormal mystery/suspense, but they tend to slide into the Stoker horror recommendations sheets because they have ghosts, levitation, telekinesis, and other elements normally in the horror genre. The Stories to Chill the Heart series (Odd Lot, Even Odder, Oddest Yet, Wicked Odd) has a lot of adult stories that first appeared in magazines like All Hallows, Black Petals, Tales of the Unanticipated, and a few dozen other small-press organs in the 1990s. When I collected them together for Odd Lot, we first listed it as adult horror; but so many school teachers told me the stories were great for read-aloud (and appropriate for grades 5-12) that we changed the classification to Young Adult Dark Fiction and did so for the entire series. I guess I was writing “crossover” short stories back then and didn’t realize it. Even today I call it “horror lite” (certainly not splatterpunk).

David: Name some of your favorite horror books.

Steve: Edgar Allan Poe’s collections, Jaws, The Exorcist, Rick (Robert B.) MaCammon’s works, Stephen King’s Skeleton Crew and Night Shift and works by his Stoker-winning son Joe Hill, Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, and works by my Horror Writers Association colleagues Joe McKinney, Peter Struab, and the late Rick Hautala. And though it might be a genre stretch, I’d include the Dave Robicheaux novels of James Lee Burke and the Lucas Davenport novels of John Sandford, all of which combine mystery and horror.

David: Name some of your favorite horror movies.

Steve: Some are serious horror and some are fun horror. Serious: Jaws, The Exorcist, Frankenstein (Karloff), The Mummy (Lugosi) Sixth Sense (Willis), Psycho, The Body Snatchers, Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days, The Birds, Alien. Fun: Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead.

David: What’s your latest project?

Steve: I’m just starting the third FreeKs book, tentatively titled FreeK Out. That’ll be followed by FreeK Accident and FreeK Storm.

David: Anything else you want to tell us about yourself and your work?

Steve: I just retired after almost 35 years as a minister and have in the last 2 months moved to Florida. Lately I’ve been visiting Cassadga, Florida, to research it as a setting for the next book, FreeK Out. Cassadaga, an 1890s Spiritualist campground-turned village, is known as “the medium capital of the world.: Almost every house in the tiny village has a shingle out advertising psychic readings. Little known fact: I am the father of the well-known author, editor, and writing expert, Wendy Burt-Thomas (Ask Wendy, Query Queen blog), and books from McGraw Hill, Adams Publishing, and Writer’s Digest Books).

David: Any advice?

Steve: There are plenty of excellent stories and novels out there that don’t get to the big-time. That’s largely the luck of the draw, and you only have limited control over that. Work to produce a quality product, whether it’s a short story, a novel, or a self-published book. And, of course, the old saw: don’t quit your day job—at least not yet. Success isn’t in the money or the accolades or the reviews (though those are not to be sneezed at), but comes from discovering that story and its characters then sharing with the world in whatever way you can manage—then go back to the keyboard for the next project.

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Interview with Ryan Andrews

On the eve of the UK TV premiere of ELFIE HOPKINS, on Horror Channel, director Ryan Andrews talks about a thwarted career as a Vampire Hunter, working with the Winstones and his new ‘raw’ film,

ELFIE HOPKINS is broadcast on Sat, June 27, 22:55

Q: Did you know from a young age that you wanted to be a director?

RA: From a young age I actually wanted to be a vampire hunter. I was obsessed. I carried a briefcase with wooden stacks and crosses, I was a bad ass 7 year old obsessed with horror. My VHS collection was insane from the age of about five. My grandfather thought horror was a good way for me to see the difference between good and evil. As for directing. I decided to direct after getting into video art.  My work became more narrative and I decided to take the next step and go to film school. At first my aim was to make films like Matthew Barney, but that soon changed when I realised I wanted to tell stories.

Q: Do you have a favourite director?

RA: I love different directors for different things.  I love Wes Craven for keeping me awake for the early part of my teens. Tony Scott and QT for True Romance, my bible to relationships, Harmony Korine for not giving a fuck and Riddley Scott for showing how important it is to create a world within your movie (Alien).

Q: Where did the idea for Elfie Hopkins come from?

RA: Well, I was fresh out of film school and sick of saying I was a director when I hadn't yet done a film. I thought the only way I'm going to learn to direct features is to get out there and shoot something. I based the script on my youth as a wanna be vampire hunter. Then I got mu co-writer Riyad to write the script with me as I'm not really a script writer.

Q: The casting is quite something, how did you get Jaime and Ray Winstone on board?

RA: I met Jaime years ago when I was a camera assistant. We became friends. She loved this short I directed called Fangula and we made a deal that one day we would do a feature movie.  I met Ray through Michael Wiggs Ray's agent. We made a short film together called Jerusalem about the artist William Blake. We became friends so it was natural for him to be in my movie. As actors, they are so similar it's surreal.

Q: Were you nervous as this is your first feature film?

RA: Yes, of course but you have to start somewhere. I just got on with it. It was a massive learning curve. It was a very small budget with limited shooting time. We only got through it because I had such amazing support from my crew, family and friends. It's set me up with so much experience for the next film.

Q: You must be pleased that it’s getting its UK TV premiere on the Horror Channel?

RA: As a huge horror fan and horror channel fan it's like a dream come true.  For my first movie to be out there for horror fans to actually see is really exciting.

Q:  So what are you working on at the moment?

RA: I'm actually working on a really raw new feature film.  It's super exciting, based around the dark side of youth culture in London . It follows one girl on a macabre journey set over one night.

Ryan Andrews, thank you very much.

Film4 FrightFest 2013 announces opening and closing night films

Big Bad Wolves from Israel and Indian Zombies signal global horror invasion at this year’s FrightFest

This year’s festival opens with the world premiere of The Ford Brothers THE DEAD 2: INDIA - the first-ever International production of a zombie film shot in India .

 

Howard and Jon Ford, the British director, writer and producer team behind the acclaimed African-set zombie road movie 'The Dead’ said today: “It's truly an honour to be the opening film – mind-blowing! Being at FrightFest for ‘The Dead’ was such an incredible experience for us and one of the highlights of our whole journey with the film. It's an awesome event with a brilliant crowd and we both sincerely cannot wait to see you all there!”.

 

The film follows the story of India-based American engineer Nicholas Burton (JOSEPH MILLSON) in a race against time to reach his pregnant girlfriend Ishani Sharma (MEENU). Burton enlists the help of an orphan street kid Javed (ANAND GOYAL) and together they make a perilous 300 mile journey across deadly landscapes as a zombie apocalypse threatens to engulf the entire nation.

 

Film4 FrightFest will close with the UK premiere of directors Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado’s extraordinary revenge thriller BIG BAD WOLVES. Soaked in twisted tension, fairytale myth and seat-edged suspense, the film follows the lives of three men on a collision course: following a series of brutal murders: the father of the latest victim now out for revenge, a vigilante police detective operating outside the law, and the main suspect in the killings - a religious studies teacher arrested and released due to a police blunder.

Aharon and Navot said today: “We always dreamt of having a film which would be good enough to be shown at FrightFest, but not even in our wildest dreams did we think that an Hebrew speaking revenge thriller would get us there. FrightFest is really making history here.  As a token of our appreciation we promise to give everyone there a  night they won't easily forget”.

 

All the directors and some cast members will be attending the festival.

 

Film4 FrightFest Co-director Alan Jones commented:  “Film4 FrightFest is delighted with our Opening and Closing Film choices. Both THE DEAD 2: INDIA and BIG BAD WOLVES represent everything FrightFest is about; the discovery, nurturing and celebration of vital new voices in the genre. FrightFest launched the Ford Brothers' THE DEAD to worldwide acclaim in 2010 and Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado's RABIES in 2011 became the only movie in our entire 14-year history to warrant successive extra screenings based on overwhelming want-to-see demand.  So to welcome both duos back with their stunning new movies, both exploring unusual cultural aspects within a remarkable genre framework is an absolute thrill.  These films bookend Film4 FrightFest perfectly and  hint at what we are trying to achieve this year -  the best platform to deliver our broadest, most diverse and most surprising event ever”.

 

Film4 FrightFest, the UK ’s biggest genre film festival, runs from Thursday 22 August to Monday 26 August at the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square . The full line up will be announced on Fri 28 June.  Festival & day passes go on sale from 29 June. Tickets for Individual films are on sale from 27 July.

 

Bookings: 08 714 714 714 or www.empirecinemas.co.uk

Interview with Michael Mulvihill

Michael Mulvihill is a long-time contributor to BLACK PETALS e-zine. This includes his issue #61 poems: A Love Story Beautiful, Capitalism’s Modern Architecture of Love, Red Brick, The Securocrats, and Toxic Addiction (+ the poems, Fatigued, O Mother, and Spike-Inverted Hearts for BP #58; “The Cleaner and the Collector” tale & all 6 BP #56 poems; BP #50’s story, “The Soul Scrubber”, and as featured vampire poet with A Vampire’s Dilemma: Love, Becoming a Vampire, Vampire Insomnia, and Vampiric War in The Kodori Valley; BP #49 poems, I, the Vampire, The Reluctant Vampire of Tbilisi, Vampire Observations, and Vampire Psychoanalysis).

The 30ish author published a short story, “Ethagoria Nebsonia,” in BP in 1998 and had a poem, “The Bombing,” in The Kingdom News about a domestic tragedy in Ireland.

"Siberian Hellhole" (2013) a horror novel, is his first novel to be published by The Wheelman Press. He is also a clinical psychotherapist and hypnotherapist and member of The I.C.H.P.

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Interview with Michael Mulvihill

By David Kempf

Tell us how you became involved in writing fiction.

Oh goodness David.  I was just a kid and I much preferred watching ‘V’ and ‘The Lost Boys’, than writing anything.  It is like I still do love my TV to this day.  I totally loved ‘American Gothic’ the TV pilot that was put off air, loved ‘Millenium’, ‘X Files’ and ‘Brimstone’, magnificent stuff.
From the ages of four to twelve I did not relate to school what so ever.  Weird! I now have six higher level qualifications up to an M.A. I just got scholarly.

But I swear on The Bible, when I was a kid, me, school, books, Heck! I was more interested in reading about mans’ inhumanity to man but NOT what was expected of me to read back in Junior School.

Once when I was a kid I picked up a very bloody magazine that explained what was happening to people in Argentina under the Juntas Military Regime of the 1980s, I was never examined about this, nor about The Holocaust, or how Russia defended itself against Nazi invasion.  And believe me as a kid this is what I was into.  My teacher wanted me reading Charlie and The Chocolate Factory which I thought was asinine and not for me.

Thus let us just put it mildly, my talents and intelligence went totally under the radar screen until I went to Stratford College on Zion Road. In this secondary college I learnt how to believe in myself.

I did an entry exam to Stratford College and the Principal actually told my dad that I would be an asset to the school.  I was never led to believe this in my junior school years like one single bit.

I was really lucky. I got to study intelligent poems that I really related to, by poets like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.  My teacher took note of all of this.  She told my dad at a parent teacher meeting that I was a very intelligent person, very aware of what was around me in my environment and that I had books in me.

I have never looked back since that time.  Just kept moving on and now I got my first book out and I am happy with that.


How many books have you written? 

Siberian Hellhole is my debut novel David.

Tell us about Siberian Hellhole. 

This novel is set post Glasnost at the time of Perestroika in Russia.  Tobias has to leave Moscow, there is no work he can hardly feed himself.  He finds work in Siberia.  But instead of finding peace from solitariness he finds a land that is ravaged with demons from Hell which are lurking under the ground that he is protecting and waiting to take over the entirety of Siberia and the world.


Do you enjoy creating horror fiction in particular? 

Yes I love writing horror fiction because I seem to be able to release some unconscious energy onto the page when I write.  I mean some people have said that horror fiction helps people to prepare for death and to acknowledge and become aware of the shadow or dark side of their own personality.  Which is an interesting concept if you think about it, I guess you could say at some level I find writing therapeutic. I love writing horror fiction because I find I can place variety of elements of life into it.



What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as an artist so far?

Getting Siberian Hellhole published was great.  The cover looked great.  Wheelman Press really did do a very good job. Plus I have gotten decent reviews from bloggers like Paranormal Romance Review (Maria Perry Mohan) Fifth Dimension Science Fiction Horror Blog (Stuart  Anderson) and Best Book Review.co.uk (Janette Skinner) also gave this novel a good review, alongside speculative fiction author Charles Miller who positively rated my novel.

When Stuart Anderson of The Fifth Dimension wrote that Siberian Hellhole is an intelligent horror story I was so delighted.  He was the first to review my book.

Then I panicked and thought no one else would review my work until Maria Perry Mohan recently gave my book an excellent review.

Also more recently when Janette Skinner wrote about my novel Siberian Hellhole,

  “I made the mistake of starting to read this on my terrace in the moonlight by the light of my kindle. Bad mistake, I was so un-nerved by the narrative and the night birds that I had to stop and crawl into bed beside my slumbering husband. Not many books create an atmosphere like that for me”

What can I say?

I mean this is the best compliment that can be possibly written about a horror novel and I was delighted to read it.


Name some of your favorite horror books.

Dracula, Let The Right One In, The Metamorphosis, The Master And Margerita (which has a surrealist horror elements in it) Edgar Allan Poes Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Hannibal, The Butcher Boy (as far as I can see this is pure surrealist horror about the unhinging of the mind).
I loved and still do, Lorenzo Caracaterras Sleepers and A Safe Place, Diary of Anne Frank, Thomas Keneallys Shindlers Ark which to me had such morose scenes of true life horror.  I guess I define horror books in a broader way than most.


Name some of your favorite horror films. 

Francis Ford Cappolas version of Dracula, 1994, Shadow of The Vampire 2000, Pit and The Pendulam (1961), Them, Kidnapped, I am Legend, The Original Vampire Killer, The Addiction, The Lost Boys, Fright Night, The Crow, Funny Games, The Others.


Why do you think old school horror fiction remains popular?

Old school horror fiction for me is more literary, readable and intelligent. I mean I am going to re-read kafka and Poe when I have free time.  But I do promise to read The Others and Perfume when I have free time also.

I love intelligent fiction.  I just have not been seduced by the likes of King and Koontz, I love reading true old ghost stories, castles and atmospheric stuff about poltergeists and exorcisms, so there is just this part of me that likes things done old school anyway.

  I am not sure if I can give anything but an unbiased answer to this question.  For me old school horror films are way better than the stuff of now never mind  what was written down on paper when the likes of Poe and Stoker was around versus nowadays.  I like my vampires dangerous threatening and malevolent.  Not sex symbols that are waiting to come out of the closet.


What are your latest projects?

In the next edition of Blackpetals.net I will have a very disturbing horror story in it which will feature a vampire horde invading the house of a single female.  This is an example of intense short horror fiction.
My next novel will feature a Dublin Vampire Lucis Diaboli who believes he is externally showing signs of aging and feels he needs to get his fangs into the blood of an aristocrat in order to continue looking youthful.


Please in your own words write a paragraph about yourself & your work.

I am a person who has really just begun to tap into my abilities as a writer.  Siberian Hellhole is the best novel I have written thus far because it is the only novel I have published so far.  I really feel there are a lot of dark fiction, horror and surrealism stories left in me.  I hope to have a long life so I can write as many books as I think are in me.  So longevity is something I wish to achieve.

Links:
Amazon link
http://www.amazon.com/Siberian-Hellhole-Michael-Mulvihill/dp/0988742349

Blog
http://michaelmulvihillhorrornovelist.blogspot.ie/

Fantastic latest review of the novel
http://ablogofhorror.com/2013/05/23/siberian-hellhole-review/

The Walking Dead - Season 4 First Look photo

AMC released today a First Look photo from "The Walking Dead" Season 4, featuring Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes back to work on the set in Atlanta, GA.   Season four of “The Walking Dead” returns to AMC in October of this year. The cast and crew began production on May 6.

“The Walking Dead” is based on the comic book series created and written by Robert Kirkman and published by Skybound, Kirkman's imprint at Image Comics. "The Walking Dead" season three out-delivered everything on television including “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Voice,” “Game of Thrones,” “Modern Family,” and almost doubling “The Bible” for the broadcast season for adults 18-49.

Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC

Interview with Sean Hogan

On the eve of the UK TV premiere of THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS on Horror Channel, Sean Hogan talks about the future of the horror film industry, the importance of a good script and his forthcoming doc on the UK comic 2000AD.

THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS is broadcast on Sat May 11, 22:55,

Q:  How did The Devil’s Business come together?

SH: I’d been waiting a long time for another project to come together, and out of sheer frustration, I had a meeting with my producer Jen Handorf one night and proposed that we made something for very little money, just to get back in the saddle. I’d recently seen Down Terrace and really liked it, and my feeling was that you didn’t need a whole lot of money to make something, just a good script, talented actors and one location. So I sat down and wrote Devil’s Business to be done along those lines. What happened then was, the other project finally happened, but turned out to be a nightmare experience. So once the dust had settled, I really needed to wash the bad taste out of my mouth. So Jen proposed we went back to The Devil’s Business. It came together really quickly after that, we basically pulled it all together in a few months.

Q: Did the script take long to write?

SH: Not really. It was short, for one thing! And I was kind of on a roll when I wrote it; I’d written about five scripts already that year so the gears were well oiled. Besides, it really was one of those times where the characters took over and wrote themselves – it always sounds horribly pretentious when writers say that, but what can I tell you, it’s true! I normally outline much more than I did on Devil’s Business, but in this instance I just sat down and started writing with only a vague sense of what was going to happen. For instance, when I wrote Pinner’s monologue, I didn’t really know what he was going to say or how it would impact the rest of the film; all I knew was that he was going to tell a strange story. And it all just came flooding out. It certainly isn’t always that simple, so I have fond memories of writing it.

Q: Was it a hard movie to cast?

SH: No, we were fairly lucky in that department. We didn’t have a casting director, so it was largely a case of me and Jen scouring Spotlight and looking at showreels etc. That was how we found Billy Clarke, who played Pinner. He was the first person who read for the part and I just loved him immediately. Johnny Hansler was someone I’d auditioned for another film – he wasn’t right for that part but I made a note that if we ever did Devil’s he’d be great for Mr Kist, so we just made him an offer based on that. And Jack Gordon was a recommendation via his agency, who Jen had a working relationship with. Again, he just came in and rocked the audition. Easiest casting process I’ve ever had, despite the lack of resources.

Q: How did you go about funding for the film?

SH: It was private money. We wanted to control the production ourselves - because we’d had enough of meddling, crooked, incompetent executives – so Jen and I invested some money to get things going. And then we approached some other people we knew to kick in some cash as well. We knew that if we tried to get it made through official industry channels it would take forever and we’d have to put up with a ton of less-than-helpful script notes, so we made a decision we’d just do it our way – for less money, but with more control. It was hard work doing it on the budget, but the actual experience of doing it with no outside interference was sheer bliss.
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Q: The film picked up some great reviews including one that stated “…smart British horror has a touch of the Roald Dahl to it” that’s quite a compliment.

SH: We were very happy with the response, without a doubt. From my perspective, I had no idea how the film would be received; it was just cathartic to make it. I figured that it was such a small production that it might easily disappear without a trace. And besides, it isn’t really a conventional horror film in many ways; it’s quite dialogue-driven and character-based, which always puts some people off. So I was definitely steeling myself for the worst. But then we premiered it at FrightFest and got wonderful reviews, and it went on from there. So I was delighted – I’ve had bad luck with UK distribution in the past, so to get that sort of a reaction was very rewarding. And it definitely made everyone’s hard work worth it.

Q: You must be pleased that the film is getting its UK TV premiere on the Horror Channel?

SH: Certainly am. Again, if you’d said to me when we were shooting it that the film would eventually play cinemas, come out on DVD and then show on TV, I’d have probably asked you what you were on and where could I get some. The Horror Channel has been very supportive of me and so I’m really pleased we’ve found a home here.

Q: What state do you think the British horror movie industry is in?

SH: It’s very tough, certainly at an independent level. DVD sales are down and whilst I think VOD will eventually take up the slack, it isn’t there yet. But horror is reliant on those sorts of areas to make it viable. So you get a lot of distributors asking you to make something along the lines of what was successful last year. Which I hate hearing, not least because that never works. I’ve certainly been asked to make something similar to Kill List, for instance. But Kill List was successful because it wasn’t like anything else at the time, and if you just try and copy that, the audience will smell it a mile off. And anyway, we kept getting compared to Kill List anyway, so why would I want to do that again? I honestly think a lot of it comes down to a lack of respect for the genre; a lot of industry people just see it as product and not worth any serious consideration. Therefore you get a lot of crap being made, just because it ticks certain commercial boxes. And so if you want to do something different, you run into difficulty. But there are definitely good UK filmmakers out there, so I just hope that everyone keeps plugging away and making films one way or another. Because if history shows us anything, it’s that good horror usually comes out of the independent sector anyway.

Q: What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a director or work in the horror industry?

SH: It’s obvious, but my primary point is always to pay attention to your script. The writing really isn’t worth a damn in most horror films. And yet it costs no money to get your characters and dialogue written properly. So if you can’t write, find someone who can. Similarly, cast good actors – they may not be famous names, but you can certainly find people who can act. Trust me, it’s easy if the script is good – actors are desperate for quality material. Don’t make something that’s just by the numbers – we’ve all seen the classic horror films, doesn’t mean we want to see slavish copies/homages. Figure out what really scares you and put it onscreen – because if it scares you then odds are it will scare someone else. And for god’s sake yes, please try and be scary. Rape and torture are not scary, and I’m so incredibly bored with how much of that we’re seeing right now. It’s easy to be upsetting, but it’s not easy to be scary.

Q: So what are you working on at the moment?

SH: Jen and I are developing a script called No Man’s Land, which is a horror movie set in the trenches of WWI. We’ve had a lot of interest over that, so I’m hopeful we can get that going this year. I’m attached to a bunch of other projects as well, but that’s where I’m focusing right now. I’m also producing a documentary called Future Shock!, which tells the story of the legendary UK comic 2000AD. That’s proving to be a lot of fun, and the response to us making it has been great. That should be ready sometime next year.

Sean Hogan, thank you very much.

TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138
www.horrorchannel.co.uk | www.twitter.com/horror_channel

Interview With Ray Garton - By David Kempf

Ray Garton is the popular, award winning author of over sixty books. He has been praised by Peter Straub, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, Joe Lansdale and Dean Koontz. 

In addition to movie tie ins that include the Nightmare on Elm Street series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he has written numerous original horror novels.  In 2006 Ray was presented with the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award. 

Ray lives in Norhern California with his wife Dawn. As a huge fan of horror fiction, it was an honor to interview Ray.  - David Kempf




Tell us how you became interested in horror. You have said in the past your religious upbringing was full of obsession over the end of the world and fear. How much of an impact did the church have on you?

My upbringing had a lot to do with my interest in horror, although I didn’t realize it at the time.  I saw my first horror movie on TV when I was about five years old.  It was 13 Ghosts.  By that time, I was already living in fear of the “time of trouble” that’s such an important part of Seventh-day Adventist doctrine.  I regularly had nightmares that would disrupt my sleep, and I would sometimes lie awake at night in bed, either praying that god would kill me before that time came, or trying to decide how best to kill myself once it arrived.  That movie scared the hell out of me, but it was a fun kind of scary.  I enjoyed it.  It channeled the fear that was bottled up inside me.

After that, I sought out more horror on TV, and I discovered horror comic books and later, novels and short stories.  But this only caused more trouble for me because Sadventism (as I call it) prohibits the reading of fiction.  I understand that these days, they have a much harder time dictating that particular rule, but the cult’s prophet and founder, Ellen G. White, wrote that god showed her that reading fiction could actually cause health problems, physical paralysis, and mental illness.  So I got a lot of flak for my interests.  In fact, I was reminded almost daily that my interests were a sign that there was something wrong with me, that Satan was working hard on me.

I always had a need to tell stories.  I don’t know why.  Before I could write, I drew them in comic strip panels.  Then I learned to write and I was always writing stories, one after another, and they all tended to be dark.  Most fell in the horror genre.  This, I was told, was a sign that Satan was working through me.  Being told that sort of thing all the time, day after day, resulted in a lot of self-loathing.


Did it impact your work politically and philosophically as well as personally?

No, I don’t think so.


You also said that you believe you got a pretty good break into the writing  business, do you think it’s more difficult to make fiction writing your sole source of income these days?

I was very lucky in that horror fiction was extremely popular when I was starting out.  I sold my first novel when I was 20.  It was published in 1984, in the middle of the horror fiction boom.  If I were starting out today — well, the very thought makes me shudder.  Things are a lot different now.  Not only has horror never recovered from the collapse of its mainstream popularity in the early ‘90s, but publishing itself bears little resemblance to the business when I started out.  I don’t envy anyone who’s starting out right now.  There are a lot of new avenues that writers can take, but writers have to do all their own marketing, and good luck getting attention.  These days, everybody and their plumber has a book to sell.  It seems if you’re not hawking a book, you’re some kind of slacker.  Everybody’s doing it.


How many short stories have you written?

I don’t know.  I’ve never counted them.  Dozens.


How many novels have you written? 

I’ve written about 62 books altogether — novels, novellas, short story collections, movie novelizations, and TV tie-ins.  About half of those are novels.


Do you enjoy mentoring or helping new writers in the horror genre?

I’m always willing to answer questions and offer encouragement and, if I have any, advice to new writers, whether they work in the genre or not.  I got a lot of kind encouragement and advice from writers when I was starting out, and I’m always eager to do the same for others.  I don’t have the time to read manuscripts, and legally, that’s a bad idea for any professional writer.  But I always try to make myself available to up-and-coming writers.


Tell us about your daily (or nightly) working routine.

My routine seems to morph with each project.  Right now, I’m writing in the late afternoon and evening, I usually take a break to spend some time with my wife in the evening.  And then I get back to work when she goes to bed.  While I’m writing, I usually have music playing, or a movie running on the TV.  It has to be a movie I’ve seen many times, though, something I’m familiar with so it doesn’t become a distraction.  I like the noise, though.


What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment as an artist so far?

Of my novels, Sex and Violence in Hollywood is my personal favorite. It was wonderful writing experience, it flowed so smoothly, and I was very happy with the final product.  Of my horror novels, I think Scissors is my favorite because it’s so unusual.  No vampire or werewolves, none of the usual trappings of horror.  It’s completely different from everything else I’ve written.  Those are my best for now, I think.  That’s open to change, of course.


How do you come up with the original plots and characters you create?

First of all, I try to avoid doing what’s already been done.  For example, I wouldn’t go near zombies right now.  Everybody’s doing zombies.  I’m not crazy about that subgenre, anyway, but right now, I want to hurl every time I see a new zombie novel or collection or movie.  Enough, already!  The plots are usually determined, to a certain extent, by the characters.  And the characters are drawn from my own personal experiences with people.  I don’t mean that they’re based on specific people, because they aren’t.  They come from my experience with people in general.


Name some of your favorite horror books. 

Ghost Story, The Shining, Frankenstein, I Am Legend, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs — those come immediately to mind.  For much of my life, I read mostly horror fiction, but not for some time, now.  These days, I read a little of everything and not much horror.


Name some of your favorite horror films. 

The Black Cat (1934), Bride of Frankenstein, The Howling, The Haunting, Pan’s Labyrinth, Session 9, Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist, The Mist, Carrie ...


Why do you think horror films and books remain relatively popular?

Their popularity never dies, although it does experience surges from time to time.  Watching a horror movie or reading horror fiction are two of the only ways we can put ourselves in safe danger, confront and survive death, be terrified without risking our injury or death, and walk away with a great feeling of relief.  They’re our way of having nightmares when we’re awake.  When they’re done right, they fill that need.


What are your latest projects?

I have a couple of novellas coming from Cemetery Dance, Vortex and Dereliction.  I have short stories in some upcoming anthologies like Horror Library Volume 5, and an anthology called A Darke Phantastique, edited by Jason V. Brock and William F. Nolan.  And right now I’m working on a new novel that I can’t discuss just yet.



Many thanks to Ray Garton.
http://raygartononline.com
Check out Amazon to buy his books

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