Pulp Horror Author Interview H: Chad Lutzke

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Chad Lutzke who explores the fear of feeling pleasure in his short story "Passing Judgement" in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias.


LVP PUBLICATIONS: What draws you to horror, both as a writer and as a reader?  Who is your favorite horror creator?  Who are your inspirations or influences?

CHAD LUTZKE: For whatever reason, I’ve always been drawn to darker things. This dates back to kindergarten with teachers writing notes to my parents with their concern about my “obsession” with “monsters and gore.” I can enjoy reading books that have no element of horror in them, but when I write I have the tendency to always bleed dark elements. A few of my most recent books, while not traditional horror, have tragic events that reflect the horror of real life. By creator, I’m assuming you mean writer or this answer could take a while. I don’t know that I have a single favorite horror author, but Ketchum, Poe, and King are certainly at the top of the list. I am heavily influenced by Ketchum and Lansdale. By pure accident, I tend to write like Lansdale with topics Ketchum would likely cover.

LVP: What were your biggest fears as a child?  Do you have any current phobias or fears now as an adult?

LUTZKE: I had a tremendous fear of drowning when I was very young that later went away. As an adult, I have a lot of the same fears anyone does. Losing loved ones, going insane.

LVP: Horror has a million sub-genres, from psychological to splatterpunk.  Which sub-genres have you written in?  What's your favorite flavor of horror?

LUTZKE: I’ve written a lot of coming-of-age, some psychological and some splatterpunk. I think coming-of-age is my favorite to write in. It’s most relatable and I’m big on nostalgia. I also like to read it, but I love anything that is character driven with engaging subplots.

LVP: Is there any sub-genre or area of horror that you won’t go anywhere near? Any one area that is completely off-limits?

LUTZKE: Off limits for me is just anything I find boring. Stuff that’s been done to death. You’ll not likely see me writing a post-apocalyptic zombie series. I also have no interest in writing the kind of extreme stuff that really pushes the envelope. I’d rather touch someone’s heart or make them think rather than turn their stomach, and most of us are desensitized to much of that anyway. It’s just not for me.

LVP: In your opinion, what is the scariest or most terrifying thing you’ve ever written?

LUTZKE: Great question, but from my perspective I look at it nontraditionally, I suppose. My book Stirring the Sheets is about a man who loses his wife after 49 years and tries to cope with that…by any means necessary. It wasn’t a fun book to write, being in that widower headspace. The thought of losing my wife is the scariest thing I could ever think of happening to me, and the book deals with that in a very visceral way.

LVP: Have you ever had an idea for a story so scary or disturbing that you couldn't bring yourself to write it down? Tell us about it.

LUTZKE: I was dealing with my first bout of insomnia over the course of two or three days, which in turn was causing a lot of anxiety. I’d never suffered from that before (nor have I since) so it was very alarming to me. I then came up with a story that almost felt like it was exacerbating everything, particularly the anxiety. The main character in the story is a truck driver who is also suffering from insomnia and is unable to eat due to an abscessed tooth, so he slowly loses his mind from sleep deprivation. He ends up feeding his teeth and other bits to a drain in the bathroom of a truck stop and has “rationale” behind it. It was very uncomfortable to write all that lunacy in the middle of those insomniac episodes while racing against an approaching deadline, so I almost didn’t finish it.

LVP: Are there any ways that your interest in horror bleeds over (so to speak) into other areas of your life?  Do you throw legendary Halloween parties, do you dress like Alice Cooper when you go grocery shopping, do you have a pet albino snake named Nosferatu?

LUTZKE: Other than some of my décor, my dog’s name, the T-shirts I wear or some of the music I listen to, not really. The dressing up like Alice, owning a python and all that are things from my youth. I’m a pretty boring guy anymore.

LVP: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to try dabbling in horror writing for the first time?

LUTZKE: Write what scares you, not necessarily what you think would scare others, and certainly not what’s popular. Be as original as you can.

LVP: What would you like your legacy to be?  Or alternatively, what should your survivors engrave on your tombstone?

LUTZKE: As far as writing goes, I just want people to continue to read my books after I’m gone. Particularly my children and their children, etc. with the hope that they would feel connected to me in some way as they read.

LVP: Anything else you'd like to say or add? Any final thoughts?

LUTZKE: Whatever your fear is, don’t let it rule your life. Unless it’s to buy books. In that case, buy the books. Buy all the books.


~ Chad Lutzke has written for Famous Monsters of Filmland, Rue Morgue, Cemetery Dance, and Scream magazine. He's had a few dozen stories published, and some of his books include: OF FOSTER HOMES & FLIES, WALLFLOWER, STIRRING THE SHEETS, SKULLFACE BOY, and THE SAME DEEP WATER AS YOU. Lutzke's work has been praised by authors Jack Ketchum, Stephen Graham Jones, James Newman, Cemetery Dance, and his own mother. He can be found lurking the internet at www.chadlutzke.com


Pre-order The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (paperback or hardcover) from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound, from Barnes & Noble or Amazon now... or come see us at Crypticon in Seattle, WA and StokerCon in Grand Rapids, MI to read this story along with all the other madness contained in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (including limited edition autographed phobia card sets, available at conventions only)!

Pulp Horror Author Interview G: James Chambers

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with James Chambers who explores the fear of crossing bridges in his short story "Right of Crossing" in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias.


LVP PUBLICATIONS: What draws you to horror, both as a writer and as a reader?  Who is your favorite horror creator?  Who are your inspirations or influences?

JAMES CHAMBERS: I love the sense of the mysterious in horror. I enjoy stories where characters face the unknown and the bizarre, where they grapple to make sense of terrifying things that emerge from the shadows. Those things can come from within themselves as much as they do from the supernatural or from other people, which is an aspect I enjoy as a writer. The emotional and psychological undercurrents of that kind of horror story draw me to them. The Haunting of Hill House, for example, where it’s uncertain how much is psychological and how much supernatural, but all of it illuminates the characters’ states of mind. I also gravitate toward imaginative horror, stories with vivid, creative imagery and stories with an internal mythology, such as the stories in Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. It’s too hard to pick a favorite horror creator. There are many, many people making horror stories in books, film, and comic books whose work I enjoy and follow and whose work I’m still discovering. I have probably a dozen “favorites” in any medium that produces horror, and they change over time. When it comes to inspiration and influences, I find the horror community at large inspiring. It fosters such a powerful sense of encouragement and connectedness, of support for horror as a substantive and worthwhile literary genre when many outside the genre still see it as all chainsaws and zombies.

LVP: What were your biggest fears as a child?  Do you have any current phobias or fears now as an adult?

CHAMBERS: As a child I mostly feared other people, ranging from the practical such as being wary of strangers or the school bully to the less realistic such as worrying about home invaders. I feared random acts of violence. The notion that I could be going through my ordinary day and find myself attacked or caught up in some horrible, violent situation always got under my skin. As I grew older my fear evolved as my firsthand experience with it grew. I better understood the nature of that fear and realized it was a legitimate thing to worry about—but the form of it became more concrete. Colin Ferguson shooting people on a Long Island Rail Road train I could’ve easily been on. Buying food in a bodega in the Bronx when a bloody fight broke out. Being the only other person in a subway station with a guy muttering to himself and beating up trash cans with a baseball bat. Watching the World Trade Center fall from my office window on 9/11. That was all real and utterly indifferent with regard to who those tragedies claimed. I learned to better assess that fear, what I could control, what I couldn’t, how to keep it in check. That’s part of what draws me to the horror genre—the idea that dark, horrible things are waiting to happen all around us. I have no real phobias, but my fear now includes the carelessness of others—people texting while driving, a pharmacist who mixes a prescription incorrectly—the potential for danger because someone is distracted or simply isn’t paying attention.

LVP: Horror has a million sub-genres, from psychological to splatterpunk.  Which sub-genres have you written in?  What's your favorite flavor of horror?

CHAMBERS: I’ve written a wide variety of horror, probably in most sub-genres except for extreme horror, which isn’t my cup of tea. I’ve written psychological horror, Lovecraftian and other weird horror, supernatural horror, straight-up monster stories, historical horror, and more. I’ve written genre blends: science fiction/horror, pulp/horror, western/horror, and so on. I write in many genres. My stories tend to run dark. My horror sensibilities bleed into everything, even when I write a crime or science fiction story. I don’t have a real favorite. I enjoy good writing and inventive stories. That’s much more important to me as a reader than a particular type of story. As a writer, my story ideas span the full range of horror. I’m more interested in challenging myself than sticking to any particular mode or sub-genre. I often look for opportunities to write some type of story I haven’t tried yet or for editors sympathetic to experimental stories. It’s good to stretch the writing muscles in new directions.

LVP: Is there any sub-genre or area of horror that you won’t go anywhere near? Any one area that is completely off-limits?

CHAMBERS: I don’t write extreme horror. I’ve never really tackled survival horror, either, which can overlap with it. Extreme horror simply isn’t my thing. My natural inclination is often to focus on the aftermath of a horrific experience or to only hint at the worst, letting the reader’s imagination run wild. That approach doesn’t lend itself to extreme horror.

LVP: In your opinion, what is the scariest or most terrifying thing you’ve ever written?

CHAMBERS: My short story, “Mooncat Jack,” maybe. It picks at a lot of childhood darkness from a child’s perspective, at an age when it’s possible to be aware of awful things around you without understanding them. It suggests that hope is slim for escaping them. I’ve heard from enough readers over the years to think that story is pretty disturbing. There are some new stories in my forthcoming collection, On the Night Border, that I think are among the creepiest or most disturbing work I’ve done, “The Chamber of Last Earthly Delights,” “The Driver, Under a Cheshire Moon,” and “Red Mami.”

LVP: Have you ever had an idea for a story so scary or disturbing that you couldn't bring yourself to write it down? Tell us about it.

CHAMBERS: Yes and no. I have some story ideas that are so disturbing I’ve set them aside until I can find the right way to approach them, but I intend to write them someday. Part of writing horror is tackling the things that frighten or unsettle us, so I try not to shy away from any good idea. Horror writers aren’t meant to stay in their comfort zone. But there’s a fine line between writing a very dark and disturbing tale in a meaningful way that uses the darkness to convey emotional or psychological insight and writing only for the sake of telling a twisted story. Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door does the first. Written less thoughtfully or from a different approach, that story could have been torture porn, but Ketchum brings the heart of it to light in a way that elevates it. That novel pulls back the curtain on some very ugly aspects of human nature in a way that disturbs the reader but also helps them accept that they are part of our reality. That’s the way to tackle really disturbing stuff. So I hold on to those ideas until I find the right way forward.

LVP: Are there any ways that your interest in horror bleeds over (so to speak) into other areas of your life?  Do you throw legendary Halloween parties, do you dress like Alice Cooper when you go grocery shopping, do you have a pet albino snake named Nosferatu?

CHAMBERS: Aside from a wardrobe stilted toward black T-shirts from horror conventions, I’m pretty sedate in this regard—except for Halloween! My family goes a bit overboard decorating the house. The last few years we’ve even put on a small yard haunt. We change it up every year and try to do a creepy display that won’t scare off too many trick-or-treaters.

LVP: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to try dabbling in horror writing for the first time?

CHAMBERS: Have confidence in your creativity. Many writers begin by emulating their favorite authors. A lot of horror writers have at least one “Stephen King style” story in their trunk. That’s fine. When we’re starting out and don’t yet know what we’re doing, we fall back on what we know from reading. All writers start out as readers. But move past that into your own imagination. Don’t worry about the rules of vampires or what’s popular or not in the genre at the moment or trying to catch a trend. Tap into your own creativity and let it breathe in your stories. The more you do, the sooner you’ll find your voice in the genre, and the stronger your writing will be.

LVP: What would you like your legacy to be?  Or alternatively, what should your survivors engrave on your tombstone?

CHAMBERS: I want readers to enjoy my writing. If anything I write lives on after me or becomes the kind of story that stands out when people look back at what they’ve read or at the horror genre in general that would be a fantastic legacy.

LVP: Anything else you'd like to say or add? Any final thoughts?

CHAMBERS: I’m very excited to be part of the Pulp Horror Book of Phobias! I had great fun writing my story, bringing together some wildly different elements—Russian mobsters in Brooklyn, World War II history, Norwegian folklore, the terror of New York City traffic—all inspired by the fear of bridges, and turning them into a bit of hard-boiled darkness. This was a “stretching my muscles” story, to see if I could make it all work. I hope readers enjoy it, and I’m eager to read the other stories and see what my fellow contributors cooked up for their phobias.


~ James Chambers is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the original graphic novel Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe as well as the Lovecraftian novella collection, The Engines of Sacrifice, described in a Publisher’s Weekly starred-review as “…chillingly evocative….” He writes crime, fantasy, horror, pulp, science fiction, steampunk, and other types of stories, which have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. His website is www.jameschambersonline.com. 


Pre-order The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (paperback or hardcover) from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound, from Barnes & Noble or Amazon now... or come see us at Crypticon in Seattle, WA and StokerCon in Grand Rapids, MI to read this story along with all the other madness contained in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (including limited edition autographed phobia card sets, available at conventions only)!

Pulp Horror Author Interview F: WT Paterson

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with W.T. Paterson who explores the fear of rising body temperatures in his short story "Mutual Possession" in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias.


LVP PUBLICATIONS: What draws you to horror, both as a writer and as a reader?  Who is your favorite horror creator?  Who are your inspirations or influences?

W.T. PATERSON: Horror is a very exciting genre because it demands attention, and the characters require action.  While there’s a place for contemplative love stories and looking out over bodies of water while a character finds themselves, there’s something to be said of the average person put into a situation that tests their own humanity.  What is the breaking point of a character?  How do we get them there?  Why is this killer/monster/disease so important to the characters?  What does it reveal about the larger world?  Everything is exciting because we have to face death head on with both brains and ferocity.

My favorite writers in the genre are Joe Hill and Paul Tremblay.  King is a legend, of course, but Hill and Tremblay, for me, have their fingers on the pulse of a more modern reader.  I also was blown away by the movie “Hereditary”, which taught me that sometimes tension is equally as powerful as a masked killer.

LVP: What were your biggest fears as a child?  Do you have any current phobias or fears now as an adult?

PATERSON: As a kid, I was always afraid of snakes.  I’m still a little afraid of snakes, but not the way I used to be.  Now, I just think they’re creepy and if you have a pet snake, I probably think you’re a little creepy too.  You’re probably great, but that snake…

As an adult, I’m actually deathly afraid of whales.  They’re WAY too big.  I’ve been swimming in deep water when the thought of a whale will nearly debilitate me.  It’s bad.

LVP: Horror has a million sub-genres, from psychological to splatterpunk.  Which sub-genres have you written in?  What's your favorite flavor of horror?

PATERSON: I’m a huge fan of speculative horror à la Black Mirror.  That show nails it.  The technology isn’t the problem, it’s people who are the problem and how the tech plays into our existing neurosis.  When I write, I love to cross genres and get dark.  I’ve blended elements of true crime, humor, slipstream, creature, you name it.  If it seems fun to write, I’ll give it a shot.

Most recently, I’ve discovered horror stories that exclusively take place inside of a Disney park, which is wild.  Many of the stories aren’t the best in their execution, but their concepts are killer.  Over the summer, I’m going to sit down and knock out a few of the Disney themed stories that I’ve had kicking around.

LVP: Is there any sub-genre or area of horror that you won’t go anywhere near? Any one area that is completely off-limits?

PATERSON: Anything that is overtly racist or bigoted doesn’t interest me at all.  It’s not that those themes shouldn’t be represented or discussed, but every now and then I’ll read a story that is clearly written with ignorance and it’ll ruin it for me.  It’s also tough to write about things like human trafficking knowing that these things are very real, and that we don’t really have a solution for it.  People are working hard to save lives, and new disturbing details keep popping up that make things somehow worse.  True life is the greatest horror writer.

I tell my writing friends all of the time that nothing is off limits, but they also have to defend their choices.  I’m not going to give you a pass just because a story is risky.  It has to be risky and done well in order to get my approval, and the path to something being done well often requires a lot of failure and re-writes.  I always have to ask myself if the story is worth the deep dive and what the message is that I’m trying to send.  Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t as good or scary as I thought.

LVP: In your opinion, what is the scariest or most terrifying thing you’ve ever written?

PATERSON: A few years ago, I wrote a novel (unpublished) called “The Woods” that blends old Polish folklore into the Nazi Resistance of WWII, and I wrote about how villagers would stage ritual sacrifices to appease “the Horned king Amaeil, and his legion of crooked animals”.  It was meant to drive German soldiers insane, which would work, and the idea of crooked animals, for whatever reason, always makes my blood go cold.

LVP: Have you ever had an idea for a story so scary or disturbing that you couldn't bring yourself to write it down? Tell us about it.

PATERSON: Yes.  I had a close friend pass away from cancer at a young age (20s) and it was really hard watching him succumb to the disease.  After he passed, I kept having nightmares where I would talk to him, and he’d be aware that he was dying, and he would start crying because he was afraid. I’d wake up terrified and just weeping. In all honesty, I don’t know if I’ll ever write that story because it’s too close.  I’m not sure what the underlying message would be aside from “Death is Scary,” because those nightmares would only be part of the story and not the whole.  I don’t know.  Real death is tricky.

LVP: Are there any ways that your interest in horror bleeds over (so to speak) into other areas of your life?  Do you throw legendary Halloween parties, do you dress like Alice Cooper when you go grocery shopping, do you have a pet albino snake named Nosferatu?

PATERSON: I’m a huge fan of Halloween.  I love the vibe, the movies, the weather.  It’s the best.  Also, whenever I’m in a new city, I almost always take their ghost tours because those ghost tours talk about the true grisly histories that a tourism pamphlet wouldn’t touch.

LVP: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to try dabbling in horror writing for the first time?

PATERSON: It’s not enough to have a monster or a killer or a disease.  There has to be an emotional drive that makes us invest in the story and characters.  The plot is just what happens.  The trick is to create the “but why is it happening to these people?” over the plot.  Why is it so important that they survive?  What is driving this killer to kill?  If things are spiraling out of control, why is control so important?  Bad guys aren’t just bad, and our heroes aren’t altruistic.  Play with those ideas.  How do the good guys and bad guys relate to each other?

LVP: What would you like your legacy to be?  Or alternatively, what should your survivors engrave on your tombstone?

PATERSON: I’d love to have a number of books and television shows under my belt.  Blending dark humor with elements of horror is what I love love love and constantly push for ways to tell new stories.  I always joke that my tombstone will read “Worth it!” because I’ll probably end up dying in a real silly and stupid way, and those will be my last words.

LVP: Anything else you'd like to say or add? Any final thoughts?

PATERSON: I think horror is coming up on a new revolution.  With movies like “Hereditary,” and “Get Out,” and shows like “Black Mirror,” and “True Detective,” we’re starting to blend the occult, social issues, and complex characters into really compelling art.  As new voices rise, they’re each going to bring unique perspectives to their work, which will ultimately define what the genre becomes.  And that is very exciting.


~ W. T. Paterson is the author of the novels "Dark Satellites" and "WOTNA". A Pushcart Prize nominee and graduate of Second City Chicago, his work has appeared in over 40 publications worldwide include Fiction Magazine, The Gateway Review, and a number of Anthologies. He is a current MFA candidate at the University of New Hampshire. Send him a tweet @WTPaterson.


Pre-order The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (paperback or hardcover) from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound, from Barnes & Noble or Amazon now... or come see us at Crypticon in Seattle, WA and StokerCon in Grand Rapids, MI to read this story along with all the other madness contained in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (including limited edition autographed phobia card sets, available at conventions only)!

Pulp Horror Author Interview E: Philip Athans

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Philip Athans who explores the fear of dawn and daylight in his short story "Morbid Dread of the Dawn" in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias.


LVP PUBLICATIONS: What draws you to horror, both as a writer and as a reader?  Who is your favorite horror creator?  Who are your inspirations or influences?

PHILIP ATHANS: I’ve always been fascinated with the idea that any piece of writing can conjure an emotional response in a reader. For me, at least, the two hardest things any story or novel can do is make me laugh or make me scared. So when I find a truly frightening piece of writing, it both amazes me and makes me want to try to conjure that feeling in someone else.

Though as a kid I came into horror fiction probably through Edgar Allan Poe, he still seemed too old fashioned for me, a little impenetrable, so I ended up falling back into science fiction most of the time, then fantasy. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon H.P. Lovecraft, who sat at the intersection of fantasy and horror, that I started really reading horror. And of course, Harlan Ellison, who wrote across a spectrum of genres and combinations of genres, hit me right in the gut with the scariest science fiction story I’ve ever read: “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.” Those two authors (with a few others on the SF and literary side) remain my Gold Standard.

LVP: What were your biggest fears as a child?  Do you have any current phobias or fears now as an adult?

ATHANS: As a child? Everything!

I was kind of a nervous, depressed kid. I know I’m dating myself here but I remember running out of the room when commercials for The Exorcist came on. I would sit with a blanket over my head while my older brother watched Night Gallery. And all along I was desperately afraid of heights, something that carried through into young adulthood then suddenly just stopped being an issue. I also went through a period where I was so afraid of flying I almost gave up on it completely, but managed—with extreme effort—to work my way out of it.

I know what a phobia feels like, to be sure.

But now my biggest fears will all sound terribly pedestrian—dying before my son finishes college, for instance, and I have a terrible fear of Alzheimer’s disease—but that come with age.

LVP: Horror has a million sub-genres, from psychological to splatterpunk.  Which sub-genres have you written in?  What's your favorite flavor of horror?

ATHANS: I’ve written a lot of monster horror—that Lovecraft influence coming in—but probably tend more toward the Harlan Ellison, Mark Z. Danielewski side of things, what I guess it might be fair now to call “Post Horror.”

LVP: Is there any sub-genre or area of horror that you won’t go anywhere near? Any one area that is completely off-limits?

ATHANS: I’m not sure I have any rigid “off-limits” areas, but you’d have to do some fancy talking to get me into a torture porn movie, or back to the 80s slasher movies I used to go see (one after another after another) with my friends when we were in high school. I need more humanity than just “look at this weird way I thought of to kill somebody.” And I’m not sure what something like Hostel or Friday the 13th really has to say, while some even very commercial horror (Stephen King, etc.) can be grounded in a way that makes it a whole story, not jut a string of “horror” scenes.

LVP: In your opinion, what is the scariest or most terrifying thing you’ve ever written?

ATHANS: I wrote a screenplay that never gained much traction, besides making it past the first round in Project Greenlight, that I’m still trying to build up the courage to rewrite as a novel. I stopped writing it at least three times when it started giving me nightmares, but was always drawn back to it. As far as what’s out there for people to read? Maybe the short story “Piece Music” or the novel Completely Broken.

LVP: Have you ever had an idea for a story so scary or disturbing that you couldn't bring yourself to write it down? Tell us about it.

ATHANS: Not yet! This what you have to do if you want to write horror. You have to be able to turn to the darkest corner of yourself and not look away until the story’s finished.

LVP: Are there any ways that your interest in horror bleeds over (so to speak) into other areas of your life?  Do you throw legendary Halloween parties, do you dress like Alice Cooper when you go grocery shopping, do you have a pet albino snake named Nosferatu?

ATHANS: If you walked into my house you would immediately identify me as a science fiction fan, but you’d have to examine my bookshelves much more closely to find the horror in there. There’s no Goth side to me—my wife would never allow it!—but when I sit down to write, it’s what naturally comes out.

I have no idea what that says about me.

LVP: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to try dabbling in horror writing for the first time?

ATHANS: Sit down and write. I teach a couple of online courses and there are books like my own Writing Monsters that can help, but writing horror isn’t something you can get a college degree in (if I’m wrong, please let me know so I can sign up!). And there is no licensing authority, nothing like the bar exam you have to pass to start. If you have an idea for a story, sit down and pound it out. You’ll find your level of gore/violence, your voice, your no-fly zones, and so on—respect that in yourself and don’t try to write gorier or less gory than you want, more or less sex than makes sense for you, and so on. The audience is there for less intense “thrillers” all the way through to the bizarro world, so whatever you gravitate to, there will be readers for you in that same orbit. Trends are meaningless and impossible to force. Be yourself, and write your stories.

LVP: What would you like your legacy to be?  Or alternatively, what should your survivors engrave on your tombstone?

ATHANS: If anyone in my family pays good money for a tombstone I will come back from whatever Hell I’ve been consigned to and haunt their asses forever.

No one’s “legacy” is in that person’s control, and the world will march on without us.

LVP: Anything else you'd like to say or add? Any final thoughts?

ATHANS: Just can’t wait to see the book and read the rest of the stories!


~ Philip Athans is the founding partner of Athans & Associates Creative Consulting, and the best-selling author of Annihilation and more than a dozen other fantasy and horror books including The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction and Writing Monsters. His blog, Fantasy Author’s Handbook (https://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com), is updated every Tuesday, and you can follow him on Twitter @PhilAthans. He makes his home in the foothills of the Washington Cascades, east of Seattle.


Pre-order The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (paperback or hardcover) from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound, from Barnes & Noble or Amazon now... or come see us at Crypticon in Seattle, WA and StokerCon in Grand Rapids, MI to read this story along with all the other madness contained in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (including limited edition autographed phobia card sets, available at conventions only)!

Pulp Horror Author Interview D: Jay Seate

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Jay Seate who explores the fear of justice in his short story "Destiny's Road Trip" in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias.


LVP PUBLICATIONS: What draws you to horror, both as a writer and as a reader? Who is your favorite horror creator? Who are your inspirations or influences?

JAY SEATE: Horror allows one to experience extreme reading adventure without leaving the house. I cut my teeth on “The Twilight Zone” and Stephen King, but all avenues come into play when creating my tales.

LVP: What were your biggest fears as a child? Do you have any current phobias or fears now as an adult?

SEATE: Still afraid of deep water. I’ve never allowed one of my characters to drown.

LVP: Horror has a million sub-genres, from psychological to splatterpunk. Which sub-genres have you written in? What's your favorite flavor of horror?

SEATE: Although I stand on the side of the literary highway and thumb down whatever genre comes roaring by, I lean toward the psychological and supernatural storytelling as I find those tropes much more frightening than obvious monsters.

LVP: Is there any sub-genre or area of horror that you won’t go anywhere near? Any one area that is completely off-limits?

SEATE: As above, whatever genre tickles my fancy at the time.

LVP: In your opinion, what is the scariest or most terrifying thing you’ve ever written?

SEATE: A series of three novels concerning horrible things that could really happen. Now that’s scary.

LVP: Have you ever had an idea for a story so scary or disturbing that you couldn't bring yourself to write it down? Tell us about it.

SEATE: If it comes to mind, I write it. Kind of enjoy scaring myself.

LVP: Are there any ways that your interest in horror bleeds over (so to speak) into other areas of your life? Do you throw legendary Halloween parties, do you dress like Alice Cooper when you go grocery shopping, do you have a pet albino snake named Nosferatu?

SEATE: My son has taken up the slack for me here. He designs Halloween costumes and throws a monumental Halloween bash each year.

LVP: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to try dabbling in horror writing for the first time?

SEATE: Read lots. Different authors with different takes on the genre and sub-genres. Decide on what gets your gears going and write, write, write.

LVP: What would you like your legacy to be? Or alternatively, what should your survivors engrave on your tombstone?

SEATE: That one of my tales will scare the bejesus out of someone. Tombstone: “On the whole, I’d rather be in Castle Rock”

LVP: Anything else you'd like to say or add? Any final thoughts?

SEATE: In an often chaotic world, storytelling condenses life, gives it order. Maybe what it had to say was simple, even naive, but there was meaning. Stories are like medicine for our lives.


~ Jay Seate is a writer who stands on the side of the literary highway and thumbs down whatever genre that comes roaring by. His storytelling runs the gamut from Horror Novel Review’s Best Short Fiction to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. His memoirs and essays report fact while his fiction incorporates fantasy, horror, or humor featuring the quirkiest of characters. His longer works can be found online at Amazon and B&N.


Pre-order The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (paperback or hardcover) from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound, from Barnes & Noble or Amazon now... or come see us at Crypticon in Seattle, WA and StokerCon in Grand Rapids, MI to read this story along with all the other madness contained in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (including limited edition autographed phobia card sets, available at conventions only)!

Pulp Horror Author Interview C: Colleen Anderson

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Colleen Anderson who explores the fear of hair in her short story "Entwined" in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias.


LVP PUBLICATIONS: What draws you to horror, both as a writer and as a reader?  Who is your favorite horror creator?  Who are your inspirations or influences?

COLLEEN ANDERSON: It’s weird to say I’m not really sure. I’ve always been fascinated by the strange, the different and the unseen—mysteries and thinking of other ways of seeing the world. My favorite horror creator changes at times. China Mieville for his intensely strange worlds, Gemma Files for some super crazy existences… this list changes as I read, and I am woefully far behind on reading. I recently read Strange Bird by Jeff Vandermeer, and read Josh Malerman’s Bird Box. These two were strange and very edge of the seat with Malerman’s. I keep them in mind when writing. My inspirations and influences include classic writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson and Ray Bradbury, not to mention some early horror films and TV shows such as The Fall of the House of Usher, House of Seven Gables, the Twilight Zone, and Outer Limits. And a mother that didn’t seem to censor what we watched. I’m inspired often by what I’m reading too, and fairy tales and myths were also great influences.

LVP: What were your biggest fears as a child?  Do you have any current phobias or fears now as an adult?

ANDERSON: When I was very little I used to evoke the devil under the bed, just to psych myself out. I would then be daring myself to look under the bed and I would hope I wasn’t pulled under. Perhaps someday I need to write this story. As a kid, I developed arachnophobia after a very specific infestation dream. It grew worse when I moved to the West Coast and the spiders grew bigger. But I spent a year working on hiking trails and it seems inadvertent aversion therapy cured me. There were also fears of the bombs dropping, and 9/11 terrified me. These days the only phobia I have is Trumpophobia—and living in what has become one of the most expensive cities on Earth has given me the very real fear of not being able to keep a roof over my head.

LVP: Horror has a million sub-genres, from psychological to splatterpunk.  Which sub-genres have you written in?  What's your favorite flavor of horror?

ANDERSON: I had to look up the sub-genres just to make sure I know what they all are. And it seems I have written in pretty much all of them from splatterpunk (only a little bit I think), to body horror, psychological, supernatural, gothic, erotic, vampire, weird, etc. I’d say my favourite is psychological and I often write morality tales where disturbing moral dilemmas are presented that can greatly unsettle people. The sociopath (psychopath) intellect disturbs and fascinates me. I’m about to start writing a werewolf story, which I haven’t done before, though I have written werewolf poems, and I think I’d like to explore Gothic fiction a bit more as well.

LVP: Is there any sub-genre or area of horror that you won’t go anywhere near? Any one area that is completely off-limits?

ANDERSON: Never say never. While I did write one piece that was splatterpunk—and back when I was doing Clarion West (writers workshop) I was nicknamed the Splatterqueen—I’m not big on gore-fests and really won’t and can’t watch movies that go down Slasher Lane, so I’d say I don’t really go there as it’s somewhat gratuitous. But it’s often in the eye of the beholder and since I used to submit what I thought were fantasy stories and get rejections saying, “We don’t do horror,” it could be I have more splatter than I’m aware of. I also think Burroughs’ The White Lunch was a form of erotic snuff horror that I could only read half of as it was self-indulgent, didn’t move forward and seemed too gratuitous, so snuff horror isn’t something I feel I need to explore.

LVP: In your opinion, what is the scariest or most terrifying thing you’ve ever written?

ANDERSON: I would say it’s “Exegesis of the Insecta Apocrypha,” which could probably make a very disturbing show. Not only was it unsettling to research in terms of finding out just how many insects there are in the world (a total that is greater than all other animals put together) and what happens during decomposition, but I had to go deep into the psychopath’s behaviour, involving death and torture of animals and children. My mind kept veering away from writing it but my first draft was a bit too graphic in areas, so I had to pull back. That one still creeps me out, though some of the others stories I’ve written in that callous use of, and disregard for, living beings is a terrifying concept.

LVP: Have you ever had an idea for a story so scary or disturbing that you couldn't bring yourself to write it down? Tell us about it.

ANDERSON: Well, if I told you about it, it wouldn’t be too scary to write down, now would it? But at this point, I would say no, I’ve gone there and several reviewers have said I’m bold and unafraid.

LVP: Are there any ways that your interest in horror bleeds over (so to speak) into other areas of your life?  Do you throw legendary Halloween parties, do you dress like Alice Cooper when you go grocery shopping, do you have a pet albino snake named Nosferatu?

ANDERSON: I was once accused of eating babies by a twenty-something because I look far younger than my years. If people comment on this factor I do continue to say I eat babies, which disturbs a few people for some odd reason. I also have a bone collection, skulls of different animals, a large urn-like glass container of bones, a cat skeleton, etc. I was called goth before I knew what it was, but I tend to like bright colors far more than black. A couple of years ago Nancy Kilpatrick and I did a tour of bone chapels and mummies in the Czech Republic, and she’s certainly an aficionado of the macabre. I’d like to see more ancient cemeteries and funereal art through the ages is quite interesting.

LVP: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to try dabbling in horror writing for the first time?

ANDERSON: Don’t get stuck in the tropes, though they are good fodder. I mean, do go there, but then go farther. Think outside the box. Watch and read the classics and then pick up some new stuff and read that. It’s amazing to see how many people are influenced by authors from fifty to a hundred plus years ago.

LVP: What would you like your legacy to be?  Or alternatively, what should your survivors engrave on your tombstone?

ANDERSON: My mother always called me strange so perhaps “Embracing the Weird” would make a good epitaph. I want my legacy of writing to be mind boggling and awesome, of course.

LVP: Anything else you'd like to say or add? Any final thoughts?

ANDERSON: I’m currently trying to write a mosaic collection of apocalyptic SF, of sorts. It’s a bit different from what I usually write so I’m challenging myself. I’m keeping Strange Bird, and Alessandro Manzetti’s “The Massacre of the Mermaids” in mind as I write these stories. Black Shuck Books also published A Body of Work in late 2018, which collects my more recent dark fiction tales together.


~ Colleen Anderson is a Canadian editor and writer of fiction and poetry whose work has appeared in over 200 publications. Her collection A Body of Work was published in 2018. She recently edited the anthology Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland, co-edited two other anthologies, and was long-listed for a Stoker in short fiction. www.colleenanderson.wordpress.com


Pre-order The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (paperback or hardcover) from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound, from Barnes & Noble or Amazon now... or come see us at Crypticon in Seattle, WA and StokerCon in Grand Rapids, MI to read this story along with all the other madness contained in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (including limited edition autographed phobia card sets, available at conventions only)!

Pulp Horror Author Interview B: James Pyne

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with James Pyne who explores the fear of plants in his short story "It Came From The Grave" in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias.


LVP PUBLICATIONS: What draws you to horror, both as a writer and as a reader?  Who is your favorite horror creator?  Who are your inspirations or influences?

JAMES PYNE: That’s a loaded opening question.

I really have no definitive answer for what pulls me toward horror. When it comes to my writing, the characters tell me their story and I write it down. It seems I have tons of angry, hateful characters on my hands, doesn’t it?

For me, reading horror is like a rollercoaster of emotions, if the writer is good at his craft, they’ll have you caring about the characters like they’re your best friends . . . before putting them through a hellish end, one you feel is happening to you, too. I also enjoy the twisted imaginations of horror authors, their creative ways in killing off characters but what I really enjoy are those horror stories and novels that feel real, like they could happen. Now that’s talent.

My tastes for dark fiction changes yearly but a few remain consistent. Most will say King and I enjoy his works without a doubt but if I had to pick just one, it would be Clive Barker. But Ray Bradbury, M.R. James, Shirley Jackson, and Richard Matheson aren’t far behind. I won’t ever forget my first introduction to Barker. A classmate had one of his paperbacks, very graphic for the '80s and during Reading Time in English Class he let me read a story in it. My first piece of Barker was The Book of Blood, then The Midnight Train and I was hooked after that.

My world is a small one when it comes to people in the physical realm and every one of them have had an influence on me in my writing. My mom always had a taste for horror, the nastier the better, she had a thing for anything paranormal, and introduced me to the imaginative world of dinosaurs… and wowzers, we had some great giggles sitting out on the front doorstep mispronouncing dinosaur names because we knew that there was no way we were getting many right. My dad had his part, telling me he hunted Bigfoots, and shared other tall tales fanning my imagination even more and the man was always good at anything he did, inspiring me to be the best at whatever I enjoyed doing. I could write a novella on people who have influenced my writing in some way.

If I looked at influences via writers, they are many. Besides the dudes mentioned above, John Gardner (Grendel, Sunlight Dialogues), Joseph Campbell, Douglas Adams, Anne Mccaffrey, Hardy Boy books. Both Jane Austen’s Wuthering Heights and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov showed me horror can exist outside the genre with scenes that disturbed me.

LVP: What were your biggest fears as a child?  Do you have any current phobias or fears now as an adult?

PYNE: The Old Hag. Yes, I was one of those kids who got regular visits from her. A nasty piece of business. I never shared those experiences into my adulthood until I came across Whitley Strieber’s website. I either came across a story about the Old Hag on a public board there or one of his paranormal news links and it sounded just like the monster visiting me, in description and experience. I did YouTube search and wow, I was blown away. I didn’t feel alone anymore and freely shared my experiences no longer thinking it was the work of an over-imaginative child. The professionals like to call it “sleep paralysis.” In many cases it might be, but those of us for centuries seeing the same thing… how do you explain that? I have even written a short story for Lycan Valley Press starring the Old Hag for Subliminal Reality which is to be released soon. It is the first horror story that was personal, reliving that horror through the main character. I also would scare myself with Bigfoot movies. I hated watching them. But couldn’t resist them. To this day, if I watch anything Bigfoot, I look at the corner of my eyes for something blurry dark before fully looking in the direction of my window.

LVP: Horror has a million sub-genres, from psychological to splatterpunk. Which sub-genres have you written in? What's your favorite flavor of horror?

PYNE: I’ve written psychological, dark fantasy horror, shock, phantasmagoria, gore, and now pulp horror. I like psychological and dark fantasy.

LVP: Is there any sub-genre or area of horror that you won’t go anywhere near? Any one area that is completely off-limits?

PYNE: I’ll try anything once. I don’t read much gore, we’ll go with that, then.

LVP: In your opinion, what is the scariest or most terrifying thing you’ve ever written?

PYNE: Besides the Old Hag story written for you folks, The Room that Cured Racism comes to mind. I’ve recently submitted it (crossing fingers.) It once had a home, but I decided to pull it when it didn’t seem the anthology was going anywhere. Anyone that has read it, loved it, and said the nasty and phycological ending disturbed them and cut deep in their being. I listen to the readers, so I guess that is the meanest one I’ve written so far.

LVP: Have you ever had an idea for a story so scary or disturbing that you couldn't bring yourself to write it down? Tell us about it.

PYNE: Yes, one about babies becoming eggs for things unseeable that want physical form and can only get it through the energy of babies and by hatching from them, it would be a very visual, emotional kind of story that might be too much even for me… Okay, confession. The image popped in my head when reading your question. Honestly, I haven’t come across anything like that… yet.

LVP: Are there any ways that your interest in horror bleeds over (so to speak) into other areas of your life? Do you throw legendary Halloween parties, do you dress like Alice Cooper when you go grocery shopping, do you have a pet albino snake named Nosferatu?

PYNE: Any year I grow big sunflower heads, I will teeth-clench the stem and take photos of me as the horrifying Sunflower Man and post the photos on Facebook. I can be quite the goof like that. I wonder if I should start stalking around the neighborhood at night as Sunflower Man and peek into people’s windows while they are deep into whatever they’re watching on the tele, rap the window with one hand and when they turn around, wave, while holding up a machete with the other hand. Guess that would get me locked up or charged, though… or shot.

LVP: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to try dabbling in horror writing for the first time?

PYNE: Read more than just horror fiction. I am big on reading as many genres as you can. You want your characters to feel real as much as they can, so you will need non-horror elements in your writer’s toolbox. Also, try making your horror “emotional” in some way, something that’s going to resonate with the reader. Richard Chizmar’s A Long December is jam-packed with examples. This is a cliché but never give up. Keep chipping away. You’ll get there but you got to feel those characters, let them do the talking while you’re the scribe. Otherwise, you’re just writing cardboard characters. And one of the most important is, embrace criticism. Don’t take it to heart if you get rejected and if an editor takes the time to reply with advice, do the dance of joy because they see merit in your fiction. They are only trying to help. Try their suggestions. An example, if it hadn’t been for MJ Sydney, my story in this anthology would not exist. I checked my ego at the door and wrote three totally different versions of this story with MJ Sydney who was with me along the way. I am grateful she showed me patience as this was the first time tackling anything pulp. I really wanted in this anthology. The concept is awesome.

LVP: What would you like your legacy to be? Or alternatively, what should your survivors engrave on your tombstone?

PYNE: A decent guy who had his faults, like everyone, that did his best to be kind and help others. Righted his wrongs. Someone who was good to his family and friends, someone who never backed down, and certainly never let political correctness silence his opinions.

HERE LIES THE DUDE. I’d be happy with that.

LVP: Anything else you'd like to say or add? Any final thoughts?

PYNE: Without myths to root us, keep us strong, we are nothing, no more than tumbleweed blown in the wind. Sorry, working on getting a dark fantasy mythological novel ready for my publisher and all I have on my mind these days is myths. That’s all I got. Peace.


~ James Pyne was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. His debut novel Big Cranky (Dead Light Publishing) will be released in two volumes soon. His writing has appeared in various anthologies like Clockwork Wonderland, Mother's Revenge: A Dark and Bizarre Anthology of Global Proportions, and Only the Light We Make (Tales from the World of Adrian's Undead Diary Book 3) Add or follow him for updates: https://www.facebook.com/jjamespyne


Pre-order The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (paperback or hardcover) from your local indie bookstore through IndieBound, from Barnes & Noble or Amazon now... or come see us at Crypticon in Seattle, WA and StokerCon in Grand Rapids, MI to read this story along with all the other madness contained in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias (including limited edition autographed phobia card sets, available at conventions only)!