Pulp Horror Author Interview O: Michael Bailey

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Michael Bailey who explores the fear of opening one's eyes in his short story "White to Black" 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?

MICHAEL BAILEY: Horror offers escape. As long as writers are creating dark fictional worlds, our sad and lonely not-so-light nonfictional world seems more bearable. Jack Ketchum taught me that people are the only monsters, that there’s nothing else to be afraid of; so, I guess that makes him one of my favorites, as well as one of my inspirations / influences. Besides Poe and King and Shelley and Gaiman, I draw mostly from outside the horror genre: writers such as David Mitchell, Yann Martel, Barbara Kingsolver, Raymond Carver, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Cormac McCarthy, maybe even a little Chuck Palahniuk, Mort Castle, Susan Collins; some of their work dips into the dark.

And the women … there are so many brilliant female writers of dark literary fiction, so I’m always on the lookout for new work by Emily B. Cataneo, J. Lincoln Fenn, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Lucy A. Snyder, Erinn L. Kemper, B.E. Scully, Rena Mason, Alma Katsu, Linda D. Addison, Gwendolyn Kiste, Meghan Arcuri … I could go on for pages. I wouldn’t necessarily tag those writers as “horror,” but they write about the dark. And since I’m name-dropping, how about Victor LaValle and Josh Malerman; those two know what they’re doing. Inspiration and influence comes from everywhere.

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

BAILEY: As a child, nyctophobia. I feared the dark, like most kids, like most adults. Let’s be honest, everyone is afraid of the dark in some sense because darkness hides the unknown. And I guess I always worried about becoming lost in some way, either literally or metaphorically, because most of my earliest and memorable dreams were about isolation. My childhood fears developed into what is now my biggest concern, losing the mind: memory loss, dementia, Alzheimer’s, everything winking out of existence, in other words. I’ve written close to a quarter-million words on the subject. And most recently, I discovered I have a fear of immobility, or cleithrophobia, the fear of being trapped. It makes me all sorts of anxious. Perhaps those two phobias are connected, or the same.

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?

BAILEY: I am probably most known for psychological horror, but my short fiction often bends toward dark science fiction and speculative, sometimes near-future stuff. Some of the stuff I’ve written about in the past has come true, so perhaps some of what I’m writing is “science future-fact.” Occasionally, I write dystopian and gothic, and poetry, but I always avoid the tropes whenever possible: demons, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, serial killers, “monsters” of not the human kind, and if I do cross that line, the blur is subtle or in the mind.

My story “White to Black” in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias could be considered a “witch” story, if it needs to be categorized as anything specific for “horror,” but it’s much deeper than that. As far as favorite flavors of horror, I don’t read much horror, in all honesty (maybe 1% of what I read, maybe less), so I don’t have a favorite. I have more “least favorites” than “favorites” (see the next question / answer), so if I have to pick only one, then perhaps “psychological horror,” because I like exploring the mind, which is where all the magic happens anyway.

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?

BAILEY: Here’s a list (won’t read it, won’t write it, won’t watch it, won’t remember it), and in no particular order: slasher, found footage, urban legend, cosmic (unless done well), body horror, torture porn, anything gore-heavy, splatterpunk, bizarro, Lovecraftian / Cthulhu mythos, tropy stuff (from that earlier list, unless done well and / or incredibly subtle, such as Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist or I Am Legend by Richard Matheson), possession, religious, anti-religious, gross-for-the-sake-of-being-gross, dinosaur erotica, and the list goes on and on and on.

Basically, if the cover or the title screams horror, I won’t touch the book. Entire publishing companies are overlooked on my part, some authors avoided. Yes, I judge books by their covers. Anyone who says they don’t are lying. And, for the most part, people seem to hate the term “literary fiction” or “literary horror,” but that’s the stuff I’m looking for if I’m looking for anything in the horror genre at all. The same goes for all genres, science fiction especially. Sorry, but it’s true.

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

BAILEY: For fiction, it would be a tie between “White to Black” (since some of the fear involved is autobiographical), and Darkroom, a novelette that sort of works as an older sister to that story and hits similar nerves. For nonfiction, I recently finished Seven Minutes, a book about surviving a California wildfire that completely changed my world. The agent is currently shopping that one, and it’s a tear-jerker / page-burner (pun intended because fire can go fuck itself). It could be sold as fiction if the story didn’t really happen, but it happened. So, that’s perhaps the scariest story I’ve ever written, Seven Minutes, since it’s something real in this nonfiction world of ours. Horror fiction becomes less scary when something real (something bad) happens in its place.

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.

BAILEY: Our Children, Our Teachers used to be that beast, a novelette about the dire state of the education system, which is about a lockdown / active shooter situation at a school, involving children. I was originally going to co-write it as a novella with Jack Ketchum and we were going to call it Our Children, Our Futures, and we tossed around some ideas where it would go, but when his health fell the last time, he asked if we could collaborate on something else instead, a little later down the line. He urged me to finish the story solo as a novelette, though, told me it was something important that needed to be said, only that he couldn’t be the one to say it with me because I was the one with kids, “still a kid” myself. I didn’t want to write it, not alone. I also didn’t want to later write the book about the fire, but he convinced me to finish both. “Write the story about the fire,” he’d said. “It wants to be told.” Those were some of his last words to me. So, I guess the long answer is no, I’ve written the scariest, most disturbing things already.

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?

BAILEY: The only bleeding from my interest in horror is in the form of editing and book design. While I don’t read a lot of published horror fiction, I read and edit a lot of unpublished horror fiction. As a freelancer, I work with writers to slim down manuscripts, as well as offer book design services. On average, I probably edit two or three book-length manuscripts a month, and design five or six books annually. I do have a cat named Bram, which is short for “Bramble,” and could be a nod to Mr. Stoker.

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

BAILEY: Learn the art of self-editing. Attend a workshop or two or three (not online, unless you’ve gone to a few in person first) and learn how to slice and dice your own words until all that’s left on the page is what’s important. Avoid tropes. Be original. Listen to offered advice. Write what no one else is writing. Be your own voice, not a mash-up of others. Read outside the genre in which you want to write: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, whatever, as long as it’s good. However many words you want to write, first read at least a hundred times that amount; maybe a thousand times that amount… and either do it or don’t do it. Don’t just talk about doing it, or write online about the things you haven’t yet accomplished. And once you do write something you think is good, either throw it away or let it marinate in a drawer for six months before you ever touch it again. Then write something new. Rinse and repeat, until the drawer is full, and then go back to that first story. You’ll hate it. You’ll probably throw it away, or start slashing the thing apart with a red pen (hopefully after you’ve learned some self-editing tips and tricks). And, if you want to write a novel, write at least three before ever considering publishing one. You can always go back to fix the “drawered” manuscripts later, or permanently tuck them away, or let them burn when your house catches fire.

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

BAILEY: Here lies Michael Bailey, professional liar / truth-teller (because, if you’re doing it right, they are one in the same), creator of originality (until copied). Note that prior to cremation (and later poured haphazardly into) this golden book / urn you are holding / observing (or have stolen), his body was found hollow and dry, and so what was found left of him after he died burned rather quickly, as he had first bled everything he had onto the page to tell his lies / truths. And please, feel free to open this unsealed container and breathe in the ashes herein contained, for they are stories made of stardust. And yes, this headstone is rather lengthy because it must contain all these words, lest an editor— (the rest is chiseled away, as if in anger, and unreadable)

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

BAILEY: Support creatives. Buy books. Read them. Review them.


~ Michael Bailey is a freelance writer, editor and book designer, and the recipient of over two dozen literary accolades, such as the Bram Stoker Award and Benjamin Franklin Award. His novels include Palindrome Hannah, Phoenix Rose, and Psychotropic Dragon, and he has published two short story and poetry collections, Scales and Petals, and Inkblots and Blood Spots. Edited anthologies include The Library of the Dead and about a dozen others. More at www.nettirw.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 N: JG Faherty

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with JG Faherty who explores the fear of dead things in his short story "The Cemetery Man" 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?

JG FAHERTY: I’ve always been drawn to horror as a fan—my parents used to tell me that as early as 1st grade I was enthralled by monster movies on TV. I think I just like losing myself in the story. It’s an escape from the real world, and let’s face it, monsters are cool!

For fiction, I cut my teeth as a kid on authors like Mary Shelly, Bram Stoker, Jules Verne, and HG Wells, while at the same time enjoying lighter fare such as the Hardy Boys mysteries. Later, I moved on to Alan Dean Foster, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Blish, Robert Bloch, Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, and Peter Straub.

Among today’s authors, I count Michael McBride, Chantal Noordeloos, Preston & Child, Joe Hill, David Morrell, and F. Paul Wilson among my favorites.

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

FAHERTY: Oddly enough, my fears/phobias that I have now are pretty much the same as the ones I had as a kid. I’m not too fond of heights, spiders, leeches, and ticks.

I think the big change is that at around 40 or so, I developed a fear of death. Not the pain, not the loss, but rather the idea that I could die. “I want to live!” So that’s led me to becoming a much more careful driver, I no longer take risks like I did when I was younger, I eat healthier, and I visit my doctors regularly. My goal is to live forever, and I’m counting on science to make that possible. I have too many things left to do, and too much to learn.

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?

FAHERTY: I’ve probably written in all of them, although some far less frequently than others. I’ve done a couple of splatterpunk/extreme horror short stories, and some of my novels have had splatter scenes in them, but that’s not my main area to write in. I tend toward very traditional horror: supernatural occurrences and monsters, psychological horror, suspense, even paranormal romance. The one type of horror that I stopped enjoying in my college years is the crazy killer/torture porn horror. Stories about masked psychos (Saw), tourists in remote areas stalked by mutant killers (Wolf Creek, Hostel), or people trapped in houses (The Purge) are not only repetitive, but they have no real plot other than “kill!” and thus there’s no suspense. Great stuff for teenagers, but not for someone who’s been there, seen that, wants more.

My favorite kind of horror is the kind that evolves as the plot moves, it’s complex, it has twists and turns, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. And there’s no specific genre for this. The Haunting of Hill House, Insomnia, the Repairman Jack novels, It, Ghost Story, Untcigahunk, Wolf’s Hour, Sunglasses at Night, The Watchers, and Heart-Shaped Box are all radically different types of stories, but they all have one thing in common: They keep you reading.

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?

FAHERTY: When I write, I simply put down the story that is in my head. If it’s quiet terror, Lovecraftian, supernatural romance, urban fantasy, or splatter, that’s how it’s written.

The only things off-limits for me are animal abuse/torture and pedophilia.

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

FAHERTY: Wow. That’s really hard for me to say. I’m not a good judge, because I haven’t been scared by anything in a book or movie since King’s Pet Semetary came out (the book). I read that my junior year in college, and I couldn’t go to sleep until I finished it—and I had to read it with the lights on!


I’ve made myself cry, laugh, and feel creeped out by things I’ve written, but never out-and-out scared myself. However, my readers say I write some scary stuff. So I guess it’s me being jaded to horror. Some of my more creepy works include Castle by the Sea, The Cold Spot, and a short story I wrote, The Lazarus Effect.

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.

FAHERTY: No, that’s never happened. Like I said, nothing written or in movies scares me. I can appreciate the horror of things, the scare effect, but I don’t get nightmares or anything. At worst, a shiver goes down my back during a particularly good scene. If I came up with something so terrifying I thought people would faint from it, I’d drop all my other projects and write the sucker!

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?

FAHERTY: Ha. For the most part, I’m a pretty ordinary person. I do have a snake, a ball python named Severus, but he’s not an albino, and he’s pretty shy. I have Halloween tree I put up every October, and a big collection of horror books and movies. I built 2 guitars last year and painted them with stencils of the Frankenstein monster and Dracula. I’ve got some funky skeleton and skull statuettes in my office, and some t-shirts with skulls on them. But I don’t wear that stuff all the time; usually if you see me, I’m in jeans and a sweatshirt.

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

FAHERTY: Know your genre. Be well-read and see a lot of movies, otherwise you’re likely to write something that’s already been done. Don’t try to cash in on trends; write the story that you want to write, in your own voice. Avoid clichés. And most of all, make sure your story has a beginning, middle, and end. Nothing is worse than reading a book, or seeing a movie, that has such an ambiguous ending that it ruins everything.

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

FAHERTY: Well, like I said earlier, I’m going to live forever! So hopefully my tombstone will read “Be back soon.”

As for a legacy, I’d like to be known as someone who produced consistently strong, entertaining work. Because at the end of the day, that’s really what books are: entertainment.


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

FAHERTY: Yes. If you’re a fan of horror, please remember that the genre is huge. Read different types of horror. Expand your horizons. There are a lot of specialty and small presses today putting out books that are as good or better than the big NY publishers. Discover new writers!


~ A resident of New York's haunted Hudson Valley, JG Faherty has been a finalist for both the Bram Stoker Award (The Cure, Ghosts of Coronado Bay) and ITW Thriller Award (The Burning Time), and is the author of 5 novels, 9 novellas, and more than 60 short stories. He writes adult and YA horror, science fiction, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy. His next novel, Hellrider, comes out in August of 2019. Follow him at www.jgfaherty.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 M: Hank Schwaeble

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Hank Schwaeble who explores the fear of memories in his short story "The Yearning Jade" 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?

HANK SCHWAEBLE: Horror is not just the mirror onto which we project our fears, it is the prism through which we break down those fears to help us understand who we are.  No other genre allows us to explore the human condition as unflinchingly.  It is never about the monster, or the evil, or the supernatural, but about the characters forced to confront them, and forced to confront what those forces tell us about ourselves.

My favorite horror creator has always been Edgar Allan Poe, for both his writing and his vision.  He arguably invented both the Horror Story and the Detective Story, and it's no coincidence I frequently try to blend aspects of both horror and mystery/crime into my stories, as I've always felt the genres were joined at the hip since birth.  Poe was definitely an inspiration, as was Vincent Price.  As a child, my view of horror was strongly shaped by Price, with his erudite approach when discussing it informing my sense of the powerful literary potential it had to tackle fascinating facets of the human condition.

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

SCHWAEBLE: As a young kid, I remember being scared of two things:  UFOs and Bigfoot.  The reason was simple—those were potentially real.  The evening news seemed to report UFO sightings far too often for my child's mind to ignore, and my own grandmother told me how she had seen, many years earlier, a UFO hover over the backyard of the very house we lived in (she'd witnessed this back in the '40s or so) one morning before dawn.  It rose up as she watched it until it was very high in the sky, then its many lights went dark and it disappeared. Bigfoot documentaries took the issue of a gigantic primate stalking American forests seriously, with many normal-seeming people swearing they had seen it and experts discussing the creature as if it were perfectly plausible.  Those things made me nervous, as I couldn't dismiss them as fantasy when I was lying in bed late in the night, surrounded by darkness, alone in my room, hearing strange, random noises coming from the roof or the window.

My fears as an adult are far more terrestrial and empirical.  I fear the seemingly universal, relentless authoritarian/totalitarian urge of vocal, motivated segments of humanity to control others by force and crush individual freedoms in the name of security and/or progress.  The 20th century was fraught with horrific events spanning the globe that make horror fiction terrors seem quaint by comparison.

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?

SCHWAEBLE: I try not to think about my stories in those terms, but it's safe to say I've written in a number of sub-genres.  Action-Horror, Horror-Mystery, Psychological Horror, Supernatural Horror, Sci-Fi Horror... I would like to think most of my stories contain numerous elements associated with various of these, but I would say my “favorite flavor” is what I would call “Horror-Noir,” which, as I would define it, combines aspects of mystery, psychological horror and traditional  horror to present a dark glimpse into human nature.  Noir is generally a mystery with a protagonist whose own motives are shady or conflicted at best, or dark in their own right, a character who is often not just falling into the gutter, but from it.  I like reading those, and writing those.  Not all my stories are like that, but a sizable number tend to be, to one degree or another.

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?

SCHWAEBLE: I'm not interested in gross-out or “wet” horror.  That said, I try not to shy away from a description or a depiction if the story or scene warrant it, but it always has to be consistent with and in furtherance of the story and the character(s).  I've written some brutal sentences, but I like to think they were necessary for the integrity of the story, and not there to shock or merely appeal to some sado-prurient interest.

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

SCHWAEBLE: That's a tough one.  If I had to pick, I'd say my story “Nurture,” because there is literally nothing in that story that couldn't really happen.  In my opinion, that casts it in a different light than most of my others.  Supernatural horror can be plenty scary, and I enjoy it every bit as much, but at the end of the day you can convince yourself none of it was real and it could never happen.

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.

SCHWAEBLE: Once. I woke from a dream I couldn't quite remember, but whatever I had dreamt placed this image in my head, set this scene for a story.  It involved a child in the 1700s or so luring his friends to a ritual summoning in the woods and convincing them to pick one of the group as a sacrifice, turning them against each other through manipulations and revelations until he gets what he wants.  But the main image I had in my head around which the whole story revolved was of an act so disturbing, I decided I couldn't bring myself to write the thing, and it just wouldn't be the story without it. Let's just say “brutal” wouldn't begin to describe it.  So I shoved it down the ol' memory hole.

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?

SCHWAEBLE: I'm sorry to disappoint, but no, not in the way the question suggests. Okay, I take that back.  In addition to the “normal” things my wife and I do, like watching horror movies rather regularly, we also have a tradition of setting up a “Halloween Christmas Tree” starting in September.  It's an all-black one I picked up a few years back, and it is decorated with nothing but horror-themed ornaments, of which we have plenty.  Aside from the predictable stuff like bats and owls and witch hats and white-sheet ghosties, there's the creature from Alien, there's a Predator, there's a Dracula, a Frankenstein Monster, and dozens of other classics we hang from it, ranging from characters from A Nightmare Before Christmas to a Bigfoot.  The tree-topper is a large Bride of Frankenstein figure.  This stays up all season, even after we put up the regular tree around Thanksgiving, all the way to New Year's Day.

Other than that, though, I'd say we're pretty normal. Whatever that means.

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

SCHWAEBLE: Write the story that interests you, every time.  If you can't interest yourself, you can't interest a reader.  And never forget that good fiction is good fiction, regardless of the genre.  There are no special rules, nor any freedom from rules, for horror.  There's a reason people still discuss “A Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” over a century and a half later.

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

SCHWAEBLE: I don't ever think about that kind of thing.  I just want people to enjoy what I write and I hope I provide them both entertainment and food for thought.  The best compliment I can get is that a story or stories of mine lingered with a reader long after they'd finished the read.

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

SCHWAEBLE: Only that both readers and writers of horror fiction should treat it with the respect it deserves.  Horror has a literary pedigree unsurpassed by any other genre, but the failure of both producers and consumers to remember that fact a few decades ago did serious damage to its reputation in both commercial and scholarly circles.  It has made a huge comeback in recent years, but there is still a lot of ground to cover.  We should each do our part, as writers to write the best horror fiction we can and to transcend the genre by writing the best fiction possible, and as readers to reward and encourage good horror fiction wherever we find it.


~ Hank Schwaeble is the two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels DAMNABLE, DIABOLICAL, and THE ANGEL OF THE ABYSS, as well as the horror-noir collection, AMERICAN NOCTURNE. His short fiction has appeared in anthologies such as Alone on the Darkside, Five Strokes to Midnight, ZVR: No Man’s Land, V-Wars: Night Terrors and X-Files: The Truth Is Out There, among others. Also a World Fantasy Award nominee, in addition to being an ex-Air Force officer and military Special Agent he is a practicing attorney and a licensed pilot. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing guitar, and flying planes. He lives in the Houston, Texas, area with his wife (fellow author) Rhodi Hawk and their many animals.


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 L: Greg Chapman

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Greg Chapman who explores the fear of childbirth in his short story "Children of Blood" 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?

GREG CHAPMAN: Horror has always spoken to me as an opportunity to explore the human condition. I feel that horror and terror elicits the real face of people. People are at their most vulnerable and their most honest when they are afraid and as a writer, I think this is a goldmine. Horror is also one of the very few genres that allows you to expose society’s worst fears and failings. My all-time favourite horror creator is Clive Barker. His work is beautiful to read and inspiring. I’m inspired by the desire to answer the larger questions about life, death and what may or may not be on the other side.

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

CHAPMAN: Like many children, I was terrified of the dark, but I think this has actually helped me as a writer and artist. I can easily tap into that fear. Also, spiders, I hate spiders.

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?

CHAPMAN: Psychological, supernatural, body horror, to name a few. My own fiction leans towards the psychological and the supernatural. I love having the supernatural encroach upon the real world.

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?

CHAPMAN: Not really. I’m prepared to try my hand at any sub-genre. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

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

CHAPMAN: I had a Halloween-themed story published earlier this year which also touched upon the scourge that is domestic violence. Nothing that I could write compares to the horror that many women go through every day, some with fatal consequences.

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.

CHAPMAN: Not 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?

CHAPMAN: For the past four years my family and I have put on a Halloween yard haunt display here in Australia and every year we draw hundreds of people to our street. Halloween hasn’t traditionally been observed in Australia until recently and it’s great to see all the other houses in my street participating too.

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

CHAPMAN: Don’t be scared. Have a go at it and see where it takes you. Also read a lot of horror fiction beforehand!

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

CHAPMAN: “He was a one scary dude.” Would be nice, but unlikely. I think I’d just like to have inspired other writers to take up horror fiction and keep the genre going.

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

CHAPMAN: I had fun writing my story in this antho. It was daunting at first coming up with an idea for making pregnancy even more terrifying than it is, but adding serial killers and reincarnation in the mix was a blast!


~ Greg Chapman is the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated and Australian Shadows Award-nominated author of Hollow House and the author of five novellas: Torment, The Noctuary, Vaudeville, The Last Night of October, and The Followers. His debut novel Hollow House was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award® in 2016. He also received the Richard Laymon President’s Award for services to the Horror Writers Association in 2017 and is the current President of the Australasian Horror Writers Association. www.darkscrybe.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 K: John Skipp

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with John Skipp who explores the fear of cosmic phenomenon in his short story "The Man Who Feared The Sky" in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias.


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

JOHN SKIPP: As a teensy kid, I was scared of everything. I mean, everything. A commercial for FRANKENSTEIN in the middle of my cartoons would have me hiding under my living table, screaming. There was a box of oranges with a picture of a tiger on it in my basement. I was terrified of my basement already, but that tiger sealed the deal.

A lot of this probably stemmed from the fever I had when I was still in toddler form: a fever so intense that my dad had to JACOB'S LADDER me by throwing me into a bathtub filled with ice cubes, and which had me hallucinating like a sonofabitch. It wasn't until six or seven that I started getting into horror movies and monster comics, and get the upper hand on my fears.

These days, I'm mostly afraid of turning into an asshole…oops! TOO LATE!

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

SKIPP: The piece that fucks with me hardest is the second Skipp and Spector novel, THE CLEANUP (which, incidentally, contains the bathtub-full-of-ice cubes scene). In that, I took myself to total worst-case-scenarioville. What would be the worst, monstrous version of myself? And then made him the main character.

LVP: How does your own life relate to that of the man who feared the sky? Do you yourself in the character? Share a similar dream?

SKIPP:(laughs) No, that guy's a fucking idiot. If I'm in this story at all, I play the part of "The Sky".

LVP: The Man Who Feared the Sky addresses kosmicphobia in a very personal way. What do you see and feel when you look up at the sky?

SKIPP: I love the sky, be it dark or light. I like to think we're personal friends!

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

SKIPP: I've known the answer to this question for the last forty years, and haven't changed my mind yet. So whoever survives me? Here's what goes on my tombstone: "Well, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time!"

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

SKIPP: Sure! I'm very excited about this book. And can't tell you how thrilled I am to share a TOC with Mehitobel Wilson, in particular. That woman's a goddam genius, and one of my favorite living writers. THANKS!!!


~ John Skipp is a Saturn Award-winning filmmaker (TALES OF HALLOWEEN), Stoker Award-winning anthologist (DEMONS, MONDO ZOMBIE), and New York Times bestselling author (THE LIGHT AT THE END, THE SCREAM) whose books have sold millions of copies in a dozen languages worldwide. His first anthology, BOOK OF THE DEAD, laid the foundation in 1989 for modern zombie literature. He's also editor-in-chief of Fungasm Press, championing genre-melting authors like Autumn Christian, Laura Lee Bahr, Danger Slater, Cody Goodfellow, Jennifer Robin, Violet LeVoit, and Devora Gray From splatterpunk founding father to bizarro elder statesman, Skipp has influenced a generation of horror and counterculture artists around the world. His latest book is THE ART OF HORRIBLE PEOPLE, and his latest screenplay (with Dori Miller) is the episode "Times Is Tough in Musky Holler" for the new series CREEPSHOW on Shudder.


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 J: Jonah Buck

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Jonah Buck who explores the fear of gelatin in his short story "Not Just Desserts" 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?

JONAH BUCK: Horror is fun, both to write and to read, because it’s hardwired into our brains in a way that most genres aren’t. People fundamentally understand fear. Whether it’s small children cowering under the covers to keep the shadows at bay or adults who break into an icy sweat at the sight of needles, we all have at least a passing familiarity with the cold, clutching hand of horror. We can all imagine ourselves flying spaceships, going on journeys of self-discovery, or romancing saucy British librarians. Pick whatever genre you like. Horror is what happens when your imagination starts lifting up stones to see what comes squirming out of the mud, though. Those pincered, clicking bugs and spiders are always there. Some of us are just more inclined to go looking for them. Horror writers are just the people who like to catch them in little glass jars and show them off to anyone who will look.

We’re very lucky to have a lot of these entomologists of the imagination active right now. Stephen King has always been a favorite of mine, but I feel like I always learn something about the craft whenever I pick up a book by Joe R. Lansdale or David Wong, too.

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

BUCK: Spiders. It’s always been spiders. I’m squeamish about any number of things, but nothing else makes me squeal and flail my arms and run around like my brain caught fire quite like spiders. Now, I should mention that I don’t hate spiders the way some people do. They’re actually marvelous creatures. They clear out disease-carrying insects, and they really only want to be left alone. Even the supposedly deadly species, such as the black widow, almost never cause anyone serious harm. When spiders do bite us, it’s usually because they were quietly living in our sheets or clothes and we startled or nearly crushed them. There’s a lot of benefit to having the little creatures around, keeping our homes clear of mosquitoes and flies.

But also, I don’t want them on me or near me or within a certain radius of anything I plan on touching because they are horrifying, skittering land krakens with venom injectors and way too many eyes.

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?

BUCK: I’ve always been a fan of good ol’ fashion monster horror. There’s something fundamentally pleasing about an antagonist primarily motivated by hunger. It’s simple; it’s clean; it’s easy to understand. Overgrown sharks, towering prehistoric beasts, or even the humble zombie. They’re all fundamentally scary in part because of their simplicity. They have a single, all-consuming goal. They’re going to find our favorite characters and strip the flesh from their bones before coming for us.

That’s not to say that you can’t have layered and nuanced monsters with complex motivations. Frankenstein’s creature, vampires, and the occasional mummy or fishman might be acting out due to loneliness, love, or self-defense. There are great stories to be crafted, stories that would be difficult to tell outside the horror genre with its monstrous “others.” It’s a very rich and vibrant sub-genre of horror with room for lots of different interpretations, from midnight movie schlock to high art.

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?

BUCK: I sometimes see publishers or anthologies that want submissions for erotic horror. Nope. No thank you. Not for me.

I wouldn’t knock anyone who likes it, but I personally do not want those two flavors on my plate at the same time.

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

BUCK: Perhaps I’m just a bit of an odd duck, but I almost never set out with the express purpose of making a story scary. I usually want, first and foremost, to have interesting or relatable characters who become enmeshed in extraordinary situations that go from bad to worse.

The stories I’ve written for Lycan Valley Press, appearing in Subliminal Reality and The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias, feature abandoned, rotting factories, half-seen glimpses of dead relatives at the hospital, and investigations into peculiar murders. I think the best way to make something scary isn’t to toss ghosts and ghouls and blood at the reader but to draw them in just far enough that they can’t go back and then slam all the doors and turn the whole thing upside down on the characters. Leave the reader right there with the protagonist, alone and fighting for breath and with just enough extra knowledge to understand things are going to get worse.

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.

BUCK: I will sometimes think that I can’t write that, but I’ll think the idea over for a while. Then, one of two things will happen. Either it’s a mediocre or bad idea, and I’ll quickly forget about it. If it’s actually a halfway decent idea, it’ll stay stuck in my craw a lot longer, and I’ll eventually come up with a way to incorporate what I want because I have a story that demands that outcome. That result is either logical or necessary based on what’s happened in the rest of the story.

I have a story featuring a stricken submarine stuck on the bottom of the ocean and the crew hears knocking on the outside of their hull. Part of that story was stuck in my head for years before I finally found the appropriate vessel for it, and the tale ended up in The Beauty of Death Volume 2 alongside works by Clive Barker and Ramsey Campbell.

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?

BUCK: I use the phrases “Halloween store” and “home décor store” interchangeably.

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

BUCK: Do it. Do it. Do it.

Writing is a skill. We get better at it primarily by practicing it. Even if you never sell the story, even if you never show it to anybody, even if writing it absolutely confirms that you want to stick exclusively to the saucy British librarians genre, you’ll be a better writer for having written it. The next time you want to write a scene with tension or dark moodiness or a hint of morbidity, it won’t be your first time. You’ll have exercised (or exorcised) that part of your imagination, and that will make it snappier and better at its job next time. And if you decide you want to write more horror? Then let me be the first to bid you welcome to the club.

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

BUCK: Well, I have won quite a few Inmate of the Week stickers at the asylum since I stopped chewing through the restraints. Aside from that, I’d like to be remembered for my creativity, wit, and dedication to the people important to me.

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

BUCK: I should mention that I’ve written a number of novels. Carrion Safari features washed-up big game hunter Denise DeMarco. Hired to explore a cursed and sweltering island, she’s promised a fortune if she can capture a monster. The first in a series, the book sparked some acclaim and multiple sequels.

Meanwhile, in Substratum, private detective Jasper O’Malley must investigate a number of disappearances in the salt mines underlaying Detroit. His work will place him in a web of unlikely allies and enemies, from gangland mobsters, to occultists, to corrupt competitors, to a very angry monster. A sequel, Cesspool, should be available later this summer.


~ Jonah Buck wanted to study eldritch knowledge and commune with pale, furtive creatures of darkness, so he went to law school in Oregon. His interests include history, professional stage magic, paleontology, and exotic poultry. He is the author of numerous short stories and several novels, including Carrion Safari and Substratum.


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 I: Asher Ellis

Illustration by Luke Spooner, © LVP Publications

Welcome to The Pulp Horror Author Interview Series. Today's interview is with Asher Ellis who explores the fear of doctors in his short story "The Clinic" 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?

ASHER ELLIS: Whenever I'm asked why I'm drawn to the horror genre, I usually point the inquisitor towards Stephen King's essay, Why We Crave Horror Movies. In this short piece, King famously referred to the cathartic release of horror as "keeping the gators fed." This essay, along with so many of his classic stories, is why I would say King is my favorite horror creator. As a fellow New Englander, I've always been able to relate with his small town settings, characters that could've easily been my neighbors, and overall themes of what lies beneath mundane, day-to-day living.

Besides King, however, I am very inspired by the deft plotting of Richard Matheson, the brutal honesty of Jack Ketchum, and at the risk of sounding overly literary, the stark prose of Ernest Hemingway. I've always been a firm believer of his "iceberg theory," and find it especially important when crafting a horror story.

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

ELLIS: As a child, I was never a huge fan of heights. Whether it was riding a rollercoaster or jumping from a ledge into water, the fear of falling was always present. (Interestingly enough, I was never uncomfortable on even the highest chairlift or gondola, and I loved traveling by airplane. Go figure.)

As it turned out, I grew up to be a rollercoaster enthusiast, and while high places still aren't my favorite places to be, I would never describe it as a "phobia." Like many people out there, I now find myself suffering from "white coat syndrome," whenever I have to see a doctor. And while it's not exactly considered a "phobia," it has resulted in lot of high blood-pressure readings, as well as a source of inspiration for my story, The Clinic.

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?

ELLIS: I've written thrillers, "creature features," backwoods horror, supernatural horror, body horror, sci-fi horror (a la The Twilight Zone) —and I find them all to be fun in different ways. But if pressed to decide my favorite sub-genre? I think I would have to say I most enjoy a page-turning thriller where continually rising stakes propel the reader towards a white-knuckle climax. Perhaps it's due to my background in film, but I'm total sucker for structure and pacing. I think "taut" is the word I'm after, isn't it?

…Oh, and I totally dig cannibal fiction. For whatever reason, I always return for second helpings.

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?

ELLIS: To quote the dearly departed British horror author, James Herbert, "You can forgive virtually anything—any perversion, any nastiness—if it’s really done with style.” I too believe that a writer should be more concerned with the how than the what. That being said, I wouldn't jump head first into any subject matter unless I was confident I could handle it with due respect and consideration.

To use another quote from a great author who is no longer with us, Dallas Mayr (aka Jack Ketchum), once wrote, " You’ve got to make us give a damn—about all this grief, about all this suffering. You’ve got to exercise the compassion muscle.”

If I feel I can't do that, I'll leave it someone else.

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

ELLIS: I don't think I've had my "Pet Semetary moment" yet, referring to when Stephen King hid away the first draft of his now famous novel in a desk drawer, believing he had "gone too far." There is, however, a particular scene near the end of my novel, The Remedy, where a likable character meets a particularly gruesome and drawn-out end. I remember writing that scene and thinking I might've done something right, because instead of relishing in the blood and gore like the 80s-eque slasher I thought I had written, I found myself wanting the whole experience to be over.

And interestingly enough, it wasn't just the physical violence—the antagonist's justification of their horrid acts is probably what disturbed me the most. The malleable nature of morality, or that every villain is "the hero of their own story," is one of the more uncomfortable truths of both fiction and real life. (And is probably what makes cults so damn creepy.)

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.

ELLIS: Hmm…

If you don't mind, I'm going to keep that one under my hat. Though I haven't brought myself to write it down today, tomorrow could be a different story (no pun intended). It's a great question, though, and I look forward to reading the responses of the other contributors!

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?

ELLIS: I'm not sure if they have earned the "legendary" status yet, but I do throw a themed Halloween party every year and always try to outdo the year before. Our most recent party was "cult" themed, and we chose one guest to be our cult leader. He had no idea he was our fearless leader until he arrived and saw all the tributes we had scattered all over the house (which included prayer candles, photoshopped pictures, and a huge banner). We were unsure if he would see it all as a huge honor or just be really uncomfortable all night, but fortunately, he loved every minute of it.

Other than that, like most horror hounds, I surround myself with various paraphernalia from all my favorite horror properties. Whether it’s the Amityville Horror tote bag I use when grocery shopping or the Carrie umbrella I use when it rains, it seems the genre follows me everywhere. Not that you asked, but one of my favorites in my collection is the Sleepaway Camp light switch cover my brother gave me for Christmas last year. It features Angela on its surface, and if you’re familiar with the film's ending, I bet you can guess where the switch is!

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

ELLIS: So there's this essay in the Michael Knost edited Writer's Workshop of Horror that I absolutely love called, "How Stephen King's Writing Advice Broke My Heart and Smashed My Dreams." It’s by an author named Robert N. Lee and, as far I'm concerned, should be required reading for anyone considering this writing game. Though I highly recommend tracking down the book (as it's filled with great pieces from cover to cover), allow me to answer this question with a quick passage:

"…I'd learned for myself the big secret--or my big secret, anyway--about writing King didn't drop in that interview: do it how you do. Do it as often as you do, do it as hard as you do, do it where you do, do it when you do. These are all things you have to define for yourself, and if you're thinking too much about how other people do it, you will cause yourself no end of pain and you will end up writing less than you could otherwise, or not at all."

So yeah, go buy the book. That and On Writing Horror, released by the Horror Writer's Association. I agree with everyone else that Stephen King's On Writing should be on your shelf, but if you're looking for advice on writing horror, I can't recommend these other two enough.

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

ELLIS: As a writer, I think it's really fun to try to outsmart the reader. I find so many stories, whether they be novels or movies or TV shows, to be pretty predictable. I've always enjoyed a good twist, whether it's in my own writing or someone else's, that throws the reader/viewer for a loop, but at the same time, makes perfect sense. In my opinion, Rod Serling was the king of his, along with his frequent collaborators Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. If I could be remembered as being even half as good at plot as they were, I would be more than fine with that.

My most frequent readers will often tell me they approach my stories looking for a twist. To their credit, they always admit when I "get them," despite their best efforts. For me, that's the highest compliment. I just find perspective so darn fascinating, which, at its core, is what a twist is all about.

So I guess a good tombstone for me would be:
"Here lies Asher Ellis—Bet you didn’t see that one coming."

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

I have nothing to add except I hope that people really dig this anthology, and I am extremely thankful to be a part of it. Personally, I can't wait to read everyone else's stories! Thank you to LVP Publications for putting so much work into this, from the impressive table of contents to the amazing artwork. We're all in for a real treat.


~ Asher Ellis is a novelist, screenwriter, and educator. He is the author of the horror novel, The Remedy, as well as multiple award-winning short films that can be viewed on various streaming services. When not working on his latest project, Ellis teaches at several colleges and universities in his home state of Vermont. You can visit him at www.asherellis.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)!