Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror: Author Interviews ~ Jenna Miller

It's November 1st. Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror 2017 is now available! So today, I have an interview with the creator of the anthology, Jenna Miller. Not only is she the one responsible for this wonderful, creepy collaboration of chills and thrills, she's also a contributor as well. Let's get on with the interview! Her answers will be in green.

What inspired Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror? 

Way back in 2007, just after I’d published my first fantasy novel, I was invited to contribute to a horror anthology (Concrete Blood: Dark Tales of the City) – it was so much fun and I wanted to do my own anthology. We were also just starting Word Weavers (a writer’s group) at the time, and doing anthologies through there … I wanted one that was just for women, and more importantly, just for women in horror. When I approached people about it, I got mixed responses. A lot of women didn’t want to do it. I got a lot of flak about exploiting women and how it wasn’t “positive.” I also had a few guys who joked about not having a men only anthology.

So I decided to do both, a Ladies and a Gents, and a combined.

How often have you contributed to the anthology? 

I contributed in 2008, 2013 and 2016.
What are the titles of the stories you’ve contributed? 

Addiction, Bitch and Slither (respectively).

What was one of the hardest scenes you’ve ever had to write? 

The rape/cannibal scene at the beginning of Addiction.

How does your family feel about the production of the anthology? 

They’re encouraging, but hate that they essentially lose me for the few months I work on it.

Why do the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society? 

The anthology doesn’t make enough money to pay each contributor much at all, so in 2013 the group decided that donating the profits to charity would be best. As a group we chose breast cancer, but finding a charity that actually puts your donations towards the cause is hard, and that’s why, after much research, we chose the ACS.

I’ve asked all the authors, now I’ll ask you, too. Do you Google yourself? 

Sometimes, and while I have one of the most common names ever in the history of ever, I’m always in the top ten or so. Which is scary.

What is your preferred genre for writing? 

Horror, though I do love the occasional dabble into fantasy and sci-fi.

How do these contributors make you feel? 

I love my contributors. Each and every one has taught me something and helped both me and the anthology grow. I’ve developed long lasting friendships and also learned a few hard lessons working with people from all over the world over the last nearly ten years.

Has the success of the anthology grown over the years? 

Yes. Bit by bit, I see its popularity growing. Even now I’m booked up for the next two years in both the fantasy and the horror—which is hard to fathom, considering as I used to have to sell my soul, and seduce or otherwise entice people in order to get contributors.

How does one contribute to the anthology? 

By sending a query of interest (details can be found in the “notes” on our websites (Queries or Submission Queries) or on the FB pages ( Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror or Ladies and Gentlemen of Fantasy ) or to Email (horror) or Email (fantasy).

*~*~*

Thanks so much for your time, Jenna! I wish you much success with these anthologies as time goes on.

Don't forget, you can purchase your copy of the anthologies now!

Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror: Author Interviews ~ Rick Powell

Welcome to another Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror 2017 author interview session. Today, I'd like to introduce you to Rick Powell! You'll find his answers in red. Enjoy!

1) Is this your first year participating in the LgoH? 

Nope. This is my second run and I could not be happier.

2) If so, tell us what drew you to this anthology. 

I was introduced to this anthology through the mutual friend, and past contributor, Hydra M. Star.

3) If you’ve written for previous LGoH anthologies, list the story titles and years. 

The Ladies & Gentlemen of Horror 2014 with my story Friends Like These.

4) What is your preferred genre? 

Horror, erotic horror, anything along the lines of the strange and the unusual.

5) What other titles do you have published? 

I have been in numerous publications throughout the years, but I have been a pretty consistent contributor to Infernal Ink Magazine (edited and compiled by Hydra M. Star), and have two books of poetry titled My Soul Stained, My Seed Sour and More Regrets Than Glories. I also have a collection of short stories titled A Vault of Whispers.

6) Where do you get your ideas? 

Anywhere and everywhere. A good number of my poems are inspired by either songs I have heard, personal experiences, or stories I have read. My ideas for stories just pop out of the blue. I have been a lover of the horror genre going on 40 years, so I guess you can say that this is a way of “giving back” to the genre that I love so much.

7) Does writing energize or exhaust you? 

Both. There is a point when you are writing a story or poem when you get “in the zone” and everything is flowing with a life of its own. The rush you get when everything is clicking, is something that is hard to describe. It is feeding you and draining you at the same time, and when you are done, it gives you a feeling of accomplishment that cannot be put into words.

8) Do you write for yourself or your audience? 

Oh, I write for myself. I tend to write something that I would like reading. My poems, stories, and such are like my family. They are my own little world I concocted and reading some of them now, I see a little of myself in each and every one.

9) What other authors are you friends with and how do they help you become a better writer? 

Hydra M. Star has been a friend and like a sister to me for more years than I could remember, and I would not be on this fabulous journey if not for her. She has been there to give me support, advice, or that regular kick in the ass when I needed it. And I will be indebted to her forever. Jennifer Miller (the driving force of The Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror) has been an inspiration to me with all she does with her amazing anthology. What she does with the proceeds of TLAGOH--where they all go to The American Cancer Society—prompted me to do the same with my first collection of poetry, My Soul Stained, My Seed Sour. All the proceeds of that go to The American Heart Association dedicated to my late wife.

10) What was the hardest scene to write? 

There are a few. A couple I cannot name here because of the graphic depiction and nature of the subject, but one that does come to mind would be in my story Winston. It involves a scene where a step-father does something unnameable in the middle of the night. I left that scene ambiguous, and left the events be imagined in the mind of the reader, but it still unnerved me nonetheless.

11) Do you Google yourself? 

Oh, heck no. I am afraid of what I may find. Haha

12) Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? 

In my story True Nature, I placed names and references to classic werewolf films all throughout the story. No one has picked up on them yet, but it was fun to place them in there.

13) Do you have any little known facts you’d care to reveal to us now? 

One that I always make reference to is that when I was 2 years old, I was lost near the haunted Bachelor’s Grove woods near my childhood home in Illinois. My story The Grove is based on the legend of those woods. I still have the article from my mother when it was in the Chicago Tribune at that time. I was lost for almost 6 hours I believe. I always tell people that “ I got lost in the woods as a kid, and have been there ever since”. Haha

*~*~*

Rick Powell lives in Oak Forest, Illinois. He is a lover of horror and dark fiction and his poetry and stories have appeared in numerous publications, Don't Look Back: 13 Terrifying Tales of Urban Folklore, The Ladies & Gentlemen of Horror 2014, Infernal Ink Magazine, and the forthcoming cannibal anthology Bon Appetit: Stories and Recipes for Human Consumption.

All the proceeds from his first book of poetry, 'My Soul Stained, My Seed Sour', will go to The American Heart Association.

His other books include his other poetry collection More Regrets Than Glories and his first book of short stories A Vault of Whispers.

He could be found on Goodreads, Facebook, or his Amazon page.

Rick, thanks so much for your participation! I think I am going to have to check out "True Nature" and see what films you've placed in there! Everyone, have a great rest of your week! 

And don't forget, tomorrow, October 31, 2017, the Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror Anthologies will be available!

Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror: Author Interviews ~ Grigori T. Cross

Welcome to another Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror Author Interview. Today, I'll be featuring Grigori T. Cross!
For the rest of October and in to November I will be interviewing the authors who contributed to the 2017 Horror Anthology created by Jenna Miller. The anthologies will be coming out Oct. 31st and all proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. So get scared for a good cause!
All right, let's get to the interview! Grigori's answers will be in teal.

1) Is this your first year participating in the LGoH?

This is my first year participating in the LGoH, and I’m happy to say it won’t be my last.

2) If so, tell us what drew you to this anthology.

Jennifer L. Miller, the mastermind behind the anthology, has a sterling reputation for being professional and accommodating among those friends of mine who have participated in previous years. When the opportunity to trust her with my work presented itself, I was very pleased to seize it.

3) What is your preferred genre?

The genre of film I prefer is drama and film noir, but the only thing I really prefer in what I read is good writing. The truly great works of any genre are filled with inspiration and fantasy, and I like to indulge in healthy doses of both.

4) What other titles do you have published?

Before appearing in LGoH, a short story of mine was published in an e-zine that is sadly no longer active. That story, “The Duels at Midnight,” is set to be re-published in this year’s anthology, though, so there’s no need to do any electronic grave-robbing.

5) Where do you get your ideas?

Anything I experience or think about experiencing has the potential to give me an idea for a story. I’ve written poetry based on nothing more than the humming of electrical power lines. A novel I’ve just begun writing is partly inspired by works of philosophy I’ve read. It’s even a fun challenge to see how I might make something worth reading out of something totally dull and uninspiring.
6) Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Pinpointing the words that most aesthetically complement each other while accurately reflecting what it is I want them to say can be a severe drain on time and energy. I usually save that process for second drafts, during which any given piece can end up twice the length it was when I first wrote/typed it out. Still, none of that negates how enervating it is to see the words spill from my fingers when I’m in the throes of writer’s flow.

7) Do you write for yourself or your audience?

I’ll only ever write for myself. Should it ever come to pass that I’ve allowed myself to be less than proud of the quality of my work because I’m catering to my audience, I’ll know that my integrity as a creator has been compromised. I’ve no problem allowing creative parameters to help inspire me, but nothing creatively fulfilling can come out of me if I’m pandering.

8) What other authors are you friends with and how do they help you become a better writer?

I'm fortunate to count such authors as Rick Powell, Evelyn Eve, and Hydra M. Star among my friends. However, we talk so rarely about our respective writing processes that the way they help me most is by encouraging me to keep writing. Being worthy competition doesn't hurt, either.

9) What was the hardest scene to write?

When I’m asked which scene was hardest to write, I end up thinking about the scenes I’ve written that have been the most violent, or perhaps the most heartbreaking, because that’s where I think the question is leading, but the truth is that those scenes are usually full of passion. Passion is not the most difficult to write. For me, what’s seriously hard is when I’m in the middle of a second draft, realizing that the story has changed along the way to the point that the next scene doesn’t make any sense with the rest of the story. Granted, that’s what revisions are for, but trying to reconfigure plot and story structure can be totally disorienting.

10) Do you Google yourself?

I’m a millennial cliché, so yes, but not often.

11) Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

Hiding Easter Eggs in creative work is just what creative people do, whether intentional or not. In my case, it’s always intentional. How to correctly interpret those Easter Eggs is a different matter entirely.

*~*~*

Thanks so much for participating in my interview, Grigori! It's nice to learn about authors and what inspires them, or compels them, to write. I also have to agree, trying to reconfigure your story after it's taken a turn is definitely difficult!

If you'd like to connect with Grigori, please check the link below! And have a great rest of your week, everyone!

A link to my Facebook, where people can follow me.

Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror: Author Interviews ~ Henry Snider

Welcome to another Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror author interview! These anthologies will be available October 31, 2017. I thought it would be nice to let you all get to know them a little better. Also, proceeds from this anthology go towards the American Cancer Society, so it's for a good cause as well as a good scare.

On that note, please meet Henry Snider! His answers will be in gold.

1) Is this your first year participating in the LGoH? 

Yes, actually. I only found out about it last year.

2) If so, tell us what drew you to this anthology. 

A friend who's a member of our writing critique group, John Howard, told me about the anthology and what a good cause it was for.

3) If you’ve written for previous LGoH anthologies, list the story titles and years. 

This is my first go around with Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror.

4) What is your preferred genre? 

Horror for the most part, but I have to admit recently dipping my toes into the fantasy realm.

5) What other titles do you have published? 

Several stories in different anthologies over the years. I spent most of my time teaching and running writing groups until recently. Short fiction is being sent out regularly while my first novel is currently under review with an agent.

6) Where do you get your ideas? 

Now you know, this is the one question that all authors hate. We fantasize about all the terrible things we could do to people who ask us this question. You know, like tying the interviewer to a chair and force them to suffer reruns of The Brady Bunch until madness sets in. Seriously though, I'm afraid my answer isn't all that different from everyone else's - I get my ideas from everywhere. I wake up and see a bird fly by the window, it becomes a crow with a nefarious agenda (you'll have to read A MURDER OF CROWS in this year's LGoH to know what it is), or a little kid refusing to take a creepy clown mask off (THE CLOWN - Best of the Horror Society 2015). Even a boring drive across Wyoming can give birth to something (SANDCASTLES - Canopic Jars). Letting an author sit quietly isn't punishment, it's opening the door to an amazing playground.

7) Does writing energize or exhaust you? 

It actually depends on the scene I'm writing. If I'm building to a climactic point then it's energizing and I just don't want to quit. Of course if I've just written the scene I'm left exhausted, both emotionally - and in some cases physically - spent.

8) Do you write for yourself or your audience? 

Early on I was writing what I thought others wanted to read. It wasn't very good. Then I focused on only working on things that filled my daydreams...and sometimes my night terrors. I've stayed on that side of the fence ever since.

9) What other authors are you friends with and how do they help you become a better writer? 

Not a fair list. Beyond the normal list, my wife who's a fellow author and editor, everyone in my writing group, Fiction Foundry - we really are just one big dysfunctional family. They make me twitchy, but usually in a good way. But - for the record, they've made me have a drink or two, too.

10) What was the hardest scene to write? 

So far a sex scene in my novel because my protagonist is a woman. I wanted to make sure I got the physical /and/ emotional aspects right. Again, my wife, along with the other women in my critique group were fantastic at guiding me through the scene with no teasing (smell that? that's sarcasm, readers - they teased the out of me).

11) Do you Google yourself? 

Once in a great while. It's entertaining to see how dead I am in different parts of the country. Boring obituaries, though. Not one rustler, car thief, or drunken pilot in the bunch.

12)  Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? 

Yes, all the time. A fun one is the abandoned drive-in my novel takes place at. In reality, it's based on an old drive-in theater that was on Broadway in Richmond, VA. In the summer of 1979 I was still eight years old and my parents took me to the drive-in. The double-bill was Fantastic Planet (freshly released here in the states in English) followed by Phantasm. They thought "Oh, a cartoon for him to watch and he'll go to bed." They sat through it mortified at what they'd taken me to. Then came Phantasm. No sleep for me - I fell in love with the silver sphere, demented jawa zombies (let's face it, that's what they are), and - of course - the Tall Man. I told you all of this to pass on that the summer of 1998 - almost twenty years later - I was introducing my wife and nearly two year old son to family back in Richmond and got the grand idea to see if the drive-in still existed. Hollie was in for a movie and off we went. While in line I commented about how high the pines were so no one could even see the screens. She noted that there only appeared to be men and one other couple sitting in line. Yes folks, this is going where you think it is. The old drive in had become - you guessed it - a porno drive-in. And there we are, me with a shocked expression on my face, a wife who's laughing so hard she nearly shot soda out her nose (totally the /wrong/ way to do Coke, by the way) and an infant seat in the back - all three of us lined up innocently to see a skin flick. We left, with me more than a little embarrassed. I didn't hear the end of it until...hell, I think she mentioned it last month. That brings me to my novel which takes place at an abandoned drive-in theater whose history oddly mimics the actual place. The short answer's, "Yes, I do put secret things in my writing," but it's not nearly as fun.

13) Do you have any little known facts you’d care to reveal to us now? 

I don't know - I tried out to be an extra in the original Red Dawn and discovered why my parents always caught me in lies - I can't act. I had a hard time keeping clothes on until I was in my mid-twenties (mooning, streaking, skinny-dipping - let's just say Calvin and Hobbes has the right idea). I have little-to-no shame when it comes to a good laugh. Be warned.

~*~*~

Thanks so much for your interview! And yeah, sorry about question number six. But you know, all readers want to know! Plus, I get my ideas from very strange sources. I'll have to tell everyone some day. 

Here is another link from Henry for all you readers to visit. It's amazing!:

Ghost Town Writers Retreat

Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror: Author Interviews ~ Alex S. Johnson

Hey everyone, here is another installment of my Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror 2017 author interviews! Up to the plate today is Alex S. Johnson! His answers are in green.



1) Is this your first year participating in the LGoH? 

Second year.

2) If you’ve written for previous LGoH anthologies, list the story titles and years.

 LGOH 2016.

3) What is your preferred genre? 

Fabulism—as in the fabulous, or fable-like, tales of writers such as Vladimir Nabokov, Franz Kafka, Nicolai Gogol, Neil Gaiman, China Mieville.

4) What other titles do you have published? 

I’ve had many stories published in magazines and anthologies—Terror Train and Terror Train 2, Ugly Babies, Surreal Nightmares and much more from James Ward Kirk Fiction, Tall Tales with Short Cocks from Rooster Republic, Bizarro Central, etc. I did a work for hire novel for New Line Cinema spinning off the Jason X movie, titled Death Moon. I’ve put together several collections of my stories and poetry such as Skull Vinyl and the Doom Hippies, and MorbidBooks has issued Doctor Flesh: Director’s Cut and Wicked Candy.

5) Where do you get your ideas? 

I’m not sure where they reside, but they seem to live in that space where I’m not purposefully concentrating on any one thing, and sort of letting my mind travel, particularly after highly organized work and thinking, which amounts to the same thing. I like to do what I call “mulching,” which is reading and watching a wide variety of different kinds of entertainment or informational sources with no particular goal other than collecting the material in my subconscious, and later, just watching to see what has stuck.

6) Does writing energize or exhaust you? 

When the writing is good, it’s like going into a light trance, a pleasantly alternative state of consciousness where all that exists is the logistics of making the story better once it’s arrived from my fingertips intact in its basic form.

7) Do you write for yourself or your audience? 

I like to think that somewhere out there, there are people like myself who will get all the references to culture, other writers, art, movies, music, history, and so forth, who are equally voracious about their culture and want to be immersed in cool media 24/7 if they possibly can be. When I write for myself, I’m writing for those others, some of whom I know, most of whom I don’t. Surprisingly enough for a writer whose work is so weird and experimental, I have readers who get exactly what I’m doing and want more of it.

8) What other authors are you friends with and how do they help you become a better writer? 

My closest writer friend is a guy named Chris Ropes, who I met when we were both associated with an “extreme” horror publisher. Since then, over a few years, we both went our ways from that publisher—I was forced out and he quit in protest. But if nothing else, that connection began a conversation that has lasted for what, four years now. He’ll call me up from his home in New Jersey—I’m in California—and we’ll have these long, rambling talks that cover everything from postmodern philosophy to the best Slurpee flavors. Usually I’ll come off the phone so inspired from some throwaway bit of business that emerged from our conversation I’ll go directly to writing that story. For example, that’s how I got the story “Barking Squirrels” which was published in Bizarro Central. It’s magic, it nearly always happens between us. Our styles and approaches have very, very little in common, but we’re very good for each other.

9) What was the hardest scene to write? 

There’s a scene in my novelette “Shattergirl” in which this insane homeless lady has kidnapped my protagonist and forces her and her husband to have a ménage a trois with a corpse. Because the setting and the whole tenor of that story is ultra-realistic—very rare for me—it went beyond just an awful but ultimately surreal nightmare situation into something I had to envision as it might literally occur. While I was writing that scene I felt very uncomfortable. I’m gratified to have a reader who works near the story’s setting and wrote a review where she called the story “harrowing” because she could precisely imagine it happening to her. That’s a true compliment.

10) Do you Google yourself? 

Yes, I admit I have self-Googled.

11) Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? 

Yes and no. Some of the scenes in my least realistic stories actually happened to me in life, whereas my most realistic stories are often the least based on fact.

12) Do you have any little known facts you’d care to reveal to us now? 

My story “Deatherz” in the Rejected for Content: Splattergore anthology was based on a real party I attended in 2011, that I was invited to on my birthday. The porn-set background is real. A number of the details of my goth-rock star protagonist, Razor Blakk, belong to an actual person. 

~*~*~

Alex, thank you so much for participating in this interview! It gives a whole new insight to how other authors operate and what sort of works inspire them.

You can find out more about Alex S. Johnson in the links below:

Amazon

Facebook

Facebook Author Page

Thank you, everyone, for dropping by. Hope you have a great week!

Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror: Author Interviews ~ Jeff Brown

This pic is from the 2016 Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror Contributors.

Hello, everyone! Allow me to introduce the Gentleman who wrote the Foreward for this year's Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror Anthology: A. J. Brown! His answers will appear in red.


1) Is this your first year participating in the LGoH?

No. This is actually my second. I was in the 2016 as one of the Gentlemen of Horror and I had the pleasure of writing the forward for LGoH.

2) If so, tell us what drew you to this anthology.

That’s easy. Jennifer Miller drew me to it. Originally, I was supposed to appear in one of the editions a few years ago—2010, I believe. Things kind of fell through and I really wanted to give it another shot. I followed Jennifer’s post on social media and we talked from time to time, just about stuff, in general, and writing. Then I asked her if there were any available slots in any of the upcoming releases. Turns out, there was a spot in the 2016 version and I jumped on it. It was a wonderful experience. A lot of work, but it was so much fun putting working on it.

3) If you’ve written for previous LGoH anthologies, list the story titles and years.

2016—Crisps Noise

4) What is your preferred genre?

I write mostly dark stuff, so I’m going to say horror, but with a realistic slant.

5) What other titles do you have published?

Oh man, I’ve had over 175 short stories published over the years, but I have several books out and I’ll see if I can get them in the right order here. Along the Splintered Path (a short story collection), Southern Bones (a short story collection), Cory’s Way (novel), A Stitch of Madness (short story collection), Dredging Up Memories (Novel), Ball Four (a short story collection about baseball), All We See is the End (a collaboration with the immensely talented M.F. Wahl), and The Forgetful Man’s Disease (a novella) Whew!

6) Where do you get your ideas?

Real life. Most of my stories have a realistic slant to it (even the horror ones). I find the best stories are often found all around me. They just need to be told.

7) Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Both. Starting a new story is always energizing and exciting. Finishing the story is also a thrilling feeling. The exhausting part is when a story doesn’t seem to want to end.

8) Do you write for yourself or your audience?

Myself. Stephen King said in his book On Writing, the writer is the story’s first reader. With that in mind, I write every story as if I am going along for the ride. I want to be just as moved as the readers are when they read one of my stories. If I’m not moved in some way, then how do I expect the readers to be moved?

9) What other authors are you friends with and how do they help you become a better writer?

I think I have more author friends than I have other friends. There are a handful that help me when I’m struggling or who have taught me a lot as I have gone along. Fran Friel is at the top of the list. As is Justin Dunne, Lisa Vasquez, M.F. Wahl, and John Miller is the most fascinating author I have ever met.

10) What was the hardest scene to write?

I wrote a scene in a book I have not put out yet where a teenaged boy dies brutally. It was the one scene I have written that almost made me quit writing all together.

11) Do you Google yourself?

I do when I am trying to see if any of my books have been reviewed, but other than that, no.

12) Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

Ha! Yes! There are a lot of hidden things in my stories that if a certain person or certain people read them, they would be like, ‘Hey, I know what he is talking about here, or where this could have happened.’

13) Do you have any little known facts you’d care to reveal to us now?

I’m deaf in my left ear, but you probably want something juicy. To that, I can only say, the really good stuff needs to remain a secret!

~*~*~

A. J., thank you so much for allowing me to interview you. It's great getting to know authors!

People can find A. J. Brown at these places:

Facebook

Facebook author page.

Facebook fan page.

Amazon author page.

Blog

Have a great rest of your week, everyone!