Horror Blog Fest - A chat with Bill Hussey

One of our favourite new British horror authors, Bill Hussey, took some time from his very busy schedule to stop by and chat to MFB. We are also lucky enough to have a chapbook to give away as produced by Bill and his two other partners in crime, Joseph D'Lacey and Matthew F Riley. The chapbooks are a limited edition of 200 and they are signed by all three authors. Check the Competitions column for info on how to enter.

Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit more about you and your writing career.

Hi Liz & Mark! Well, my name’s Bill Hussey and I write horror fiction. Whenever I say that it sounds like I’m attending an intervention and that I’m admitting to a particularly foul weakness!

Well, my ‘career’ started just last summer when ‘Through A Glass, Darkly’ hit the book shelves. Up until that point I’d dabbled at being a writer - dabbled seriously, but dabbled nonetheless. I took an MA in Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University and bagged myself an agent pretty quickly. My agent was very enthusiastic about ‘Through a Glass’ but with one caveat - horror just wasn’t being published at that time. The rejection slips started pouring in and bore out his words – lots of very nice messages, all saying the writing was great, but that the market just wasn’t there any more.

Frustrated, I slipped back into a career in law – yawn – and then the telephone rang. My agent had found a great new publisher who had just started a horror imprint. Nine months later ‘Through A Glass’ was in Waterstones and Borders and picking up some very nice reviews. Another nine months on and ‘The Absence’ is out. It seems strange, after all these years of trying, that I have two books out in less than a year!

What is your most recent novel about – if you are allowed to tell us?

Well, I’ve got a YA (Young Adult) horror/adventure novel currently being considered by my agent. I won’t say too much about it – I’m superstitious that way – but it tells the story of a coven of really nasty witches, a secret society sworn to defend mankind, and has a scene in which a cat is sliced in half by an acid mist! All good clean fun, kids!

What do you think makes the horror genre so fascinating to readers and writers?

Lots of things, I guess. There’s something pretty ingrained in the human psyche that gets a kick out of being scared. Not everyone enjoys it, but those of us that do must be closely related to those early hunter-gatherers who enjoyed taking that unnecessary extra step into the orbit of the sabretooth. In a writing sense, I’ve always enjoyed the fact that, in horror, perhaps more than any other genre, you can push your characters to the extremes of the human condition. Like fantasy and sci-fi, it is a great ‘what-if’ genre. But with horror that ‘what-if’ is more of a psychological question than one of technology or pure make believe. You put characters in these hideous situations and see how it plays out. Horror is also allowed to go full throttle at those great existential questions – who are we? What are we doing here? What waits beyond the veil? We’re all fascinated by those questions and dark fiction perhaps allows us to catch a glimpse of the answers.

As a horror writer / fan, what sells a story / concept to you?

It’s like those four things a bride needs on her wedding morning: Something Old – I don’t mind, in fact I quite enjoy, a dose of the familiar in horror. As with any fiction, there really isn’t anything entirely new under the sun. We keep going back to the familiar tropes – the haunted house, the vampire, the restless ghost – because we love them so, but… Something New – let’s try to find something a wee bit new to do with them. Come at them from a slightly different angle; confront them with very modern characters… Something Borrowed – as with something old, we writers of dark fiction inevitably borrow a bit from the masters who have gone before us. That’s not to say we should steal, but I think a gentle homage is acceptable. When I wrote ‘The Absence’ it was obvious that something of Stephen King’s ‘The Shining’ would come through. That said, I think King has acknowledged the debt that book owed to Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Haunting of Hill House’. I think that, as long as we create a fresh cast of characters to confront these ageless situations and dilemmas, then that’s fine. Finally, Something Blue… erm, I’m stretching here! Well, a little sex is always a good thing in horror! What is a horror story except a battle between death (the ghost, the axe-wielding psycho, the plague of killer rats) and life (sex) – that disturbing scene towards the end of Stephen King’s ‘IT’, in which the kid characters try to escape the sewer, comes to mind…

What movies / books influenced your development as a genre writer? Similarly, what books, movies, comics, get you excited as a fan?

Oh, lots and lots. My main influence as a ghost story writer has always been MR James. I’m not sure that those quiet terrors could be completely replicated for today’s reader, but I have tried to inject a bit of Jamesian antiquarian disquiet into my books. I also love Shirley Jackson, Robert Aickman, Stephen King, Clive Barker… One of the lesser-known writers that I picked up in the 90s and absolutely loved was Jonathan Aycliffe. He’s not that widely known, but I think his ‘Naomi’s Room’ is just about perfect. Neil Gaiman’s another genius wordsmith who has quite obviously had a big influence on me – compare and contrast ‘American Gods’ and ‘The Absence’ and you’ll notice a thematic Something Borrowed! Outside the genre, I read and re-read Truman Capote – his almost-ghost-story ‘Miriam’ has to be one of the most chilling things I’ve ever read, and, of course, ‘In Cold Blood’ is a breathless masterpiece. Comics-wise, it has to be Gaiman again with his ‘Sandman’ series – the idea of a serial killer convention is pure genius! Obviously, Alan Moore is the godfather of modern comics.

Movie-wise, I love 80s ‘schlock’ like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, all the Romero movies, the giallo and supernatural movies of Dario Argento, Robert Wise’s film version of ‘The Haunting.’ ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and ‘The Orphanage’ were great last year – I’m a big Del Toro fan. I really liked Lars Von Trier’s ‘The Kingdom’ – impenetrably brilliant! – plus it taught me a lot about Nordic politics!

Who do you go all fan-boy about when it comes to the horror genre? Have you ever met anyone more famous than yourself and how did you react?

See all of the above! I’ve not yet met any of those people (some are now sadly deceased) but I’m sure I’d be a jibbering wreck if I did!

If you had a chance to invite any horror legend, be it actor, writer, director, author (living / dead / undead) over for some tea, who would you choose and why?

Once I got over being a jibbering wreck? I think I’d invite King. He’s the All Father of the genre, isn’t he?

Lights on or off when watching horror flicks?

OFF! Lights on? Goodness me!

Which do you prefer: Romero originals or remakes?

Originals. Although I very much enjoyed Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead, I just don’t approve of running zombies. I’m an old fart that way. I agree with Simon Pegg on this - Romero’s zombies had a poetry and pathos that the triathelete zeds of today just don’t possess. In fact I blogged about it on Horror Reanimated, (Rules of the Living Dead or Should Zombies Run). I was very quickly shouted down!

What is the best advice you ever received from someone about horror writing?

Hmm. You know, this applies to all writing, but my lecturer on the MA in Writing was the novelist Jane Rogers (Mr Wroe’s Virgins), and she really instilled in me that old adage – to write is human, to edit is divine. That’s the best advice for any writer – keep redrafting – you’ll know in your gut when it’s right to stop.

The horror genre has seen many incarnations over the past few years – what do you think the future holds for the genre?

Who knows? I hear a lot about zombie horror/post apocalyptic horror being the future. But there are always cycles. One thing I can guarantee – the pure ghost story will never go out of fashion because it speaks to something primal in all of us – the hope and fear of what lies beyond the veil...

Do you have a zombie apocalypse survival plan – apart from going to hide in the Winchester, that is! – and will you be able to implement it?

I would just throw myself into the marauding, blood-thirsty horde. I’ve watched enough Romero to know that there is only one thing worse than being torn apart by zeds – and that’s surviving. Get it over and done with quickly, say I! Anyway, a world overrun by zombies would mean I’d never get to see Steven Moffat’s version of ‘Doctor Who’ – why bother living?!

Are there any “how to” books on your bookshelf you would recommend to aspiring authors?

Two – Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’. After reading that you should be all set. The other is Robert McKee’s ‘Story’ – which is a how-to on screenwriting, but it has really important things to say about structure and character that can be used in novel-writing too.

The Garbage Man Competition Winners

Apologies to our three winners of copies of Joseph D'Lacey's excellent urban horror, Garbage Man. I've had this post stuck in draft format since Friday and for some reason it would not release/update ...BUT! after deleting it and reworking it, here it is. (We hope.)

The winners are:

Rachel G from Derbyshire
Kirsty G from Kent
Lex W from London

Congratulations to all three. A copy of Garbage Man will be winging its way to you shortly courtesy of Bloody Books.

Horror Blog Fest - A chat with Joseph D'Lacey

Mark and I are very chuffed to have met Jospeh and his partner in crime...uhm, horror, Bill Hussey, this weekend past at Eastercon. But before even then we were fans of them both. Confession: it is because of their LOVE for the horror genre that I dreamed up this two month horror blogfest on MFB. And it also so happens that both Joseph and Bill's books are released during this time...cunning ploy or mastermind marketing...or pure coincidence...I'll let you decide!

Please introduce yourself and tell us a bit more about you and your writing career.

My name is Joseph D’Lacey – author of MEAT, Garbage Man and forthcoming novella The Kill Crew. I love writing short fiction and have always written poetry, even though I never admit to it in these kinds of interviews.

It’s taken twelve years from that whimsical moment when I decided I’d like to be a ‘real’ writer to arrive where I am now. I keep thinking it’s going to get easier but it never does.

MEAT was my full-length debut. It’s been translated into German, French, Hungarian and Turkish at the last count and I’ve just printed off the first draft of the movie script. It arrived attached to an email from the screenwriter just now!

I co-curate Horror Reanimated with Bill Hussey and Mathew F. Riley. The site is dedicated to exploring and promoting the genre.

What is your most recent novel about – if you are allowed to tell us?

I’d be delighted to tell you about it (them!).

Garbage Man (7th May, Bloody Books) deals with what happens to all the rubbish we bury in landfill – also the burial of secrets and the past. In the novel a huge, filthy dumping ground is struck by lighting, animating the trash and triggering an apocalypse. There’s a lot of Gaia theory in there. Like MEAT I’d label it ‘eco-horror’. There’s an ensemble cast again, each character trying to find his/her own way through a battle with zombie trash.

The Kill Crew (10th August, Stone Garden Publishing) is a survival horror tale. Two hundred survivors of an unknown ‘event’ have barricaded themselves into a single city block. Every night the ‘changed’ inhabitants of the city attack them. A daily lottery decides the seven members of The Kill Crew whose job it is to leave the safety of the barricade after dark and destroy as many of their assailants as possible. The heroine is a shotgun-toting lady called Sheri Foley – she kicks arse!

What do you think makes the horror genre so fascinating to readers and writers?

Whoa! That’s a big question! – one we try to answer on the Horror Reanimated blog all the time.

From a writer’s perspective, the genre allows me to explore all manner of weird stuff, which I love. Stories without an element of the unusual or bizarre tend not to interest me. Very occasionally, I do write straight fiction or humour but even that will tend to be skewed in some way.

For readers it’s a different thing. We all live with the threat of ‘extremity’. A sense of fear or worry over what may happen to us is always at the back of our minds. Horror seems to give vent to that fear. Like catharsis or therapy – as with a rollercoaster – a perfectly safe moment of terror. I doubt the genre would go down too well in a war zone where people face real horrors every day.

For some people, the pursuit of that kind of extremity is purely a thrill ride and nothing more. For others there’s an obsession with dark subjects; they can’t leave horror alone. For me, when I discovered horror at a very young age, it was like finding a new world. The stories were about things people never talked about, things you never found in ‘normal’ books: other worlds; horrible deaths; evil beings; twisted sex; boxed-in terror!

I never picked up an Enid Blyton title again!

As a horror writer / fan, what sells a story / concept to you?

As a writer, it might be as whimsical as phrase that comes to mind. I wrote The Kill Crew because I liked the sound of the title. I had no idea what the story itself would be about – certainly no idea that I’d be writing a female protagonist in the first person! Otherwise, I just ‘know’ when an idea is odd enough to keep me interested for as long as it takes to finish.

As a reader, what sells a story to me is story in the first place. If it’s a great story, if the writer steps back out of the writing to let the story take you, that’s a good start. It doesn’t have to be horror, either. I loved the ‘voice’ of the narrator in DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little – the voice pulled me through that novel like a fish on a hook. Or it can be the high concept behind the story that draws me in and keeps me. I just read Thomas Ligotti’s My Work is not yet Done and in that case it was the mix of concept, flowing story and voice that made the novella such a great read.

What movies / books influenced your development as a genre writer? Similarly, what books, movies, comics, get you excited as a fan?

Movies: The Thing, Alien, Aliens, Blade Runner, Liquid Sky, Dark Star, Angelheart, Jacob’s Ladder, The Matrix, Robocop. There are bound to be others I haven’t remembered and I haven’t mentioned any movies which aren’t genre-related.

Books: The Rats, The Fog, The Stand, Night Shift, The Great and Secret Show, Tales of the Unexpected.

These days, I’m reading to catch up. I’ve read almost no ‘new’ horror in the last ten years. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road blew my mind – so bleakly beautiful. I rarely read comics; nothing against them but I can’t justify the time. Movies – anything where SF and Horror meet tend to give me the fix I need.

Who do you go all fan-boy about when it comes to the horror genre? Have you ever met anyone more famous than yourself and how did you react?

I think my postman is more famous than I am.

Pre-empting your next question a bit, I’d like to meet Stephen King. I read his books from an early age and was inspired. When he read and blurbed MEAT, I almost fainted with pride – I still can’t quite believe it. The man is a phenomenal story-teller. It has been suggested that a meeting is a possibility. Rest assured I’ll take the opportunity if it comes up.

If you had a chance to invite any horror legend, be it actor, writer, director, author (living / dead / undead) over for some tea, who would you choose and why?

I’d go for the dead ones, I think. Poe, Lovecraft and Kafka would make for a very giggly tea party.

Lights on or off when watching horror flicks?

Off, of course! With a family of venomous spiders roaming the house.

Which do you prefer: Romero originals or remakes?

Originals.

What is the best advice you ever received from someone about horror writing?

The best advice, for any writer, I suspect: “Write the first million words…” I tried to find out who originally said this but I can’t find any reference to it. Perhaps someone made it up just to terrorise hopeful writers! It sounds trite but there’s a lot of truth in it. It gives a realistic idea of the commitment and consistency necessary to ‘do the job’.

The horror genre has seen many incarnations over the past few years – what do you think the future holds for the genre?

It’s my hope that the genre will continue to develop in depth and complexity, even in revisiting old horrors and monsters. Fear is a rich seam of creativity and it’s far from being exhausted. In mining that seam, I believe we learn a lot about ourselves. Not only that, we live in a world where new fears arise every day; fears about the overuse of technology and the price of worshipping in the temple of science, fears about our own planet dying. Those fears point the finger very firmly back in our own faces – we’re responsible for all of it. Horror exploring these themes will be the horror our children will fondly remember. Assuming they live long enough.

Do you have a zombie apocalypse survival plan – apart from going to hide in the Winchester, that is! – and will you be able to implement it?

First of all, Liz, no-one’s going to make it. However, I understand your ironic use of the term ‘survival plan’.

The important thing to remember when facing the inevitable and imminent zombie apocalypse is this: you can die running or you can die fighting. It’s a matter of right and wrong. I’m darn sure that people who get eaten because they were hiding under the bed will NOT go to heaven.

In every room of my house, I have easily accessible weaponry for exactly this purpose. The combat will be necessarily close-quarters and projectile weapons won’t be much use. Therefore, Brain-damaging or head-removing equipment is the order of the day (of judgement) – swords, axes, crow-bars, pick-axe handles etc. We have them all. I’ve even got a plastic hammer for the baby to use.

Are there any “how to” books on your bookshelf you would recommend to aspiring authors?

I have tons of such books but the ones I found most useful and inspiring were The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and On Writing by Stephen King. The Artist’s Way restarted my creative engine about twelve years ago and I haven’t looked back. On Writing gives me a refuel when needed.

**Competition News**

Joseph's publishers Bloody Books (Beautiful Books) kindly agreed to give THREE copies of GARBAGE MAN away to three lucky people. Now, if all goes well, you'll get these before the release date which is, to be honest, very cool. Here's what to do: email us at myfavouritebooksatblogspot(@)googlemail.com with your name and contact details (address only, no mobile numbers required) with Garbage Man in the subject. We'll announce the winners on...24th April 09 - so there's a week. And, as usual, this is UK entrants only.

The Garbage Man, Joseph D' Lacey

Until I closed the covers on The Garbage Man, I’d never really paid much attention to the assorted leftovers and rubbish I’d shove into the bin at home; it had always just been one of those little chores that simply needed doing. But now..

Joseph d’ Lacey has given birth to an insidious creation, one whose touch lingers long after you’ve turned the lights off. A subtle tension permeates everything; even in the calm before the storm, when the cast of characters are playing out their hitherto unremarkable lives, there’s an unmistakeable feeling that everything is about to hit the fan.

At the centre of the web sits Mason Brand, an enigmatic loner with a relationship with Mother Earth bordering on incestuous. Joseph shepherds Mason and rest of the cast along at a commanding pace, letting the darkness seep into their lives as they head inexorably towards their respective fates, many of which are wonderfully unpleasant. No one is safe..

The birth and metamorphosis of what rises from the polluted earth brings with it some of the most vividly savage imagery I've had the pleasure of coming across in a good long while.

All in, I was very impressed indeed -it's a wonderfully visceral horror that deserves to be bought and devoured by anyone with a taste for the macabre.

I've added Meat, his previous novel, to my wish list- if it it's anywhere as fun to read in a darkened room it'll be a crime to miss it.

The Garbage Man is due out for release from Bloody Books (Beautiful Books) on 7th May 09. Watch out for an upcoming interview with Joseph D'Lacey in the next few days, to further celebrate all things horror during our April and May month horror fest.

Wow!

Isn't this an absolutely amazing cover? Getting shivers. It's promising to be a good read too. Rubs hands in glee. (watch this space for the review in early 2009!)

Check out Joseph D'Lacey and Bill Hussey's blog to be kept up to date with all things horror!

Horror Reanimated

A brand new wordpress site by two authors published by Bloody Books, Bill Hussey and Joseph D'Lacey has gone live to the populace in general.

The boys are huge dedicated fans to horror in all its shapes and sizes and degrees of (directional) splatter. They've taken it upon themselves to do the blog to talk about ... horror!

From one of their posts:

We’ll be here talking about the resurgence of horror – a literary plague resistant to every drug and all bad press.

These are dark times and in such times, horror’s disease spreads tendrils into even the purest hearts. If you’re reading this, you’re probably infected already.

Be vigilant.

Watch for symptoms.

When your very eyes drip pus and venom, don’t call the doctor: a shotgun is the only medicine.

Find the link here.

Meat, Jospeh d'Lacey - Movie News

I think the girls and boys over at the smaller indy publishers are really taking their time to find good quality horror and thriller fiction and for a lack of a better word, alternative fiction.

Case in point is Joseph d'Lacey's book Meat which has been published to critical acclaim by Bloody Books. People have a strong reaction to it - they either love it, or they hate it - either way Joseph's work is getting a strong reaction and it has people talking. I, personally, have not had a chanced to read it yet - but I will.

Joseph and I have been chatting via Facebook and he comes across as a funny guy with oodles of talent and he shared some incredible news: Meat has been optioned for a movie.

This is the article over at his Myspace page if you want to read it and comment, but below is the text copied across from there for those who might have problems accessing Myspace.

The movie situation

The situation is this:

About six months ago, when MEAT first hit the shelves, I was approached by an independent UK filmmaker who wanted to option the novel. Believing the book was going to be HUGE, I told him I'd think about it. On the one hand, I hoped someone in Hollywood might get wind of it – rumours at the time were that a player in LA had a copy and was spreading the idea around. On the other hand, I felt that if a screen version of the novel was to be made, I wanted it to be a British movie: grim locations, grim actors and grim realism.

So, for a long time, I did nothing. Perfectly normal behaviour for me.

I soon realised no interest was coming from the States – not even for publication rights. The UK producer, the scriptwriter and I met again. And then again. They seemed very serious and I told the producer to make me an offer. There was another long wait and then another meeting. The offer was on the table.

At that point I decided I needed a lawyer and found myself a heavy hitter. We made a counter-proposal which was counter-proposed. We then ironed out the final wrinkles. Today, I met the producer and scriptwriter again and we popped the champagne. The deal is finalised.

Details:

Production Company: Antshake Ltd
Producer: Sean Kelly
Screenwriter: John Costello

What happens next:

By the end of November we'll have a first draft treatment. The hunt for financiers has already begun, as has the compiling of lists of possible directors and the cast. Sales agent and visits to film festivals to follow…

I really do wish him the best of luck!

Through a glass, darkly by Bill Hussey

Synopsis

When a young man goes missing from the Fen village of Crow Haven, Inspector Jack Trent is sent to investigate. He finds an isolated, insular community which harbours a shocking secret. A secret he has already glimpsed in his dreams. Now, in a race against time, Jack must piece together the mystery surrounding Dr Elijah Mendicant and the ancient Darkness of Crow Haven. He must save the life of an innocent child and stop an ageless evil from rising once more.

You can tell when an author writes out of love for his genre. This is very much the case with Through a glass, darkly by debut author, Bill Hussey.

The first three sentences of the novel go like this:

Jack Trent stared into the bathroom mirror.
He could not fight it. The dreaming reached out and pulled him through the glass.

I was hooked, as Mark would say, using his newly acquired fishing analogies. We immediately fall into a crisis with the main character, Jack Trent and it’s an unusual one. He sees things and experiences things others cannot and would not want to see. Not so unusual, you would think, with the deluge of shows on TV currently dealing with people who have the sixth sense. But this novel is so much more. It is freakishly scary and written with tremendous skill and it sweeps you from your feet and carries you along until its dark conclusion.

Jack Trent is a lonely, haunted main character and therein lies his strengths: he has to stand up against monsters some people might just be able to sense but have no power against. And because of his past experiences and his continued visions and experiences, he races towards the climax of the book in an all out ride of terror, even if it means that it might be the last thing he does.

The settings of the Fells is beautifully utilised and it gives the novel a true sense of weird and desolation. The town of Crow Haven is rendered in stark contrasts and you almost feel sorry for the people who have to live in this isolated community but then you realise that they had been mute accomplices to some awful things during the centuries and you really do just want to wash your hands off them.

Another character which I enjoyed reading about is Father Brody. He stood against the evil in Crow Haven in the past and has come to know that someone else would come to put a stop to it. He realises that this person is Jack Trent and he manages to escape his confinement in a home for retired priests to try and help Jack in his own very odd and dark way, that reflects his own experiences at Crow Haven.

The whole story is a giant puzzle which Jack and his almost-girlfriend Dawn, a fellow police officer put together with meticulous care. The underlying skill of the author comes through in how well the novel is plotted. You are “on scene” for the big happenings, nothing happens that you don’t know about so you don’t feel left out or cheated.

The story narrates on a scale that reminds me of the classics from the gothic noire books published by Stoker, Shelley and Lafcadio Hearn– it is dark, mesmerising and deeply tragic and poignant because of the main character’s self-doubt and continuous searching of himself in a time of desperate need.

I am a fan of good horror novels (and awful horror movies) and have to freely admit that if Bill Hussey is the new voice of the genre, especially UK horror, then we are all in for a tremendous treat because if he starts us off with a bang like Through a Glass Darkly…we can expect major things from him.

It stands alongside House of Lost Souls by FG Cottam as one of the best horror books I have read this year.

A bit about the author:

Bill Hussey has a Masters Degree in Writing from Sheffield Hallam University. His first novel, Through A Glass, Darkly was inspired by the lonely Fen villages of Lincolnshire and by a lifetime devoted to the horror story. Bill lives in Skegness and writes stories about things that go bump in the night. The book is published by an Bloody Books.

You can find Bill's website here.