May 03, 2018
Stephanie M. Wytovich is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her work has been showcased in numerous anthologies such as Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Shadows Over Main Street: An Anthology of Small-Town Lovecraftian Terror, Year's Best Hardcore Horror: Volume 2, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 8, as well as many others. Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, an adjunct at Western Connecticut State University and Point Park University, and a mentor with Crystal Lake Publishing.
Brian M. Sammons – Before authors began to write, they were readers, so what were some of your earliest literary loves? Who inspired you and made you want to keep on reading?
Stephanie M. Wytovich - I read, and continue to read, just about everything I can get my hands on. When I was younger, I was fascinated with mythology, so I read a ton of books about Greek and Egyptian history, and then as I got older and began to get interested in horror, I started reading Stephen King and Anne Rice, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, but once I found poetry, I began devouring it at a pretty intense rate, my bread and butter being anything by Ellen Hopkins. She was really the author who inspired me to be a writer because she wrote/writes novels in verse poetry, and that both fascinated and excited me.
BMS – What, or whom, are you reading now?
SMW - I just finished reading And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe by Gwendolyn Kiste (and it was magnificent), and I have the following books in my TBR pile to tackle this summer: Thirteen Views of the Suicide Woods by Bracken MacLeod, The Changeling by Victor LaValle, Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman, and Experimental Film by Gemma Files.
BMS – When did you realize you wanted to write your own stuff? Was it a sudden epiphany, a slow, gradual dawning, or something else?
SMW - I knew I wanted to be a writer since I was little, and I think it was third grade when I announced to my teacher and my classmates that I was going to pursue writing. Looking back on it, I don’t ever remember a time when I wasn’t writing. I always had my head in a book, and I would write stories about vampires and pirates for my parents to read. They actually gave me a whole bunch of manuscripts from my childhood the other day, and it was a blast going through them. I had a dark mind for such a little kid.
BMS – Do you remember your first sale? What was it and to what market did it go?
SMW - Oh yes. I sold my poem “The Necklace” to Eclectic Flash. I was still in undergrad at the time, and when I got the magazine in the mail, it was like opening the best present in the world.
BMS – You are also known to do quite a bit of poetry. What drew you to that and who are some of your influences there?
SMW - I actually came to poetry as a form of therapy. As a kid, my therapist recommended that I start journaling and writing poetry as a way to confront my trauma since I wasn’t comfortable talking about it. Once I started, I just never stopped.
As to some of my influences, I tend to like confessional poetry, but I also like poetry that challenges my beliefs, both personally and spiritually. My favorites starting out (and to this day) are: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Emily Dickinson, Charles Simic, Allen Ginsberg, John Keats, William Blake, and W. B. Yeats. Some of the more contemporary writers I’ve fallen in love with recently though are: Rachel Wiley, Sabrina Benaim, Zachary Schomburg, and Kim Addonizio.
BMS – I openly admit that I don’t get the vast majority of poetry. What am I missing or doing wrong?
SMW - I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. I think like most people, including myself, we’re taught poetry at a young age in a very strict, unapproachable manner, and that tends to turn people off to the genre as a whole because it appears unattainable, elite. Truthfully though, poetry is so much more than that, and its experimental nature whether we’re talking verse, structure, or syntax, opens up a world of possibility both for poets and for prose writers.
I think what’s important is reading and reading vastly in the genre. Find what you don’t like and then stay away from that, and then when you find what you do like, whether that be traditional verse or free-verse, you’ll find the language start to open up for you, challenge you, and give new breath to your voice.
BMS – Which do you prefer writing, poetry or fiction?
SMW - I’ll always be a poet at heart.
BMS – What is the best thing about being a writer?
SMW - For fiction, it’s creating worlds. When I was writing The Eighth, building Hell was one of the best parts about the process, and I’m very much looking forward to expanding upon it in the sequel.
For poetry, it’s the catharsis that comes from word play. When I write poetry, I feel like I’m purging emotion, almost like I’m dripping my secrets on the page. It took me a long time to work up to the voice I have now, but it’s the most freeing feeling I’ve ever had as a writer. I’m looking forward to seeing how I continue to grow.
BMS – What’s the worst thing about being a writer?
SMW - For me, the hardest part about being a writer—regardless if we’re talking fiction or poetry—is confronting my demons. I’m a confessional writer by nature, so there are little parts of me in everything I write, and sometimes that’s harder to do than you would think. So yeah, I guess for me, it’s facing down what scares me, what challenges me, and then learning how to survive it.
BMS – Any words of advice, or even warnings, you would like to give to beginning authors or poets?
SMW – There’s no one way to be a writer, so follow your gut and do what feels right to you. Read everything, both in and outside your genre, write the stories you want to write, and don’t be afraid to experiment with your voice.
BMS – If I asked you for three stories or poems that would give a reader who is unfamiliar with your work the best representation of you as a writer, what would those three be?
SMW – Hmm, this is a tough one. If I had to pick three poems, I would probably go with: “Of My Wounds, There Are Many” from Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare, “Dare I Keep the Body” from Mourning Jewelry, and “Exit 55, Cincinnati, Columbus” from Brothel.
BMS – Let’s get to what you’ve had published through Dark Regions Press. You appeared in the anthology Chiral Mad 3, what can you tell us about your contribution to that?
SMW – I was beyond excited to be included in Chiral Mad 3, and my poems “Welcome Home, Darling,” and “Put Me to Dream” were written based on this haunted house dream I was working with. A lot of times, I write about sleep and ghosts because 1) I have insomnia and night terrors and 2) I fully believe in ghosts and have done my fair share of paranormal investigations and urban exploring.
BMS – Your debut novel, The Eighth, is out through Dark Regions Press. First, congratulations on that. Second, what can you tell us about that book?
SMW – Thank you! This was a real treat for me, not to mention a huge moment in my writing career because Dark Regions was my first choice for my novel. I wrote this book after reading Paradise Lost by John Milton and The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. As for the pitch/summary, here’s a little about the book: After Paimon, Lucifer’s top soul collector, falls in love with a mortal girl whose soul he is supposed to claim, he desperately tries everything in his power to save her from the Devil’s grasp. But what happens when a demon has to confront his demons, when he has to turn to something darker, something more sinister for help? Can Paimon survive the consequences of working with the Seven Deadly Sins-sins who have their own agenda with the Devil—or will he fall into a deeper, darker kind of hell?
BMS – How is writing a novel different that writing a short story? How is it different than doing a poem?
SMW – My writing process is kind of weird, so this answer is going to be a little wonky. When it comes to poetry, I can just sit down and work with my emotions—usually with some music on in the background—and my vision boards. When it comes to short stories, I usually write the poem version of it first, and then move into turning it into prose. Novels are easily the hardest for me, and my process is rather slow. I typically have to outline the book, and then for each chapter, I write the poem version of it first, and then work on turning it into prose. I guess the big difference here is that I don’t need to outline for poetry and short stories, but novels, well, with them I need all the help and organization I can get.
BMS – Can you share any info on what you’re working on now?
SMW – Right now, I’m working on finishing up some short stories as well as steadily working on my next poetry collection, The Apocalyptic Mannequin. I’ve also been working on a sequel to The Eighth, and I’m looking forward to having some more time this summer to get back to into it.
BMS – What is the best way for people to learn more about you and your work?
SMW - Readers can follow me on Facebook (Stephanie M. Wytovich), or on Twitter and Instagram (@swytovich). I also blog about the horror industry and my work at: http://stephaniewytovich.blogspot.com/
Stephanie M. Wytovich is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her work has been showcased in numerous anthologies such as Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Shadows Over Main Street: An Anthology of Small-Town Lovecraftian Terror, and The Best Horror of the Year, Volume 8 (edited by Ellen Datlow).
Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, an adjunct at Western Connecticut State University, and a book reviewer for Nameless Magazine. She is a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, an active member of the Horror Writers Association, and a graduate of Seton Hill University’s MFA program for Writing Popular Fiction. Her Bram Stoker Award-winning poetry collections, Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, Mourning Jewelry, An Exorcism of Angels, and Brothel earned a home with Raw Dog Screaming Press, and her debut novel, The Eighth, is published with Dark Regions Press.
Her poetry collection, Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare, was released October 2017 from Raw Dog Screaming Press, and her short story collection, Inside the Skin Bouquet was released from Dark Fuse.
Follow Wytovich at http://www.stephaniewytovich.com/ and on twitter @JustAfterSunset.
After Paimon, Lucifer’s top soul collector, falls in love with a mortal girl whose soul he is supposed to claim, he desperately tries everything in his power to save her from the Devil’s grasp. But what happens when a demon has to confront his demons, when he has to turn to something darker, something more sinister for help? Can Paimon survive the consequences of working with the Seven Deadly Sins-sins who have their own agenda with the Devil—or will he fall into a deeper, darker kind of hell?
"The Eighth is a stellar horror debut from Stephanie Wytovich. An intimate, painful map of personal and literal hells that would make Clive Barker proud." - Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author
Read More: darkregions.com/theeighth
May 02, 2018
May 01, 2018
Celebrate the month of May with a few bonus limited edition hardcovers included with your Dark Regions Press order.
Customers who place orders of $300 or more on DarkRegions.com during the month of May using coupon code HALLOWEEN will receive 3 bonus limited edition hardcovers with retail value of $170 or more free with each qualifying order! Due to limited inventory this coupon code/bonus is limited to 25 total uses, so make sure to snag this bonus soon!
These 3 bonus limited hardcovers will be selected at random and if multiple qualifying orders are placed duplicate bonuses may be received.
Thanks to everyone who supports Dark Regions Press by shopping on darkregions.com during the month of May!
April 30, 2018
Simon Strantzas is a Canadian author and editor. He has four collections of his stories available and has edited the anthologies: Shadows Edge, Aickman's Heirs (which won the Shirley Jackson Award in 2015 for Best Edited Anthology in 2015), and The Year's Best Weird Fiction, Volume 3. In addition his work has been cited as an influence for Nic Pizzolatto, who gave us the excellent HBO series (at least the first season was excellent) True Detective.
Brian M. Sammons – Now before authors began to write, they were readers, so what were some of your earliest literary loves? Who inspired you and made you want to keep on reading?
Simon Strantzas—I’ve always read, but I became a reader in my teenage years during the horror boom. As a result, the writers who meant most to me in my formative years were the big names in horror at the time—folks like Barker and Straub. I spread out from there to read some non-supernatural literary fiction like Harvey and Joyce, and dabbled in noir with Hammet and Chandler, and science fiction with Bradbury and Ellison, but my heart was always in horror. Before all that, though, my love of reading was satiated by comicbooks and adventure novels like The Executioner series. Who’s to say which, if any, were the impetus to keep me reading. I think reading itself lies beyond authors themselves and instead is an act of imagination that either sparks or it doesn’t. For me, it sparked.
BMS – What, or whom, are you reading now?
SS—There is so much good material being written currently that it seems impossible to narrow things down. Some of the great books I’ve read in the last few years have come from writers like Adam Nevill, Michael Wehunt, Jon Padgett, Lynda E. Rucker, Nadia Bulkin, Carmen Maria Machado, Kelly Link, and whole host of others. One author I’d single out is Matthew M. Bartlett, whose body of work continues to grow into something fascinating, and I think it’s quite possible one day he’ll end up being an extremely influential figure on the future horror field.
BMS – What is the best thing about being a writer?
SS—Being able to solve creative puzzles and produce something that can affect other people. Writing is like recording one’s dream on a page for someone else to re-experience—it’s thought transference of the best kind—and to hear from readers who have been changed by reading something I’ve written never fails to be surprising and humbling.
BMS – What’s the worst thing about being a writer?
SS—Accepting that, while being a raw emotional nerve makes you uniquely qualified to be a writer, it also makes you terrible at all the things you have to do that don’t involve writing. This includes being present through social media and interacting with strangers whom you always suspect have an unpleasant ulterior motive. This may explain why much of my fiction is about how other people cannot be trusted.
BMS – Any words of advice, or even warnings, you would like to give to beginning authors?
SS—Just be honest with yourself. In all aspects of the work and your life. Just be honest about what you want, and then do everything you can to make those things you want happen. I’ll also add a reminder that no one has time for writing. But if it’s important to you, you’ll make the time, somehow, whether it’s by sleeping less or mowing the lawn less or even, yes, limiting your time on social media.
BMS – If I asked you for three stories or books that would give a reader who is unfamiliar with your work the best representation of you as an author, what would those three be?
SS—I try to tackle the horror genre from different directions, so I don’t know if three pieces can represent me, but some of my favorite stories of my own include “Out of Touch”, “Burnt Black Suns”, and “Drowned Deep Inside of Me”. The first is as good example as any of how I think theme, plot, and character can be interwoven; the second showed me how I could use longer works, like a novella, to expand and communicate my vision; and the third outlines how the fantastic and metaphorical inform my fiction. But ask me tomorrow and I may give you a completely different set of stories.
BMS – I’ve most often seen you referred to as a weird fiction author, do you think that label is accurate and how do you feel about being classified as such?
SS—I don’t have a particular affinity to notion of being a weird fiction author. The term became popular long after I’d settled on classifying these sorts of stories as “horror stories”, so for me I’m a horror author. But I can understand how newer writers who didn’t grow up with the term “horror” might have less of a connection to it, and instead feel some greater affinity to calling their work weird fiction. I’ve stopped caring what kind of writer people think I am—horror, weird, dark fantasy, what have you. I’m a writer who writes like me, whatever that means.
BMS – What is your definition of weird fiction?
SS—What is any genre, really? It’s a loose set of boundaries setup to classify stories, but the weird is best described as fiction that crosses boundaries, so how can it be defined? If forced, I suppose weird fiction is an interstitial sort of fiction that derives its inspiration from the entire spectrum of speculative fiction at once. But it’s my opinion that the boundaries between genres have been disintegrating in all forms of media, and thus a genre that uniquely describes this cross-media work is short sighted. It’s not a genre; it’s in fact everything. Everything is becoming weird fiction. The world is weird fiction. If you doubt it, turn on the television and watch the news for a little while.
BMS – In addition to writing, you’ve put on the editor’s hat a few times to do some really good anthologies. What got you started down that road?
SS—Hubris, mostly. The notion that other people were trying it, so I might like to try it, too. A desire to ensure books I wanted to read actually existed in the world, and since no one else was doing them the only way to make them happen was to do them myself.
BMS – What is your take on what makes a good editor and what makes a bad one?
SS—I feel a good editor does more than compile. Instead, she or he should build a book with a flow and a vision and make sure it’s clearly executed and communicated. It’s more work than it appears to be, and a number of editors, especially in the small press, don’t seem to fully grasp that. It’s more than simply picking your favorite authors and asking them to write stories. This is why, often, one reads an anthology and feels it’s all over the place—just a mass of disparate, disconnected tales. The editor likely lacked a vision for the final product, or was unwilling to make the choices necessary to achieve it.
BMS – Do you prefer writing or editing (or the other way around) and why?
SS—I like portions of editing—primarily discovering writers and bringing them to readers’ attention—but I dislike the work it involves because I’d much rather be working on my own fiction. It’s where my heart lies. Editing is something I sort of blindly stumbled into and almost immediately started trying to stumble back out of. It’s not my passion, and I think if one is do something as involved as editing, it should be a passion—if not for your sake, then for the sake of the authors you’re presenting.
BMS – Let’s get to what you’ve had published through Dark Regions Press. You’ve done three collections with DRP, what can you tell us about them?
SS—Dark Regions republished my first two collections, BENEATH THE SURFACE and COLD TO THE TOUCH. The former was my first book, published for six weeks before the original press went out of business, and then later rescued by Dark Regions. It’s stories are inspired by writers like Thomas Ligotti and Fritz Leiber. The latter book was originally published by Tartarus Press, and finds its inspiration in the works of Robert Aickman, Ramsey Campbell, and Charles Grant. After those two books, an original collection for Dark Regions, NIGHTINGALE SONGS, followed. This book has a more contemporary sensibility, I think, and shows the first signs in my work of where I was attempting to meld the different strains of the genre I worked in into a single cohesive mode. Of these three volumes, the first is sadly out of print, but the other two are still available. Oh, and, of course, we can’t forget the upcoming deluxe edition of my latest, BURNT BLACK SUNS. However, I believe all copies of that sold out during the pre-order phase.
BMS – It’s clear you have a love for the short story format, what about it is most challenging?
SS—Short stories are often thought of as training wheels for novel writing, but they’re their own unique beast; more akin to poetry than the novel, because in the poem a writer must condense a larger thought into something small. The short story gives more room, and allows for a great sense of narrative, but it still needs to be diamond-cut and precise—there is no room for excess or meandering. The short story explores one key theme, and everything must work in concert to express it. The novel, on the other hand, has room to juggle multiple themes and arcs and weave them together into a greater whole. I wouldn’t say one medium is more challenging than the other, but I will say that short stories often require a great amount of concentration over a short period of time, and the room for error is much smaller.
BMS – Can you share any info on what you’re working on now?
SS—I’ve just finished my new collection of short stories, NOTHING IS EVERYTHING, for Undertow Publications. It’s due later in 2018 and contains ten stories, six of which have never been published before. There’s not much I want to say about it at the moment, other than I hope readers find it unexpected and thought provoking. I think it’s by far the best book I’ve written.
BMS – What is the best way for people to learn more about you and your work?
SS—Visiting my website and blog will provide a good update on my projects. Visiting me on Facebook will provide a good update on my thoughts about horror, the weird, and all associated speculative fiction. I’m on Twitter, too, but I’m far less active there.
BMS – Thanks again for taking the time to talk with me today.
SS—It was my absolute pleasure!
Simon Strantzas is the author of four short story collections, including Burnt Black Suns from Hippocampus Press (2014). His fiction has appeared in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Best Horror of the Year, and The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, and has been nominated for the British Fantasy and Shirley Jackson Award. He resides in Toronto, Canada.
April 24, 2018
We are excited to announce that international customers shopping on DarkRegions.com will find the following shipping options:
USA customers: the free shipping option on orders of $500 or more is available to you during checkout!
These changes will especially save our international customers a significant amount on shipping rates which unfortunately continue to increase for shipments going outside of the United States.
All of these new shipping rates and changes can be found during checkout with your DarkRegions.com cart in the Shipping method section of checkout.
Questions? Please Contact Us.
April 23, 2018
Dark Regions Press is very excited to do our next Author Spotlight on Stephanie M. Wytovich. Her debut novel The Eighth was met with critical acclaim when published by Dark Regions Press in 2016/2017. Over the coming weeks, new giveaways, interviews and more will be launched focusing on Stephanie's novel with DRP and her as an author, poet and editor!
Watch for many special promotions on The Eighth and author Stephanie M. Wytovich in the near-future!
Stephanie M. Wytovich is an instructor by day and a horror writer by night. She is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, an adjunct at Western Connecticut State University, and a book reviewer for Nameless Magazine. She is a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, an active member of the Horror Writers Association, and a graduate of Seton Hill University’s MFA program for Writing Popular Fiction. Her Bram Stoker Award-nominated poetry collections, Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, Mourning Jewelry, An Exorcism of Angels, and Brothel can be found at www.rawdogscreaming.com, and her debut novel, The Eighth, is to be published through Dark Regions Press. Follow Wytovich at stephaniewytovich.com and on twitter @JustAfterSunset
April 16, 2018
07/05/2018 - UPDATE: Cthulhu Artwork Contest deadline extended to November 30th due to feedback from several artists. Thanks to everyone who entered so far!
Cthulhu fhtagn!
We are very excited to announce a new Dark Regions Press artwork contest! Send us your best rendition of the legendary Great Old One himself, Cthulhu! Three winners will be selected and will have their image(s) used in Dark Regions Press books and publications and will win from $1,000 in prizes. Free to enter, deadline November 30th 2018
CONTEST TYPE: Artwork
THEME: Cthulhu
PAY: Contest with $1,000 Prize Pool - 1st place: $500 2nd place: $300 3rd place: $200
ADDITIONAL: the 3 winning Cthulhu artwork pieces will be published in Dark Regions Press publications/the website/our e-mail newsletter/online/physically and the artists will be promoted!
ENTRY FEE: None but you must be a subscriber to the Dark Regions Press e-mail newsletter to qualify which is free to join at darkregions.com/newsletter
SUBMISSION RULES: Your original Cthulhu artwork must be newly created for this contest. One artwork submission per artist for the duration of the contest. Image must be sent to Dark Regions Press as a JPG image of 10MB memory size or less and the artist must store a high-res PSD/illustrator file that we can use to apply the artwork in a DRP publication if selected as a winner. The artwork must include Cthulhu.
TURNAROUND TIME/TIMELINE: all artwork must be sent to Dark Regions Press by November 30th 2018. Our team will then view all artwork and will select the 3 winners and issue prize money by Summer 2018. The winners will be announced exclusively in our e-mail newsletter after being contacted personally. The publications including the artwork will be published throughout the 2nd half of 2018, 2019 and beyond.
RIGHTS: By entering this contest you agree that if you are selected as one of the 3 winners Dark Regions Press has the right to publish your winning artwork in any capacity. Two year exclusive commercial rights. After the two year exclusivity period the artist is free to publish the artwork anywhere else in any capacity.
HOW TO SEND US YOUR ARTWORK (READ CAREFULLY): please send us an e-mail with a subject line reading: "CTHULHU ART CONTEST - Dark Regions Press" then in the e-mail body please include a list of the following information:
Please refrain from including any credentials or other information, we wish to judge the art purely based on the art itself!
ARTWORK MUST BE ATTACHED TO EMAIL AS A .JPG IMAGE OF 10 MB OR LESS MEMORY SIZE.
Please make sure you have read the above instructions carefully.
Send your JPG Cthulhu artwork to our artwork contest e-mail at: darkregionsartcontest@gmail.com
Please only use that e-mail for artwork submissions for our currently active art contests! Any other submissions/e-mails to that address will be marked as spam.
Thank you and we can't wait to see everyone's visions of The Great Old One, Cthulhu!
April 09, 2018
Jeffrey Thomas is one of my favorite authors working today. He is a master of horror, weird, sci-fi, urban fantasy, and weird horrific science fiction set in a fanciful urban setting. Perhaps his best known creation is the genre melting pot that defies classification: the Punktown setting and series of books and stories. He has appeared in a large number of anthologies I have edited and has had a long publishing history with Dark Regions Press, so I have tracked him down and asked him about his books with DRP, about an upcoming something with me, and other questions the world needs to know.
BMS: What was the first book to be published by Dark Regions Press, when was that, and how did that come about?
JT: My first book with Dark Regions Press was a short story collection called Doomsdays, released in 2007. This was when Joe Morey ran DRP, before he turned the reins over to his son Chris Morey. I’d already had a history with DRP, having placed stories in two issues of Dark Regions Magazine (1998 and 1999) and a magazine-format collection called The Year’s Best Fantastic Fiction (1998). So when Joe decided to venture into book publishing, and approached me about doing a book with him, I eagerly accepted. The rest is history! My history, anyway.
BMS: What was the next book and what brought you back to work with DRP?
JT: The next one was a collection of short stories set in my own particular vision of Hades, which I’d begun with my novel Letters From Hades (Bedlam Press, 2003), a book Joe much admired. That second DRP book was Voices From Hades, in 2008. What kept me returning to work with DRP was Joe’s requests for more books from me (an author is lucky to have a good publisher approaching them, rather than the other way around!), the high quality of DRP’s books, and Joe’s warm personality. We became good friends.
BMS: I know you mostly from a lot, and I mean A LOT, of short stories and your first books with Dark Regions Press were story collections. Do you prefer writing short fiction over novels?
JT: Though they’re both wonderful forms to work in, I’d say that in general I prefer to work in the short form. This is largely because, as I’ve often opined, I feel horror and weird fiction are best served by the short form. I do miss writing novels, though; I haven’t completed one in years. Part of that is simply because I get invited to write short stories for so many cool anthologies and publications!
BMS: A lot of authors say short stories are more challenging to do than novels. As someone who has done both, what is your opinion on that?
JT: Hm, in a way. Maybe I’d say it depends on the particular story, and the particular writer. It’s a challenge to condense so much into a short story without making it seem rushed: setting, atmosphere, characterization, the unfolding of events, and any subtext that might be in the mix. Then again, it’s a challenge extending and sustaining the above mentioned components to novel length, without making it seem padded or bloated. Let’s just say, writing good fiction is a challenge, period.
BMS: You have a book titled Beautiful Hell, what can you tell us about that?
JT: It’s a novella set in my Hades milieu, which was originally half of a book called Ugly Heaven, Beautiful Hell published in 2007 by Corrosion Press, which was an imprint of Delirium Books. The Ugly Heaven part was written by Carlton Mellick III. When a few years later Carlton wanted to publish his novella separately, I decided to do the same with my story. (The plotlines of these novellas were not linked, by the way.) So again, Joe being a fan of my Hades work, he took on Beautiful Hell. If I wanted to hook somebody into reading it, I’d say: samurai sword battles between nude human-like demons and floating octopus-like demons!
BMS: One of my favorite creations of yours is your Punktown setting. For those not in the know, what would you say about Punktown? How would you describe it to the uninitiated?
JT: Punktown is the nickname of an immense city called Paxton, on another world colonized not only by Earth people but seemingly countless races from other planets and even other dimensions. It’s chaotic and tremendously dangerous, but some of its facets can be weirdly beautiful. As I like to say, Punktown isn’t my attempt at predicting the future; Punktown is our here and now, cranked up to 11. I’ve written many a Punktown novel and short story, and each is created so that it can stand on its own, so that a reader is never pressured into catching up on some sprawling storyline. You can dive in anywhere.
BMS: You have Ghosts of Punktown through Dark Regions, what can you say about that one?
JT: I’ve released a number of collections that consist entirely of Punktown stories, and I’d be tempted to call Ghosts of Punktown my favorite, overall. I think it is pretty consistent in quality, and it’s also probably my consistently darkest Punktown collection. Plus it has a brilliant cover by mixed media artist Kris Kuksi. I think my favorite story therein is Life Work, in which a sex worker android trying to pass for a human woman, a self-destructive former hitman, and an old woman with a sentient plant for a pet, merge destinies. Anyway, I’m extremely proud of the book.
BMS: You have a collaboration between yourself and another author I greatly admire, W. H. Pugmire. It’s called Encounters with Enoch Coffin, what is that one about?
JT: I also admire Pugmire; I’ve been a fan of his since our obscure small press days, and we’ve been close friends – through written correspondence, then audio cassette letters, then email – since around 1990. When Wilum had the idea that we should collaborate on a series of stories about an artist, somewhat in the vein of Lovecraft’s Pickman, who seeks out uncanny subject matter to inspire his work, I eagerly accepted the challenge. We decided to write an equal number of stories individually, and we’d read each other’s work along the way so we could play off each other’s story events. It was an incredibly fun and rewarding project.
BMS: How did that team up come together?
JT: Well, because I’ve followed Wilum’s career for so long, and become very acquainted with his literary voice/style, Wilum knew I’d be able to sound enough like him – without trying to ape him – to make this work. He also wanted me for the book because I’m an artist myself, and could bring that knowledge to the table.
BMS: Have you done a lot of collaborations? How do you like doing them and do you have a set way or process of tackling them?
JT: Actually I haven’t, and in general I’m not interested in collaborating. I have a very personal relationship with my work, I’m jealous of it, like a dog with its bone. Though my brother Scott Thomas and I have had a few books released in which we paired up novellas or contributed a number of short stories, we’ve only actually written one short story together. Many years ago I wrote an erotic horror novel in collaboration with Brad Boucher, but we never got it out there for people to look at. Maybe one day! I’d have to be very simpatico with another writer to think of collaborating again. Given that I’m not all that productive anymore, at least not like I used to be, I’m not sure I’ll ever again give a major collaboration a go.
BMS: Now let’s talk a little about future stuff coming out from you and Dark Regions Press. You have a novella coming out in I Am the Abyss. What’s it called and what can you tell us about it?
JT: My novella in that anthology is called Acheron. Given the book’s afterlife theme, I again set my story in my world of Hades, knowing that Chris Morey is a fan of that series, too. The story mostly takes place aboard a gigantic, nightmarish ship that ferries large numbers of the damned across oceans of blood, from one destination to another. The protagonist is one such member of the damned, who has to deal with his inner demons and literal demons as well.
BMS: I have it on good authority that DRP will be publishing something called Transmissions from Punktown soon, what can you tell us about that?
JT: Oh, do you know something about this project? Ha. Having done a fine job putting this book together, as its editor, you should. Transmissions from Punktown is a shared world anthology, for which a whole bunch of cool writers were invited to delve into my Punktown universe and create their own stories set there. It made me excited and proud to see other writers take inspiration from my humble creation, and the results just blew me away. I think readers will be just as impressed as I. Oh, and by the way, thanks for accepting my two-part story for the anthology. I’d have been mortified to be rejected for a Punktown book!
BMS: Where can people find out more about you and your books?
JT: The most valuable place they can find me is at my Author’s Page on Amazon! I don’t keep up with my blog these days (“blog...what’s a blog?”), but I’m very active on Facebook and keep my followers updated frequently on my writing exploits. https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.thomas.71
BMS: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us today.
JT: My pleasure, my friend – thanks for having me.
Jeffrey Thomas is the author of such novels as Deadstock, Blue War, Letters from Hades, and The Fall of Hades, and such short story collections as Punktown, Nocturnal Emissions, Thirteen Specimens, and Unholy Dimensions. His stories have appeared in the anthologies The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, The Year’s Best Horror Stories, Leviathan 3, The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases, and The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction. Forthcoming from Miskatonic River Press is a role-playing game based upon Thomas’ universe of Punktown. Thomas is also an artist, and lives in Massachusetts.
April 09, 2018
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April 01, 2018
March 29, 2018
William Meikle is a great writer, one of my favorites. If you read any of the anthologies I’ve done you will see this, as the man is in nearly every one of them. He’s a joy to work with, never fails to impress me with his tale telling, and has had a long and fruitful relationship with Dark Regions Press. In the author’s own words: “Dark Regions Press were my breakthrough publisher - the one where I started to believe I could do something with myself in the genres, and the one who gave me my break into both the hardcover markets and the Carnacki / Challenger / Holmes pastiches that have proven so popular with my readers.” So today we’re talking with William about his many books with DRP.
BMS: What was the first book to be published by Dark Regions Press, when was that, and how did that come about?
William Meikle: My first was THE CREEPING KELP, back in 2010, and it came through an introduction to DRP via a book designer / editor I had in common with them. The designer passed the book to Joe Morey, as it was at the time, Joe read it, loved it, and offered me a contract for paperback and deluxe hardcover. At that stage I'd never had a book of mine in hardcover, so I leapt at the chance. There are few sweeter feelings for a writer and bibliophile than handling the first leatherbound hardcover edition of one of your books. Even more so when it has a sweet cover design by M Wayne Miller. It wasn't just my first hardcover, it was the first time working with Wayne, and the start of a long collaboration that continues to this day.
BMS: I love that title. What can you tell me about the plot of the book?
It's kelp. It creeps.
It's a cautionary tale of what man is doing to the environment. A WW2 experiment resurfaces; a Shoggoth fragment meets some bits of jellyfish and some seaweed and together they decide they like plastic. They like it so much that they start to seek it out, and grow, and spread... and build.
It's a homage to several things. There's more than a touch of Lovecraft obviously, given that I've appropriated the Shoggoths, but there's also a lot of John Whyndham in there. I wanted to do a big-scale, Britain-in-peril novel for a while. The title came to me one day and I knew immediately that there was a story to be told there. There's also a bit of QUATERMASS in there too -- the old "British scientists screw up" genre has been with me for a long time and it's also something else I've always wanted to do. Here it is.
BMS: What was the next book and why did you return to DRP?
We found out early on that Joe Morey and I share a love of spooky Victoriana, and also a love of Holmes. At the time I'd just had a couple of Holmes short stories published. And Joe asked me if I'd like to try something longer for him. Again, I jumped at the chance. And again, I got a kick-ass cover from Wayne as reward. Revenant was the result, a tale of a foe from Holmes' past coming back from the great beyond to renew their rivalry, and the start of a whole slew of historical spookiness I worked on for Joe in the next six years.
BMS: How was it playing with the Great Detective? Were you nervous using such a well-known character? Any feedback from the Holmesians?
I was raised on Doyle, Wells and Robert Louis Stevenson and I love that historical period they covered in their work. It's also the time period I've worked in a lot in my own writing.
It is the character first and foremost that draws me to Holmes. Doyle brought him to life. He is instantly recognizable all over the world and has been for over 100 years. Few other writers have managed that trick.
Of course, given the way my mind works, I bring the weird to my Holmes tales and that has indeed got me into trouble with the purists over the years. But Doyle himself, a Scotsman like me, wasn't above dabbling in the weird himself and to me pitting Holmes against the great unknown seems as natural as breathing.
If the purists don't like it, I'm not forcing them to read it.
BMS: Have you done more with Sherlock? Do you plan to?
I've written a number of weird Sherlock Holmes stories over the past few years. The first one was THE QUALITY OF MERCY in Gaslight Grotesque. Since then I've done THE CALL OF THE DANCE, published in the Lovecraft ezine, THE COLOUR THAT CAME TO CHISWICK in Gaslight Arcanum and aforementioned novella from Dark Regions, SHERLOCK HOLMES: REVENANT. These, and half a dozen more stories, are all included in the hardcover and trade paperback collection, SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE QUALITY OF MERCY AND OTHER STORIES that is now also available in ebook from DRP.
I have three more Holmes novellas available. THE HACKNEY HORROR, THE LOST HUSBAND and THE LONG SLEEP are in a collated edition, THE LONDON TERRORS, a companion volume to THE QUALITY OF MERCY and, yes, also available in ebook from DRP.
There's also a number of Holmes stories of mine in anthologies and magazines, and a novel THE DREAMING MAN, which is a continuation and expansion of REVENANT to novel length. I said this year that I was done with Holmes for a while, but we'll see how that goes.
BMS: Sherlock is just one of the literary sleuths you’re used. There is also the occult detective Carnaki and Professor Challenger. What can you tell me about both of them? Their history, what drew you to them, and how do you utilize both in your work?
Carnacki resonated with me immediately on my first reading many years ago. Several of the stories have a Lovecraftian viewpoint, with cosmic entities that have no regard for the doings of mankind. The background Hodgson proposes fits with some of my own viewpoint on the ways the Universe might function, and the slightly formal Edwardian language seems to be a "voice" I fall into naturally. I write them because of love, pure and simple.
I love old Challenger. He's another Scot, born, according to Doyle, about six miles from where I was born, so there's an immediate affinity there. I've also got a biological sciences background so bringing scientific enquiries into his stories came naturally to me.
BMS: Speaking of Carnaki, you have CARNACKI: HEAVEN AND HELL published by Dark Regions, what is the old occult investigator up to in that one?
The Heaven and Hell collection was my first dabble with Carnacki, and another collaboration with Wayne Miller. We put together a lovely hardcover package with my stories and Wayne's B&W illos that has pride of place on my shelf. At that stage I was still finding my way into the character, but I have Carnacki investigating a variety of spooks and haunts, and tinkering with his toys as he attempts to weld Edwardian technology in his quest to banish the creatures of the outer darkness.
BMS: And then there is your most recent addition to DRP stable: CARNACKI: THE WATCHER AT THE GATE. What can you tell us about that book?
With my second Carnacki collection I was more at ease with the character, and able to bring other people into his circle of influence, so I have stories with Carnacki helping another Hodgson favorite,
Captain Gault, and I also introduced a recurring part for Winston Churchill, in his early role as the British Home Secretary before WW1. This gives me lots of stories to play with. And I got lucky with even more B&W illos from Wayne, another lovely collaboration between us.
BMS: Your PROFESSOR CHALLENGER: THE ISLAND OF TERROR has a great cover, people in a lighthouse being assaulted by a number of velociraptors. Anything dino make me smile. What can you tell us about that one that beyond the cover image?
THE ISLAND OF TERROR is a direct sequel to Doyle's THE LOST WORLD – the dinosaurs in it were brought back from the plateau as eggs, and are being used in British army experiments into new methods of war. Of course, the Prof finds out, goes to investigate, and, once he reaches Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, mass mayhem ensues. It's probably the most fun I've had with my trousers on.
BMS: PROFESSOR CHALLENGER: THE KEY GROWTHS AND OTHER STORIES sounds like a collection. How many stories are in there? What’s the earliest one? What’s the latest? Are there any that are exclusive to that publication?
There's a dozen stories, all but one written for the collection. The first one I wrote, THE PENGE TERROR, appeared in a UK anthology, but the rest were all done in a white heat over a period of only a couple of months back in 2012. The title story came first, a crossover with the Carnacki, with an intelligent, Lovecraftian, fungus taking over London, a thing which mixes Hodgson, Lovecraft, Doyle and Wyndham again into one of my favorite things. After that I have the old Prof investigating lost valleys in Montana, lost people in the caves under the Yorkshire moors, lake monsters in Scotland and possible alien invasion in Penge. Combining the Edwardian science, the old Prof's temper, and my love of the weird was, again, a load of fun. And once again, Wayne M provided the visuals, in some stunning B&W illos as well as the cover for the book.
BMS: Your book, THE RAVINE, has the look of a weird western, am I right?
You are indeed. I love westerns, and I love the weird, so slapping the two together came naturally.
My early childhood was steeped in Westerns. I have my Granddad to thank for days watching Wagon Train, Rawhide, Bonanza and Gunsmoke, then later on, The Virginian and The High Chapparal. He also introduced me to Louis L'Amour and others as I devoured his collection of Western paperbacks.
Writing a weird western just grew naturally out of that background.
I'm not a believer in either a God or a benign universe but I grew up Church of Scotland, R.E. at school, church and Sunday school on Sundays. It didn't take, but some of the fire and brimstone seeped in and took hold. It sometimes, as in this tale, comes out in my writing.
The Ravine is a story of redemption, about men doing what men gotta do, fighting the good fight, and the consequences for their lives, and those around them, when they chose to do so.
The book is dedicated to my granddad, Jimmock. I like to think he'd have liked it.
BMS: And your CRUSTACEANS looks like when good crabs go bad, not to mention get really big. What can you tell me about that one?
Wind back to 2009. I was talking to Guy N Smith about a possible collaboration with him on a CRABS novel, and I was pretty damn excited at the possibility. But unfortunately it fell through and I thought that was that. But after THE CREEPING KELP was a minor hit, Joe M asked if I had any other creature features available. I asked Guy if he was happy with me writing a Crabs story on my own, he gave me the nod, and off I went.
It's definitely horror, but it's also Science-fiction, in a very 1950's B-Movie kind of way,. It runs in my head like one of those lurid early technicolor monster movies, and readers will have fun thinking of it that way themselves.
BMS: Similarly, THE VALLEY’s cover showcases a CLASH OF THE TITANS-like giant scorpion on the cover. What else can we expect from this one?
The Valley is another weird western, and another Lost World story. The origins of "The Valley" are pretty simple to trace. In Fortean circles there have been attempts to find a picture that many claim to have seen, yet no-one has been able to find. This fabled photograph is said to show a group of Civil-War era men standing in a row wearing big grins. Spreadeagled on the ground in front of them is the body of a huge bird, a being that could only come from pre-history. In some accounts this bird is a giant eagle, in others it is even stranger, a leathery, paper thin Pterosaur.
Whatever the case, that image was the thing in my mind, and I had a "What if..." moment, wondering what would happen if cowboys came across a Lost World. From that single thought, the initial concept of The Valley was born.
There's more than big birds of course—there are saber-toothed tigers, wooly mammoths, wee hairy folk, and other, much nastier, much older, things you'll need to read it to find out about.
BMS: In your THE INVASION can we expect little green men? Body Snatchers? Something else? Would you call it sci-fi, horror, or a blend of both?
It's definitely a mad mixture.
When I started writing it, I realized that the Invasion in my story would have Lovecraftian antecedents, in that it would come from space, and be completely uncaring of the doings of the human race. My training as a biologist also made me realize that aliens should be -really- alien, not just simulcra of pre-existing terrestrial forms. Once I had that in my mind, it didn't take much to come up with a "color out of space" that would engulf the planet.
It starts with green snow, and everywhere it falls, everything gets corroded, melted, and dies, before being transformed. Most Invasion movies concentrate on the doings in big cities, and with the involvement of the full force of the military. I wanted to focus more on what it would mean for the people. Living as I am in Canada, in a remote Eastern corner, I was able to draw on local knowledge and home in on people already used to surviving in extreme conditions. I just upped the ante.
An interest in conspiracy theories and post-apocalypse survivalists also gave me one of the main characters, and the early parts of the story are a news report from the bunker where he has retreated to ride out whatever is coming. So come with me, to a winter storm in the Maritimes, where the strange green snow is starting to fall.
BMS: DARK MELODIES is an interesting title, what can you tell me about that one?
When I was starting out in writing, all I wanted was a collection of my own short stories, in a leatherbound hardcover edition. And with DARK MELODIES, I was able, thanks to DRP to achieve that.
Apart from reading, my other big love is for music, in all its various forms. I used to sing in a choir as a lad, and I've been playing guitar badly for over forty years now. It was inevitable that my enthusiasm for music would seep into my writing. And here it is. Stories where music and things that lurk beyond meet and find common, and uncommon, ground.
In short, it's a collection of my supernatural fiction all about music, and dancing in dark places. I think it contains some of my strongest stories.
BMS: Last, but in no way least, there’s one with another great title: THE PLASM. The mind reels at the possibilities. What’s that one about?
This is another sci-fi / horror mashup. One of the first stories I ever wrote was a Lovecraftian thing where a group of scientists discover that an exorcism ritual can be used as a source of power, draining energy from alternate dimensions. That led to the power being used to drive a spaceship, which led to strange plasma discharges with a mind of their own and a disparate band of people trying to find a way to stop it eating its way through a Mars colony.
This novella is another B-movie in my head, a 50's B&W job, with plucky scientists, chiseled heroes, and big blobby things eating everything in their path.
This is me having fun.
This is who I am.
BMS: So an even dozen offerings from William Meikle and Dark Regions Press. That’s impressive. What’s on the horizon for you?
I'd hope to be able to sell more work to DRP in future. Next up is a novella, BLACKTOP in the big I AM THE ABYSS anthology that I’m really proud to get into. I'd love to have DRP do a 'Best of Meikle' collection someday (but I’m not holding my breath for that), or possibly another weird western, as I have several ideas on that front. There are also several more appearances in DRP anthologies already in the pipeline, with hopefully more to come.
BMS: Where can people find out more about you and your books?
Everything is detailed on my website at http://www.williammeikle.com and the books are available from all the usual stores or directly from DRP. They currently have a special offer on for a five ebook bundle of some of the work mentioned here ( and, in addition, THE HOUSE ON THE MOOR, a Scottish supernatural haunted house novella) so check it out.
Apart from that, I mostly hang about on Facebook. Mostly.
BMS: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us today.
Thanks for having me on and I hope I passed the audition.
William Meikle is a Scottish writer with over a dozen novels published in the genre press and over 200 short story credits in thirteen countries. He is the author of the ongoing Midnight Eye series among others, and his work appears in a number of professional anthologies. His ebook THE INVASION has been as high as #2 in the Kindle SF charts. He lives in a remote corner of Newfoundland with icebergs, whales and bald eagles for company. In the winters he gets warm vicariously through the lives of others in cyberspace, so please check him out at http://www.williammeikle.com
March 22, 2018
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