fustiness foreperson: Horror Author John Everson Interviewed

By W. D. Gagliani

Author John Everson has been creeping out readers for nearly 20 years now. In the ?90s, his short fiction appeared in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies, and his first book, Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions collected many of those when it was published in hardcover by Delirium Books in 2000. His excellent first novel, Covenant (http://www.amazon.com/Covenant-ebook/dp/B002FDLNYW), appeared from Delirium in 2004 and won the Bram Stoker Award for a first novel the following spring. That novel and its sequel, Sacrifice (www.amazon.com/Sacrifice-ebook/dp/B00280LOVO/), were eventually issued in mass market paperback by Leisure Books, along with three more novels: The 13^th, Siren, and The Pumpkin Man. << Link all to Amazon Author Page? http://www.amazon.com/John-Everson/e/B002BMHL52/

This summer, Samhain Publishing issued John?s latest, the erotic horror novel NightWhere (www.amazon.com/NightWhere-ebook/dp/B0083K12W4/) in e-book form. And this book has been getting some of the best reviews of his career: one reader said NightWhere is what a sex club would be like if it was run by the cast of Hellraiser! The trade paperback edition of NightWhere will be in stores in early October, just in time for Halloween.

I?ve known John for many years, but I?ve never sat down to really pick his brain on why he shares this obsession with writing about ?the dark? with me. So this month I lobbed some probing questions at him for SCREAM? and here?s what he revealed when I twisted his arm:

Why do we horror writers thrill to the depraved deeds of fictional characters?

You know, it?s not just horror writers ? it?s humans! Why do people love stories about Jesse James, Bonnie & Clyde, Jack the Ripper, The?Grinch, Richard Nixon? (OK, scratch the last one). ?Who is the star of Beetlejuice? The milquetoast dead married couple? NO! When The?Joker comes on screen, don?t you find him more entertaining than Batman? ?Is Jonathan Harker the one you remember when you read?Dracula? Or do you remember the vampire?

There?s something about the ?bad guy? that appeals to everyone. Maybe it?s because we all were browbeaten by our parents to follow the?rules, so secretly, as upstanding responsible adults, we still yearn to rebel and break them. And so we like to watch those brave enough (or?stupid enough) to do so. We may not endorse them, and may be glad they?re caught and punished for their actions? but we?re still?fascinated by the people who don?t ?behave.? Because most of us, for the most part, do ?behave.?

Anyway, that?s a long way of saying that horror writers are no different than anyone else. Since we write fiction, we get to dive into the heads?of the bad guys, and theorize about why they do what they do, or try to make their actions understandable, or perhaps just blatantly revel in?their wickedness, because as I?ve noted above? bad guys in some ways are just more?fun?than church-going, 9-5er middle manager, uber-scheduled folk? but it all comes back to the same reason we love hearing about the outlaw Jesse James. There?s really nothing all that?exciting about following the rules. But breaking them and getting away with it? that?s something we all wish for, at least in some tiny,?rebellious way.

What drives?you?to go over the line to the darkest places?

The dark places for me hold the unknown. The unusual. The potential for something beyond this mortal coil. Those are?the things that interest me ? if I wanted to read about ?everyday life? stuff, I?d read the newspaper, and if I wanted to?write about it? well, I?d be a reporter (which is how I started my writing career, actually!). ?I was raised in a religious family, but?I have never been able to accept things on faith. My logical mind says that this life, right now, is the only one we?ve got,?and there is nothing afterwards but silence as our bodies return to dust. Superstition and stories of ghosts are far more?interesting than that worldview, however! The ?romantic? side of me would love to be able to believe that there is a?world beyond this, that we?re all going to get to go to. So I think that?s probably why most of my fiction deals with?people interacting with the supernatural. Perhaps if I was a true believer, all my stories would deal with angels. As it?stands, I?m a misanthropic skeptic, so most of my stories seem to deal with demons, instead.

What keeps you from going all the way over that line? Anything? What would you consider taboo?

Well, considering my novels have included demonic possession-induced rape/murder scenes, oral sex with a decapitated?head and women being impregnated for the sole purpose of having them and their children sacrificed to an ancient?god? I?m not sure that I?ve been stopped by too many lines. And in the book I?m currently working on, Violet Eyes, I?m taking out a puppy or two?(watch, next year when it comes out, I?ll get the most hate mail about that then about any human depravities).

I think I?ve run roughshod over a lot of?taboos, but there are plenty of things that are just as vile that I don?t feel like writing about. Not because they?re taboo,?but just because I haven?t thought of any stories that interest me enough to write that warrant going there. ?If I come up?with a story idea that I think is really interesting but it goes to a really vile place? I?ll usually go there for the sake of the?story.

How is it that we, as horror writers, seem normal on the outside, but apparently we have very twisted imaginations?

The mass murderers who open fire on innocent crowds are usually people who nobody would suspect (?oh, he seemed?so nice?). I don?t think outward appearance often has much to do with the workings of the brain and imagination.?Frequently the scariest looking individuals turn out to be the nicest (and vice versa!) Frankly, I?d rather people come up?with twisted scenarios in their heads like authors do, than act them out like the crazies do!

What really scares you more than anything?

Loss. Really, all fear boils down to that, right? We?re afraid to lose our lives, lose our loved ones, lose our limbs, love,?homes, money? I?m a very security focused person, so my biggest fear has always centered around losing my home,?job, family. That?s why my fourth novel,?Siren,?was such a personal novel for me? because the lead character has lost his son and is?quickly in danger of losing his wife and everything else he has left. That book totally played to my own personal fears.

What is the joy you find in exploring darkness??

When I was a kid, I loved roller coasters. And haunted houses. And actually, I still do! The adrenalin released by that?first plummet down the rails or that crazy vampire jumping out from behind a post in a haunted house creates the same?kind of feeling that a good horror story can give you. Chills, clenched palms, a leap of the heart?. To me, horror tales?are the literary equivalent of roller coasters. You throw yourself off the edge with the main characters, and hope that you?both come out OK on the other side. That?s the fun. That and the fact that just about anything you can imagine can come?out of the darkness?

Some people don?t understand people who love roller coasters. I don?t understand people who love spinny rides!

Explain how NightWhere evolved from first concept to its present form.

NightWhere started out more than 10 years ago while I was finishing up the first draft of my first novel,?Covenant. I had this?idea for a story about a husband who enjoyed watching his nympho wife with other men, but when the couple get?invited to this ultra secret sex club, well, the wheels come off their strange but previously solid relationship. Soon it becomes a?race against time for the husband to, first, find his wife, and then try to rescue her from the irresistible but deadly lures of?the club.

I don?t remember what exactly sparked the concept ? whether I saw a newspaper article about the ?swinging? lifestyle?or saw the ?hookup? personal ads in the?Chicago Reader?(always amusing to read)?or what.? I just remember that the idea always?revolved around a husband essentially descending into hell to try to rescue his wife ? who didn?t really want to be?rescued because she?d given herself over to the dark. I kept putting off writing the book for years because it called for?being extremely sexual and graphic, and I wasn?t sure how prepared as a writer I was to go there ? or whether I could?even sell it once I finished writing it (remember, at the time of envisioning it, I had yet to completely finish or sell my?first novel). ?Over the years, other projects that seemed more potentially salable always pushed?NightWhere?back into the?idea bin. But when Don D?Auria, my editor at Leisure Books moved over to Samhain Publishing last year to start a new horror?line, and Samhain was a house known previously both for its romance AND its erotica?well? I figured this was as?good a time as any to pitch a really racy horror story. Samhain contracted it, and I spent 2011 writing it.

The core of the story has remained unchanged in my head since the first time I thought of it. Last year, I just had to flesh?out all of the events in the middle, which I?d never thought through before.

Tell us what drives you to tell stories when you could just as easily simply consume them. Where does the?storytelling obsession come from, in your case?

Growing up, I was a voracious reader, largely of science fiction with a smattering of ghost stories and the macabre. I?loved the feeling I got when I finished a really well-told tale, and as I got older, I really wanted to be able to create?something that would bring other people that same amazing feeling. I wrote a lot of short fiction, just as a hobby, and it?seemed as if I could find markets for most of my stories, so I started getting a little more ambitious and began working?on a longer tale, which would turn into?Covenant?eventually.?When Delirium published my first book-length?collection of short fiction in 2000, I began to get a little more serious about it all, because I realized that maybe I could really get?books published that could end up on bookstore shelves. That?s when I dug in and finally finished?Covenant, and began?working on trying to sell that and other books to mass market, widely distributed presses. I really wanted to be one of?those ?names on the shelf? that people browsing a bookstore might pull down, get intrigued by and take home. And I really?hoped that I could tell a story that would leave them, after the last page, sitting back in their chairs and going? whoa.

Tell us two opposite things no one knows about you.

I don?t know what nobody knows about me! ?But here?s something that not too many know. Back when I?worked as an assistant editor at a music magazine catering to alternative rock, I used to have a Madonna poster taped on my office door ?(you know THAT went over well!) ?But?despite my sweet tooth for girl pop (I was singing along when the Spice Girls did their reunion song as part of the recent?Olympic ceremonies), my favorite band is The Cure.

It?s not opposite, but perhaps it?s odd: I used to have a pet turtle in high school named Socrates, and a pet salamander that?lived for years in a terrarium in my basement called Aristotle. I?m not sure what kind of statement I was trying to make on philosophy, but there you go.

What is your ?dream project,? if you have one? You know, the one you?re gearing up to do but it?s going to?be tough to tackle.

Well, the book I?ve wanted to write since I finished the manuscript for Sacrifice in 2005 is the third book in the Covenant /?Sacrifice series. I don?t know if that?s a ?dream? project, but it?s a book I?ve wanted to write for a long time and?various factors have kept me from touching it. 2013 could be the year. Maybe.

You enjoy writing in different spaces (bars, etc.)? how did this come about? Though I myself tend to write?in a Starbucks that?s like a second office, many writers require solitude when they write ? why do you think?you need a different environment?

My ?writing night? in a bar has really evolved as a reaction to the changes in my life. When I wrote the bulk of my short story output in the ?90s and?early 2000?s, my wife and I were DINKs ? double-income, no kids. So it was pretty easy for me to sit down on Sunday?afternoons in my office (or better yet, on my deck in the summer) and spend 4-6 hours working on a short story. No?distractions. No other real responsibilities.

For a long time, I used to knock out a story every week or two because I had that dedicated time. On Saturdays, I wrote?a weekly pop music column for a Chicago area newspaper, and on Sundays, I worked on fiction. But once my son was?born, just as I finished my second novel, that free time began to diminish. And I?ve found that the older he gets, the?harder it is to just take a weekend afternoon and spend it working on my own stuff.

Plus, my day job started sending me on business trips more often than ever before and since I hate to sit in a sterile hotel?room, I started taking my laptop to bars in other cities with good beer and music while I was on the road. I couldn?t be home anyway,?so I found that I could utilize that time to both be productive and enjoy some cool places. Thus began my?world tour of Irish bars!

I quickly realized that when I was home, I needed to find similar blocks of time?again to work on my writing. Since giving up my weekends was no longer a regular option, I started picking one night a?week where I would go to a local pub after work, ?lock? myself into a booth and write for 5 hours. My son wouldn?t see me that?night, but during the week he usually only has an hour or two with me anyway, so that was a better option than working?on fiction on the weekends.

Working at a bar is great for me because it takes away all of the distractions that I have at home (take out the garbage,?clean the bird cage, make a new iPod playlist?) and gives me a ?zone? that I can work in. And I?m not someone who?can work with silence around me, so I try to pick places that have good music, food and beer, so that the environment is??all good? and I can let the music and crowd noise wash over me like white noise and then I can stick to the task at?hand.

What?s next for John Everson?

Well, in addition to NightWhere, this summer I?m promoting the release of V-Wars, a shared world anthology I contributed to that was spearheaded by Jonathan Maberry. It?s a really cool vampire book that goes off the premise that vampires are not the ?undead? but rather genetic mutations that really did used to exist? and now have resurfaced. So right now you?ll find it in many bookstores in the ?New In Science Fiction? section.

I?m currently working on Violet Eyes, my seventh novel, which should be finished this fall and released via Samhain next year. Anyone who has read my short collection Creeptych (www.amazon.com/Creeptych-ebook/dp/B0049P1OPM) will be instantly familiar with the world of Violet Eyes ? the last story in that collection is essentially the prologue of Violet Eyes, which follows a divorced mom and her son as their small town near the Everglades is taken over by a hungry swarm of flies from the air, and spiders from the ground.

It seems eerily right to end on the most unlucky number: what is the most exciting thing in the horror universe for you right now?

You picked the right day to ask me that ? today when I got home, I found the Blu-Ray edition of French director Jean Rollin?s Living Dead Girl waiting for me. This is the movie that started my obsession with both Jean Rollin?s uneven, but always evocative films and ?70s Euro-horror in general over a decade ago. I?ve said it before, but it was these films that really influenced what became my third novel, The 13^th.? While I?ve seen Living Dead Girl a few times at this point, I?m really anxious to sit down and see what the Blu-Ray transfer looks like (and I?m planning to force a couple other people to experience it with me!). Not only that, but today?s package also included Rollin?s Two Orphan Vampires on Blu-Ray. I remember really enjoying the desperate melancholy of this film when I saw it the first time, so I?m looking forward to rediscovering it. Sometimes the best new things are old!

About John Everson:

For information on John?s books, music and even digital art, visit www.johneverson.com and join his e-newsletter there. He?s also on Facebook www.facebook.com/johneverson ?and Twitter www.twitter.com/johneverson. And you can always reach him on email at john@johneverson.com.

About The Interviewer:

W.D. Gagliani is the author of the horror-thrillers WOLF?S TRAP?(Samhain Publishing), WOLF?S GAMBIT (47North), WOLF?S BLUFF (47North), WOLF?S?EDGE (Samhain), and SAVAGE NIGHTS (Tarkus). He has published fiction and?nonfiction in numerous anthologies, magazines, and online publications.?With collaborator David Benton he has published the adult horror,?suspense, mystery, and erotica story collection MYSTERIES &?MAYHEM. He lives and writes in a suburb of Milwaukee.? Find out more at www.wdgagliani.com, www.williamdgagliani.com, www.facebook.com/wdgagliani, or on Twitter: @WDGagliani