Category: Interviews

Interviews

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Spooky House Press Author Series: A SCREB with TJ Price

In each installment of this author series, we begin with a mini-Q&A with Spooky House Press publisher, Robert P. Ottone.

 

Jacque Day: The Disappearance of Tom Nero is a novelette of eighty pages with a distinctively surprising design. TJ Price himself intimates it could be a challenge to market. Why was it important for you to embrace this book and give it a home?

 

Robert P. Ottone: I like a challenge, but more specifically, I like to be challenged. Marketing isn’t a problem if the author pushes themselves, so I wasn’t worried there. The work speaks for itself; it’s a fantastic, intelligently designed piece of work brought to life not only by TJ’s masterful writing, but by Alexis Macaluso’s fantastic interior design.

 

JD: We’re not to be fooled by the length of Tom Nero—it is an intense book, and its impact far outlives the time it takes to read. How did you react to the manuscript when you first read it, both as a publisher and a reader?

 

RPO: I smiled, nodded, and knew I wanted it. I was very lucky in that TJ was kind enough to trust us with the book, so I was just filled with excitement about it. Still am. We didn’t execute everything I wanted to, vision-board wise, solely because my time has been focused in so many different places and on so many projects, personal and for Spooky House. But in the end, I think we have a fabulous book that I hope TJ is proud of.

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Interviews

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Check out the second part of our interview with Stacey Thomas!

Stacey Thomas is a contributor to Bad Form Review. She is an alumna of the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course where she was awarded the Clare Mackintosh Scholarship for Black Writers. In 2021, she was announced as one of the three winners of HarperCollins’s inaugural Killing It Competition for Undiscovered Writers.

The Revels is her debut novel.

Below, you can watch the second part of our interview with Stacey:
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Articles / Interviews

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Max Blood’s Mausoleum: A New House for Horror

Max Blood’s Mausoleum: A New House for Horror

By Angelique Fawns

 

Max Blood is creating a new home for horror, and this venue is not squeamish.

“We’ve read it all before and will read it all again, so send us something that will really set us back on our heels. Terrify us. Make us squirm. Send us the best of your worst.”

Max Blood’s Mausoleum is a paying market, offering $30 per piece, and is planning to publish quarterly issues.

Max Blood says he “specializes in the weird, the cosmic, and the monstrous. With a passion for turning cryptid stories into positively horrific monsters, he has created many tales of monster horror. He has also dabbled in ghost stories and body horror.”

I’m working on a Halloween-themed story with Max Blood called “The Matron of Hawthorne Hall”, that will be used in his third issue which should be published around Halloween 2024.

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Interviews

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Check out the first part of our interview with Stacey Thomas!

Stacey Thomas is a contributor to Bad Form Review. She is an alumna of the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course where she was awarded the Clare Mackintosh Scholarship for Black Writers. In 2021, she was announced as one of the three winners of HarperCollins’s inaugural Killing It Competition for Undiscovered Writers.

The Revels is her debut novel.

Below, you can watch the first part of our interview with Stacey:
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Articles / Interviews

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James Martin & Tickling Boundaries with his Eggplant Emoji

James Martin & Tickling Boundaries with his Eggplant Emoji 

By Angelique Fawns

 

James Martin is putting something refreshing and funny into the world. He just released Eggplant Emoji Volume 3: A Wealth of Comedy, a literary anthology that’s not afraid to make you laugh. These books are full of stories that are shocking, surreal, sexual, and full of giggles. 

My story, “The Social Media Hunk” is one of the off-kilter inhabitants of the third issue, and Martin’s main goal is to showcase the best comedic fiction he can find. I sat down with Martin to learn more about this cutting-edge (and edgy) project. 

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Articles / Interviews

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Marie Whittaker & The Adventures of Lola Hopscotch

Marie Whittaker & The Adventures of Lola Hopscotch

By Angelique Fawns

 

Marie Whittaker has a message of kindness to spread and Lola Hopscotch is her adorable conduit. Each book tackles social issues for children, and Halloween is the perfect time to sample Lola Hopscotch and the Spookaroo. 

“When Lola and her friends hear scary sounds beyond the pumpkin patch they’re frightened. But when they see who’s doing the rustle-crunching they come to the rescue and help find a lost Mommy. Festive fall fun with friends is the best reward for helping others!”

Not only a children’s author, Whittaker also ventures into the darker worlds of horror, urban fantasy, and thrillers. Her supernatural thriller, The Witcher Chime, was a finalist for the Indie Book Awards in 2017.

I had a chat with Marie Whittaker about her career and future plans.

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Articles / Interviews

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The Spooky Six Interview Returns with C.M. Saunders and Willow Croft!

Instead of my usual cuppa tea, I’m joining C.M. Saunders in drinking pots and pots of coffee, mainly to fuel not only my Horror Tree writing bits, but school and moving and cat rescue…and, well, you get the idea. Let’s get onto the interview; it’s more interesting, for sure!

 

Chris Saunders (he/him), who writes fiction as C.M. Saunders, is a writer and editor from South Wales. Since gaining a degree in journalism, he has worked extensively in the publishing industry and held desk jobs ranging from staff writer to associate editor. He is currently employed at a trade magazine. His fiction has appeared in numerous magazines, ezines and anthologies worldwide including The Literary Hatchet, Crimson Streets, 34 Orchard, Phantasomagoria, Dead Harvest, Burnt Fur and DOA volumes I and III, while his books have been both traditionally and independently published, his latest release being the Wretched Bones: A Ben Shivers Mystery, on Midnight Machinations, an imprint of Grinning Skull Press.

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Articles / Interviews

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An Interview With Author E. Saxey

E. Saxey is an ungendered Londoner who works in universities. Their fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, Queers Destroy Science Fiction and in anthologies including Tales from the Vatican Vaults and The Lowest Heaven. They live in London and tweet at @esaxey.

Firstly, Unquiet is a stunning book. Thank you for sharing it with the world. It already means a great deal to me personally. What do you want people to take away from it?

 

Ideally I’d like people to find it enchanting and excruciating, a bit of a balance. There are some eerie and agonizing parts, and it would be great haunt readers and generally put them through the ringer, but there’s also art and love and hope.

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