Monday, April 29, 2013

STALKING CHET WILLIAMSON



Chet Williamson's first short stories appeared in 1981, and since then he has published over two dozen novels and over a hundred short stories in such magazines as The New Yorker, Playboy, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Twilight Zone and many others. He has won the International Horror Guild Award and his work has been shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award, The MWA Edgar, and the Stoker. His out of print books are available as Crossroad Press ebooks, and he has narrated over two dozen audiobooks, including work by Joe Lansdale, Michael Moorcock, Tom Piccirilli, Skipp and Spector, Neal Barrett, and many others, as well as several of his own novels.


      B.O.C.

 I WAS READING YOUR BIO ON WIKIPEDIA, YOU WERE AN ACTOR AND SCHOOL TEACHER BEFORE BEING PUBLISHED. WHAT MADE YOU SWITCH TO WRITING?
CHET
Believe me, after teaching junior high for a year, I'd have switched to digging ditches, but acting seemed more welcoming. It was through acting that I got into writing, first writing song parodies and then full shows to entertain people at business conventions. Since I was writing, I decided to try writing the kind of fiction that I enjoyed most, which was horror.
B.O.C.
 WHO OR WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BE A WRITER?
CHET
I loved classic horror fiction, such as Poe and Lovecraft, and around the time I started writing, Stephen King had had a number of novels of published. I started out with short stories, and I think my style was probably closest to Robert Bloch's in those early tales -- very straightforward, constructed backwards from the ending. It got me into the habit of outlining, which continues to this day. In the 70s and early 80s it was possible to read nearly all the horror that came out, and I did. But I also read all the classics as well. Darkness appealed to me -- it still does.
B.O.C.
 TELL EVERYONE ABOUT YOUR NEW PROJECTS OR BOOK COMING OUT.
CHET
I'm currently putting together a new short story collection for a publisher in the UK. I haven't done a collection since 2002's FIGURES IN RAIN, which won the International Horror Guild award, so I'm really enjoying getting this new one together. I'm also revising a new novel called SHIFT, which is 50s noir with a taste of the supernatural. My two most recent novels are DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH, available as a trade paperback and an ebook from Crossroad Press, and HUNTERS, a new ebook.  These are both horror/suspense novels.
B.O.C.
 YOUR STORY MUSIC OF THE DARK TIME HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF MY FAVORITES, WHICH WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN TWILIGHT ZONE MAGAZINE. DO YOU MISS THOSE OUTLETS FOR SHORT STORIES?
CHET
There are still short story markets, though not nearly as many as there used to be, and they don't pay as well as the old TZ. I still sell stories occasionally to THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, but usually I only write short stories when an anthology editor commissions one.
B.O.C.
 IF YOU HAD THE POWER TO RESSERUCT A DEAD CELEBRITY, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHAT USE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR THEM?
CHET
I'd want to sit down and have a talk with Howard Lovecraft. His presence has haunted me for decades. I have a large collection of his works and books about him, and Courtney Skinner's portrait of HPL is one of the last things I see when I go to bed at night. To sit with him (my cat on his lap) and hear his voice and see him right there would be wonderful.
B.O.C.
 YOU HAVE SUCH A GREAT VOICE, IT’S ONLY LOGICAL THAT YOU USE IT TO NARRATE AUDIOBOOKS. HAVE YOU EVER STARTED NARRATING SOMETHING AND THINK “GEEZ, THIS SUCKS!”
CHET
There are audiobooks that I've enjoyed more than others, but with every book you have to think that it's worth doing and put yourself in that mindset so you do the best possible job. I consider it a privilege that a writer would entrust his or her book to me and let me cast all the characters and direct it as well.
B.O.C.
HAVE YOU EVER HAD AN EDITOR SEND A STORY BACK WITH A NOTE ON IT WHAT THE FUCK?
CHET
Sometimes with novels. My former agents would receive rejections and when I'd read them there would be aspects of the book that one editor would like and things about it they'd dislike. And another editor have had the totally opposite reaction. This would just tell us that the book had not yet reached the right editor. Once, early on, when I was looking for an agent, one agent who dealt primarily with mainstream works told me that she liked ASH WEDNESDAY, "all except for that ghost stuff." Since that was the point of the book, I figured she wasn't the agent for me.
B.O.C.
HOW HAS THE INTERNET AFFECTED YOU PERSONALLY ON HOW YOU GET YOUR WORK OUT TO THE PUBLIC?

It's completely changed the paradigm. I could write an entire essay about it, but won't. I've found that my Facebook page provides me with a better news delivery system than my actual website, which is woefully out of date. I'll go on a binge and update it, but when I find that the comments are from people selling propecia, I turn my attention back to Facebook.
B.O.C.
 OK, YOU’RE A TIME TRAVELER, IT’S 1964, TWO CONCERTS ARE HAPPENING, THE BEATLES AND FRANKIE AVALON, WHO WOULD YOU GO SEE?
CHET
Are you kidding? Even the President of the Frankie Avalon Fan Club wouldn't pass up the chance to see the Beatles.
 B.O.C.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A WRITER STARTING OUT?
CHET
Pay more attention to writing than to self-promotion. True,  self-promotion is more important than ever, but there are a lot of writers out there who sell comparatively well because they spend most of their time promoting themselves rather than polishing their craft. And as a result readers are slowly becoming more tolerant of really bad writing. It's the kind of poisoned atmosphere that leads to the success of such rank shit as the Fifty Shades series.
B.O.C.
 FINALLY CHET, GOD HAS SPOKEN TO ME AND HE REALLY WANTS TO KNOW: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE JERRY LEWIS MOVIE?
CHET
Solo films: The Bellboy. Martin and Lewis: Scared Stiff.  Though I would pay a great deal to see the unreleased The Day the Clown Cried...

LISTEN TO CHET NARRATE HIS STORY MUSIC OF THE DARK TIME ON DARK DREAMS PODCAST http://darkdreamspodcast.blogspot.com/

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