A byline by Michael Laimo is nearly a guarantee that that book is headed towards my bookshelf. It’s an easy sale, really. My only complaint is that the guy doesn’t write enough. If that’s the only problem, then it’s pretty good sailing.
I picked up “Dead Souls” as a filler read, unsure as to who this guy was. I scanned a few pages and decided that it I’d give it a try. I’m certainly glad I did. There was a certain sense of dread, and a pacing that just did not let up from page one. I was genuinely fearful for the characters. From there I went into the bookstore looking for all things Laimo – “The Demonologist”, “Atmosphere”, “Deep in the Darkness” – and have not been disappointed once.
The one thing that always captures me, though, is the photo accompanying the author bio. They’re all edgy and dark – like each author is trying to out “dark” the others. What sort of souls must write this dark fiction? Well, I was determined to find out. Armed with my AC/DC black tee, my used copy of the Necronomicon, and my wits, I set out to peer into the soul of a Leisure Fiction horror writer.
Boy was I generalizing.
Michael Laimo is a class act guy. Not only is he a great writer, he’s an all around great guy, and he sort of shattered the shell I thought horror writers (much like bizarro writers) must be living in.
We chat “Dead Souls”, the state of horror, and all sorts of things that go bump in the night.
Eric Mays: Michael, thank you for agreeing to this interview! Let me just begin by declaring you to be a sick man. Does this ultra-graphic violence and visceral gore just play out on paper? Or, should we be a little concerned with having you walk amongst us?
Michael Laimo: For me, it's all part of the creative nature that makes up horror fiction. We're no different than the makeup artist who expresses himself through the medium of visual creativity. We as writers use this same creative root but build upon it through written word. It's all an art form, and by no means a part of the writer's true being (most of the time). There are a few exceptions, but I feel that the very best horror writers out there today live out no part of the images they express so well. We're all pretty normal folk.
ML: Hard to pick one child over the other. From a horror standpoint, DEAD SOULS for me is my best book. I was at a creative peak there, and it comes out well in my opinion. It showcases my best writing, along with my very best plot construction, with the two stories in different time eventually crossing paths. It's a long book, and there are many characters. Someday I would like to republish this book in its original form, as Leisure had edited out about 5000 words toward the end of the book. These words were integral to the ending of the book, and justified many unclear parts of the story that readers have questioned over and over. But at the end of the day, my personal favorite is Sleepwaker, which unfortunately has not met the eyes of many readers. It was published in a Limited Edition run of 250 copies, I think. It's my longest book, and NOT a horror story. More a Dean Koontz like thriller, with elements of Science Fiction. A roller coaster ride from start to finish, this book took me nearly 18 months to write.
EM: Your writing does tend gravitate towards the graphic. It seems that this is a new trend in horror - gratuitous gore, torture, and tension. Used to be, it was psychological. Is the new psychological attack stemming from this overabundance of carnage?
ML: Possibly. Who knows. Things get hot for a while, then simmer, then just plain die until some genious writer tweeks it and brings it all back to life again. It's a neverending cycle that will continue to run until we all die our own horrible miserable deaths. Heh. I wrote some pretty graphic stuff, and there's material of mine out there that I despise becuase of it. It needs to be applied within a master story, and not make up the story itself, which is what I did a lot of back in the late 90's. Good carnage needs a a fast tale to make it work otherwise it sits there like roadkill, interesting for one or two looks, then just plain horrible.
EM: Speaking of gore...in movies gore's easy to force the squeamish to cover their eyes. Brains are splattered on the camera, fingernails are ripped off from across a hardwood floor, and heads explode. Books, though, lack that CGI imagery. How difficult is it for you to write these scenes of terror without sounding like a broken record?
EM: The Leisure Horror publications are one of my all-time guilty pleasures. I love them and they're all like pizza - even when they're bad it's still good. Like a SyFy Channel movie. Are you guys - Bryan Smith, Edward Lee, Brian Keene, et al - like a big fraternity?
ML: You know, I'd like to say yes, and by all means I am good friends with guys like Gonzalez, Rollo, and Keene. But despite my many appearances at conventions over the years, I set aside my writing life at the end of the day for my real life, job, family, etc. The writing world is my escapism from all of that, and when the time comes along when I can hang with these guys I love and respect so much, then yeah, that brotherhood bruns strong.
EM: I've also seen the Leisure Books getting some flack where reviews are concerned. As a fellow writer, seeing that one star review just kind of makes my stomach drop. How do you deal with that, Michael? Do you dispatch your army of demons on those haters?
ML: It used to bother me, but now I don't give a crap. These people, who all seem to feel 'ripped off' by an author, should spend their energies doing something important instead of pissing on a writer's work. I'm all for a construtive negative review--it shows me that the reader cares enough to let me and other readers know that there might be problems within my book, or that the story itself didn't work for him. That's all fine, because one man's boring novel is another man's charm.
EM: I mentioned that mass-market pulp horror books are one of my many guilty pleasures. What do you indulge in?
ML: Progressive rock music. Online Poker. DVD's of television shows, cop shows especially, like The Shield, The Wire, etc.
ML: I'm not sure what's going on exactly, but it's not good. I never thought I'd say this, but books are 'starting' to go the way of the CD, as ereaders seem to be more and more popular, due to their ability to aid the reader to save space. As a book lover, to me, they're evil, as books are beautiful. I don't think the e-reader will completely replace the book, but it's making a dent. Plus, with horror, the genre in and of itself is not faring too well, it seems, especially in literature. Leisure still has their line, but horror is off the spine. The only great books in horror we see these days, in the mass market, are from King (Under The Dome!!!), but that's about it. If you want a great horror read, you have to turn to the small press. But the audience is so limited to that stuff that the major publisher's won't really touch it. There are a few exceptions, but that's about it. If the economy were good, we'd see more. But there is NO chance-taking going on right now. It leaves a writer like me to re-evaluate my future as a writer.
EM: You make the convention rounds. What's your favorite? And, do you have a pet peeve from fans at conventions that you'd like to address here?
ML: I love attending conventions, simply for the fact that they're vacations for me. A way to get away from the real world and do something I love, and hang out with my pals, and meet readers. I have no pet peeves, although it does bother me a bit that many horror fans will shell out 20 bucks for an autographed photo of some b-movie actor, but wont pay $7.00 for an autographed book. But there are some great folks at the cons that do, bless them.
EM: A lot of those leisure books are hard to find after a year or so in print. Where do you want to send people to snag copies of your stuff (and special editions upcoming)?
ML: Amazon still has some of them, and you can get most of them on EBAY. Haven't seen them at all in the bookstores--shelf life of a paperback is thin, unless you're on auto-reorder, and there aren't too many Leisure authors that have that luxury.
EM: The obligatory, Michael: What's next for you?
ML: I'm taking a break right now, and concentrating on my real bill-paying career. after 21 years working for the same company, they went out of business. I did find a great job, which I just started, so my energies are directed there. As for the horror world, I've got a few new shorts coming out in some major anthologies, one edited by Al Sarrantonio called PORTENTS. I've also found some success in getting my work reprinted in other countries, which is nice, because there's no new work there. Just a paycheck. Greg Stechman, who filmed the feature on my short story ANXIETY (this should be out on DVD by the end of the year), is curently filming a number of my shorts for release in 2011, tentatively called DARK RIDE: THE SERIES.
If you've never picked up a copy of Michael Laimo's Dead Souls, please do so. It's worth the read and if you're disappointed with it, email me and let me know. I'm always interested in what people like and dislike. In the meantime, for all the details on Michael's writing, visit his website http://www.laimo.com/. He also invites friends to email him, and he's got a wonderful story about his "rejection letter" experiences.
The Good, The Funny, and the Stinky of Horror contiunes tomorrow with The Funny: Mark McLaughlin. It's only appropriate that Mark's last name has the word "laugh" in it, because he delivers the goods in the laugh department. In fact, Mark McLaughlin may be turning the horror genre on its ear right now with what he's offering: poems, humor, satire, and an evil facebook djinn. More on the djinn later.
Join us tomorrow for Mark McLaughlin's interview. Until then, keep reading.
0 comments:
Post a Comment