An interview with the author Alan spencer
Recently we had a treat in the form of being able to interview the horror author known as Alan Spencer.
Alan is a horror author from Kansas City and his novels to date include:
"The Body Cartel"
"Inside the Perimeter: Scavengers of the Dead"
"Ashes in Her Eyes"
"Zombies and Power Tools."
Please follow the interview below to get to know more about the talented author Alan Spencer!
What do you do to unwind and relax?
The best two things to relax for me are running and reading, though I also like wrestling with my dog Raymond.
Where are you from?
I'm a Missouri boy, though now I live in Kansas. The good ol' Midwest. (Makes vomit noise).
What's your favourite food?
I'm not sure if I have a favorite food, but I really enjoy Funjons and energy drinks.
When did you first realise your love of horror writing?
Probably when I realized my love of horror movies. I was lucky to have understanding parents who cut a deal with me: no nightmares, you get to watch horror movies. I emulated what I loved, and since I'm not that outgoing, I didn't run around town with my dad's video camera throwing ketchup-for-blood on things. I started writing without realizing it when I was in middle school. I filled Steno notebooks with horrible attempts at books. "Zombie Crisis" and "Zombie Crisis 2" will never see the light of day. I remember my first short story entitled "Fast Food is Deadly." Also crap.
What inspires you or grips you, to write horror above other genres and why do
zombie stories appeal to you more than others?
Horror is a renaissance man, though it doesn't get respect like one. You can mix in any other genre and the horror will still show through. It can be as crazy as crab people attacking a city or as straight as ghosts haunting a filling station. I love people in extreme situations too. Pitting those against something impossible to defeat, yet somehow, our victims come up with something to fight the evil and win. I really enjoy writing about people pushed to the very edge of their sanity. And yes, I've published a couple of zombies books, but I have a lot of other stuff that's of the human horror variety, but it's harder to market.
A lot of people believe horror writers must be a bit weird to write what they do. What are your thoughts on this?
I can see why people think that way, but I don't agree. It's an absolute hoot to write horror. We're upfront about our weirdness. It's the people who pen "Chicken Soup for the Soul" who I'd keep my eye on.
What would you say was your favourite horror novel and author, and your
favourite horror film?
Boiling my favorite anything to one single thing is near impossible, but I'll say I really enjoy Brian Lumley's Necroscope books and "Zombie" by Joyce Carol Oates. For my favorite horror movies, I'll give you the short list: Pieces, Zombie 2, Burial Ground, Friday the 13th VIII, Dawn of the Dead, The Gore Gore Girls, Hell High, My Bloody Valentine, The Initiation, Dr. Giggles, Black Christmas, Creepshow, Chopping Mall, The Monster Squad...
What do you believe is vital within a piece of writing, in order to create an
engaging and quality story?
Easy. Character. If a writer doesn't have characters people give a flip about, the concept doesn't matter. This especially counts with books, because an audience's interest wanes very quickly while reading. In my second novel, "Inside the Perimeter: Scavengers of the Dead," I have a split narrative between an ex-cop and a cannibal killer. I try to get in both of their heads, but I keep the cannibal parts short because he's, well, not right in the head. You can have as many loopy or mean characters in your books; they don't have to be all likeable, but you have to keep the novel rooted in one person who the audience can feel for. This person has to own most of the book, while the writer doles out "bit" parts for their awful characters.
Your most recent novel "Zombies and Power Tools", can you tell us a bit about
the book and what inspired you to write the story?
There are a shit ton of zombie books out there, and I wanted to write something very different. This is also a horror novel, first and foremost. The zombies are characters who are cunning, smart, and very vengeful. They're not shambling and stupid. There's no zombie virus. They don't cannibalize anybody. What they're doing with the bodies in this novel is keen to the plot and their existence. This novel is a mystery during its first half and an outright gore-fest during its later stage. I had this idea for the novel shortly after publishing my first book, "The Body Cartel," which is about a drug cartel in Arizona who goes about against a large group of pissed off cave cannibals. One of the villains of this book very much inspired "Zombies and Power Tools." My words are guarded, because I don't want to give away too much about "ZAPT." This one has a shock ending, to say the least.
How did you come up with the characters from "Zombies and Power Tools", do
they portray any similarities to people you know in real life?
I don't base anybody I know personally in my books. They're caricatures of people maybe, but not directly from people I know. With every novel, I have to ask myself who could this happen to? Would they react in a way that would be interested and fill the pages of the book? With horror novels especially, people are always saying "WHY?" when it comes to the dead coming back to life, or any monster's reasons for being alive. Why did this happen? How is it possible? Considering that, I need characters who can give a reason for the horror as well as be a victim to it.
With your recent book "Ashes in her Eyes", it appears you were looking to create something new and unique with your idea of bringing the dead back to life from their ashes, an idea that certainly appeals to me that could maybe spawn
sequels. Did you have that in mind when you wrote the book and are you intending on creating new stories with that idea?
The only book where I planned for it to be a series was a novel called "B-Movie Reels," which I'm shopping around now. It's about b-movie characters I made up coming to life and terrorizing people. It's ridiculous fun. My rule for the books I didn't plan sequels for, like "Ashes in Her Eyes": if people demand it, I'll write it. I'm writing for them. But until people find out who I am as an author and read me, I don't have an honest gauge for what they want and don't want, so my best guess is all I have. But any novel I've put out, if there's a following and they want it, I'd write a sequel to anything in a heartbeat.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in any of your books?
I could re-write everything. Editing a piece of work is never done, but deadlines are deadlines. What can you do?
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