I'll be interviewing a different writer each day, for the next four days, about how they cut their teeth on the horror scene, and how to be a horror author in the 21st century. The writers are:

Tuesday: Sanford Allen

Wednesday: Joe McKinney

Thursday: Lee Thomas

Friday: Mario Acevedo

And now a few words about today’s featured writer, Sanford Allen….

I wanted to feature Sanford because he understands first-hand the struggles of all writers out there currently trying to break into the publishing scene. It’s one thing to feature writers who have "made it" as pros, but I thought it would be cool to start this series with someone who’s currently in the embryonic stages of a career, building it story by story. So we’ve got a short q&a with Sanford, followed by a bonus, exclusively for FEARnet--a short original from Sanford at the end of this interview! Enjoy!

What motivates you to become a horror writer? What attracts you to the horror field?

I’ve been writing for newspapers for close to 20 years. Not exactly the kind of writing I saw myself doing when I was a kid, but it pays the bills. About a year ago, I decided it was time to pursue my childhood dream of writing (and selling) fiction. Up to that point, I’d been rationalizing that I didn’t have the time or that I needed more life experience to be good at it. Both bunk excuses. Once I focused my energies and got serious about writing fiction again, I dabbled in a lot of genres I enjoyed reading — fantasy, science fiction, literary fiction — but somehow everything I wrote ended up having a decidedly dark twist. So, I think my subconscious chose to make me a horror writer, or at least a writer of dark fantasy. At first, I worried what that meant, but the more I think about it, the more it seems obvious. I want to grab hold of my own fears, shake them by their shoulders and make them go to work for me (at a decent wage and with benefits). It seems to tie in with that Jungian thing of gaining power over your own fantasies. Or, as Ray Bradbury says, being true to your own fear.

You’re the lead singer/guitarist for a band with a big cult following, Boxcar Satan, and that band’s been making music for an amazing 15 years! How does writing a song compare to writing a short story?

Writing fiction is a far lonelier path. I’ve always worked with other musicians during the songwriting process. Even when I bring a completed or nearly completed song to rehearsal, I can expect a “yay” or “nay” or a “we need to work on that one part” from the other guys. And when you’re working with other musicians, you can always expect someone else to come up with a bass line or a drum fill that adds his or her individual stamp to the song. With a short story, you’re only responsible if it sucks. I suppose playing music did prepare me for the barrage of rejection letters that comes with trying to sell fiction. When you start out as a musician, you can expect to have a lot of club doors closed in your face, a lot of Monday-night performances in front of two or three people and a lot of audiences unsure what to make of your music. It sort of toughens you up. In my case, it made me realize that if what you’re doing is worth a shit, you’ll ultimately find an audience — whether it’s in music or in writing.

What are you currently working on?

I have several short stories in the works, which run the gamut from postmodern Western macabre to hard-boiled detective fantasy. I’m also plugging along at a dark fantasy novel with some rather atypical modern protagonists. We’ll see how the novel pans out. It might be something worth sharing with the world, or it could just turn out to be an exercise in figuring out how to write a novel. Either way, I like the world I’ve created. Enough so that I could see writing many more stories set there.

What kinds of publications are you aiming at, and ideally where would you like to be in the next 5 to 10 years in horror? (i.e. A published novelist? A screenwriter? Jack of all trades? Keep doing music and also be a genre writer?)

Right now, I’m having the best luck with online publications, but I’m certainly sending things to some of the bigger print magazines as well (Cemetery Dance, Weird Tales and Fantasy & Science Fiction among them). Hopefully, it will be a matter of time before something catches their eyes. But who knows. Ten years from now, [Fantasy & Science Fiction editor] Gordon Van Gelder may have an entire roll of Sanford Allen toilet paper stashed in his bathroom cupboard. Ultimately, I would like to end up a published novelist, albeit one who continues to write short fiction.

ORIGINAL SANFORD ALLEN SHORT FICTION EXCLUSIVELY FOR FEARNET READERS!

Brief introduction first…….Sanford’s been writing a lot of tiny pieces of fiction that are 100 words or less. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast. Try it. See how potent a story you can tell in less than 100 words. A great exercise for writers at any level trying to hone their story craft! 

THEY’LL NEVER LAUGH AGAIN

By Sanford Allen

Suzy cleaned the hunting knife under the faucet and delicately placed it on the soap dish.

She cupped water in her hands, letting it splash blood from the sides of the sink. She pushed tiny chunks of flesh into the drain, hoping it wouldn’t clog.

Drying her hands, she looked up at the mirror. She liked what she saw. Two round white globes stared back at her from a dripping mask of raw meat.

“They’ll never laugh at my ugly face again,” she thought to herself smugly. “Because now I don’t have one.”

Sanford Allen lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife and three dogs. He works as a newspaper reporter, and has for almost 20 years. His fiction has appeared in print and online publications including Sand: A Journal of Strange Tales, Necrotic Tissue and Microhorror.com. When he’s not hammering at a word processor, he fronts the “no-account no wave blues band” Boxcar Satan. Visit him on the Web at www.sanfordallen.com  

Tomorrow’s feature: a q&a with Joe McKinney, author of the zombie novel DEAD CITY!

JOHN PICACIO is currently one of the finalists for the 2008 World Fantasy Award in the Artist category. He has won two International Horror Guild Awards, the Locus Award, the Chesley Award, and the 2005 World Fantasy Award, all in the Artist category. He’s been a Hugo Award finalist (Best Professional Artist) the last four consecutive years. Cover Story: The Art of John Picacio, a lush, 200-page hardcover collection of his work, was a 2007 Hugo Award finalist. This year, Ballantine/Del Rey released a major trade paperback edition of Michael Moorcock’s Elric: The Stealer of Souls, debuting Picacio’s all-new cover and interior illustrations. He and his wife Traci live in San Antonio, Texas. For more info, please visit http://www.johnpicacio.com/index2.html, or his blog, http://johnpicacio.com/blog.html.