A Chat With MARK ALLAN GUNNELLS

Today we're talking to one of my favorite writers, Mark Allan Gunnells.  To readers of the blog he needs no introduction, but to the uninitiated, he is the author of numerous collections and novels of horror, including The Quarry, Asylum, The Summer of Winters, Sequel (a personal favorite of mine!) and so many others.  Now Mark has teamed once again with Evil Jester Press to bring you a new collection of dark delights, Welcome to the Graveyard.  Mark was generous enough to take some time to chat with us about the book, his Halloween plans and sheds some light on his writing process.

BRC:  Autumn is finally here, my favorite time of year!  And Halloween is just around the corner, which of course, is my favorite holiday!!  Mark, how do you feel about Halloween and how will you be celebrating it this year?  

MAG:  Autumn is my absolute favorite season, seeing the leaves raining down and hearing the scratching sounds they make skittering across pavement brings out a child-like glee in me.  And Halloween is my absolute favorite time of the year; as a horror hound I love that there is a holiday during which the public at large is encourage to embrace a love of horror.  This year my fiance and I will be taking a trip to Pawley's Island here in South Carolina for a 3 day weekend, and we'll be taking in a haunted house and seeing a live theatrical production of Little Shop of Horrors.

BRC:  WELCOME TO THE GRAVEYARD is your newest collection from Evil Jester, and once again, it's an awesome book!  How did this collection come about? 

MAG:  Short stories are my passion and I had been wanting to put out another collection, but honestly I'd gotten complacent and hadn't really done anything to try to make that happen.  Then my fiance took me to the South Carolina Book Festival, and we attended a panel discussion on the art of the short story, and it rekindled that passion, reaffirmed my desire to master that form and promote it.  I knew I had to put together a collection, and since I'd been so happy with my previous experiences with Evil Jester, I approached them and asked if they'd be interested.

BRC:  You have a long history with Evil Jester; it must feel wonderful to have a supportive, trusting relationship with your publisher!  How collaborative is it?  How does it work?  

MAG:  Charles Day and Peter Giglio at Evil Jester have been wonderful to me.  Peter has been my editor on all three books I've released with them--THE QUARRY, THE SUMMER OF WINTERS, and WELCOME TO THE GRAVEYARD--and he has a wonderful eye and offers suggestions that really tighten up my prose and make my work stronger.  Peter will actually be focusing on his own writing in the future, however, so my next book with them (fingers crossed) will have a new editor.  I trust it will be as wonderful an experience as before, but Peter will be missed.

BRC:  In this blogger's opinion, you're a bright star in the horror field; how do you keep the stories fresh for yourself?  I mean, as a reader, I always enjoy how engaged I become in your stories;  is it hard to keep the writing fresh after telling so many wonderful tales? 

 MAG:  For me, the secret to keeping it fresh and exciting is that I always write for me first and foremost.  I love my readers and want to entertain them, but I think the best way to do that is to make sure I'm entertaining myself.  I don't  I don't write to please publishers, editors, or even readers per se.  I write to please me, I write what thrills and interests me.  And above all, I always try to have fun. 

BRC:  Would that be your advise to budding writers out there?  Have fun and write for yourself first? 

MAG:  Write the stories you want to read, not the stories you think the public wants or market research says will sell.  I think that kind of writing is rather empty, but if you write to entertain and please yourself, that's going to come through in the work.

BRC:  And also, the question every writer dreads:  where do your ideas come from?  I really appreciated that you had author's notes before each story but it must be hard to keep track..?  

MAG:  I think the reason writers don't like that question is that there's no easy answer. They come from so many different places.  Things that happen to me, things I overhear, songs I hear on the radio, and sometimes they just seem to come from nowhere, just little gifts sent down from the muses.

BRC:  You're a very prolific writer, Mark; what's forthcoming from you?  I'm excited about a rumor I heard about a sequel/spin off of (one of my personal favorites) ASYLUM? 

MAG:  Earlier this year I co-authored a werewolf novel called DOG DAYS O' SUMMER with the very talented James Newman, and it has been purchased by a publisher but we cannot officially announce it until they do.  I also wrote a zombie novella entitled FORT, which is a semi-sequel to ASYLUM.  It takes place in the same fictional universe.  I'm also writing a sequel to THE QUARRY, tentatively titled THE CULT OF OCASTA, which I hope to place with Evil Jester when it's done, and I'm working on putting together a new Halloween collection.

BRC:  So can we expect an annual Halloween collection from you?  I'm already anticipating my annual Mark Allan Gunnells rereads!!  :)  

MAG:  Well, I do write Halloween themed stories every year, but I don't think I'll be able to manage a full collection every year.  But I would definitely love to do a series of them.

Once again, I'd like to thank Mark Allan Gunnells for taking the time to talk with us and do check out his latest collection, Welcome to the Graveyard; you'll be happy you did!  

Happy reading!

.

Pride Month: Interview with STEVE BERMAN

For my lil' ol' Pride Month, I knew that I wanted to have an interview with someone that was a prominent figure in the gay literary scene and that wrote the kind of fiction that I, as a gay man, love to read and try to help promote here on my humble blog.  And as my reading continued, the same name kept popping up, via either his own marvelous fiction or through helping others get their voices heard.  So without further ado, may I present Mr Steve Berman!


Tell us about yourself:   
Hmm, not sure what secrets to reveal. Actually, I'm a rather mundane, average fellow. Well, perhaps if you saw my apartment with its collection of plush monsters, Halloween artwork, and mad scientist lab-style decor you might not think that. But I rarely have guests. I wonder why?

Your contribution to GHOSTS IN GASLIGHT, MONSTERS IN STEAM was my favorite in the book; where did the idea for "Feeding Desire" come from?  It's definitely a darker, more graphic story...  

Actually, I had intended the story for the 2011 Bear-themed anthology Tales from the Den (ed. by R. Jackson). But I could not finish the tale by the deadline. This often happens to me. I am a slow writer. And I did not have a good grasp of the protagonist or what he would encounter at the sinister restaurant. Other than the Gourmands. I had come up with them as villains some years earlier and just needed the right story to feature cannibalism.

You are a great champion of Speculative and Young Adult fiction; have you always felt a connection to these genres?  

Oh, yes. My favorite books have always been the strange and spooky. And I often feel like a hapless adolescent trapped in an aging body. Both genres champion the Outsider. As does some of the best gay literature. I am about as interested in the stereotypical twink party boy as I am catching bubonic plague from a prairie dog. Now the quiet, buck-toothed 15 yr old that happens to be gay and believes that the abandoned wishing well in the park is the key to his finding a date for the prom? That starts my imagination. Especially when the silver dollar he throws in is pitched right back at him. By something...

You wear more than one hat, Steve; besides an acclaimed writer, you are also owner/publisher of Lethe Press, arguably one of the most prolific gay presses today AND you've been an award finalist many times!  How do you juggle all that?! 

Well, it's not easy. I think whenever a writer starts a press and takes on additional roles their creative energy is channeled away from fiction or poetry or whatever. I never intended (back in 2001) that Lethe would be the behemoth it is. I think we're the second or third largest LGBT press in the nation. I do not regret enabling authors to share their voices, though. And I have made many new and vital friends through my work with Lethe.

I've noticed that your're also having success with two new imprints, Tinture and BrazenHead.  First, congratulations and second, what made you feel the need to create two new imprints versus publishing these works under the Lethe banner?

 Tincture was needed to address the paucity of quality books written by and for LGBT people of color. The publishing world is still a very white-washed field and if I can help remedy that, then I am doing some good. BrazenHead was truly the brainchild of author and graphic designer Alex Jeffers. There are few markets for novellas, let alone gay spec fic novellas. He's pretty damn particular in accepting manuscripts, which explains why his release of Green Thumb by Tom Cardamone won us our third Lammy Award.

I've enjoyed many, many of your anthologies; as a matter of fact, a favorite of mine SO FEY: QUEER FAIRY FICTION was one of the first Lethe books I ever reviewed.  How can you tell when a story is going to be a perfect fit? 

I am flattered you enjoyed that anthology. All I can say is that every editor has a vision for their book's needs. I hope to fill an anthology with fiction that is not only entertaining but also evocative. I remember at least two stories from So Fey that I thought so beautiful, so moving, that I cried when I read the manuscripts. That has happened since, and it is a wonderful feeling.

And finally, what is coming up for Steve Berman?  What can we be looking forward to?  Will we be seeing more of your own fiction out there? 

Well, this is the year when I have a lot of anthologies releasing. From Lethe Press there is Best Gay Stories 2013 and Wilde Stories 2013 in June. July is Where They Dark Eye Glances: Queering Edgar Allan Poe (BC: Yes!). August is Heiresses of Russ 2013 with co-editor Tenea D. Johnson. And in October is Suffered from the Night: Queering Bram Stoker's Dracula (BC: YES!!). And I have edited horror anthologies for Prime Books:  Bad Seeds in July, Zombies: Shambling through the Ages in August, and Shades of Blue and Gray: Ghosts of the Civil War in September. Whew. I think in October the Strange Horizons website will feature a new gay YA tale from me. Other than all that...I'd like to sleep. Alas, I sleep alone.

Steve, thanks again for taking the time to chat with me!  I'm looking forward to plenty of hours of amazing reading this year, thanks to you!

You can find out more about Ghosts in Gaslight, Monsters in Steam due out in July here and here.

For all things Lethe Press, Tincture, White Crane, Bear Bones Books, BrazenHead and Icarus here.

And help yourself to Steve Berman's writing here.

Happy reading!

Superhero Month: Interview with ADAM CHRISTOPHER

If you read this blog enough, you will remember that I am a big Adam Christopher "fanboy".  His Twitter feed is both informative and entertaining and the wells of his knowledge of comic books/superheroes run deep.  And on top of all this, he is a brilliant writer!  His steampunk novella The Devil In Chains is a dark, Victorian-esque adventure and his debut novel Empire State was one of my favorite reads of 2011 (read review here).

Now today, he and Angry Robot are unleashing Seven Wonders upon the world, a big budget summer blockbuster movie in book form!  It is an action packed read and to help celebrate its release, Adam has kindly agreed to answer a few questions about the book, share the origin of his love of comics and give us a glimpse of what's in store for him in the future!


#1) Today is the release day of your second novel SEVEN WONDERS, an action packed superhero adventure; congratulations!  Where did your inspiration come from for the book?  How far back does your affection for comics and superheroes go?

Adam Christopher: Seven Wonders came from an idea that I'd been kicking around for ages, ever since I'd really started to get into superhero comics.  This idea forms the central concept of the book-although I can't reveal what it is, as it's a little spoilerific!  That tends to be how I write-I have an idea, maybe just a single concept or sometimes a cool scene, one that bounces around in my head for quite a while before it feels like it's ready to be written.

But certainly Seven Wonders was inspired by my love of superhero comics.  Oddly enough, I never read comics as a kid and only started when I was about 25!  I did have an issue of Batman, an issue of Iron Man, and one of those Marvel character encyclopedia things that my dad bought me from a corner store en route to our regular Christmas vacation, sometime in the mid-1980s, and I remember being more interested in the encyclopedia-which was more text based, with biographies and statistics for all these wonderful and weird characters-than in the comics.

About ten years later, a friend of mine in high school was a big fan of 2000AD, and he used to read them at the back of the class, under his desk.  I remember enjoying the issues he loaned me at lunchtimes, but then time passed and I guess our interests moved on.  Around 2003 I was in a bookstore and saw the latest issue of 2000AD, and on a whim decided to pick it up.  It was every bit as good as I remembered, so I quickly subscribed.  After reading it for about a year, I ventured into my local bookstore, spurred on by the memories of those Batman and Iron Man comics I used to have, and grabbed a few random issues across both the Marvel and DC universes.  And I was hooked-even more so than with 2000AD, there was something about superheroes that really attracted me, like someone flicking a switch in my head.  And I've been reading ever since-probably more DC than Marvel, but superhero comics in general are my favorite form of literature.

#2) For me, both SEVEN WONDERS and EMPIRE STATE are very visual books; they're written in such a way that I couldn't help but picture all the action happening right in front of me, on my mind's IMAX screen!  Do you storyboard or sketch out scenes or characters as you're writing?

AC: Only in my head-I'm somewhere between a full outliner and a "pantster", working to a skeleton that is more like a list of events and scenes that need to happen from beginning to end.  I find that my characters tend to take on a life of their own (when things are going well anyway!) and do unexpected things, so trying to stick to a rigid outline doesn't work for me.  Likewise I don't spend too much time constructing character backstories or biographies, unless it is relevant to the story.

However, now that I think about it, I tend to visualise things with a comic book sort of structure in my head.  When I was writing, I tested some early chapters with an SF writers' group in Manchester, and I was surprised (pleasantly so!) when a couple of them said that the book felt like a graphic novel in prose form, saying that it was very easy to visualise the action, like reading a comic.  So it seemed that I was doing something right, even if it wasn't intentional-I was just trying to write the book as I saw it unfold in my mind!

The visual aspect of the story is even more important for something like Seven Wonders, because it's a superhero story (much more so than Empire State), and superheroes began in comics and are hugely successful as Hollywood blockbusters-both visual forms of storytelling.  Translating that aspect into successful prose is vital.

#3) Back in 2010 for io9.com, you wrote an article called "Superhero Fiction: The Next Big Thing?" that suggested signs were pointing to superhero fiction making a resurgence.  It's almost two years later; where do you think the genre is now?

AC: I think superhero fiction, like most trends, comes and goes, but at the moment I think we're entering a new resurgence of the genre.  There have been a stack of recent books-novels like Prepare To Die! by Paul Tobin and Turbulence by Samit Basu-so Seven Wonders has come along at a good time.  I hope there will be more, too because superheroes are really more popular than ever, thanks mostly to Hollywood.

#4)  For all the other Adam Christopher fanboys out there: what's next for you?  I'm personally very excited about HANG WIRE, which is set in my dream hometown of San Francisco and of course, the sequel to EMPIRE STATE, THE AGE ATOMIC...what else is coming down the pipeline?

AC: I'm almost done with the first draft of The Age Atomic, which is a lot of fun and has also turned into something of a monster-150,000 words and still going!  But that'll come down in the rewrite, I'm sure.  That's out in May 2013 and then Hang Wire is out a year later.  I'm looking forward to Hang Wire, which for once doesn't have any superheroes in it, being more of an urban fantasy with ancient gods and hidden powers (and sentient circuses) although it's a long way off!

Also in 2014, my first novel from Tor is coming out.  It's a dark space opera called Shadow's Call, and is set on a distant space station, bathed in toxic radiation from a nearby star, where a washed up Fleet commander must battle a sentient mechanical spider race and its sinister allies with the help of a long-dead Cosmonaut and a sexy but troubled asteroid miner.  I have my agent to thank for the blurb-I'm tempted to ask Tor if they'll make a "sexy but troubled" line of t-shirts as promotional merchandise!  Shadow's Call is a little different-it's more obviously science fiction, although it still has a lot of weirdness in it.  It's basically a ghost story set in space, set on a haunted space station-MR James writes 2001: A Space Oddyssey, maybe!

I've got a couple of other things in the pipeline, including my first foray into another medium.  But you'll have to wait until later in the year before I'm allowed to talk about that!

And finally, #5) Who are your dream director/dream stars of the SEVEN WONDERS blockbuster movie?!  :)

AC: Actually, Seven Wonders would be really interesting as a big budget superhero movie, because I can't think of many that are not based on existing superhero properties from Marvel or DC!  For director, I think that Joss Whedon has shown with The Avengers that he can handle an ensemble superteam with flair-that film is what I hope Seven Wonders is as well, in novel form.

Casting is tricky, as there are a lot of characters.  When I write, I tend to cast actors in the parts, so I can't help but see them as the characters now-Detective Sam Millar is Emily Rose, Joe Milano a cross between Idris Alba and Jon Huertas.  Tony has to be Milo Ventimiglia and maybe Liv Tyler as Jeannie.

For the Seven Wonders themselves-tricky!  Henry Czerny as Aurora, Erica Durance as Bluebell, Malcom-Jamal Warner as Linear (aged up!), Brian Blessed as Hephaestus, Christa B. Allen as The Dragon Star, Patricia Velasquez as Sand Cat.  SMART is difficult, seeing as it's a big honking robot...but perhaps Kevin Conroy could do the voice!

The Cowl, oddly enough, I see working well with Nathan Fillion in the role.

Hey, you said I could dream, right? 

Thank you so much, Adam for talking with me and I just know SEVEN WONDERS is going to enjoy great success!

     

Miscellany

From the web this week:

First, on the blog Bibliophilia, Please, an interview with Pushcart Prize nominated novelist, screenwriter and editor Peter Giglio which I thoroughly enjoyed; as a matter of fact, look for a review of Peter's "Balance" to kick off my "Short Fiction Month" here on the blog!

And also,via Aiden at A Dribble of Ink (the man has a great eye for finding all this beautiful artwork!), gorgeous interpretations of Disney movie posters by Rowan Stocks-Moore; here are my favorites:

Happy reading!

A Chat With Mark Allan Gunnells

Today we're lucky enough to interview author Mark Allan Gunnells whose new zombie novella ASYLUM has recently been released from The Zombie Feed.  I thoroughly enjoyed ASYLUM and was excited to be able to chat with Mark and find out more about the man behind the story...

Hello Mark, it's a pleasure to have you here on Betwixt! Can you give the readers who may be unfamiliar with you and your work a brief introduction of yourself?


Well, I wish I had something very interesting to tell about myself. I’m actually kind of a boring guy. I work, I read, I write, I watch Buffy on DVD…rinse and repeat. However, a lot of interesting things are always happening in my imagination, resulting in what I hope are some entertaining stories.

Your new novella ASYLUM just got released by The Zombie Feed; I thought it was fantastic! Where did you get the idea for this story? Did you have any trepidations about the gay angle of your story? Was it harder to publish it?

I’ve long been a fan of the Romero zombie films, that formula of a disparate group of people barricaded together against an onslaught of the undead. It’s a great way to explore characters, friction between different types of people, the power dynamics. To me, that’s the interesting part of those kinds of stories. As a gay man, however, I used to watch these movies and think, “Why are there never any gay survivors?” That really stuck out to me, how we were never represented in such tales. So I wanted to write a story with the familiar formula but introduce characters that readers might not used to be seeing.

As for whether or not I had any trepidations about the gay angle of the story…truth is, I don’t write that way. When I’m in the midst of creating a story, I rarely give a thought to publication. So I’m not worried about how publishers will view it or readers. I basically write whatever the hell it occurs to me to write then try to entertain myself. Only when I’m done do I start pondering markets and publishers and things like that.

I did have a hard time getting this one published. I actually had almost given up on ever finding a home for it. It wasn’t just the gay aspect that made it had to place, although I’m sure there were some publishers that shied away from that. For some publishers it was too traditional, even with the inclusion of the nontraditional characters. For others, it focused a little too much on character and not enough on horror. These were all things I understood, but I still felt passionately about the tale and was so happy Jason Sizemore at The Zombie Feed accepted it.

I’m glad they accepted it, too or we all would have missed out on a great tale! And I for one loved that it was so character driven... so you’ve always been a horror fan from way back; do you only write in the horror genre? How has your road to publication been as a gay man?

Horror has always been my genre, from a very young age. I was walking down to the local one-screen theater to see the newest Halloween, Nightmare, and Friday films long before I should have actually been allowed in. I’ve been reading horror fiction from a young age as well. Now horror isn’t all I enjoy, and I do write outside the genre, but horror is my first love and my truest passion, and I keep returning to it.

The road to publication has been rough, but I think it is for most, and I don’t think my being gay had anything to do with it. Honestly, at least half the stories I write don’t even feature gay characters, and those that do often treat the sexuality of the characters as merely a mundane trait like eye color or height. ASYLUM is one of the few that really delves deeply into gay issues.

Who has been an influence on you as a writer?

That’s a hard question. I try not to emulate anyone really, but there are many writers I admire and in some cases envy. If I had an idol it would be Joe R. Lansdale, who shows such an eclectic mix of interests, crosses genres with ease, shows how powerful simplicity can be, and seems adept at both shorts and novels. As someone who loves short stories, Clive Barker is someone I admire because he came to prominence for collections before he started putting out novels; also as a gay man I admire his openness. It may be cliché, but King is someone whose talent I respect and who seems to have maintained a genuine passion for storytelling despite all the fortune and fame.

Those are all amazing storytellers and Clive Barker is just...WOW!

How has it been working with the team at The Zombie Feed? It must be exciting to be the FIRST author published by this new imprint!

The team at TZF have been absolutely terrific. They took a chance on this novella and have worked tirelessly to promote it. My experience with them has been a dream and I hope to work with them again in the future. And I was quite honored to be the first TZF release. Honored and humbled.

What else do our readers have to look forward from you?

Yes, I currently have a book, WHISONANT/CREATURES OF THE LIGHT, out from Sideshow Press that features two novellas and is designed as a flipbook, one story with its own cover on one side then flip it upside down and turn it over and you have the second story with its own cover. http://sideshowpressonline.com/?page_id=4&category=3&product_id=28.  My short story collection TALES FROM THE MIDNIGHT SHIFT VOL. I will also be out from Sideshow this winter. And finally, I have a digital short entitled “Dancing in the Dark” available from Darkside Digital.  http://www.darkside-digital.com/dancing-in-the-dark-by-mark-allan-gunnells.html

They both sound great, Mark; I can’t wait to read them! Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me here in my lil’ ol’ piece of the blogosphere and I look forward to more awesome reads from you!

Brit Mandelo Interviews Lethe Press Editor Steve Berman (via Tor.com)

As part of her series of posts "Queering SFF..." over at Tor.com, Brit Mandelo was able to sit down with Steve Berman, writer,editor and publisher of LGBT imprint Lethe Press.  I absolutely enjoyed the interview and am sharing it with you here:

"...One of the things this series of posts has dealt with in the past is how hard it can be sometimes to find queer speculative fiction, especially when the big presses seem to actively avoid “outing” their books in flap copy. The endless search doesn’t have to be the default for readers seeking queer SFF, though, because there are other offerings. Several small presses are doing great work with queer SFF—and they aren’t interested in hiding it. For a reader who’s used to the difficult hunt for books they want, it’s a breath of fresh air to discover a press that will provide you with your LGBTQ spec-fic happily, openly, and with passion.

Steve Berman, who wears the hats of “writer,” “editor” and “publisher,” is here to talk about one of the best of these: Lethe Press. While Lethe Press doesn’t publish solely speculative fiction, it is a focus of the press, and they’ve published authors such as Melissa Scott and Tanith Lee. They also regularly have books nominated for the Lambda Award for science fiction, fantasy and horror.

Brit Mandelo: Hi, and thanks for letting me ask you questions today. For starters: what’s the “mission statement” or guiding vision of Lethe Press, for the readers who are new to you?


Steve Berman: No, I should be thanking you for being a passionate promoter of queer spec fic. Lethe Press’s aim is to ensure that the voices of queer authors are not forgotten. We rescue many books from obscurity as well as help ensure that writers have a home for new work that larger presses might not release because the content is too queer-focused. In the last decade several gay presses have folded and Lethe has expanded its line to meet the needs of the marketplace.

BM: Speaking of expanding your line, Lethe will be ten years old next year—did you anticipate when you started the press that it would not only live this long, but grow as much as it has?

SB: Does anyone anticipate what their life will be a decade later? No, I had no clue what Lethe might become. For the first couple of years, Lethe was more of a hobby than serious publishing pursuit. Now, more gay authors know of me as a publisher than as a colleague.

BM: Is that ever weird, being both a writer and a publisher? Or has running Lethe given you more insight into your own writing?

SB: Oh, it’s makes everything more complicated. I don’t have as much spare time to devote to writing, which is a real drawback. But without the press would I have been able to release two short story collections of my own? Probably not. And books like Sea, Swallow Me or Diana Comet and Other Improbable Tales would never have happened. So, Lethe is definitely a good thing for the field.


BM: I absolutely agree. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed from Lethe are the Wilde Stories collections —where did the idea to collect the “best gay speculative fiction” each year come from? How difficult is it to narrow down your choices and select the best stories?

SB: I conceived of Wilde Stories after a conversation with a friend asking for short fiction recommendations. Many readers aren’t aware just how many good quality gay spec fic stories release in a year. Those who are more invested in the traditional fantasy and sci-fi venues, such as Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction might be aware of a new Rick Bowes tale but might miss a piece by Tom Cardamone in small gay press anthology. And the reverse is true: patrons of a gay bookstore might never think that a horror anthology might feature an amazing gay-themed story by Laird Barron. Wilde Stories aims to bridge the schism and provide readers with the best tales published the prior year from a variety of print and online publications.

Choosing stories can be difficult. I’ve noticed a trend with the small gay presses to label fiction as spec fic when really only the “trappings” are—so we have a traditional romance aboard a starship or an erotic encounter with a vampire. I suppose this is gay paranormal romance. What I’m seeking for Wilde Stories, though, are stories that either refresh old themes, such as coming out or homophobia, or tales that are only incidentally gay. By the latter, I mean the character’s sexual identity is incidental to the plotline, but, because the protagonist is homosexual, gay readers are much more engaged with his story than if he happened to be hetero.


BM: What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in running Lethe? And on the flip side of that—what are some of the best, most exciting moments you’ve had with the press?



SB: Cash flow problems are the detriment of all small presses. Nothing is more frustrating than emptying your coffers because a book is a success... and knowing it may be three to five months before you see any money from the increased sales. One that I did not anticipate: dealing with the demands of awards; sending out gratis books to jury members, who may number in the teens, can be very expensive. But you don’t want to ignore requests to submit for awards, because that is how authors and titles earn acclaim.

That said, when a Lethe title does reach the short-list of an award, I’m thrilled. For the last two years, we had three books among the Lambda Literary finalists, including Best Fantasy/Horror/Science Fiction. I have accepted the Gaylactic Spectrum Award on behalf of Joshua Lewis for his very first published short story, which was in a Lethe anthology.


Then there’s the pleasure in working with authors to nurture an idea. Peter Dube and I share a fondness for the surrealists; when I challenged him to write a spec fic story featuring Rene Crevel, a year later he turned in Subtle Bodies. When Jerry Wheeler told me he wanted to edit a book of strange circus-themed gay erotica, I encouraged him. Tented releases in September and it’s a wild ride to read.

BM: What new books do you have in the works at Lethe? Give us some “coming soon” highlights.

SB: Well, before I mention forthcoming titles, I want to say that recent release Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories by Sandra McDonald has been one of our bestselling titles this year; the fact that it received a starred review in Booklist helped, of course. If you like quirky fiction with a queer bent, I think you’ll adore McDonald’s stories. We also released a new collection of Tanith Lee tales, Discouraged by Her Song, which is very queer. Next month, Peter Dube’s novella, Subtle Bodies, a historical fantastique of Rene Crevel, the French surrealist poet, releases.


In 2011, we will be publishing a gay spec fic short story collection by Alex Jeffers. Stoker and Lambda Literary Award winner Lee Thomas has a new thriller in March, The German. A Study in Lavender is an anthology of queered Holmesian tales edited by Joseph DeMarco. And, of course, the next edition of Wilde Stories.

BM: “Queered Holmesian tales” is a phrase that makes me nearly giggle with joy, just so you know. (I believe I just revealed which side of the fandom I stand on. Ahem.)

How about you, on the writing side of your career? Any new stories coming soon?

SB: Yes, we’re trying to ascertain the rights issues with the Holmes canon; the book may have to be a UK & Canadian release only. Apparently many Holmes buffs are decidedly homophobic.


As for my own writing: this past spring, The Beastly Bride, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, appeared and featured my lesbian retelling of the Swan Lake storyline; I have bit of humorous flash fiction in the autumn release, Blood Sacraments, edited by Todd Gregory, entitled “Five Gay Vampire Shows That Were Never Greenlit”; and next year’s YA vampire anthology Teeth, also edited by Ellen and Terri, features a gay story, “All Smiles.” That’s on the horizon. I’m currently finishing up a short story about a sister and her brother, who becomes afflicted with applianthropy—he becomes a were-oven. And then there’s the novel, a Victorian-era fey story. And a couple of short story collections, one illustrated and aimed at the YA market, the other involving lost gay cinematic characters like the poor pilot who shot down King Kong.

BM: Something from the panel you were moderating at Readercon comes back to me—you, and all of the panelists, seemed to agree that the field of queer spec-fic is expanding and becoming more mainstream, not less. Has the shift been recent, or have you noticed it for some time now?

SB: Well, queer rights are certainly becoming more widespread. And exposure to LGBTI and Q characters are more prevalent in mass media. Mainstream publishers can release books like Spaceman Blues or Boy Meets Boy. But these are still rare releases; like other minorities, we’re often relegated to secondary or tertiary roles in books. Supposedly, 10% of the populace is queer... then shouldn’t 1 out of 10 books be the same?


I know, there are a plethora of variables, but the dearth of good queer spec fic is troubling. Are there fewer queer readers (and writers) in the genre because they cannot identify with most protagonists? Or will this goad people? I write queer spec fic to tell the kind of story I have had trouble all my life finding in bookstores.

BM: How about we end with some sort of fun question? Like name 3 queer authors you’d want to have with while stranded on a deserted island.

SB: Can they be pulled from the time stream? If so, then Oscar Wilde, because without electricity I will need someone witty to survive the ennui. Tristram Burden (who wrote My Hero: A Wild Boy’s Tale) because he’s an amazing imagination and he’s so pretty (hey, a fellow can dream, right?). And Perrin 5, a cyborg from the 22nd century and slam lesbian poet because she’ll be the bold one that eventually figures out how to get us rescued. Plus, she’s WiFi-enabled and can turn palm fronds into ersatz coffee.

BM: Fine choices. Thanks again for doing this interview, it’s been fun!


SB: I loved it!"

Again, great interview Brit and Steve!