Name: Jim Goforth
Titles: Plebs, With Tooth and Claw, Feral Hearts, Rejected For Content: Aberrant Menagerie (editor) and numerous stories in such anthologies as Rejected For Content: Splattergore, Floppy Shoes Apocalypse, Autumn Burning” Dreadtime Stories For the Wicked Soul and several others.
Down and Dirty Questions:
1. If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
Grindhouse splatterpunk heavy metal driven horror pretty much sums up what I write and what I would be happy to stamp my brand all over. There are no single images which would best represent that, more of a collage of different things.
2. What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
I explore a vast assortment of themes ranging from friendship, finding purpose, isolation, fear and terror (of course), relationships (of all sorts), revenge and many others which are probably relatively common in the horror genre, but I always like to put my own spin on them. For the purpose of the question, I’ll confine it to one theme and one that does recur through a lot of my work relates to a blurring of lines between man and monster. There may be truly inhumane monstrous entities drifting through a particular story, but often their deeds pale alongside the monstrous things human monsters can be capable of.
3. Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Ah I have many characters I’m quite fond of in several ways, be they good, bad, utterly reprehensible or just somewhere in the murky middle. Most of my characters aren’t clear cut good or bad per se, but are generally just shades of grey, as is the case with most people. There are several characters I could pick from Plebs, notably the female protagonists, but since the second person I’m going to mention is a strong female character from another book, I’ll go with Corey Somerset from Plebs. Corey is an easygoing guy, sometimes to the point where he is too easily led by more strong willed associates and that gets him into all sorts of trouble. He is also something of an idle slacker, with no real purpose in life. However, as things progress he grows and develops, finds things in himself that he wasn’t aware of, and gradually acknowledges that there is more meaning out there for him than random partying and mindless good times with his buddies.
The second is Angela Rollins, my chief protagonist in the collaborative novel Feral Hearts. Angela is somewhat cut from the same cloth as some of the strong women in Plebs; she’s had a horrendous life riddled with abuse, mistreatment, betrayal, drugs and all manner of sordid activity, but rather than break her it has made her stronger and resilient. Granted, it has also left her with some deep seated commitment issues and inability to allow many people to get close to her, but it leaves her wholly prepared for the worst from people and having experienced plenty of humanity at its ugliest, she is ready to combat anything. She’s quick-thinking and spirited and above all she’s a fighter, having never let the worst of life get the better of her.
Titles: Plebs, With Tooth and Claw, Feral Hearts, Rejected For Content: Aberrant Menagerie (editor) and numerous stories in such anthologies as Rejected For Content: Splattergore, Floppy Shoes Apocalypse, Autumn Burning” Dreadtime Stories For the Wicked Soul and several others.
Down and Dirty Questions:
1. If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
Grindhouse splatterpunk heavy metal driven horror pretty much sums up what I write and what I would be happy to stamp my brand all over. There are no single images which would best represent that, more of a collage of different things.
2. What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
I explore a vast assortment of themes ranging from friendship, finding purpose, isolation, fear and terror (of course), relationships (of all sorts), revenge and many others which are probably relatively common in the horror genre, but I always like to put my own spin on them. For the purpose of the question, I’ll confine it to one theme and one that does recur through a lot of my work relates to a blurring of lines between man and monster. There may be truly inhumane monstrous entities drifting through a particular story, but often their deeds pale alongside the monstrous things human monsters can be capable of.
3. Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Ah I have many characters I’m quite fond of in several ways, be they good, bad, utterly reprehensible or just somewhere in the murky middle. Most of my characters aren’t clear cut good or bad per se, but are generally just shades of grey, as is the case with most people. There are several characters I could pick from Plebs, notably the female protagonists, but since the second person I’m going to mention is a strong female character from another book, I’ll go with Corey Somerset from Plebs. Corey is an easygoing guy, sometimes to the point where he is too easily led by more strong willed associates and that gets him into all sorts of trouble. He is also something of an idle slacker, with no real purpose in life. However, as things progress he grows and develops, finds things in himself that he wasn’t aware of, and gradually acknowledges that there is more meaning out there for him than random partying and mindless good times with his buddies.
The second is Angela Rollins, my chief protagonist in the collaborative novel Feral Hearts. Angela is somewhat cut from the same cloth as some of the strong women in Plebs; she’s had a horrendous life riddled with abuse, mistreatment, betrayal, drugs and all manner of sordid activity, but rather than break her it has made her stronger and resilient. Granted, it has also left her with some deep seated commitment issues and inability to allow many people to get close to her, but it leaves her wholly prepared for the worst from people and having experienced plenty of humanity at its ugliest, she is ready to combat anything. She’s quick-thinking and spirited and above all she’s a fighter, having never let the worst of life get the better of her.
 
| 4. Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like? I’ll go with the cover for Plebs, which is still one of my favourites. The cover itself is an ideal representation of what transpires in certain events in the story as it essentially captures a snapshot of a pivotal location in the book. It neither gives too much away, nor proves to be too mysterious or obscure, but instead is a perfect balance between the two. The cover was done by Catt Dahman and the planning was very well thought out, and came out of many back and forth discussions, looking to get it just right. Sidenote, somebody actually sent me their own interpretation of a cover that they’d made of their own volition for Plebs. That was an interesting thing for somebody to do, though I’m more than happy with the cover Plebs has. It is easily recognisable and I never get sick of seeing it, particularly in paperback on my bookshelf. 5. What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why? When I first started trying to get into publishing which was many, many moons ago, I would have said it was virtually impossible. I’ve mentioned this a few times in a variety of interviews, but back then when I originally attempted getting books published, social media sites and the types of networking which exist today were non-existent. Publishing today, in comparisons to those days, is certainly much easier and it is primarily due to the advent on social media and quicker ways to connect with folks all over the world. Naturally, there are still the same old prerequisites such as attempting to get stories and books accepted for publication, and that hasn’t ever changed if one wants to be traditionally published, but by the same token, self-publishing has become a major thing too. I have no experience with self-publishing, so I’m not expert on the matter, but the mere fact that it exists means that technically, yes publishing is easier than it ever has been in that regard. 6. In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you? Hopefully they will still be saying the same kinds of things they are saying now. I aim to have a large body of work, since I have a massive amount of stories in my head to tell and it would be cool if folks are still hanging out eagerly awaiting the next release. Or perhaps, with the length of books I’ve been known to write they will be saying if he puts out just one more book, I’ll finally have enough books to complete my house made solely of Goforth book bricks… 7. Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they? I could tell you, but then the interview might become unprintable. In reality though, all words are my favourites, I love words in general and doing all kinds of things with them, but I have found that I do have some commonly recurring ones. Once I realised I was doing this, I had to make a conscious effort not to use those terms so regularly, or to find some other way to describe things. Bountiful and abundant when describing women’s breasts springs to mind. Have a read through some of my books, you’ll see what I mean… 8. What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had? I write ultraviolent, bloodthirsty, explicit extreme horror. Every experience there is funny to me. I think there might be something wrong with me… |
9. How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
It varies. Sometimes I have a title already and base an entire book/story etc. on it while other times I might write the whole thing, or majority of it, without ever having any title, bar a working title if that. Then I might pull some key phrase, word or symbolic thing from the story itself and that becomes a title. I have titled stories after songs (predominantly heavy metal ones) and I have completely changed titles I thought were fitting until I actually finished the story, to something else. I also have an enormous list of potential titles which I made up many years ago for stories, songs, poems and other things I was writing which are always there to fall back on. I used to look through them, pick one that grabbed my interest and proceed to write something revolving around that.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I’ve heard a few different things such as character development, intensity, bold, no holds barred and things along those lines, but to me, the main thing I’d say is storytelling. That is the chief thing I set out to do each time, tell a story. It may be visceral, gruesome, comprehensively drenched in blood, with a splash or two of humour or even romantic overtures, some explicit detours into various shenanigans and a few characters with mouths that would make sailors blush, but the bottom line has to be the story itself.
Then, there are probably some people who will say, one of my abilities is writing a lot of words. Which I can definitely do too.
It varies. Sometimes I have a title already and base an entire book/story etc. on it while other times I might write the whole thing, or majority of it, without ever having any title, bar a working title if that. Then I might pull some key phrase, word or symbolic thing from the story itself and that becomes a title. I have titled stories after songs (predominantly heavy metal ones) and I have completely changed titles I thought were fitting until I actually finished the story, to something else. I also have an enormous list of potential titles which I made up many years ago for stories, songs, poems and other things I was writing which are always there to fall back on. I used to look through them, pick one that grabbed my interest and proceed to write something revolving around that.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I’ve heard a few different things such as character development, intensity, bold, no holds barred and things along those lines, but to me, the main thing I’d say is storytelling. That is the chief thing I set out to do each time, tell a story. It may be visceral, gruesome, comprehensively drenched in blood, with a splash or two of humour or even romantic overtures, some explicit detours into various shenanigans and a few characters with mouths that would make sailors blush, but the bottom line has to be the story itself.
Then, there are probably some people who will say, one of my abilities is writing a lot of words. Which I can definitely do too.
| Name: Michael Noe Titles: Legacy, Dynatox-A-Go-Go, Chunks: A Barfzarro Anthology, Undead Legacy, Destroy All Robots, Autumn Burning: Dreadtime Stories for the Wicked Soul, and Rejected For Content 2 Down and Dirty Questions: 1. If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be? Originality, and that in order to succeed in anything you have to believe in what you’re doing or else you’re never going to achieve anything. 2. What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing? The dark side of human nature. I want my monsters to he human. These are people you could encounter anywhere. My approach to horror is to take the world around me and throw a mirror up and reflect it back at my readers. 3. Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person. Wow, Kevin from my debut Legacy. I admire him because he’s so brutal, but he’s a guy that appears normal. He was a fun character to create because I was able to chuck away my morals and beliefs and create a guy that is just vicious and everything I’m not. 4. Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like? Legacy was my first book and I like the cover because it fit the darkness of the story. Steven Scott Nelson came up with it. 5. What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why? I’m still a rookie. Legacy was my first novel and I’ve had quite a few stories in anthologies but I would say it’s been pretty easy so far. I’ve never had a bad experience yet. 6. In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you? That they still like what I’m doing. |
7. Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I try and avoid favorite words because I don’t want an editor or reader to become annoyed with me, but I have always wanted a cool catchphrase.
8. What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I’m still new. I have yet to do interviews or conventions. I’m sure those will be coming up though at some point.
9. How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
Titles are hard. I sometimes will hear a song or hear somebody say something and I’ll use it. I’m working on a novel now that needs a title.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I’m not afraid to take chances as long as it fits the story. I usually try and not just push the envelope, but ball it up and throw it away. As a horror writer I just throw on a helmet and seat belt and head straight for the wall.
I try and avoid favorite words because I don’t want an editor or reader to become annoyed with me, but I have always wanted a cool catchphrase.
8. What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I’m still new. I have yet to do interviews or conventions. I’m sure those will be coming up though at some point.
9. How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
Titles are hard. I sometimes will hear a song or hear somebody say something and I’ll use it. I’m working on a novel now that needs a title.
10. What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I’m not afraid to take chances as long as it fits the story. I usually try and not just push the envelope, but ball it up and throw it away. As a horror writer I just throw on a helmet and seat belt and head straight for the wall.
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