TWELFTH NIGHT:

AN INTERVIEW WITH SIMON CLARK, MARK MORRIS & P. D. Cacek

In 2005, Subterranean Press will release the twelfth installment of the Night Visions series of anthologies started by Dark Harvest in 1984. The latest entry in the acclaimed series features contributions by some of today’s most successful voices in supernatural fiction: P.D. Cacek (Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Award winning author of Canyons and Night Prayers) Mark Morris (Toady, The Immaculate, Mr. Bad Face) and Simon Clark (Darker, Vampyrrhic, Night of the Triffids).  We tracked them down for a few words:

SP: For those readers out there who might not be familiar with your work (God forbid!), to which particular piece would you direct them as the best place to start?

P.D. Cacek: Hmmm, only one? Okay, if that’s the rule, I think I would suggest they read  “A Book, By It’s Cover,” which first appeared in Shelf-Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores and was later picked up by David Hartwell for his Year’s Best Fantasy, volume 3.  It’s a favorite of mine because it touches on issues that are close to home.

Mark Morris: This is a toughie for me, in that - particularly in my novel writing - I always try to do something wildly different to what has gone before with each successive book. I'm a big movie fan, and have a particular penchant for horror, fantasy and science fiction movies. However, rather than particularly favoring a certain era or a certain style of genre movie, I embrace all eras and all styles with equal fervor and enthusiasm, and so this question is a bit like asking me which is the best film out of, say, The Innocents, The Wicker Man and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It's an impossible question to answer, because naturally they are all superb examples of their type, and often it depends entirely on the personal preferences of the viewer, or even what kind of mood he or she may be in on a given night. Looking at my own work, I'd guess you'd say something like Stitch is my Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in that it's unrelentingly dark and gruesome and intense, whereas the following book, The Immaculate, is my The Innocents, in that it relies for its effect largely on atmosphere and suggestion. However, if pushed, I'd say that the book I'm most pleased with is Fiddleback (re-titled The Lonely Places in the States), which was published under the pseudonym J.M. Morris. It's perhaps most atypical of all my books in style and content, though it does explore themes I tend to keep coming back to, in that it concerns the devastating power contained in past events and how those events lie dormant, often for years, before eventually erupting outwards and impacting with our present lives. If readers do fancy tracking down the book, however, I'd strongly advise them to seek out the UK version rather than the US one. The UK version has a different, and subtler, ending, which I'm far happier with.

Simon Clark: Blood Crazy. I love post-apocalypse stories -- both reading and writing them. Blood Crazy sums up what I'm about.

SP: Night Visions 12 will feature two British authors and one American – what do you see as the biggest differences between British and American horror writing in terms of style and subject matter?

Simon Clark: General differences that surface probably surface in other genres, too. One salient difference is that often in American fiction there is a character's pre-knowledge of the danger; a sense that the story started before page one. While in British fiction the characters might be blissfully unaware of the danger for several chapters. Both approaches work well. When it comes to horror I see less differences. British writers have been so influenced by Matheson, King and so on that if anything a fusion has occurred creating a pan-Atlantic style.  I'm speaking generally, of course, there are some writers with a distinctive national style.

Mark Morris: In general I think British writing is more contained, more claustrophobic, more atmospheric and has more of a sense of the mystical power of legend and ancient history. Britain is a small, often cold and murky island, full of narrow roads, high hedges, dense woods and ancient, crumbling buildings. Everywhere you go, from the tiniest village to the largest city, you will find countless local tales of bloody battles, buried treasure, dark rituals and haunted places. Folklore is abundant, and this is reflected in much British genre writing. In America, on the other hand, the myths are more contemporary and immediate - Indian burial grounds, government conspiracies, secret societies, itinerant serial killers. Of course there are crossovers, but these, I think, are the most obvious differences. Needless to say, both approaches can be hugely effective if portrayed well.

P.D. Cacek: As much as I hate to say it, I feel it all comes down “subtlety.” When dealing with, let’s say “blood and guts,” I’ve noticed a number of British horror authors will paint the scene using a portrait brush … where an equal number of American authors will not only use a 10” wall brush, but break out the rollers and spray attachments.  Overdone does not make it better, just a lot messier.

SP: What do you think is the current state of the horror genre? Are we heading for a repetition of the 80’s horror explosion of some-good, most-awful titles, or are publishers finally seeing the light and buying up all the quality fiction they can?

P.D. Cacek: If we’re not careful, that’s exactly where we’re heading.  I think if presented with a novel that is both intriguing and has a horrific twist, any publisher would snap it up … the trouble is, that a number of publishing companies do remember the glut of the 80’s. Unfortunately, to them the “H” word is still a no-no. Their loss.  I am happy to note (Thank God) that there are a few brave publishers “out there” who understand that horror, whatever you may want to call it in marketing, not only exists, but will always have a following.

Simon Clark: I'm optimistic. Readers are more discerning and shun the kind of hogwash that appeared in the 80's -- of course great titles appeared, too. The horror slump has resulted in so-so writers who were in it to make a fast buck to disappear while those who survived re-invented themselves, and new writers pushed their imaginations to new heights. There appears to be a growth in new horror novels hitting the stores in the States, but on the whole these are well written by people who love the genre. In Britain the picture is less rosy.

Mark Morris: Speaking from the British perspective, I still think the horror genre is very much in the doldrums as far as publishing is concerned. Thank God for Pete Crowther at PS Publishing, who is almost single-handedly keeping things going in this country (though mention must be made, too, of David Howe's Telos Publishing and the wonderful Tarturus Press for introducing the likes of Robert Aickman and Arthur Machen to a whole new audience). The situation is looking better in the States, if only because superb specialist publishers such as Cemetery Dance, Subterranean Press and Night Shade Books are expanding to fill the void created by the dearth of horror fiction on the schedules of mainstream publishers. Mention should be made too, of course, of the sterling work being done by Don D'Auria at Leisure. I still think many of the genre stalwarts are producing exemplary work, but there are not enough new writers coming through, particularly in the UK, and there are still too many excellent writers who cannot find a mainstream publisher in England, among them Ramsey Campbell, Kim Newman and Stephens Laws and Gallagher.

SP: Who do you consider to be the greatest influence on your writing?

P.D. Cacek: That would have to be Ray Bradbury.  I began reading his stories as a child and was captivated by his ability to fashion reality with nothing more than words on paper.

Mark Morris: Many of my influences are TV and film-related, so screen writers such as Nigel Kneale, Brian Clemens, Terry Nation, Robert Holmes and Jimmy Sangster were hugely influential. I ought to include directors too - Hitchcock, Robert Wise, Freddie Francis, Val Guest and Terence Fisher, to name just a few off the top of my head. In my formative years, the likes of Stephen King, Richard Matheson, John Wyndham, Robert Aickman, M.R. James, Alan Garner and Ray Bradbury fed my imagination and provided me with enough delicious chills just before bed to carry into my dreams. Latterly just a few of the many writers I admire include Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Carroll, Dennis Etchison, Magnus Mills, Rupert Thomson and Philip Pullman.

Simon Clark: Stephen King has to be one. If you're at all jaded by his recent novels go back and read the early short stories like The Monkey. I must include the visionaries such as Arthur Machen and William Hope Hodgson. Then there's Dylan Thomas. He wrote poetry and stories of such spine tingling power. To read Dylan Thomas verse is to encounter the true force of words.

SP: Without giving too much away, can you tell us a little bit about your Night Visions 12 contributions?

P.D. Cacek: Well, let’s just say the Child Psychologist in my old grade school won’t be surprised.

Mark Morris: I've written three long stories of roughly the same length. The first is a surreal nightmare leading to a horrifying revelation, the second is a story about the nature of fiction and reality, and the third is the closest I'll probably ever get to a Lovecraftian tale, though related from the viewpoint of an emotionally naive, possibly autistic protagonist. As I do in my novels, I've tried to approach the genre from a different starting point each time.

Simon Clark: This anthology gave me a marvelous opportunity to try something experimental and push back my creative boundaries. Each of my three stories touches either on some of my favorite writers, or the stories they created.

SP: After Night Visions 12, what can readers expect to see on the shelves from each of you?

P.D. Cacek: Glad you asked.  Along with short stories appearing in the anthologies Quietly Now: A Tribute to Charles L. Grant and Taverns of the Dead, I have a novel coming out this summer from Leisure Books entitled The Wind Caller.

Mark Morris: Depending on when Night Visions is released, I have a new novel out from PS Publishing this year entitled Nowhere Near An Angel, I have a novella in an anthology called (I think) 4-Sight, which is edited by Pete Crowther and should be appearing from Cemetery Dance sometime this year, and I'm currently working on what will hopefully be the next as-yet-untitled J.M. Morris book.

Simon Clark: Coming from Leisure in the summer of 2004 is In This Skin, a cosmic horror story that tips a grateful nod toward Lovecraft.

SP: Thanks for taking the time out to speak with us!

This interview originally appeared in Subterranean Press Newsletter