AT THE BAR WITH THE SPIRITS:

A FEW WORDS WITH KEALAN PATRICK BURKE

(February 2005)

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Conducted by Subterranean Press

Kealan Patrick Burke is the author of the short novel The Hides (Cemetery Dance Publications), the novella The Turtle Boy (Necessary Evil Press) and the collection Ravenous Ghosts (Delirium Books). His has sold short fiction to Cemetery Dance, Grave Tales, Inhuman, The Book of Final Flesh, Gothic. net, Would That It Were, Shivers II, Shivers III, Masques V, Subterranean #1, Evermore and Corpse Blossoms. He also edited the anthologies: Taverns of the Dead and Brimstone Turnpike (Cemetery Dance Publications), Quietly Now: A Tribute to Charles L. Grant, the charity anthology Tales from the Gorezone (Apartment 42 Publications) and Night Visions 12 (Subterranean Press).

SP: Congratulations on the starred review for Taverns of the Dead in Publishers Weekly. As your first anthology (but not the first released), you must be thrilled. Can you tell us a little about the genesis for the book?

KPB: It was indeed a thrill! I wasn't sure they'd even review it, never mind give it such high praise.

I spent many years working in bars back in Ireland, listening to wild stories and lending a sympathetic ear to those who needed it. I'd often thought it would be fun to gather together all these tales in an anthology, but the idea stayed just that--an idea. It wasn't until I moved to the states that I found myself with the time to revisit the concept and once I focused on it, it mutated into what eventually became Taverns of the Dead. Christopher Fowler's tale "At Home in the Pubs of Old London" provided a lot of the inspiration too. His account of one man's tour of London's watering holes pretty much cemented my desire to collect these kinds of stories in a themed anthology. Indeed, Fowler's tale appears in the book.

SP: The book features quite a stellar lineup. How did you decide which authors you wanted?

Basically, the book is populated by a combination of my literary heroes (Straub, Grant, Tem, de Lint, Cady and others) and newer writers who I had recently discovered and very much wanted to work with. I also wanted to feature as many different styles and approaches to the theme as I could, and so you have everything from outright horror, to crime, black comedy, surrealism, and even a touch of fantasy in the book. At the time I wasn't as conscious of market requirements (i.e. Big Names Required or else!) as I've been forced to become, and I'm glad of that. Without that albatross, I think Taverns is my best book thus far. It is--and I can say this without the slightest bit of exaggeration--the book I always wanted to do.

SP: It was an ambitious first project for you. Did you encounter any obstacles?

A few, but most were of my own making, and many of those were really dumb mistakes I can't believe I made, looking back on it. There were some truly groan-inducing moments, such as (and I don't think he'll mind my telling you), the night I rejected David Morrell's story only to discover my printer hadn't printed the whole story. Lesson learned: Always look for THE END. Thankfully, David was gracious and understanding and the complete story (which is excellent) ended up in the book.

Speaking of rejections. I had rejected many stories in my time editing, but I found it especially hard to reject stories from some of my childhood heroes. Indeed, I was often to be found pacing and squinting at a story, hoping to find something I'd missed that would obviate the need to write that dreaded e-mail or letter. I even flirted with the idea of saying 'to hell with it!' and including the piece anyway. After all, I rationalized, in a book this size it would hardly be noticed, right? But I couldn't do it, and I rejected every story I didn't like (and there were quite a few). Thankfully, almost all the authors took it well. Some, however, didn't. But that's another story.

SP: Sounds painful. What were some of the high points?

Too many to list here, but when I sent out the invitations, I was fully convinced I'd never hear a word from any of the writers. Why would they bother? I thought. My name wasn't Grant, Datlow, Jones or Greenberg. They wouldn't know me from a hole in the ground. But I did hear back, from almost everyone, and better yet, of those who responded, roughly ninety percent contributed to the book. I'll never forget the thrill of opening my inbox in the morning and seeing a bunch of e-mails from folks like Ramsey Campbell, Jack Cady, Peter Straub, David Morrell etc. It seemed surreal at the time.

Another highlight was being promised a story from one of my favorite writers and biggest influences, Charles L. Grant. However, a few weeks after deadline and with a handful of e-mails going unanswered, my elation began to wane. Of course it was impossible that Charles Grant would write anything for an unknown dreamer like me, and I was a fool for thinking otherwise. As it turned out, at the time Grant was beginning to feel the effects of a pulmonary disease that would later see him hospitalized. He told me so in an apologetic e-mail.

It had his story attached. And it was perfect.

SP: You sold the project to Cemetery Dance Publications. How did that come about?

I had bought a copy of Richard Laymon's The Traveling Vampire Show from CD, along with a copy of The Best of Cemetery Dance and I thought the quality and design of both books was superb. On the inside back flap of TBOCD was an e-mail address for Richard Chizmar, so I promptly wrote to him with my idea. I didn't get a response (due no doubt to the fact that the book was a few years old, and so was the address). A few months later, I wrote to him at another address with another idea/pitch (Brimstone Turnpike) and mentioned Taverns in passing. His response was something I'll never forget. Not only was he interested in Brimstone, he also offered me a contract for Taverns. Talk about your highlights...

SP: You've since edited Quietly Now, a tribute to Charles L. Grant, a charity anthology (Tales from the Gorezone), and Night Visions 12. Are you going to continue editing anthologies as long as there is a market for them?

I'm not going to say 'yes' or 'no' to that, because I'm not sure, but anthology editing is only fun when it doesn't interfere with my own writing, and these days, with my energy going toward novels, I'm not sure if there's time for both, and writing will always win out over editing, any day of the week. That being said, there is one more anthology I'd like to do. It's an idea that has been with me almost as long as Taverns. I'd like to get that done before I throw in the towel. But I'm thrilled with the projects I've done so far, so if I never edit another anthology, I won't consider it a tragedy.

Nor, I suspect, will my critics.

SP: So what's up next for you?

I'm currently revising my first novel, Master of the Moors, which went out as an e-serial (graciously sponsored by Subterranean Press), and that's consuming most of my time right now. Once that's done, I'll be starting on a second novel, tentatively titled Remains. Other than that, there are the screenplays, sundry short stories, my proofing/copyediting sideline, and the ever-increasing struggle to retain my soul and sanity in a world gone mad.

SP: Thanks for your time!

SP: My pleasure!