20Q7A: An interview with Lucas Mangum

20 Questions, 7 Answers is an interview series for writers of bizarro and horror fiction. Each author receives the same batch of 20 questions...but they may only answer 7.

This week's guest is Lucas Mangum...

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What's your latest book, and how does it differ from your previous work?

LM: FLESH AND FIRE is a supernatural horror novel with a strong romantic element. It’s different from my previous work in that, according to the rest of the world, it exists. It’s my first published novel. As part of Journalstone’s Doubledown Series (their two-books in one line), it comes with a brand new zombie adventure by Jonathan Maberry and Rachael Lavin.

If it was socially acceptable to wear anything as clothing, how would you dress?

LM: Without a doubt, I would put on a pair of wrestling tights and face paint, and walk the streets of my city flexing my meager muscles. That may sound weird, but that’s nothing by Austin standards. I’d fit right in, I’m sure. Maybe I’ll try it tonight.

Who or what is your favorite movie monster, and why?

LM: I’ve always thought Belial from BASKET CASE was strangely cute. The Tall Man from PHANTASM is terrifying and formidable. The KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You also can’t go wrong with killer Halloween masks that, as far as I can tell, turn children’s faces into bugs and snakes? (HALLOWEEN III) So, I guess that’s a toss-up.

If you could survive on one food for the rest of your life with no health repercussions, what would it be?

LM: Vegan sour gummy worms!

Twilight Zone or Outer Limits?

LM: THRILLER, hosted by Boris Karloff.

What happens when you die?

LM: Someone told me you void your bowels when you die, but that sounds ridiculous to me. I think people need to stop relying on poop jokes for cheap laughs.

What’s your secret?

LM: I kind of think poop jokes are hilarious.

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Lucas Mangum is an author living in Austin, TX. He enjoys wrestling, cats, wrestling with cats, and drinking craft beer while crafting weird stories. Hit him up on Twitter @LMangumFiction and talk horror movies and books, or visit his website, www.lucasmangum.com.

20Q7A: An interview with Monica J. O'Rourke

20 Questions, 7 Answers is an interview series for writers of bizarro and horror fiction. Each author receives the same batch of 20 questions...but they may only answer 7.

This week's guest is Monica J. O’Rourke...
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What's your latest book, and how does it differ from your previous work?

MJO: I’m finally going to jump in and try NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) this year. (It happens to be every November. Google for details.) I have a week to decide on the plot, but I have three novels I want to write … and this one will likely be a thriller (with lots of horror elements).

My latest novel (What Happens in the Darkness, published about two years ago) is a post-apocalyptic vampire novel that takes place mainly in NYC. My vampires don’t sparkle. And while this book is much tamer (less gory) than my usual books, there are still some really nasty scenes.

Do you have any creative endeavors other than writing fiction (art, music, knitting)?

MJO: I sing … used to want to sing professionally. I love singing anything Broadway, and torch songs/ballads/standards, and old rock ’n’ roll (’50s mostly). I used to play the bass … badly. LOL.

If you could have chosen your own name when you were born, what would it have been?

MJO: When I was a teenager just discovering horror writers, I wanted to call myself Stephanie King. Around the same time, I decided on the pseudonym Erica Criss-Carr (a combo of KISS drummers Eric Carr and Peter Criss). Luckily I outgrew both ideas.

Thank God my father didn’t get his way. He wanted to name me Xaviera (the real name of prostitute/“Happy Hooker” author).

What was your greatest Halloween costume?

MJO: When I was around eleven, my two cousins, brother, and I dressed up as KISS (this was around 1977, so it was the original lineup). I was Peter Criss. We made our own costumes, and my cousin Mark did an amazing job with our makeup. And then my aunt Jean made us wear our winter coats because this was waaaay upstate NY (Adirondack Mountains) and it was cold! But as soon as we were down the road we ditched our coats. I think we walked twenty miles trick-or-treating that night.

If you could be reincarnated as a sentient but inanimate object, what would you like to be?

MJO: I can’t imagine being sentient but unable to move … what torture. Reminds of that French man who “dictated” a book after suffering a debilitating illness … he blinked the entire book to write it, and an assistant typed it. Mind-numbingly amazing.

What is your writing environment like? (Are you out in public or in seclusion? Is there noise? Is there coffee? Do you type on a laptop or write longhand on lined notebook paper?)

MJO: I work from home as an editor, and though I’m not writing much lately, I also write from home. There’s always coffee. And cats. Sometimes the cats (well, Mac anyway) plants his big butt on my keyboard and tries to take over. I tend to write longhand … I find I’m more creative that way. But then the transcribing is a nightmare! Half the time I can’t read my own serial-killer handwriting.

What happens when you die?

MJO: We don’t “die.” We move from one incarnation to another. We’re all spiritual beings sharing an earthly experience. We’re here to learn, and then we return home to study what we learned. We choose our own paths on this planet, those experiences—good and bad—that help us grow. This is why I no longer fear death.

Don’t get me started on time (a manmade construct) or synchronicity! :)

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Monica J. O’Rourke has published more than one hundred short stories in magazines such as Postscripts, Nasty Piece of Work, Fangoria, Flesh & Blood, Nemonymous, and Brutarian and anthologies such as Horror for Good (for charity), The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra, and Eulogies II. She is the author of Poisoning Eros I and II, written with Wrath James White, Suffer the Flesh, and the collection In the End, Only Darkness. Her latest novel, What Happens in the Darkness, is available from Sinister Grin Press. She works as a freelance editor, writer, and book coach. Find her on www.facebook.com/MonicaJORourke.

20Q7A: An interview with Tom Lucas

20 Questions, 7 Answers is an interview series for writers of bizarro and horror fiction. Each author receives the same batch of 20 questions...but they may only answer 7.

This week's guest is Tom Lucas...

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If you could have chosen your own name when you were born, what would it have been?

TL: According to my mom, there was a time when I wanted to be called Lance Crockett. It’s a combo of my favorite baseball player at the time (Lance Parrish) and Davy Crockett. Lance Crockett. What a name. That’s a guy who will rip your arms right out of your socket ‘cause you looked at him sideways. I should have stuck with it.

If it was socially acceptable to wear anything as clothing, how would you dress?

TL: I would like to go around town dressed like an old school Rollerball player. The 1970s version, not that bullshit remake nonsense. I would have to re-learn how to roller skate. It’s been a long time.

Who or what is your favorite movie monster, and why?

TL: Splice. I bet no one ever picks that one. Why? Did you see it? The ending? HOLY SHIT.

What was your greatest Halloween costume?

This question seems like a good one to answer considering…my favorite and best Halloween costume was a Tusken Raider from Star Wars. This costume was the real deal. My grandfather was a handy guy and he took an old football helmet and covered it with burlap and built in the breather and the whole shebang. That costume was so badass that I wore it three years in a row.

If you could survive on one food for the rest of your life with no health repercussions, what would it be?

TL: Pizza. It is the greatest of all foods and there’s plenty of variety with all the crazy toppings available to today’s discerning pizza customer.

Have you traveled outside your home country, and if so, where? Where would you like to go that you haven't been yet?

TL: Back in college (the olden days 'cause I am olden), I spent the summer semester in Krakow, Poland. It was 1990 and the Berlin Wall had just gone down. It was a wild, wild time. I toured a good chuck of Eastern Europe that summer as well, so that was cool.

I would love to make it down to Australia. Everything I see looks cool as hell and I really want to hang out with Adrian Shotbolt.

What happens when you die?

TL: George Carlin used to say that you get back everything you ever lost. I hope that’s not true. I have no use for 1257 ball point pens. But, on the flip side…I did lose a comic book collection when a tornado hit my house in 1997. Thousands of books right up in the air, gone forever. Sigh. Yeah, I hope I get those back.

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Tom Lucas was born and raised in Detroit, and although currently enjoying the lack of snow and ice in Florida, remains a son of the post-industrial apocalypse.

He is the author of the bizarro books Leather to the Corinthians and Pax Titanus.

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Universal Monster Rally

Last night, the fine folks at Exhumed Films and PhilaMOCA presented the Universal Monster Rally. The evening started off with a costume contest (two contests, actually - one for 12 & unders, another for 13 & ups), then moved into a more-than-two-hour marathon of Castle Films digests of Universal monster movies from 1931-1956, with a handful of trailers mixed in, before culminating in a 16mm print of Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man. What a fun night.

Fabio Frizzi: Frizzi 2 Fulci

Last week I was lucky enough to catch Fabio Frizzi in concert, performing with his Frizzi 2 Fulci Orchestra. Seeing and hearing the scores to films like Zombie/Zombi 2, The Beyond, and City of the Living Dead performed live is something I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to experience. I'm lucky I live in the only east coast city they hit on this short, 5-city North American tour.