This week's guest is Jeremy C. Shipp...
JCS: Once in a blue Smurf moon, I enjoy designing and hand-sewing little monster plushies. They rarely come to life and attempt to devour my spleen, so that’s a plus. Most of the time, they simply sit on the shelf, blinking chthonic messages in morse code.
If it was socially acceptable to wear anything as clothing, how would you dress?
JCS: I would most likely dress as Pizza Bear every day of the week. Pizza Bears are beautiful, graceful creatures, strong enough to crush an aluminum can, and fast enough to outrun a diseased tortoise. To dress as Pizza Bear is to embrace the beauty of life and to display to the world your love of pepperoni.
If you could invent a new sport, what would it be like?
JCS: My favorite sport would be where two people get possessed by as many ghosts and demons as possible, and then they battle it out in the ring. The world might not survive such a sport, but at least it would be a fun way to go.
JCS: Can I list 10 of my favorites instead?
*takes out Scott puppet constructed out of dust bunnies and twigs* “Yes, that sounds good to me.”
Oh, thanks, Scott. Anyway, 10 of my favorites are: Saga of the Swamp Thing, Fables, Persepolis, Watchmen, American Born Chinese, The Sandman, Saga, Hyperbole and a Half, and The Encyclopedia of Earth Earth.
*the puppet stares* “Jeremy, that’s only nine.”
Quiet, you.
If you could be reincarnated as a sentient but inanimate object, what would you like to be?
JCS: My choice would have to be an anthropomorphic spork. I’d travel from town to town, performing a vaudeville act in an inflatable theater. My partners would be a tap-dancing hedgehog in a top hat and a troupe of sentient shadow puppets.
What's the most disgusting thing about the human body?JCS: I think the most disgusting thing is when the holes in your back open up and withering fingers start to push out. Tiny lipless mouths open where the fingernails should be. The mouths scream and the fingers snap and your mind swirls with thoughts of ripped cuticles. This happens to everyone, right?
What's your secret?
JCS: The secret is to bounce ideas off your cats, stick your hand in a barrel of beans, pop bubble wrap, paint cute demons on the ceiling, trip on nothing, drop your phone in the toilet, tickle your inner demons, dress your inner child in Jedi robes, dip your ego in chocolate, and convince your id it’s a chicken.
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Jeremy C. Shipp is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Cursed, Vacation, and Sheep and Wolves. His shorter tales have appeared in over 70 publications, the likes of Cemetery Dance, ChiZine, Apex Magazine, Withersin, and Shroud Magazine. His twitter handle is @JeremyCShipp.
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