ARE YOUR BOOKS GORY?
YES. And there is violence and mayhem.
Sex?
YES, please. All kidding aside, there’s not much actual SEX in the first four books and the prequel. Well, NOTHING THAT WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED IN A TYPICAL PRE-ADOLESCENT “KISSING FORT,” Or, Later, A basement family room OR FORD PINTO while “FOOLED AROUND AND FELL IN LOVE” played. in the first four books, there’s a bit of what used to be called “heavy Petting.” in the final book, things go below the waist just a few times. THE DESCRIPTIONS are VIScERAL, but are never as explicit as even what one might encounter in a stephen king novel.
Do dirty words Appear in your books?
yep. THE SeVEN THAT COMEDIAN GEORGE CARLIN TAUGHT US. AND THEN SOME. AN OLDER KID, THE BROTHER OF ONE OF THE CLIFFSIDERS (WELL, THEY BOTH ACTUALLY LIVED A STREET OR TWO OVER), TAUGHT US SOME DOOZIES. THE ROLES OF OLDER KIDS AS THEY RELATE TO YOUNGER ONES ARE FEATURED PROMINENTLy in the chronicles since no little SQUIRT wanted certain types of information from their parents. I mean, REalLY. THE DOWNSIDE WAS THAT WE GOT FED A LOT OF BS, especially about seX. Not that even the best parents explained it that well.
are the characters really based on people you knew?
MOSTLY. I’VE CHANGED THE NAMES IN ALL CASES, BUT A FEW ARE RECOGNIZABLE (DELIBERATELY I MIGHT ADD; I THINK OF THEM AS EASTER EGGS OF SORTS FOR THOSE READERS THAT I KNEW AND THAT KNEW ME IN THE TIME AND PLACE IN WHICH THE BOOKS ARE SET). TRUTH BE TOLD, I’VE BEEN LESS CIRCUMSPECT ABOUT THE VILLAINS – TWO Card-CARRYING Bullies THAT MAKE BIFF TANNEN IN “BACK To the future” look like a choirboy. Take notice, richie and Ricky! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. THEN AGAIN, I’m not sure the loads those two are based on could actually reaD.
WHY DO YOU WRITE THIS STUFF?
AT LEAST TO SOME EXTENT – CALL IT THE “MICRO LEVEL” – IT’S DOWN TO CERTAIN SCARRING MEMORIES AND SCARY EXPERIENCES. LIKE GETTING LOST IN THE WOODS WHEN I WAS 6. LIKE BEING STABBED IN THE EYE WITH A PENCIL IN 2ND GRADE. LIKE WAKING UP AFTER SURGERY TO SEEING TWO HEAVY NEEDLES STICKING OUT OF ME THAT HAD BEEN POUNDED THROUGH MY LEFT ANKLE AND KNEE (AND CONTEMPLATING THE DAY WHEN THEY’D BE PULLED OUT). NOT TO MENTION THE HORRORS (RELATIVELY SPEAKING) THAT ARE FOISTED ON US BY ADOLESCENCE (WHICH IS, BY THE WAY, WHY I THINK I FIND A CERTAIN SYNERGY BETWEEN COMING-OF-AGE STORIES AND HORROR STORIES). LATER CAME THE HORRORS EXPERIENCED AS AN ADULT, THE MOST GUTTING OF WHICH WAS THE ACCELERATED DECREPITUDE AND DEATH OF MY PARENTS. THAT HIT ME HARD, SINCE EVER SINCE I WAS LITTLE I’D SIMPLY ASSUMED THEY’D LIVE FOREVER. AND I THINK THAT PART OF THE CHILD ME (AS OPPOSED TO THE CHILD IN ME) HELD SWAY WELL INTO ADULTHOOD, EVEN AS THEY AGED UP UNTIL THE TIME THEIR PASSING BECAME INEVITABLE. CAREGIVING FOR ONE’S PARENTS IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART, AND CAN OFTEN BE THE STUFF OF REAL, PERSONALLY IMPACTFUL HORROR. UPON CONSULTING THE CLOSEST THING THE GENRE HAS TO AN “ORACLE” – NOVELIST STEPHEN KING – I FOUND THAT IN THE FOREWORD TO HIS 1978 COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES, NIGHT SHIFT, HE ANSWERS THE QUESTION OF WHY HE WRITES HORROR WITH A QUESTION: “WHY DO YOU ASSUME THAT I HAVE A CHOICE?” I TAKE THAT TO MEAN THAT WRITING ANYTHING IS A KIND OF OBSESSIVE BEHAVIOR, OR COMPULSION, AND OBSESSIONS ARE, BY THEIR VERY NATURE, BEYOND OUR CONTROL. KING WRITES “THIS STUFF” BECAUSE IT’S WHAT HE WRITES ABOUT, OR, WHAT HE IS COMPELLED TO WRITE ABOUT – OR, EVEN, WHAT HE MUST WRITE ABOUT. AND I FEEL THE SAME WAY. I’VE TRIED TO WRITE SPY STORIES AND THRILLERS AND HAVE WRITTEN SEVERAL STAGE PLAYS. BUT NOTHING SEEMS TO PROVIDE THE SCRATCH TO WHATEVER ITCHES ME IN TERMS OF RECKONING WITH MY PAST – MY HISTORY, IF YOU WILL – LIKE HORROR DOES. I WOULDN’T CONSTRUE THAT TO MEAN I HAD A HORRIBLE CHILDHOOD. NOT AT ALL. IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, IT SEEMS TO BE THE BEST GENRE FOR ME IN TERMS OF MY NEED TO WRITE “AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FICTION.” FOR ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO ANSWER THE QUESTION THAT RESONATES WITH MY WRITERLY MOTIVATIONS AND GOALS, AGAIN INVOKING SOMETHING KING WROTE ABOUT WRITING HORROR, CHECK OUT AN ESSAY BY RICHARD GAVIN AT “THE TEEMING BRAIN” HERE.