Good Wednesday,

The Lockbox is happy to have a guest today. You may remember Stephanie Wytovich. I interviewed her last summer. Well, she’s back, and she’s going to talk about her forthcoming book of horror poetry, HYSTERIA.

Without further ado, here she is.

-So…talk to us about HYSTERIA. What’s it about?

The easy answer is that HYSTERIA is about madness, but to me, it’s always been about acceptance. When I sat down and decided to start writing it, I essentially decided to go a little mad myself. There was nothing easy about writing this collection: no fun nights composing next to the moon, no clever evenings spent making up metaphors and bringing characters to life.

It was hard.

And it was painful.

I read a lot of abnormal psychology, studied the diseases of the brain, and traveled across the states to visit different asylums and feel the air and the charge of what it meant to be locked up in solitary. I sat in the isolation rooms of West Virginia’s State Penitentiary, and spent the night at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.

And then I met her.

Hysteria.

Most of the pieces came to me late at night, crazed and racked by insomnia, and when they did, they were fluent and clear, as if I were talking to the characters one-on-one. I wrote down their voices, shaped the faces that I saw in my nightmares, and looking back, it’s no wonder I didn’t sleep. The patients that readers will meet in this collection are vicious, cruel, and more often than not, completely insane.

Although there are a few innocents.

But who out there is really walking around with a clean conscience?

-What inspired you to put the book together?

When I was an undergraduate at Seton Hill University, I had to start a blog for my Intro. To Literary Study course. I heard everyone talking about blogs and their importance, but to me, it just seemed like another chore that I had to maintain when all I wanted to do was write poetry and study art. But, I created one…quite sarcastically at that.

“Join me in the madhouse,” I said.

Blogging drove me insane, and I hated doing it. And then one day, I hated it a little less, and then even lesser than that. The crazy part about it was that I soon started doing it for fun. I played with the madhouse theme, reviewing psychological films and critiquing books under the veil of psychoanalytic criticism. I read a lot of Freud—probably too much Freud—and paid special attention to his ideas on sexuality and the uncanny.

I saw madness—erotic, uncanny madness—everywhere I went.
The thick, black sludge of the mind’s breaking point.

And when I realized that madness broods inside us all—whether we choose to accept it or not—I knew that I had to explore it, dissect it, rip it apart with a scalpel and study it.

And so I did.

-Is there anything in there that shocked even you?

The entire collection was/is quite shocking to me. Yes, I realize that probably sounds odd considering I write horror, but I don’t think I’ve ever created something so dark, so angry before. There are pieces in there that I look at and think who/what wrote that?

But that’s what I wanted.

I wanted the voice that not only sits in the shadows, but is the shadows. I wanted darkness, blackness, and madness all wrapped up in a straightjacket and ready to go.

And then I wanted to release it and watch the asylum burn.

-Do you ever see yourself writing anything but horror?

Horror is what I do—what I love to do—and I can’t imagine doing anything else, because let’s face it… horror is in everything. What’s scarier than exploring space and meeting aliens? What’s more frightening than meeting creatures that exist only in your wildest dreams? And what’s more horrifying than falling in love?

Fear is in everything.

It doesn’t matter what genre I’m writing in.

I’m going to strangle it and take it down.

-Name a book/tv show/movie you like that would surprise people.

Something that would surprise people, eh?

I’ve seen every episode of Spongebob to date.

And I was there opening day to see the movie when it came out.

That crazy, yellow sponge cracks me up.

Preorder your copy of HYSTERIA here.

Find Stephanie on the web at her blog. Follow her on Twitter @JustAfterSunset.

She’s also on Goodreads. Enter the giveaway to win a free copy of HYSTERIA!

“Also, I’ll be reading from Hysteria at Kafe Kerouac on August 2 from 7-9 p.m. alongside fellow poets John Edward Lawson and Michael A. Arnzen to kick off DogCon2. There will be comedy, madness, and amputated prose, not to mention a whiskey tasting to follow! We’d love to see you there!”

About Stephanie
Stephanie M. Wytovich is an Alum of Seton Hill University where she was a double major in English Literature and Art History. Wytovich is published in over 40 literary magazines and HYSTERIA is her first collection. She is currently attending graduate school to pursue her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction, and is working on a novel. She is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press and a book reviewer for S.T. Joshi, Jason V. Brock and William F. Nolan’s Nameless Magazine. She plans to continue in academia to get her doctorate in Gothic Literature.

Check out my previous interview of Stephanie here.

I am overjoyed to announce that I was recently accepted into Blood Type: An Anthology of Vampire SF on the Cutting Edge. This is an anthology that I submitted to quite a while ago, with a story that I really grew to love. In fact, I could see it becoming a full length novel, and possibly a series some day.

All net proceeds from sales of this anthology will go to The Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The theme of this anthology is the perfect match for such an amazing organization.

Within this collection, I am honored to stand alongside such greats as William F. Nolan, Peter Giglio, Mike Resnik, Taylor Grant, and many more.

The scheduled release date is October 31st, 2013, however I will be sure to communicate any updates as they are available

Table of Contents:

1. The Undying by William F. Nolan**
2. Taxing Youth by Rebecca Brown
3. The Souls of Stars by Amelia Mangan
4. Evergreen by Peter Giglio
5. Reptile House by Stephen Graham Jones*
6. Accommodation by Michael R. Collings*
7. A Little Night Music by Mike Resnick*
8. Predators of Tomorrow by Michael Kamp
9. Mountains of Ice by Jilly Paddock
10. Occupation by James Ninness
11. Orientation Day by Peter Watts
12. The Pilot by Jason Duke
13. Unperished by S.R. Algernon
14. Eudora by James S. Dorr
15. A River of Blood, Carried into the Abyss by John Palisano
16. Better for Burning by H.E. Roulo
17. I Was There… by Tarl Hoch
18. Strays by Robert S. Wilson
19. Damned to Life by Essel Pratt
20. Happy Hour by GN Braun
21. Temporary Measures by Jay Wilburn
22. I, Vampire by David N. Smith & Violet Addison
23. Slave Arm by Laird Barron
24. Gods and Devils by Taylor Grant
25. 17 by Jonathan Templar
26. Chrysalis by Jason V. Brock
27. Data Suck by Benjamin Kane Ethridge
28. Sun Hungry by Tim Waggoner
29. Wet Heavens by Brian Fatah Steele

Neat chap book that includes a Bibliography along with the not previously anthologized noir short story “Strippers Have To Die” and a superhero comics primer titled “The Guys In Trick Suits” from 1967.

One of the greats from Golden Age standing with Bradbury, Matheson, Beaumont and Bloch; it’s a limited edition from the publisher but well worth the read.

The Devil’s Coattails

William F. Nolan and Jason V. Brock

Cycatrix Press

2011

288 pagine

$39.95

Consiglio questa raccolta di racconti a coloro che sono in grado di leggere in inglese (purtroppo, come tutte le produzioni originali e interessanti, non è ancora uscita in italiano).
The Devil”s Coattails, curata da William F. Nolan e Jason Brock, ha un’introduzione firmata da S.T. Joshi, autore di molti studi critici e letterari, come The Weird Tale (1990). Al suo interno troviamo delle perle come un racconto di Ramsey Campbell, The Moons, una simbolica e terribile metafora dell’infanzia vista come periodo dell’esplorazione.
In Object Lesson, Jason Brock affronta il difficile tema dell’eutanasia con struggente delicatezza.
È presente un breve racconto di Dan O’Bannon, Invocation, sul tema dell’invocazione diabolica, puro orrore condensato in poche righe.
In Gunboat Whores, John Shirley immagina un episodio della vita del celebre pistolero Wyatt Earp.
William F. Nolan, in Dread Voyage, rielabora il tema epico classico.
Melanie Tema, in Best friends, è un racconto melanconico e amaro sul tema della perdita.
Il racconto breve Night Food, di Jerry E. Airth, parla di donne zanzare che seducono e uccidono uomini, ma alcuni hanno imparato a difendersi da esse, mentre in Too Good to be Human di J. Brundage, troviamo al bizzarra storia di Athena, una donna con tre braccia che lavora in un ufficio e viene vessata dai colleghi.
Il racconto di James Robert Smith, On the First Day, affronta anch’esso la tematica diabolica, dando un’interpretazione da brividi e insolita sul concetto di Dio.
Barrels Ready di Norman Corwin è invece un breve saggio su un personaggio del passato conosciuto dall’autore, intriso da una forte nostalgia, mentre Cattiwampus Steve Rasnic Tem si basa su un racconto popolare degli Appalachi, rielaborandolo in modo originale.
Troviamo inoltre uno scritto di Richard Christian Matheson (memorabile autore da poco scomparso), Interrogation, denso di significati nella sua brevità.
The Woods Colt di Earl Hamner Jr. è la storia di una casa infestata e di segreti di famiglia che riemergono.
Dying to Forget è un racconto di Sunni K. Brock che affronta i temi della morte e della rinascita, mentre Invisible di Nancy Kilpatrick è una ghost-story che parla di una macchina fotografica in grado di mostrare la presenza di spettri.
Can You Imagine di Paul Salamoff è un poema che immagina una società libera dalla tecologia, mentre A New Anthology Series – Knife Through the Veil di Marc Scott Zicree è una sceneggiatura che l’autore ha presentato alla CBS come episodio per Twilight Zone TV Show, ma che fu rifiutata perché ritenuta troppo violenta.
The Hidden Realm è un racconto di W.H. Pugmire e Maryanna K. Snyder in cui s’immagina che Oscar Wilde sia terrorizzato da una strega che incontra per la strada, e il suo amico pittore Frank Miles abbia visioni demoniache.
If You Love Me di Paul G. Bens Jr racconta la storia di un omosessuale che chiama il 911 a causa della morte del suo compagno.
Ritengo si tratti di un’antologia interessante, con racconti insoliti e con un buon livello generale.
Da consigliare vivamente a chi ama il genere fantastico, le atmosfere perturbanti, ma sempre con una certa raffinatezza e cura formale.

Nolan on
Bradbury

William
F. Nolan; edited by S.T. Joshi

Hippocampus
Press, 2013

Nolan
on Bradbury
is a fascinating exploration into two stellar figures in speculative fiction,
their relationship over sixty years, and the intellectual cross-fertilization
that can occur when such minds meet and share.

More than a personal account and less
than an academic study (in all of the right ways), the book allows readers a kind
of continuous insight into a friendship and a working exchange. Following
introductory materials by Jason V. Brock, S. T. Joshi, and Ray Bradbury himself
(writing about Nolan), the book opens onto a series of chronologically arranged
articles and essays—including introductions and afterwords to a number of books—in
which Nolan speaks about Bradbury, beginning with their first encounters and
Nolan’s responses to them (1952) and concluding with Nolan’s “My Personal
Evaluation of Ray’s Finest Stories” (2013). Joshi comments in his introduction
that there is a certain level of necessary redundancy in the accounts, and he
is correct; key episodes in their friendship recur frequently, often using the
same sentences and vocabulary. But that is as it should be. The repetitions
remind readers that they are following a six-decade long series of conclusions
on Nolan’s part; the details of Bradbury’s career and influence may—and must—shift
as the essays progress, but at core, the essence of Bradbury remains the same.
Each repetition is placed into a different context and thereby gains depth and
resonance, linking the disparate essays into a unified whole.

The second major section, “Stories,”
presents Nolan’s fictions that he defines as either about Bradbury or
influenced by Bradbury’s style and approach. They range from serious stories,
such as “And Miles to Go Before I Sleep” and “To Serve the Ship,” to
exquisitely modulated parodies and satires, such as the perfectly titled “The
Dandelion Chronicles”—a loving tribute to Bradbury that encompasses most of his
recurring themes as well as his signature style. Each is distinctly Nolan; none could have been written without his
having first met Ray Bradbury.

“Tributes to Ray Bradbury” and “Afterword:
The Return of Ray B.” round off the volume by giving space to Nolan, Brock,
John C. Tibbetts, Joshi, and Greg Bear to speak personally and, as it were,
conclusively about Bradbury and his influence. Each offers more insight into a
complex, multi-faceted, tremendously influential genius. Each is much
appreciated.

The final part is a short but useful
bibliography of major works, collections, stories, and other writings by both
Nolan and Bradbury. It is an appropriate capstone to this involving study of
writing, writers, friends, and friendships.