Most recently, I had the opportunity to interview horror author, Jeremy C. Shipp. He has over forty publications including four books that he warns will sometimes kill trees. Fungus of the Heart (his latest), Cursed and Vacation, a collected stories volume entitled Sheep and Wolves, as well as many stories that can be found among the pages of The Magazine of Bizzaro Fiction, Harlan County Horrors and Cemetery Dance, just to name just a few.
And without further adieu, I present a peek into the mind of Jeremy C. Shipp.
Q: I have to confess that I have this stereotypical image of a horror writer in my head that’s something along the lines of a hunched over guy in a dungeon-like basement, typing furiously with four cigarettes smoldering away and every so often letting loose a mad scientist cackle while rubbing their hands together in an oh-so-evil way… What’s the true story? What is your writing process really like?
A: The truth is, I write hunched over in an office overflowing with weird statues and toys such as a half-naked Santa in a mason jar, typing furiously with organic, aflatoxin free peanut butter on the roof of my mouth and every so often letting loose a giggle as my pygmy tigers, as I like to call them, perform near-impossible acrobatic feats.
Q: How long have you been writing and when did the horror genre come into focus for you?
A: In fourth grade, I wrote my first short story, about an alien named Chomper with an affinity for opera. Then, when I was 13, I wrote my first novel, and I’ve been writing almost constantly ever since. I started creating horror stories when I was a little boy, playing pretend with my brothers. Some of our recurring characters included a mummy, death, and a floating mouth that could eat people and send them to strange alternate dimensions.
Q: If you could be one of your own characters in real life, which one would you be and why?
A: I’d probably be Cicely from Cursed. She has a good attitude, and she knows how to draw monsters.
Q: Got any elves that can come do my dishes when I go to sleep?
A: I’m afraid not. However, I once owned an anthropomorphic dish who was rather skilled at washing elves. He eventually ran off with some spoon.
Q: You personify and bring to life people’s nightmares in your writing [see clowns]. Is there anything that you’re afraid of?
A: Heights, mold, clowns, hierarchical thinking, lack of empathy.
Q: Speaking of clowns, every third Facebook post of yours gives me visions of Killer Clowns from Outer Space luring unwitting children from fast food diners, inciting uncontrollable chills… What gives with all the clowns?
A: A murder of clowns moved into my attic a couple years ago, and they’ve been tormenting me ever since. They throw moldy pies at me. They sic their undead balloon animals on me. They even perform unnecessary surgeries on me in my sleep using rusty scalpels and rubber chicken beaks.
Q: How’ve the garden gnomes been treating you lately?
A: Me and the garden gnomes, we get along splendidly. I give them all our banana peels, and in exchange, they stave off the apocalypse using sacred sporks.
Q: Does your writing give you nightmares or do nightmares give you writing?
A: Both. Also, sometimes, my nightmares give my writing nightmares, and my writing gives my nightmares nightmares.
Q: If you could take over the mind of any writer for a day, who would it be and what would you do?
A: I would take over my own mind and I’d force myself to tickle an attic clown and to do other strange things that I would never do.
Q: What do your mini tigers [cats] think of the attic clowns? Or, do your cats turn into the attic clowns and torment you? I could totally see cats doing that…
A: My cats have the power to transform into attic clowns (as all cats do), but they would never use this power, as cats are highly allergic to evil. Thankfully, attic clowns are highly allergic to cuteness, and so the cats and the clowns leave each other well enough alone.
Q: Is there a question you’ve never been asked that you wish someone would and what would be your answer?
A: I’d love to be asked: What’s your favorite peanut butter-based meal? That would have to be peanut butter and watermelon sandwiches, cereal and peanut butter, or peanut butter smothered in peanut butter with a nice peanut butter sauce.
Q: Random parting thoughts?
1. Eating baby corn makes me feel like a giant.
2. The best thing about being in a pickle is eating your way out.
3. Evil twins are people too.
4. I kill zombies for the rush. I eat their brains for the irony.
You can find autographed copies for sale by clicking HERE! To purchase from Amazon, click the cover images.
Or, you can be entered to win a copy of Fungus of the Heart by signing up for Jeremy C. Shipp’s newsletter HERE or by entering on GOODREADS.
You can find Jeremy on FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, TWITTER, and be sure to visit his WEBSITE, that is to say if you aren’t afraid of clowns, running toasters and poka-dot penguin armies…
