The best part about starting my Evil Evals and Ask an Author sessions, is the opportunity it's created for me to learn more about all the cool people in our horror community!
Radar's name popped up quite a bit for me, since we interact with a lot of the same people, and it's been a pleasure to chat with him more. His book The Altar from Space* is what he sent me to officially review, along with a few short stories, and I really enjoyed them all. The guy can certainly write some great monsters - I can't tell you how much I cringed while picturing the abominations in The Altar from Space! When someone cooks up some creative monstrosities, it always makes me curious about their person take on horror.
Keep scrolling to see what questions I had for him, and some of his writing/horror preferences! Then of course, go look him up and buy books! $
1. What factors do you think make space such a terrifying setting for a story?
I think it’s a dual combo of how vast it is and how little we know about it. Nothing is more terrifying than the unknown. You couple that with an infinitely stretching void, you’ve got yourself some nightmare fuel for sure.
2. Do you think sci-fi is easier to write because there’s so much freedom in terms of what is/isn’t possible, or more difficult?
It certainly helps when your main characters get hurt in one book and you don’t want to leave them lying in a hospital bed for the sequel. All in all, I would say it’s easier because the possibilities are nearly endless in sci-fi when it comes to technology. It’s a lot easier to make a compelling story with a flying car than to try to do it without one.
3. Are your creatures based on what’s scariest for you, or what you know are common fears or things that gross people out? (Or are those one and the same?)
I base my creatures on what things I would absolutely love to see in movies or read about in books. The more unique and terrifying a monster is, the more I’m all behind it. I’ve been that way ever since watching John Carpenter’s The Thing and seeing all the crazy things the alien turns into. Since then, I’ve been trying to find the craziest looking creatures, and if I can’t find them then damnit I’m gonna make them!
4. If Valentine’s Day were to get its own monster, what do you think it would be?
I’m thinking it would be a giant heart that’s been formed from all the flesh of lonely, single people. Complete with two enormous arms that drag it along and a gargantuan mouth that can eat people in one bite. It would also have two faces, one in the front that’s always frowning and one in the back that’s always smiling.
5. If you found yourself in a situation similar to what’s in The Altar from Space, who would you want on your team on the ship?
The entire defense of the 1985 Chicago Bears because I feel that’s probably the only way I’m going to make it out of there alive.
6. Who is your favorite Final Girl and what puts her at the head of the pack?
I have to give it to Laurie Strode from John Carpenter’s Halloween. She was the first final girl I really ever saw on film so that certainly has stuck with me through the years. It definitely helps that Michael Myers is also my favorite slasher of all time, so it makes her besting him seem like that much more of an accomplishment.
7. As an author, which social media platform has been the most helpful for you with networking/advertising/etc.?
Twitter by far has been the best platform to connect with other writers and publishers. Now when it comes to advertising and finding readers for books…that’s a work in progress. That part is honestly a mystery that no one has solved yet.
8. If they remade Event Horizon and had to combine it with elements from another film, which one would you want them to use?
I’ve got one word for you…Hellraiser!
9. What is your least favorite trope in horror (written or on-screen)?
The haunted house movie where it takes the spirits forty-five minutes of the film to do anything significant. If I was a ghost I would be flinging dishes about the moment a family got everything unpacked in my house!
10. If you could only choose one, what piece of advice would “Current” you give “Just Starting to Write” you?
The writing industry is very subjective, to say the least. Just because one publisher didn’t like your story, doesn’t mean you have a bad one on your hands. Keep submitting until you found the publisher that’s right for you. (Spoiler, you find at least one). It takes time, but eventually you’ll find the right publisher (and audience) for your dumb story about a killer couch.
Go find Radar and give him a follow!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Radarsteal1
*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.