Welcome back to the regular scheduling for Inchoate Ascendant™. I am still sort of on hiatus, but only because I
have three more great interviews. Please continue to check back in for the rest of them including:
June 11: Marty Young
June 18: Cassie Hart.
Masters of Horror Anthology: Interview with B. L. Morgan
B. L. Morgan was interviewed by Karen Johnson Mead. His contribution to the anthology is titled "The Ladies of the Scale".
Where did you come up with your anthology idea?
I love to do short stories that are inspired by songs that I like, especially songs that seem to be long forgotten. Ladies of the Scale was originally inspired by The Lamia by Genesis. It’s a very weird song and the story is weird also. I just liked the feel of the song and tried to give that feel to my story.
How long did it take for you to put together your story?
This story was put together some years ago. To tell you the truth I don’t actually remember exactly how long it took to do. I would guess it took around a week to complete it.
Why did you submit your MoH story – was it one you have had for a while or one that you put together especially for the Anthology?
1st Question: It was because Lee Pletzers is the guy that runs the publishing house. He’s one of my favorite authors in the world. He’s not gotten even one percent of the notice that he should get. He’s also extremely honest and hardworking. I have found that while most authors are hardworking finding a publisher that is hardworking and honest is extremely difficult. Lee always does the honorable thing. He should run for president over here. We need somebody in the US that we believe is really honest.
2nd Question: I wrote this story some years ago. I can’t even remember when. It’s always been one of my favorites and never been published. I did send it out to an anthology that was cancelled and after that got seriously into learning novel writing and stopped producing shorts. (I really should do some more.)
What research / preparation did you do for your story?
Not a whole lot. Listened to the song The Lamia maybe twenty times to get the strange mood that it put me in. Mixed it with another type of story that I had always wanted to do (a hit-man type thing) and went at it. Preparation? I don’t remember actually preparing a lot for this one. The character was pretty much there when I started and the setting grew as the story went. It was a strange journey this guy takes.
Who’s story are you most looking forward to reading? Why?
Actually I look forward to reading all the shorts from all the authors for one reason: I haven’t read hardly any short stories for a few years now and I do love reading short stories. Usually I read books that prepare me for the book I am doing. I am going to specifically take time out from that to dive into this collection and I’m really looking forward to experiencing some good short jolters.
Why do you write horror?
Actually, what I write doesn’t really seem to fit in any one genre. An example is the first novel I wrote: Blood And Rain had gang-bangers, drug dealers, voodoo and zombies in it. It also had a lot of violence and blood. Horror is the one genre where you can mix other genres and it still all goes together. Oh, one other reason: I like a lot of blood and guts in what I read and write so it usually is horror.
What is the fascination in it for you?
Stories that deal with life and death are basic to the human experience. We are most concerned about the eternal struggle against death and how to deal with the inevitability of the end in a brave and honorable way. Horror is fear. People want to conquer their fears but you’ve got to feel fear to conquer it.
How long have you been writing?
Since around the age of 10 or 11. I’ll be 51 on May 24th, 2010. I’ve been at it a few weeks.
Is writing your full time thing, or do you have a day job?
Sadly I haven’t been able to make enough money from writing to be able to quit the full time job. I do have a full time job as a property manager.
What is it?
We manage a rental property with over five hundred and fifty tenants. It does get interesting some days.
Why do you write?
Writing is a lifelong obsession that I choose to indulge. I am a reading addict and love falling into a good book and getting lost in the alternate reality of a very good story. I want to be able to give a reader what my favorite authors give me: a really good exciting roller coaster ride that is an escape from their daily lives. We all need to escape every now and then.
What are you currently working on?
Currently I am bumping up the word-count on a novel named Red Simon: Vampire Punk to submit it to the major publishers. It’s all a matter of taking the next step in career development.
After that, who knows? I may complete a novel I started working on before I got the word that Red Simon needed to be longer. Or I may just take a few months off and just do shorts. I’m not sure what comes next. That’s what makes life interesting.
To give a little bit about myself: I do value my privacy so this won’t be the place where you’ll read that juicy bit of tabloid stuff that seems to be everywhere these days. B.L.Morgan is actually Bob Morgan Jr. He lives in Washington with his wonderful wife Judi, a dog named Willard, and a cat named Dexter. Yes, our pets are named after characters from horror movies and television series.
I write anytime I can fit the time in. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and write for two hours then go back to bed. Sometimes it’s in the evening. Sometimes it’s before work in the morning. The times during the day vary. What I do that does seem to work for me when doing a novel is set a page count to get done per day. I make it so that it is an easy amount to get done and force myself to make certain that I get that amount of pages done.
This works at least for the first draft.
About me as a person: Again I am a very private person. I just can’t understand these people who do the reality shows where they get followed around with cameras twenty-four hours a day being filmed. To me, that would be hell. What if you want to scratch your ass or pick your nose? Would you have to tell the cameraman to go take a break?
Anyway, after a misspent youth where I did some extremely stupid things, I now live a very peaceful, quiet life with my wonderful wife. I used to be an adrenaline junkie and now I value peace and quiet. I guess I learned that every day does not have to be more exciting than the day that preceded it to be a very good day. Today will be a good day.
Books out: Blood And Rain, Blood For The Masses, Blood On Celluloid, (next month: Blood And Bones), Night Knuckles & You Play, You Pay.
What the future holds only God knows and he ain’t telling.
Title List
