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Zachary Ashford’s Short Sharp Shocks! The Encampment By The Gorge / Blood Memory is being published on the 27th September. Dean and Zach sat down recently to talk about it.
DEMAIN PUBLISHING: Great to speak to you Zach, welcome to the Demain family. First up then, tell us a little about yourself and how (and maybe even why) you became a writer. ZACHARY ASHFORD: Like most people, I think it starts with a simple love of stories. Having parents that read to me every night until I was able to take the mantle from them and read them myself is probably the first thing responsible, but the actual act of writing, I think, is owed to teachers. As I grew up, I used to tell my folks I wanted to be an author, and Mum had a good response to that. She would usually say, ‘Well, all the good ones were journalists first, so you need to take that pathway.’ So, I went to university to become a journalist. After that, I was offered a job with a radio station and I then spent several years in radio. At Christmas-time, I would write these comedic Christmas-themed radio plays, but I’d always make them horror-themed: Satan masquerading as Santa in an attempt to come to earth, Christmas zombies in the shopping centre, that sort of thing. The whole time, I had stories floating in the back of my mind. It wasn’t until I’d gone back to university, become an English teacher and matured that I developed the discipline required to sit and write consistently. In the last year or so, since I had my first story published by Dark Moon Digest, which was a fantastic moment – Max and Lori are great people and I still geek out over their stuff – I’ve been able to write pretty regularly. I’ve had a few stories accepted now, and the next step is that novella and then a novel. As for why, it’s just because of a love of story. Particularly, gruesome monsters and action-based violence; I love that stuff. I love coming up with ideas and feeling as if I can use them as metaphor or message. There’s nothing as rewarding as looking at something you’ve created and going, ‘Yeah, that’s good.’ DP: You are so right about that...can you tell our readers something about your stories? ZA: With Encampment by the Gorge, I let a linear thematic story grow into something I’m confident saying is visceral and intense when I focussed on telling a relentless cosmic horror. And with Blood Memory, I wanted to build some ‘monster as metaphor’ commentary on some pretty disgraceful Government policy decisions at the time. DP: So did you have to do much in the way of research? ZA: I’m a bit of a pantser when it comes to research. I’ll usually get to a key point that requires more info and then start Googling or making phone calls. I’m pretty sure the local cop-shop has me on a watch list for calling up and asking questions like, ‘Hey, who collects the dead bodies of from car accidents?’ or ‘What model is the gun you use?’ Typically, though, I just bullshit my way through something and if it feels right, I’m happy to rely on the suspension of disbelief. DP: That’s really cool that you have a link to the police and they can help you with your writing. I was watching a David Lynch documentary last night and he said much the same as well as contacts in the morgue who would let him come in and see the dead bodies...explains a lot ha ha! Lynch has always been an influence on us here at Demain – what authors / books have made a mark on you? ZA: I think like most people doing what we do, Stephen king is the obvious one. There are just so many great stories that it’s almost impossible not to be influenced by some of his work. Other than that, there is such a massive range of excellent authors working today, that anyone trying to improve their craft has to look at some of the work from an analytical perspective and break down the parts of the craft they can apply to their own writing. My favourite ever book is probably Lord of the Flies, but in terms of authors that I read regularly, I try to mix the classics in with the more modern stuff. My shelves are a mix of Steinbeck, Hemingway, McCarthy, King, Palahniuk, Richard Flanagan, Shakespeare, Mieville, Neal Stephenson. In terms of horror, The Fisherman by John Langan blew me away, Paul Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones, Max Booth III – and then there’s the Kindle…I could do this all day. Adam Cesare is fantastic. I really love his stuff. Chad Lutzke will break you. I wish I could write like Margaret Atwood. Too many dudes in here, by the way…Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes was easily one of the best books I’ve read in years. DP: Wow – that’s an eclectic mix and fair play to you. When I was first thinking about becoming a genre writer I spent my whole time reading horror books, nothing but horror because I thought that was the way to go. As I got slightly older though I realised that I needed to read all types of books to become the best writer I could be. You’ve noted some great writers / titles there – I need to check them out. Thank you. What then would you say is ‘horror.’ ZA: I have this discussion with students all the time. They’ll tell me something isn’t horror because ‘it’s not scary,’ and I always tell them that horror isn’t about the immediate scare (although that is a lot of fun,) it’s the thought it leaves you with. An uncomfortable theme, a disturbing truth, a realisation that, ‘yeah, things are broken and they’ll never get better, the idea that people die.’ I think if you compare Hereditary to the most recent Annabelle, you can really see that. Hereditary had me constantly fidgeting in my seat while that Annabelle movie – which was full of jump scares – was more like a Goosebumps book. By now, we know that in that world, people don’t get hurt. They share birthday cake at the end. In Hereditary, you can’t help but feel you’re watching a house burn down and you just can’t look away. DP: We are so on the same page about this! What genre book / film are you looking forward to? ZA: If you’d asked me two days ago, I’d have said It: Chapter Two, but that’s not applicable now. I did leave the cinema with a big smile on my face, though. I’m looking forward to seeing what can be done with the television series of the Dark Tower. I’m pretty excited to see what can be done with Y: The Last Man. Definitely the adaptation of The Troop by Nick Cutter. I loved that book. As for books, I can’t name any that are coming out off the top of my head, but I’m looking forward to seeing what Unnerving Mag’s Rewind or Die series looks like. Also, Max Booth III’s upcoming release through Cemetery Dance. DP: Nice. My favourite King film (and novel) is The Dark Half – Timothy Hutton is brilliant in that. In real life what scares you? ZA: Sharks, man. It’s probably more of a healthy respect, but I’m really glad I have a swimming pool. I read a lot about sharks in the local waters as part of my journalism degree, and there are just so many. I love that they’re in the water, and I hate things like the shark cull, but man, if I think things look even a little bit ‘sharky’ you can count me out. DP: Ha ha – I know what you mean, I won’t go in the water if it is too deep and though I want to buy a boat at some point in the future, I must make sure it is big enough! Creatively is there something you haven’t managed to achieve yet? ZA: Crossing that border into ‘novelist’ territory. That’s always been the ultimate goal. I’ve a couple of manuscripts. One, which I’m editing to make it a bit less clichéd and ‘tropey’. The other is non-horror and I should probably pay it more love in terms of trying to find a home for it. It’s kind of fallen by the wayside since I’ve been focussing on the horror stuff. DP: Okay, a fun one: Marvel or DC? ZA: I’m a Marvel fan-boy at heart. I’ve still got most of the first run of Deadpool (not the limited series), and a few others like the complete run of Nightstalkers, but if I put my adult head on, that Vertigo line was pure gold. The Invisibles is probably my all-time favourite. So, Marvel with a caveat that says the real prize-winner is DC’s Vertigo line. DP: Wow you know your stuff. It’s probably a good job I didn’t ask which actor you thought played Spiderman the best (for me, Tom Holland hands down) but we’ll keep that question for another time. Final question then – can you tell us something surprising about you? ZA: For several of my formative years at the end of high school, I spent my weekends volunteering at Australia Zoo, the home of the Irwins. The kids were just babies and I remember seeing Bindi taking tentative steps while carrying a small python. I was just a kid myself, and Terri knew me as the guy with the zebra-patterned Reebok shoes, which she commented on every time. Steve was exactly as he was on television. His personality wasn’t a persona, he was that nice. The first time I met him on a personal level, he came into the bathroom while I was at the urinal. He didn’t wait to shake my hand. He reached across the trough and introduced himself there and then. If that doesn’t sum him up as a person, I don’t know what does. Now that is a cool story to end with! Thank you Zachary for your time. We wish you all the best with your Short Sharp Shocks! If you would like to connect with Zach direct: Website: www.zacharyashford.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashford_zachary
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CategoriesArchives
November 2023
AuthorDean M. Drinkel |