Horror Anthology: Jeff Wood

The Black Beacon Book of Horror will be released on Friday the 13th of October; the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just $1.99 instead of $3.99 and you can add the anthology to your Goodreads list today. To get you in the mood for a particularly spooky Halloween this year, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. The first Black Beacon Book of Horror is bound to give you the creeps!

Hi Jeff,

Why do you write horror?

I’ve written in several genres, and horror may be the most elastic. It allows me to shape a story to fit any number of traumas and tropes. I can write about my life and the world around me, and grapple with my own fears and desires within the context of fiction.

Is there a story behind your story in this anthology?

I was raised Southern Baptist, but my family left the church when I was a kid. What I was left with was a conflict between a desire for religion and a deep distrust of it. The story comes from that ongoing battle. I was also raised in the Midwestern US in the 60s and 70s, when there was a casual cruelty toward animals, and insects in particular. That easy way of guiltlessly snuffing out the lives of other living things is an influence on the story as well.

Do you have an all-time favourite horror tale?

I remember two stories as being particularly influential. My sister brought home Shirley Jackson’s "The Lottery" after school one day, and made me sit down and read it immediately. My memory is of sitting on her bed, cross-legged, realizing for the first time that somebody wrote this. Meaning, it wasn’t just a story, there was a sensibility behind the story. Someone had thought about what story they wanted to tell, and the best way to tell it, and then wrote it. I had a similar reaction to Bradbury’s "A Sound of Thunder", and the description of the T. Rex specifically. Somebody wrote this. They wanted to tell the reader this story, and figured out the best way to present it.

What books did you grow up reading?

I loved Bradbury and Jackson, as I have mentioned. I also devoured H.G. Wells (I got a hardback collection of his sci-fi novels as a kid) and those goofy Tom Swift Jr. books (“Tom Swift and His Atomic Earth Blaster”!). There was a short story called “Wide O–” that had a huge impact, and I thought about it all the time.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I really don’t. I write 1000 words nearly every day, but it can be anywhere, any time, regardless of what chaos might be surrounding me. The only ritual is the writing itself.

Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know yet?

I hitchhiked from Iowa to New York City twice, once by way of Canada. The second time I hitchhiked to NYC, I stayed there for 12 years.

Where can we find you online?

My website: https://jeffmwood.com/
My Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B007AW3W9C
My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/clowncarpublishing
My Instagram feed: https://instagram.com/jeff.m.wood
My Twitter feed: @clowncarne1

Thanks for answering our questions.