6(66) Questions with Adrianne Montoya

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-Interview by Linnea Linton

59192784_560141804508832_6405221858240626688_nCollective member Adrianne Montoya is a Colorado native who’s spent most of her years in Denver. Though her podcast Southwest Gothic she shares spooky history and weird west stories and is currently working on two novels.

1. Name one horror author you admire. How did they help you become a better writer?

Paul Tremblay. His pacing is impeccable, the way he slams the reader with the right detail at the right moment. I’m inspired by his balance between the micro and the macro, and I’m striving to manipulate minimum details for maximum impact the way he does. He’s completely ruined Richard Scarry picture books for me, in the best way possible.

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The Scholarship from Hell (My Trip to StokerCon 2019)

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– by Thomas C. Mavroudis

scholarshipfromhellThe first thing work folks asked was why, of all the places to travel mid-May, was I going to Grand Rapids, Michigan?

Answering “StokerCon,” maybe two people immediately connected Stoker to Bram Stoker, author of a little book about a Romanian nobleman named Dracula.

“So, is that like ComicCon, but only vampire stuff?” they asked.

I replied it was more of a conference than a convention, culminating with the Bram Stoker Awards ceremony—like the Pulitzer Prize for horror. They were enthused.

“What were you nominated for?”

I repeated it was a conference, too, there were lectures and classes and workshops.

“Oh, congratulations! What are you teaching?”

“I’m not, I won a scholarship. It’s called the Scholarship from Hell.”

They stopped asking questions after that.

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Denver Horror Collective Book Society -PET SEMATARY – by Stephen King

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StephenKingPetSematarySaturday June 8 @ 6-8pm, Golden, Colorado (RSVP for directions)

The Denver Horror Collective Book Society–a book club for horror writers at any level–will be celebrating over thirty-five years of PET SEMATARY by Stephen King. Let your horror fiction flag fly, and be prepared to share your fave PS stories (when you first read/saw it, any PS folklore you’re fascinated by, and of course, what you love about it).

Have your writer’s cap on along with your party hat and spade. Directions will be PM’d to ya. Please RSVP to facilitate planning for this soiree, and thanks in advance.

 

6(66) Questions with Jeamus Wilkes

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– Interview by Linnea Linton

jeamusJeamus Wilkes is a Denver Horror Collective member, host of Jeamus After Midnight Podcast, and editor of The Epitaph.

1. Name one horror author you admire and explain how they help you become a better writer?

Peter Straub. Straub helps me become a better writer because of his beautiful use of language blended with professional execution of creating dread and scenes of absolute terror. His work is un-commercial in the best possible way, yet utterly accessible in readability and makes my imagination’s flesh crawl like no other writer. It helps me become a better writer in knowing that I can aim for the story first, and cut the commercial crap right out. His novel Shadowland is probably my favorite book I’ve ever read, and I read it at least once a year.

2. What author did you dislike at first but grew into?

H.P. Lovecraft. I think I associated his name too much with gaming and protracted paragraphs (that sounds like a swipe at gaming culture when it really isn’t; at one time I just felt like Lovecraft’s world was over-appropriated in it), but when I revisited his work a few years ago I came to appreciate it on my own terms and made my own discoveries in his work. He’s a controversial figure, but—at this point, at least—I’ve decided to appreciate the artist. Chew on the meat and spit out the bones, to use a blunt horror metaphor.

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The Hatchet Lady of Red Rocks

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– by Adrianne Montoya

Red Rocks

Photo: Adrianne Montoya

The road that runs the east slope of Lookout Mountain has a great view of the city lights, but as a Lovers’ Lane, it gets a little crowded. If you and your date require a more secluded spot, there are plenty of half-hidden pullouts along the backroads of Morrison where you can slip under the wild plum and gambel oak. Ignore the litter of empty beer cans, discarded prophylactics, and coyote scat, and it’s peaceful and private. If you manage to get close to Red Rocks on summer concert night, you can even enjoy the background thrum of the music.

Until the Hatchet Lady wanders past. She’s known to be less than friendly to people she considers trespassers. That hatchet may be getting dull, but she swings it with surprising force.

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