Pulp Heroes: Robert Iveniuk

Robert contributed the alien police-procedural story "The Law of Mars" to THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES 2.

Would you like to briefly introduce yourself: what inspired your writing and when you began, and – if possible – of all of your published work could you tell me which your favourites are (and why)?

 

As a child, I suffered from asthma and my peers tended to view me as a pudgy punching bag until my mid-teens. During those times, television and comic books served as respite from the agony of reality. Time wore on, and one day I decided to tell my own tales. In the beginning, I thought I could hash it out as a comic creator, but I was always better at planning the stories than drawing them. Upon devouring Neil Gaiman’s NEVERWHERE and the story-heavy PC game PLANESCAPE: TORMENT, I decided that I had to be a writer.

 

Many years later (some would say too many), my first short story was published. Since then, four of my short stories have been published, I’ve written the screenplays for a short film and the pilot for an unreleased webseries, and I have been brought on as a regular contributor to the lifestyle and entertainment e-zine BlogTO. It’s hard for me to pick a favourite among my works; these are practically my children, after all. That said, there are a couple I wish I could redo, but I’d rather keep their names to myself.

 

 

Do you have a favourite genre, or sub-genre? What exactly is it that attracts you?

 

I grew up with fantasy and science fiction, but I’m also a fan of detective/spy fiction and horror. Mysteries intrigue me, and I find settings to be enchanting. When I travel, I tend to take a thousand photographs of buildings and neighbourhoods, because I love seeing how people live. As such, any story that drops me in an unfamiliar world, imagined or real, is welcome on my bookshelf.

 

 

Some say Pulp is a genre, others a style; which side do you come down on?

 

I’d have to say it’s a style. Remember, pulp magazines themselves were so called because they were printed on cheap paper. This alone is very indicative of not only the era, but also the part of the world that birthed them.

 

Consider Japanese animé (bear with me). Many people have argued that animé is a genre, but every series covers anything from sports drama and culinary comedies to epic fantasy yarns and space operas. What separates it from other animated works is the look and feel, the cultural sensibilities and fragments of history that go into bringing such stories to life. Much the same could also be said about noir, and how it has evolved and integrated into different genres.

 

In the traditional sense, we’ve seen pulp revived in the Indiana Jones films and in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, but those fall under fantasy or science fiction. Yet, it is their voice that is pulp, the same sensationalized mood that had peddled so many stories for decades. Hell, HP Lovecraft was a pulp author, and what exactly does Cthulhu have in common with Doc Savage?

 

 

What was the inspiration for “The Law of Mars”?

 

After finishing my last story for The Alchemy Press, the meta-fictional drama “House Name”, I decided to tell a story that would perhaps fit more in line with a Pulp Heroes anthology. Originally, I was working on one which focused on the forefathers of the costumed vigilante movement, but it got too big for its britches. It’s on hold until I can find a way to scale it down. Save a space for PULP HEROES 3, Mike.

 

It was around this time that I was reading the first three books in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series. Half-way through PRINCESS OF MARS, I couldn’t help but notice how phenomenally macho it all was. John Carter solves most of his problems by punching a thing, and then being elected God Emperor of Punching the Thing minutes later. Coupled with the fact that every woman on Mars is after Carter’s sweaty earthman bod, and it began to smell of wish-fulfilment. By the end of THE GODS OF MARS, gears in my head turned and a question arose:

 

How would Barsoom look a hundred years later?

 

Imagine if Earth learned they weren’t alone in the universe, and found ways to reach the worlds beyond. What if it wasn’t just Mars that was inhabited, but also Venus like in the Carson Napier novels? Would that mean Jupiter had its own intelligent species, or Mercury, or Neptune? Now imagine these races crossing the galaxy and eventually establishing a united solar system. Think of how wonderful and terrifying it would be. Then, I asked myself what a police force would look like in a world like this. And then “The Law of Mars” was born.

 

Oh, and I removed the whole “Mars’ gravity makes you superhuman” angle because that always struck me as convenient. Plus, it didn’t fit with the CSI: BARSOOM concept I’m going for.

 

 

Do you have a particular favourite author, or authors? What is it about their work which appeals to you?

 

Well, that’s a list and a half.

 

I’m a huge fan of HG Wells’ symbolism, China Miéville’s terrifying imagination, Raymond Chandler’s distressingly charming cynicism, and the sense of dread William Hope Hodgson evokes. Plus, Neil Gaiman’s charm – even in his darkest stories – is infectious, and there will always be room in my heart for Terry Pratchett’s wit and Haruki Murakami’s complex mind. Honourable mentions go to Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, Ivan Turgenev, and Thomas King. And as a comic geek, I also can’t go five seconds without praising Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Sam Kieth, Grant Morrison, or Mike Mignola in some capacity, so there’s that.

 

Of the pulp fiction fare, I enjoy Robert E Howard’s Conan, Dashiell Hammett’s Continental Op, and Maxwell Grant’s The Shadow most of all. I’ve read some Doc Savage, Avenger, and Fu Manchu novels, and they’re intriguing reads (Fu Manchu is a laugh and a half), but they don’t strike me in the way the others do. They lack the unfettered psychosis of Lamont Cranston, the Cimmerian Freebooter’s brutish demeanour, and the Op’s casual disregard for human life.

 

 

Outside writing, what else occupies your time (assuming you have any free time left)?

 

I tend to live simply. My free time is divided up between seeing friends, drawing, reading, long walks, video games, getting lost in the information vortex that is the internet, and saving up for travelling. Outside of that, I work in the not-for-profit sector, something Canada’s current Prime Minister doesn’t quite support, and so the rest of my time gets spent looking for full-time employment.

 

 

Is there any particular style of music – or musicians – which appeals to you?

 

Just as I tend to enjoy different genres of fiction, I also enjoy all kinds of music. Hitting shuffle on my Winamp playlist (MP3 players are for squares, daddy-o) will summon up just about anything. Some personal favourites for my ears, and also my imagination, include Garbage, Rob Zombie, The Black Angels, The Protomen, Dakota Star, Altan Urag, K-Os, Lordi, and Gnarls Barkley. I also adore instrumentals, so much of what I listen to comes from television, film, and game soundtracks.

 

 

What are you currently working on?

 

What am I not? My final-until-further-notice contribution to the Pulp Heroes series, “Legacy”, is in the works, as I said, so that I’ll be ready for Book 3, should it emerge. Beyond that, I’m sitting on fifteen unpublished short stories, three-and-a-half novels, and a slew of ideas for comics, video games, movies, and TV series that I’m fighting to get accepted somewhere. Being a writer’s a long and hard road to take, but I’ve made it this far already, so why stop now?

Pulp Heroes: Ian Hunter

Writer, editor and poet Ian Hunter answers questions on his influences, his musical tastes, and the genesis of the character The Wraith who appears in “The Monster of Gorgon” in The Alchemy Press Book of Pulp Heroes 2.

 

Would you like to briefly introduce yourself: what inspired your writing and when you began, and – if possible – of all of your published work could you tell me which your favourites are (and why)?

 

I suppose I began writing because of a variety of reasons – being an only child, having an over-active imagination, growing up in the 1960s and being exposed to all of Gerry Anderson’s “Supermarionation” antics, and Doctor Who, of course, and American comics, lots of American comics. I probably started writing seriously in my twenties, and my favourites of my own work are my children’s novels – The Dark Knight’s Blade (written because of my love of the film A Chinese Ghost Story), then Lipstick Lass (written because my children were into Captain Underpants and The Powerpuff Girls at the time) and The Magic Mousehole (because it’s just barking), although I do like it when a story gets long-listed for an award, or it actually wins an award or a prize, or gets an honourable mention in a year’s best, or someone who really knows me and my writing says that’s the best thing you’ve ever written, which has happened a couple of times.

 

 

Do you have a favourite genre, or sub-genre? What exactly is it that attracts you?

 

I review for Interzone and Concatenation so I get sent science fiction, fantasy and horror novels to review, and sometimes you gets “genre-ed out” and it’s good to read something different. I grew up reading Enid Blyton – the Famous Five and the Secret Seven books - then Alfred Hitchcock and the 3 Investigators books, then moved on to Tarzan and James Bond, before finding Michael Moorcock and James Herbert. Stephen King was a huge influence on my reading because of his book Danse Macabre as I tried to read all of the books he highlighted as being important to the genre by the likes Bradbury, Straub, etc; and because I was a huge King fan I bought Kirby McCauley’s Dark Forces which included “The Mist”, which was a real eye-opener as that was the first time I had encountered Ramsay Campbell, and Dennis Etchison and Charlie Grant, and Manly Wade Wellman and Lisa Tuttle and Joyce Carol Oates, and many others. Personally, I think it would have been a tragedy if I had never read that anthology and been exposed to all those writers.

 

 

Some say Pulp is a genre, others a style; which side do you come down on?

 

I’ll sit on the fence and say both. I think it was an important genre in the past and embraced many sub-genres, and the first Pulp Heroes anthology and probably this second one will show how wide the pulp genre is, from laconic, hard-bitten private eyes to shadowy vigilantes to off-world and weird-world adventures. I do think it is a style as well – the dialogue, the descriptions, the action, but also the weird array of characters and locations play their part. Maybe Jonathan Green’s Ulysses Quicksilver series continues the pulp tradition and Guy Adams' recent The Good, the Bad and the Dammed does the same – maybe, or maybe I’m doing them both a disservice but I think as a reader if you pick up these titles you are in for a rollicking good time.

 

 

What was the inspiration for “The Monster of Gorgon”?

 

I’ve been writing a novel about the Wraith and the East Nuked of Fife and the Thrownaway for a while now, which chronicles Darroch’s transformation into the Wraith and culminates with his awful revenge on the townspeople, and it really is awful, but I’ve been working on a series of spin-off stories because there are other stories – who is behind Darroch’s transformation, the dreadful Dr. Carstairs, what happened to Emma, and tales of the steam rigs and adventures in other parts of The Nuked and beyond, so there will probably be more stand-along stories to come.

 

 

Do you have a particular favourite author, or authors? What is it about their work which appeals to you?

 

My two favourite writers are Joyce Carol Oates, and William Kotzwinkle. Kotzwinkle is perhaps better known (if he is known at all) for writing novel adaptations of films like E.T. and Superman 3, but he has written some of the funniest books I’ve ever read, like The Midnight Examiner or The Bear Went Over the Mountain, or really different works like The Fan Man, Doctor Rat, and even Fata Morgana which reads almost like a detective novel, with a wonderful twist at the end. He also writes the Walter, the Farting Dog series, but, sadly, doesn’t write enough these days. Oates on the other hand is a literary chameleon and incredibly prolific. I’ve been lucky to hear her talk and read at the Edinburgh Book Festival a couple of times. She can write anything, and does, and many of her novels are a reaction to events and circumstances in America, although she has won a couple of Stokers for her short story collections and her magnificent horror novel Zombie (which isn’t about your traditional flesh-eating zombies at all). I thought Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad was a brilliant read a couple of years ago, because of what she was doing to the narrative, and combining what might be a whole series of short stories into a circular novel (rather like the circularity of Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam and Alice Hoffman’s (one of my other favourite writers) The Ice Queen), and recently Zadie Smith was doing some interesting things with the form of the novel in  NW – the way she handled dialogue tags, a chapter as a concrete poem, using lists. I like it when people try the unconventional.

 

 

Outside writing, what else occupies your time (assuming you have any free time left)?

 

I used to be more sporty – tennis, golf, badminton, squash, but as I’ve got older those have fallen away slightly, so I suppose its the usual stuff, like walking the dog, and photography (and taking too many pictures while walking the dog). I edit a little magazine called Unspoken Water so I’m always looking for unusual, spooky-ish places that would make a good cover picture and fortunately where I live there are lots of out of the way family graveyards and abandoned buildings. Other things would include going to concerts and movies, and collecting boxed sets of DVDs and not watching most of them.

 

 

Is there any particular style of music – or musicians – which appeals to you?

 

I like anything – really. Every year I go Download, the big heavy metal festival at Castle Donnington and when it is raining hard and it’s a mud bath I wonder what I am doing there and vow “never again”, but still come back the next year for more. I do like folk, and Americana, and the like. In Glasgow at the start of the year there is the big “Celtic Connections” festival which is a must, but my major music love is jazz, and it’s all Phil Collins’ fault. When I was younger I was into bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, and the “proggers” – Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, and Collins also played drums in a “jazz-rock” fusion band called Brand X, then at an influential age I heard him hosting a Radio 1 star special and practically all the stuff he played – Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report, Pat Matheny, King Crimson – I went out and bought. But he also played some of the major jazz drummers like Billy Cobham and Tony Williams (the greatest jazz drummer ever, I think, who played drums for Miles when he was a teenager) and I was hooked. I really am a frustrated jazz drummer and I think if you were into bands which had great musicians, especially the “proggers”, for me, the logical thing, was to move into jazz where the musicianship is also great, but a bit looser. I’ve gone to jazz festivals all around the world, and would see people like Miles Davis two days in a row; I even went to see Miles twice in one day in London. It’s the only type of music where I sit or stand with a silly grin on my face, because I’m enjoying myself so much.

 

 

What are you currently working on?

 

Too much, probably. Lots of short stories, some concerning a vampire character of mine called Roam Belanger, and other stand alone stories. I’m very guilty of chasing markets, but it does mean that you get some stories finished. Recently, I’ve been on holiday and writing poems. I wish I could write more but they come in fits and starts. I’ve also been writing various children’s novel and adult novels concerning houses with secrets and teenagers in a post apocalyptic world and others based on Scottish folklore and legends like Tam Lin and Tam o’Shanter.

RIP Joel Lane

I received the news in an email yesterday evening, and just stared at it for – I don’t know how long. The words didn’t make sense. I spent the rest of the evening in a kind of denial: the universe had made a mistake; there was a glitch in the Matrix. Come the morning the software would have been fixed and we’d all wake up none the wiser. But it didn’t. Joel Lane, a friend for some thirty years, was gone.

 

I first met Joel in the mid-1980s: a quiet, intense young man with a passion for all things Lovecraftian and Ramsey Campbell. He became part of a tiny band of both genuine and honorary Brummies who met up infrequently – often in the bar of the New Imperial Hotel before they pulled it down – to put the world right and swap gossip. Over the years that bunch grew – becoming, informally, the Birmingham Balti Boys. Joel would always join in any conversation – be it on fiction, politics, TV (he was a great fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) – with thoughtful insights. Yet he was, typically, more reticent about his own work: more than once he was asked: “Don’t you have a book coming out?” and Joel say yes, then go on to enthuse about the publisher rather than the book itself. If we didn’t live in a world where information is now spread instantaneously, it’s quite possible he would have failed to mention winning a World Fantasy Award.

 

For a while we were members of the same horror writers group and no matter how crass or rushed a piece might be – dashed off the night before just so there would be something to read out – Joel could always find something positive to say; often finding subtlety and context in the work that made it sound far more worthy than it was. And always, no matter how serious his comments, there was always the trace of a twinkle in his eye; and more often than not, a dry, throwaway gag to leaven the criticism.

 

Joel’s passion for horror and weird fantasy (and crime fiction) never waned. I published him twice, in anthologies whose subject matter wasn’t obviously Joel material; and in both cases didn’t fail to surprise (his Clark Ashton Smith pastiche “The Hunger of the Leaves” from Swords Against The Millennium was not only selected for a volume of the year's best fantasy, but also best horror – a testament to his talent – but also highlighted a tongue in cheek humour that isn’t obvious elsewhere in his work).

 

Joel will always be remembered for his enthusiasm and erudition. In a world grown cynical, his genuine passion for horror and fantasy was both refreshing and essential. We are all a little greyer for his passing.

Pulp Heroes: Marion Pitman

Marion Pitman contributed the Western "Meeting at the Silver Dollar" for THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES 2. Here she slaps leather and trades shot for shot in a short interview.

Would you like to briefly introduce yourself: what inspired your writing and when you began, and – if possible – of all of your published work could you tell me which your favourites are (and why)?

 

I’ve been telling myself stories ever since I can remember, and writing since I learned to write. I just have a need to tell stories. I think John Ford, asked which was his favourite of his films, said, “The next one.” I perhaps have a fondness for “The Seal Songs”, which I think was my first sale, and so far the most successful! I think it works well, and is well-constructed.

 

 

Do you have a favourite genre, or sub-genre? What exactly is it that attracts you?

 

I like all genres, and non-genre – it’s all stories, it’s all good. Anything with a sense of the extra dimension to the universe, the spiritual or whatever you like to call it, meaning and significance.

 

 

Some say Pulp is a genre, others a style; which side do you come down on?

 

Eesh, there’s a question. I think style. The subject matter can be anything, so I wouldn’t say it’s a genre. Mind you I’m very dubious about the whole genre thing anyway – as I said, it’s all stories, or should be. Genre is a marketing construct J. When I was a kid I read everything, I never thought about what genre it was.

 

 

What was the inspiration for “Meeting at the Silver Dollar”?

 

Well, the first thing was thinking, OK, what sort of thing is the editor looking for here? And I read the first book and decided that it was as much the concept of heroes as the pulp aspect. Then, I’ve been going through a re-immersion in the Western, which I adored as a kid, partly due to reading Harry Carey Jr’s memoirs about working with John Ford, COMPANY OF HEROES. Then I treated myself to a DVD of a rather bad movie called JOURNEY TO SHILOH, made from a rather good book by Will Henry. And then I thought for a bit, and various Western tropes and odd lines from movies came together and I wrote this story. Oh, there’s probably echoes of THE SHOOTIST as well.

 

 

Do you have a particular favourite author, or authors? What is it about their work which appeals to you?

 

Neil Gaiman’s high on my list, as he is on a lot of people’s. He writes about people you can relate to, and his world is rich and many-layered. Also he writes superbly and always with humour.

 

Other authors I read and re-read are Diana Wynne Jones, GK Chesterton, Dorothy L Sayers, Sarah Caudwell – all for much the same reasons: good writing, involving characters, a meaningful universe. And I still like CS Lewis, despite being aware of his faults.

 

 

Outside writing, what else occupies your time (assuming you have any free time left)?

 

Trying to earn a living, which involves selling second-hand books; watching cricket and rugby; interacting with friends (very important); travelling as much as I can afford. Reading, naturally. Trying to sing.

 

 

Is there any particular style of music – or musicians – which appeals to you?

 

Folk music has always been my favourite, leaning more towards the traditional. Also early music – 17^th century and earlier. I also like classical, jazz, and some (by no means all!) rock music. Musicians – probably too many to mention.

 

 

What are you currently working on?

 

Couple of short stories, in the weird/fantasy/supernatural field, and a novel that I don’t know how to classify, which takes place partly in contemporary England and partly in another dimension, where one of the characters is mad, one’s been dead for years, and it kind of goes on like that. It’s good.

Pulp Heroes: Adrian Cole

Adrian Cole contributed the Nick Nightmare story "Kiss the Day Goodbye" to THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES 2.

Would you like to briefly introduce yourself: what inspired your writing and when you began, and – if possible – of all of your published work could you tell me which your favourites are (and why)?

 

Adrian Cole, born 22^nd July, 1949 in Devonport, Plymouth. I guess I was inspired to write through an early love of reading and a natural desire to (literally) put pen to paper. From Primary school onwards I always used to write essays (stories) that took up half an exercise book. I read all sorts as a kid, mostly adventure stuff and my first introduction to “classical” literature was thru reading most of the CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED comics! I started my first book when I was 19 (published five years later as THE DREAM LORDS trilogy) in 1968.

 

My favourite books of my own are MOORSTONES, which captures the mood and atmosphere of Dartmoor (where I grew up), A PLACE AMONG THE FALLEN, which broke new ground for me and NIGHT OF THE HEROES, which was just great fun to write.

 

 

Do you have a favourite genre, or sub-genre? What exactly is it that attracts you?

 

My favourite genres are Fantasy (to some extent) Horror, Spy Fiction and Ancient/Dark Age History. I like stuff to stretch the imagination and the Dark Age stuff is something I seem to have an affinity for, probably as I have “Celtic” antecedents, being from Devonian stock.

 

 

Some say Pulp is a genre, others a style; which side do you come down on?

 

I don’t think it would be right to call it a genre, as it comprises of loads of genres – crime, SF, fantasy, westerns, horror, S&S, etc., etc… It is more of a style, rooted in the Depression Era in the States, when dozens of writers hacked out stories for dimes, the mags printed on trashy pulp paper and sold very cheaply at a time when most people were eating their boots for breakfast. Perversely it does seem to have “evolved” a bit, but pulp today reflects the old style.

 

 

What was the inspiration for “Kiss the Day Goodbye”?

 

As a writer, I am ceaselessly caught out by the truly horrible: “Bugger it, someone has already written my latest brilliant story!” How many times have I come up with something hot, only to find out someone got there before me? If other writers are honest, they’ll tell you the same. I’m still peeved about the fact that George Lucas nicked my DREAM LORDS stuff as the basis for STAR WARS – my stuff came out first, by the way. So the Scene Stealer in “Kiss the Day Goodbye” was my answer to it. Only there must be more than one, because I’m still getting my brain picked…

 

 

Do you have a particular favourite author, or authors? What is it about their work which appeals to you?

 

Apart from lifelong favourites like Edgar Rice Burroughs, HP Lovecraft, JRR Tolkien and Robert E Howard, I particularly like Dan Simmons, Jonathan Carrol and Bernard Cornwell/John le Carré. The old gang were the very best at excitement and adventure and the modern writers combine superb storytelling with powerful, evocative writing that is not only exciting but moving.

 

 

Outside writing, what else occupies your time (assuming you have any free time left)?

 

From about March to November (weather permitting) I’m a bit of a beach bum and like nothing better than plunging into the waves at nearby Westward Ho beach – one of the best in the country. I also like cycling through the local woodland areas. For my indoors pursuits, I am an avid comic book fan (as well as doing a lot of reading) and love movies. And there’s the small matter (very small these days) of my favourite soccer club, Plymouth Argyle, whom I visit during the season. In the summer I’m hard of hearing, on account of my “surfer’s ear” and in the football season I’m hoarse from encouraging my team.

 

 

Is there any particular style of music – or musicians – which appeals to you?

 

Weaned on the Stones in their early years, then used to go to gigs very regularly – top bands for me were always Pink Floyd, Bowie, Deep Purple, Quo and then on to the electronic stuff like Kraftwerk and Tang Dream. New Order, too. Still like new stuff – e.g. Daft Punk.

 

 

What are you currently working on?

 

An ambitious three volume saga about an alternative Romano-Celtic Europe, which begins with the death of Augustus Caesar’s wife, Livia, in 2 AD and the murder of Claudius shortly afterwards at the age of 16. After that, things begin to drift right off the known historical map…

 

Also working on some new Nick Nightmare stuff, with a view to putting enough material together for his very own collection, NICK NIGHTMARE INVESTIGATES.

Birmingham Tales

Even though Birmingham is one of Britain’s largest cities, historically it’s never been the setting for fiction (or even drama) in the same way that, say, London, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh or Glasgow have. That may be changing with the success of the BBC’s Peaky Blinders (even though it was filmed elsewhere) and less obvious drama such as Hustle and By Any Means (both set in London, but ironically filmed in Birmingham…). There has been the occasional literary excursion, too, and it recently occurred to me that I have appeared in three of them.

 

First there was Birmingham Noir (Tindal Street Press, 2002, edited by Joel Lane and Steve Bishop). Well before Peaky Blinders, this anthology showed that Birmingham was just as gritty and crime-ridden as any major city. After the building of the ICC and NIA, Birmingham had established itself as a major conference and sports venue, with accommodation to match – from Hilton and Radisson hotels down to the humblest Travelodge. And keeping pace came adult entertainment; either legit or criminal, businesses grew to keep visitors amused. My contribution – “Brindley’s Place” – was set among the pubs and restaurants that were growing up alongside the newly-scrubbed canals in Brindleyplace and along Broad Street. It showed what happened when those at the bottom of the food chain get caught up in the inevitable sleaze and corruption – whilst offering the hope of some form of redemption.

 

Years later, to accompany a historical walk around Brum’s Digbeth and Deritend areas – part of the Andromeda One convention held at the Custard Factory – Weird Trails (Fringeworks 2013, edited by Adrian Middleton) was published: a compilation of facts that tied in with the walk, and short pieces of fiction set around the area. I supplied a mock article that was supposed to have been originally published several years earlier in the magazine Strange Brew (a fictionalised Fortean Times). Under the by-line Clifton Davies (“…a writer and fortean investigator living in the Midlands”), the article – “Bird’s Over the Bullring” – was a melange of actual history (the Bird’s Custard factory in Birmingham and Banbury) mixed in with reports of UFOs, strange figures, hauntings and mysterious voices on the telephone. All completely fictional (at least, that’s what I told the editor). It was a fun thing, and gave me a chance to indulge my interest in strange phenomena.

 

Then most recently has been Second City Scares (Horror Express 2013, edited by Marc Shemmans), an anthology of horror fiction not only set in Birmingham, but with contributions from local writers who should know the place (and its terrors) best. I supplied “Cheechee’s Out”: a straight to video nasty about the subversion of the city fathers and other well-placed individuals, and the role of the extensive underground car parks and miles of passageways underneath Birmingham (almost a mini-city in itself). All played out in a part of the suburbs which, despite some altered names (to protect the innocent), might be familiar to anyone who knows where I live. Again, it was a fun to write and, I hope, to read.

 

I’m pleased to be able to write about my home city: its seedy underbelly and even darker, less tangible elements. Birmingham has a rich history, present and intended future – all of which may be mined for their potential. Here’s to future editors and anthologists, and the shadowy treats they may perceive in the city’s grimy heritage or burgeoning prospects.

Pulp Heroes: Pauline E Dungate

Pauline supplied "Night Hunter" for THE ALCHEMY PRESS BOOK OF PULP HEROES 2. Here she answers a few questions on it and life in general.

 

 

Would you like to briefly introduce yourself: what inspired your writing and when you began, and – if possible – of all of your published work could you tell me which your favourites are (and why)?

 

I write fiction as Pauline E Dungate but poetry, non-fiction and reviews as Pauline Morgan. My own favourite? If I have to choose I’d go for “In the Tunnels” that first appeared in BENEATH THE GROUND edited by Joel Lane (The Alchemy Press). Stephen Jones liked it enough to put in BEST NEW HORROR 15.

 

 

Do you have a favourite genre, or sub-genre? What exactly is it that attracts you?

 

I don’t have a favourite genre as so many genres have good practitioners. I like writing that is well crafted. At present I am drawn to Urban Fantasy as that has the capacity for mixing genres together.

 

 

Some say Pulp is a genre, others a style; which side do you come down on?

 

Can’t it be both?

 

 

What was the inspiration for “Night Hunter”?

 

I had been playing with the set-up for “Night Hunter” for a while but as a film in which my lead character was the actor who played the role of Hunter. The setting, Shoreham in Sussex, is where my mother lived and when there were recent reports of sightings of a lion in the Home Counties, the ideas came together.

 

 

Do you have a particular favourite author, or authors? What is it about their work which appeals to you?

 

There are too many to list. I like the aspects that constitute good writing such as believable characters and a strong plot.

 

 

Outside writing, what else occupies your time (assuming you have any free time left)?

 

These days my main interests are gardening and wild life photography. Travel to out of the way places like Ecuador and Easter Island give great opportunities.

 

 

Is there any particular style of music – or musicians – which appeals to you?

 

Heavy rock. On my time table at present are Black Veil Brides, Alice Cooper and Within Temptation.

 

 

What are you currently working on?

 

A nearly contemporary novel involving a rock group.