Cold Flesh: Ask James Cain, Jan 2-7

[hugonian]

Session: James Cain, Jan 2-7

Instructions: Post a question for the author and wait for a reply. From Monday to Saturday, the author will peek in periodically to answer questions. If the author cannot answer your question before time expires, feel free to PM the author with your question.

This week’s author: James R. Cain “Dead Flies” has had stories and poems published in over one hundred publications, including Red Scream and the anthologies Cold Flesh, Lurking Fear, Cold Glass Pain and Cloaked in Shadows. His horror novel Ek Chuah is due to be published by Active Bladder (USA) in Aug 2006. Visit him online at darkanimus.com/cain.html.

Q&A Schedule: See when other authors will be available--schedule of authors

Cold Flesh info: For more info regarding Cold Flesh, such as reviews and updates, please visit the official thread or the official website.

[HOO-HAA]

Hey James,

What would you consider to be *true* horror? What ingredients do you think are necessary in a story to make it *true* horror?

How far would you consider to be *too* far to go in order to horrify your audience...

Good questions, Spiral.

I think that there is no defition of what constitutes "true" horror. Horror is constantly evolving within a society and differs culturally. For example, "The Exorcist" was highly successful in it's time, largely because I think people were generally more religious than they are now. If it released today, it would be largely overlooked and would not earn the reputation that it claimed in its day.

True horror is something personal and the answers will be true and different for each individual. As a writer, I think we're best to write what scares us and hope that this taps into some common thread within the readership base.

How far is too far? When you write be true to yourself and let the publications decide if you've gone too far. Worse comes to worse, submit to Red Scream as nothing is too extreme for that publication. Rich Moore, the editor, likes to push the envelope and does a good job of it. I think the best horror is often work which does push the boundaries of morality and goes in the face of social expectation.

A great example of this is the tale "Doof, doof, doof" published in Dark Animus #7. The author, Paul Haines, considered the tale to be largely unpublishable as in many ways it's offensive to certain social groups, and for this reason Paul never sent it out for a number of years. It was published in Dark Animus however, and is now a finalist in the 2005 Aurealis Awards in the category of Best Horror Short Story. We won't know until the end of February if its won.

As a writer, my advice is be true to your work. Work out where to place the story once you're done.

Thanks everyone for your interest.

Sorry about that. I would have posted a question of some sort* but the last couple weeks have not been that good for me. For what it's worth I liked your story and your answer to Spiral's question. Have a great year!

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*For instance: What's your favorite type of horror to write about? What inspired you to write "Dead Flies"? How long have you been writing? Who has been most inspirational to you in writing and in your life? etc.