An Up and Coming Author, Eric S. Brown

Eric S. Brown is the author of the paperback collections Dying Days, Space Stations and Graveyards, and Portals of Terror as well as the chapbooks Flashes of Death, Zombies the War Stories, Bad Mojo, and Dark Karma and the e-books Blood Rain, Quantum Nightmares, and Poisoned Graves. His short fiction has been published well over two hundred and fifty times in a wide array of markets like The Book of Dark Wisdom, Nocturnal Ooze and Alien Skin magazines, The Edge, Story House Coffee, Post Mortem, and Black Petals among many, many others. He is 29 years old and lives in NC with his wife Shanna. His first novel, Cobble (co-authored by Susanne Brydenbaugh), is due out in early 2005 from Cyberpulp Books.

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity interviewing Mr. Brown and discovered a writer filled with wit, good humor, and a love of writing. I hope you enjoy what he has to say.

Eric: Good Morning
hah: Good morning, so nice to meet you.
Eric: Nice to meet you too.
Eric: I will confess I have never done an IM interview before. Did a live phone call for a radio show once but most editors who run print magazines often just send a questionnaire to fill out.
HAH: I understand. This is my first interview via IM as well.
hah: So, why don't you tell me a little about yourself first? You're married. Any kids?
Eric: I started in March of 2001 one. My wife finally kicked my butt to do it and sent out a tale to Burning Sky mag. and Black Petals mag. both of which I had found in the novel and short writers' digest and BOTH of them accepted it within two weeks. Had to turn down one of the contracts and but the story came out in print that June and I have been at it ever since. My first year, I made $15 and copies. Last year, I made a little more and ton of copies. I STILL am not making enough to just live on.
hah: Wow, that is absolutely awesome!
hah: Still, you are on your way.
Eric: I am 29, live in NC, my wife is a special ed. teacher, I have no kids, have a three year old Maine Coon named Howard after H.P. Lovecraft (the great horror author, 1890-1937), avid zombie movie fan and comic book collector (mainly the Fantastic Four from Marvel)
hah: No Spidey?
Eric: I like Spidey but the FF has a much more SF feel to it and I love the family dynamic of the book.
Eric: Now my wife LOVED Toby M. as Spidey. It sold her on the movies
hah: LOL, I loved the movies. My husband and best friend are WebHeads.
Eric: COOL. Glad to know Marvel has other fans out there
hah: Yes, they do.
hah: So, how long have you been writing all together? Published and non-published?
Eric: Since March 2001 I have been submitting but I have been writing since the 2nd grade.
hah: 2nd grade? That's marvelous, how old were you when you can remember your first story? Do you remember what prompted you to start writing?
Eric: I was about 7 and it was about a serial killer who couldn't die. Kind of like the Halloween movies. I was always an odd kid. I took an issue of Fangoria to Kindergarten with me the first day.
hah: Fangoria? Your parents let you have it so young?
Eric: They say it takes most writers ten years to hit the published side. I just got lucky.
hah:I'm glad you did.
Eric: I was "gifted" according to my teachers and I even had a tutor prior to kindergarten so I was reading on a very advanced level and when other kids were buying toys, I was visiting the comic shop and Fango was there too. My parents didn't care as long as I was reading and getting such praise from my teachers. Though the teachers often had talks with my parents about the material. Didn't stop me though. LOL.
hah: What do you think influenced you to write? Do you believe you were born to do it?
Eric: I believe I was born to write BUT it was seeing Night of the Living Dead that hooked me. After watching it and Dawn of the Dead I was so in love with Romero's work I had to do something so I started cranking out my own zombie tales.
Eric: For instance, http://www.nakedsnakepress.com/
Check out my chapbook on this page.
Eric: These days I almost feel like I am trying to create a sub-genre within horror. Kind of a military horror fiction.
Eric: I read a lot of David Drake's SF military stuff so I guess that rubbed off on me even though I am a horror writer.
hah: What other writers have influenced you in thought, perhaps writing desire, but not in style?
Eric: H.P. Lovecraft of course, I think any horror writer would name him. Dan Simmons, Philip K. Dick, John Bryne, and too many others too list.
hah: So, what else do you do?
Eric: I am a photo tech. I develop, enhance photos, etc. in a lab. It's a part time gig that helps make ends meet. I used to work for a newspaper but got burnt out being told what to write and fixing other peoples mistakes -- a copy-editor.
hah: Ahhh, I see. Is your job as challenging and creative as it would seem to be, or boring?
Eric: BORING
Eric: Trust me on that one.
hah: I believe you, LOL.
Eric: The goal is to write full time and I am hoping that my first novel (due out next year) will be the next big step towards that goal.
hah: Would you mind telling me a little bit about your writing process? Do you use computer only? Pen and paper for first draft? Carry around a notebook with you for those quick ideas...etc?
Eric: Pen and paper first. ALWAYS. I then rewrite and edit on the computer as I type the tale. I carry around two notebooks actually. One for my tales and one full of records, release dates, when I get the rights back to certain tales, and all that kind of junk plus a pub history.
hah: Can you tell me a little bit about the novel, without too many spoilers?
Eric: Well, it's a zombie book that isn't a zombie book. There's a "zombie" virus that wipes out the world but one little island named Cobble (also the book's title) remains pretty much untouched thanks to the efforts of the local sheriff. So it's really the last place left in the world where people live any kind of normal life
Eric: Then one day a group of rogue military personel show up and stake a claim to the island in the name of a now defunct government.
Eric: Anyway as the islanders and the soldiers try to cope and co-exist, murders begin to happen on the island as the demon who created the plague shows up to finish wiping out the human race as Cobble is all that's left.
Eric: There's a soldier who is a lot more than he seems too, and has strange dreams that go back to the beginning of time and he is the good guy however the sherifff is the main character.
hah: How long did it take you to write the novel?
Eric: It should be noted that Susanne Brydenbaugh co-wrote the novel with me based on a screenplay I had written when I was younger.
Eric: It took eight months and we had to go through e-mail alone as she lives in Alabama
hah: Susanne Brydenbaugh - can you tell me a little of her writing, publishing history?
Eric: www.mywriterstooth.com is her website. She has published around 70 stories I would guess including ones in pro markets like Would That It Were but I don't think she had ever sold a book before our project together.
Eric: For me, Cobble was my first novel but far from my first book. I had sold 3 paperback collections and six chapbooks prior to it as well as 2 e-books, and I have since just this month sold yet another e-book.
hah: Wonderful.
Eric: Yep, 4 paperbacks, 6 chapbooks, and 3 e-books since 2003 so things seem to be taking off and I am breaking out of JUST short fiction.
hah: May I ask you about your co-writing process?
Eric: Well I collaborate a LOT. Blood Rain (one of my e-books, done with Gail Davis) was just like Cobble. We trade sections or chapters and then rewrote things until we were happy. I have sold at least 19 collaborated short stories as well, not counting reprints. I think writing with others helps one grow and experience different ways to write.
Eric: I have never written with some who was actually close enough to write with in person. In fact, I am my county's ONLY working horror author that I know.
hah: What do you think is the most challenging aspect of writing?
Eric: The most challenging thing I am facing at the moment is coming up with ideas post my first NOVEL. The novel took a lot out of me and I have published so much in the last three years it's hard to stay fresh and not rehash stuff I have done before.
Eric: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?s_site=citizen-times&f_site=citizen-times&f_sitename=Asheville+Citizen-Times+%28NC%29&p_theme=gannett&p_action=search&p_field_base-0=&p_text_base-0=Horror+author+Eric+Brown&Search=Search&p_perpage=10&p_maxdocs=200&p_queryname=700&s_search_type=keyword&p_product=ACTB&p_sort=_rank_%3AD&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date%3AB%2CE&p_text_date-0=-
Eric: That mess is the link I was hunting
Eric: I was going to say, being the only local horror author isn't bad. In fact it gets me into the papers a lot. That was a front page article with a photo.
Eric: I have been on the front page of two locals papers in the last year and had numerous articles about me including reviews of my work and was even on the local TV network of ABC last Oct.
Eric: So being unique=press
Eric: At least in rural NC
hah: That can be quite useful.
hah: How do you keep your writing fresh for yourself and for your readers so far?
Eric: That is a tough and excellent question, I am not sure I have a real answer. I just keep trying to come up with stuff (certainly in the zombie sub-genre) that people haven't seen before. How I do it, I have no idea.
hah: Zombies - what is the allure of them? :-)
Eric: I like the end of the world. It's concept that has always intrigued me. Given the moral decline and to a degree even cultural stagnation of our society, zombies seem to be the best metaphor to express where we are headed. And not just that, when you think of all the viruses and the advanced science out there today, a zombie virus isn't ALL that unbelievable.
hah: Do you think you express a lot of ideas people are too afraid to voice out loud in your writing?
Eric: I'd like to think so and in looking back at my work you can see a running theme of "if we don't change, we're headed for the end" but honestly, I think of my work as art. It's just something I love to do and don't go out of my way to put those messages in there, they just happen.
Eric: I have addressed everything from genetic engineering to sociological collapse in my stories and even aliens and solar flares.
hah: You said you thought of your work as art, can you elaborate on that for a moment? I have never thought of zombies as "art" before.
Eric: I did? That was a typo, I meant I totally don't think of it as art. It's just fun for me and if it does express a message too that's great.
Eric: SORRY
hah: LOL, ok.
hah: So, in the philosophical sense, writing is your truest "work" while your employment is your job?
Eric: In 2002 I had one of my tales recommended in the Bram Stoker awards and had a tale be a top ten finalist nationally for best short horror 2002 and last year I got TWO Stoker recs for best collection 2003 and was mentioned in the 17th annual Year's Best Horror and Fantasy
Eric: Exactly, writing is my work and my life and anything else is just a day job. I hope to be remembered for my writing one day, but that's kind of arrogant and I don't really expect it to happen.

hah: I don't believe that is arrogant at all. Each of us wants to be remembered for something, especially something we love. It gives us hope, I believe, whether or not we have children following after.
hah: Where do you find places to submit your work? Do you use www.writersmarket.com? www.ralan.com ... etc.?
Eric: www.ralan.com!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's totally the best. However I also use the SpecficMe newsletter and sometimes even still use the old digest book that comes out yearly
hah: What is SpecificMe?
Eric: http://www.specficworld.com/
It's a newletter of market listings from this site. I got a free subscription with my check when I sold them an article at the start of this year.
Eric: They're pretty good and sometimes have stuff that ralan.com doesn't
hah: It is almost 10am and I have to go soon. So just a couple more questions if I may?
Eric: Shoot
hah: If you could give fledgling writers any advice to encourage them, what would it be? What technical advice would you give?
Eric: Also, in case you want it, here is a link to Dying Days you can use with the article if you like
http://www.silverlakepublishing.com/catalog/ddays.html
Eric: WRITE, and then write some more. Try to write everyday even if you junk it. Always keep writing but just as importantly, submit your work. You'll never get published if you don't submit. Editors won't seek you out, it doesn't work that way, you have to go to them.
Eric: And listen to their advice but take it with a grain of salt too. Just never give up.