The Shroud Underground

christammiller · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:09 am Post subject: Your influences?

How did you become a horror fan, and why do you read and write the stories you do?

I wrote in my intro that I was forbidden to read any Stephen King or watch any movies based on his books. (It was understood that horror in general was a no-no.) However, my cousin was into vampires, so we watched a lot of vampire movies when I was in high school.

Later on I did get to read most of King's body of work, which my then-future husband owned. He and his best friend then introduced me to zombies a la George Romero. Meanwhile, they also introduced me to a lot of very evocative music - classic and alternative rock, plus Tom Waits.

Zombies resonate the most with me, I think just because of the social commentary. In general, though, I'm a sucker for a good apocalypse story. Smile

How about you?
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Sheldon S. Higdon · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:31 am Post subject:

Growing up an only child, so to speak, and as a latchkey child, I have had the pleasure of being glued to the television with piles of videos. My mother would literally bring home four or five horror and old kung-fu movies, and yes they were rated R, for me to watch while she was away. This would be a weekly weekend event. And comic books infiltrated my brain as well. And I'm also grateful that my mother was a huge reader of fiction. And that one of my aunts worked at a library, so we always had plenty of books.

Okay so my answer would be Tales from the Crypt comics (reprints of course), old Twilight Zone episodes, Edgar Allan Poe, Steve King, and horror movies of every kind...Romero, Carpenter, Hooper, Cronenberg, etc, etc,...

And if you ain't down tonight...you ain't down with Dolemite! Couldn't resist the Dolemite. Sorry.
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**shroud** · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:26 pm Post subject:

Dolemite rocks! He is the Human Tornado of course.

My intro to the premier issue of Shroud pretty much covers this, bit I shall summarize it.

As a Navy brat we moved a lot and books were my refuge. I was particularly fond of fantasy novels set in real world and contemporary locations. This lead me to horror, particularly Lovecraft and Poe, Machen, Dunsany, Derleth. From there it was Koontz, Straub, King, McCammon, Grant, and the list goes on.

What excites me now is that there is a whole new cadre of modern horror authors that have unprecedented levels of accessibility: Brian Keene, Michael Laimo, Tim Waggoner, Tom Piccirilli, and more.

Horror to me represents escapism within a tabooed world--the opportunity to explore themes and situations that had been previously off limits.
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Shroud Magazine
The Journal of Dark Fiction and Art
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rsmccoy · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject:

I read mostly fantasy as a kid with a healthy helping of SciFi. I didn't dig on the little horror I'd seen, but I grew up in Bemidji, MN, which has more churches than bars, and that's saying something.

When I was in the army, I ran out of books that looked interesting and grabbed a King novel. I had seen the TV movie Salem's Lot when I was pretty young and impressionable and it scared the shit out of me. I couldn't sleep for a week, and the scene that did it was that kid vampire floating at the window. So I was anti King until on a whim I bought the book. It was The Gunslinger, when it first came out.

I was hooked for good. I bought more and spread out. I love the old Maccamon stuff and read everything of his, King, Rice, and Koontz when he came on the scene.

When I started to write seriously, some stories come out horror and some are more dark fiction, some humor and some just suck.

Phil Kuhlman · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:31 am Post subject:

I was always a horror fan. I used to weird out the neighbors who'd visit when I was tiny tiny by watching Nightmare on Elm Street and laughing. Seriously, Freddy is pretty funny. When I was in elementary school my 3rd grade report on a writer was on Stephen King. Had to dress up like him in a red sox cap and all.

I was also the only kid in second grade reading Edgar Allen Poe for fun. Biggest book anyone in that class was reading I tell you that. But I also grew up in a great time for horror themed TV and Cartoons. Tales from the darkside, the ghostbuster's cartoons, Monsters, tales from the crypt, all that stuff was always there, and my mom loved horror stuff too so she would even read horror stories to me at night when I'd ask her to.

And thanks to my love of comic books I was able to read at a much higher level than the other kids around me, and comics also introduced me to other writers I wouldn't have found on my own for years. Lovecraft, Howard, etc.

Rob Davies · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject:

I came to horror rather late in my reading life. I had always read SF and fantasy and weird stuff, and while I might have come across the occasional issue of Twilight Zone or a story by Edgar Allen Poe, I never really sought out horror. Then I discovered Clive Barker. I was blown away by his early stuff, and he is still one of my favorite writers. He is probably my biggest influence. I try to write the most disturbing, darkest, twisted things using the most beautiful language.