Paul Kane
For someone I’ve only recently heard of, Paul Kane has an impressive resumé. His stories, novellas and books have received praise and recognition from such horror heavyweights as Mick Garris, Tim Lebbon and Clive Barker. His name has been mentioned for numerous awards for various works. His rap sheet is too long to put it all here but let’s suffice it to say that this man has proven his ability to tell a twisted tale. To read all about Paul Kane you can look him up at www.shadow-writer.co.uk. His novel Arrowhead, a new installment to Abaddon Books’ Afterblight Chronicles, is out now in the UK and will soon hit the shores of my beloved home in the USA. If his other work is any indication this book will thrill and chill his audience. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy! Interview by Jim Dodge Jnr.
MM: Thank you for submitting to this interview! I trust we find you well! How’s life been for you, especially now that you’re part of the Abaddon Books family?
Paul: Life’s good at the moment. It’s always busy, but I’m not complaining about that. I’d rather have lots of work than none at all… The experience with Abaddon has been great, from the initial pitching of ideas stage to working some up into chapter breakdowns, and then finally writing Arrowhead – and the editing process that goes with that. It’s my first mass market novel, so obviously I’m over the moon about it coming out, and the staff – especially Jon Oliver – have been nothing less than supportive.
MM: Your stories and books have been published in a vast array of places over the years. How did you find your way to Abaddon Books? Did they approach you or did you approach them?
Paul: I learnt that Abaddon were opening to pitches back in early 2007, for series like ‘The Afterblight Chronicles’ and ‘Tomes of the Dead’, so I just sent along a bunch of ideas for them. Jon liked the sound of a few, so I worked a bit more on them, and he finally settled on the Robin Hood one – which, in hindsight, was absolutely the right choice for an Afterblight book. The Hood legend just lends itself so well to a post apocalyptic setting, where Britain sort of parallels Hood’s time – complete with small communities and overbearing dictators. It just all dovetailed together very nicely.
MM: Would you be willing to tell us a little bit about Arrowhead, the plot, characters and the inspiration?
Paul: Absolutely. As I say, the jumping off point, and inspiration, for the novel is the Robin Hood legend – but there are massive differences too. I like to think I’ve embraced the whole mythology of Hood, but in a knowing way. For example, my ‘Robin’ is fully aware of all the stories that have gone before based on that legend, and is at first only subconsciously copying him. Robert Stokes is an ex-policeman from Mansfield – not far away from Nottingham – who lost his wife and son to the A-B virus that wiped out 90% of the world’s population. Shunning any human contact, he goes off to live in the woodland regions near Sherwood. At the same time a Frenchman called De Falaise, who has always harboured dreams of ruling a country, is discovering that there are too many people with the same idea over in Europe. So, with a band of mercenaries he’s built up, he decides to ‘invade’ Britain – because he’s heard it’s gone to wrack and ruin – and gather an army. Being a student of history, he recognizes that the old kings ruled from the middle of the country, rather than London, so he heads North to take over Nottingham Castle. Robert becomes involved when he sees De Falaise’s men raiding one of the floating markets that are cropping up in the region – I figured people would go back to the barter system. There are characters that mirror all the Hood favourites, such as Tuck, Little John, Will Scarlet, Much…and, of course, Marion, but hopefully in a believable way rather than it all just being coincidence.
Touching the Flame
MM: While I was reading your stories I discovered an interesting, and wonderful, phenomenon. Though they didn’t seem to be overtly creepy while I was reading them, I found myself needing to turn on all the lights when I went to the bathroom. Is this how you intended your reader to feel or is it just an incidental response to your particular writing style?
Paul: That’s a massive compliment, thank you! If my horror stories have had that much of an impact on someone, then I’m delighted about that. The worst thing in the world is to get no reaction at all. I suppose what I hope to achieve, first and foremost, is to entertain the reader with my writing – whether it be to make them laugh in a horror-comedy story, or scare them silly in a more serious one. Hopefully they won’t be regretting parting with their hard-earned money then. But, like most writers, I’m also throwing things out there for people to think about. For instance, I might be tackling the idea of guilt, in stories like ‘The Torturer’ and ‘Guilty Pleasures’, betrayal in ‘Remote’ and ‘Kindred Spirits’, or even the idea that you can’t return to the past in ‘Reunion’. I always think that getting to the emotional core is the best way to unnerve people, having strange things happen to folk just like you and me, nudging reality sideways a little. The title of my most recent collection, from Creative Guy Publishing, sums it up perfectly: they’re Peripheral Visions; things that you can only see or sense out of the corner of your eye.
MM: This is a question I like to ask because it means something to me as a writer. Is there any ritual you use to get yourself in a creative mood? If so, what is it? If not, should I be embarrassed because I most definitely do?
Paul: Not really a ritual, although I do have favourite places I like to write fiction, or non-fiction – and can’t really swap any of them round because it feels weird, if that makes sense? I can’t write fiction in a noisy environment, either. But I don’t really have any rituals other than to try and get myself into the story environment, so I’m able to picture what I’m writing about. Because I’m a huge movie fan I tend to see stories visually to begin with, like little films playing in my head, then I just try and describe the scenes in a way that gets that picture across to the reader.
MM: You and I have some things in common, besides our amazing writing talents and supreme intellects. These are your desire to write about zombies and your obvious respect for H.P. Lovecraft. Were these two things early influences on your writing or did you discover them as you progressed in your reading? How (the bloody hell) did you manage to create a story, and I’m referring to one of your Dalton Quayle adventures here, that combined Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos and a brilliant dash of humor?
Paul: I don’t know about a supreme intellect, I can’t even fathom out my DVD player! But yes, those are definitely early influences for me and my writing. The zombie thing comes not only from a misspent childhood watching Romero movies – and the banned Fulci zombie flicks when I could get my hands on them – but also reading some cracking zombie stories in anthologies: Barker’s ‘Sex, Death and Starshine’, to name but one, then later on Christopher Fowler’s ‘Night After Night of the Living Dead’. Lovecraft I read a lot when I was in my teens, along with tons of other writers in the horror, sf and fantasy genres – too many to name here. The Quayle stuff came out of my love of comedy as well as horror, and a notion to combine the two in an unusual way. He’s part Holmes, part Carnacki, part Crow, but I’ve twisted him into an arrogant caricature who solves supernatural mysteries mainly out of luck than anything else. They’re fun to write in between the more serious stuff and don’t require that much effort really. Quayle’s tackled everything from Were-sheep to the living dead – again, a nod to those zombie films of my youth – and it just seemed obvious to throw some Lovecraft into the mix. I’m not so much taking the mickey out of it all as chucking in references I know genre fans will get and appreciate. And from the feedback I receive it appears to be working; he’s one of my most popular characters.
MM: How long does it take you to finish writing an average short story? An average novel? If there was no such thing as a deadline would you take longer to finish a book?
Paul: It all depends on what the story is, whether it’s flowing or I’m having trouble with it. How long’s a piece of string really? Some of the stories that have done very well for me have only taken hours or even days – like ‘Dead Time’, which was turned into an episode of the Lionsgate/NBC series Fear Itself. But I think they always come quicker when you’re channeling something special, don’t they? For novels, again that all depends – especially on the word length. The research for Arrowhead took about three months, then sitting down writing it took about four or five months – give or take a few weeks and accounting for holidays and other work deadlines – and the editing a few more months. When pushed for time I can sit and write a 90-100k novel in about three months, but it would probably need rewrites and major editing, which I always prefer to have plenty of time to do. But I think having no deadline at all would be very dangerous, as you might never finish a book at all!
MM: You’ve received some wonderful reviews from high profile people in the publishing business. What was your favorite and who wrote it? What was the worst review you’ve ever received? How did it affect your writing?
Paul: To be honest I can’t really believe some of the things people have said about my writing – I have to pinch myself sometimes. I’m grateful for every single one of the good reviews and quotes I’ve been given. I don’t have favourites as such, as I love them all, but to get Clive Barker’s seal of approval – because he was one of the writers responsible for getting me into the genre – was quite something. As for the bad reviews, I try not to dwell on them really or let them affect what I’m working on – although obviously any negative things said about something you’ve spent hours and hours on hurt at the time. Sometimes, though, you can take on board what’s being said and use it for your next project.
MM: I’m a (hack) writer of horror though I haven’t achieved success on the level you have. Are there groupies involved when you get to your lofty height? Are they diseased crack-whores or super-models? Are you married and if so will you be able to answer this question honestly without ending up divorced?
Paul: I think you sell yourself short, having read some of your writing… But to answer your question, there aren’t any groupies that I’ve noticed in the last 12 years – crack-whores, supermodels or otherwise. I probably would have loved the attention when I was a bit younger, but as a happily married man – and married to a horror author, the lovely and talented Marie O’Regan – I’m not interested anyway. I’ve found the perfect woman and she’s more than enough for me.
MM: Could you name three writers (besides me) who you would like to avoid ever writing like? Is it because you detested their work or was it jealousy that they reached fame and fortune before you did? If you had the chance, would you have them assassinated?
Paul: I can’t really name any names there, mainly because if I haven’t liked a writer’s work from Page 1 – and you can usually tell pretty early on – then I haven’t read any more of their stuff. I try not to let negative things like jealousy affect what I’m doing; it’s counter productive. If people are getting on, publishing books, writing films or whatever, it just means there’s more stuff out there for me to enjoy! I’m a fan of the genre at heart after all.
MM: We’ve gotten a little bit away from serious banter here and that’s intentional. I get bored easily and a little humor keeps me going. Would you share your favorite joke with me?
Paul: Sure. A guy walks into a bar – don’t they always? – carrying a basket. The barman looks inside and sees a disembodied head. “Ugh,” he says, “what’s that?” The man looks at him and replies: “That’s my son. He was born like this. But he’s 18 today and I’m bringing him for his first drink.” The barman shrugs, as it takes all sorts, and gives them a pint each. The man gives his son a sip of the beer… Suddenly, an arm pops out of the basket. “Oh my God,” say the father and the barman in unison. Excited, the man quickly gives his son another drink, and another arm pops out. Pretty soon, the rest of the kid’s body has grown out of his head, and he’s standing in the middle of the bar, completely naked, jumping up and down with joy. He runs round the bar whooping, making full use of his new legs, then runs out the front door of the bar, and into the road…only to be ploughed over by a truck that’s passing. The dad rushes outside, leaving the barman tutting and shaking his head. One of the other customers joins him at the bar and the barman comments, “Of course, you know what their trouble was, don’t you?” “What?” asks the punter. “They should have quit while he was a head,” replies the barman.
Signs of Life
MM: That’s much better! Now I can get back on track. Is there any rule (or rules) that you would recommend new writers follow? Did someone share it with you or did you figure it out through trial and error?
Paul: First thing I would say to any writer is be true to yourself, write what you want to write, because it will shine through in your work. Always let the characters talk to you, get to know them as if they were real people, because then they’ll be completely believable. I often talk about mine like they were people I know, and forget I’m doing it. That’s stuff I’ve learnt myself over the years. But I can share a couple of excellent pieces of advice I was given early on in my career. The first was from John B. Ford, who accepted my first short for publication – and we became best friends not long afterwards. He told me to scattershot my work: always send out lots of things to lots of places, that way you won’t be hung up waiting to hear about just one thing. It’s probably why I’m always so busy! Another friend of mine, the bestselling author Simon Clark, told me after my first book acceptance fell through – due to the publisher going bust – that all the little victories add up in the end, and that if you take small steps to begin with, suddenly you can look back and see how far you’ve come. I’ve never forgotten that and I know exactly what he means now. Nothing ever comes overnight, you have to work at it and be persistent and patient.
MM: Most writers do book signing tours and the like. Do you have any events planned where fans can meet you and get autographs? Do you feel like it’s too early in your career to consider a book tour?
Paul: I’m always at events, though obviously if there are specific books coming out then signings are arranged – as they were with Arrowhead being launched at FantasyCon back in September. I’m looking at doing something to mark the launch of my novella RED from Skullvines, though at time of writing I’m not sure quite what that is yet. I’m always at British Fantasy Society Open Nights in London, as well as events like Alt.Fiction in Derby and various others throughout the year. I was at the World Horror Convention in Toronto in 2007, loved it, and hope to return again someday. It is a bit early in my career for a book tour yet, but you never know – if a publisher wants to do it, I’d be delighted to get out there on the road meeting readers.
MM: With election time coming up in the US I’d like to ask a couple of political questions. Would you rather see Lemmy Kilmister or Ozzy Osbourne for our next American President? Would it be silly of me to renounce my independence from Britain if Barack Obama gets elected?
Paul: definitely – although Lemmy did sing the song ‘Hellraiser’, so he comes a close second. I love Ozzy as you never know what he’s going to say or do next; that, to me, would make him the perfect President.
MM: I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer these (sometimes stupid) questions…You’re a wonderful writer and I plan to do my part to see your name on the Bestseller list. Anything that you’d like to add?
Paul:some major stuff coming up in 2008 which I can’t really talk about at present, but if people want to keep in touch with what I’m doing then visit the Shadow Writer site every month and check out the news page (www.shadow-writer.co.uk ) I also have Guest Writers on there, so it’s not just my material – previous Guests have included Stephen King, Peter Straub, Clive, Neil Gaiman, John Connolly, Thomas Harris, James Herbert and tons more. There are also lots of cool interviews with the likes of George A. Romero, Rob Zombie and co.
Thanks be to Paul Kane for his patience and good sense of humor! He truly is a brilliant writer and you should all buy his books. And a good nightlight. Good night!
