Al Sarrantonio at CYBLING

Al Sarrantonio Author of "The Ropy Thing" and Editor of 999 Avon's Horror Anthology July 26, 1999 9:00 pm ET		Al Sarrantonio's Website Get Sarrantonio's Books The Interview

Novelist, short story writer, editor, book reviewer and columnist, Al Sarrantonio is the author of twenty novels in the horror, science fiction, mystery and Western genres, as well as the editor of five books of horror and humor. He has been nominated for the Horror Writer Association’s Bram Stoker Award as well as for the Shamus Award of the Private Eye Writers of America. His first short story collection, Toybox, will be published in the fall of 1999.

Q&A

JanCyberC How did you first become interested in Horror fiction, and when did you first begin writing it?
AlSarrantonio Good one. I started out as an sf writer; worked as an editor at Doubleday in the 1970s after attending the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1974. Bruce Sterling, James P. Kelly and I all came out of that year. To answer your question, I started writing horror in the 80s when the market opened up.
JanCyberC The market was fairly closed before that time?
AlSarrantonio Small and scattered; then Blatty and Levin and King came along, and suddenly there were horror lines being published. And, in short fiction, Grant's Shadows series, which I contributed a bunch of stories to, and Whispers, and then TZ magazine. It grew like mad until about 1985, then collapsed. One of the things we're trying to do with 999 is give it a boost.
JanCyberC I see from your introduction that you're trying to emphasize the fact that horror can be fine literature. Do you feel it's considered less than that, currently?
AlSarrantonio That's easy: it always =was=. Like I say in the intro: see Hawthorne and Poe for appropriate examples. And yes, I think it's still considered a ghetto literature, where accomplished writers go slumming every once in a while. I'd like to broaden that idea -- good luck, right?
JanCyberC When did you first envision the 999 Horror Anthology? That is, when did you first decide to gather all these stories together.
AlSarrantonio Jan: have you seen the book in galleys?
JanCyberC I've read your story, Ed Gorman's, and Rick Hautala's, and each came with your introduction but the folks that visit our sites may not have already had that opportunity.
AlSarrantonio Ah. To answer your question: I started on the project in 1996; went to some of the top guys and worked my way from there; took a long time to get it all together....
JanCyberC Three years, that's quite a chunk of time. You've had experience editing before though. Was this any tougher or any easier than other editing assignments you've had?
AlSarrantonio Tough but fun. This is the first original anthology I've done. The others were reprints. It was a lot more fun dealing with Joyce Carol Oates than the estate of some deceased author or other...
JanCyberC LOL. I can imagine. Did you write "The Ropy Thing" specifically for this anthology?
AlSarrantonio Yes. It was a bit of a decision whether or not to include my own work. Following other examples, I decided to do it but not be a pig about it. So I destroyed the universe in 9 pages, kept it short....
Tech ROFL. I have to ask, as I'm from North West Texas and in Texas now.... I notice you have WEST TEXAS listed as one of your works. Can I ask where that took place? ...Er what part of Texas rather.
AlSarrantonio WEST TEXAS is set in the Fort Davis area; I've been out there a bunch of times; love it...
Tech Cool. See the lights?
AlSarrantonio No! But my buddies have... I was more interested in seeing Raul's barbecue in town; best I've ever had...
Tech Good choice.
JanCyberC You write in several genres (horror, science fiction, mystery and western genres). Are they all tied together for you in some way, or is one genre just not big enough?
AlSarrantonio Let's see. Sometimes they're tied together. WEST TEXAS is a western/mystery, about a Buffalo Soldier who's a Sherlock Holmes freak and solves a murder using Holmesian deduction. MOONBANE was an sf/werewolf novel set in West Texas. A lot of my stuff is cross genre; keeps it fresh. My recent Five Worlds trilogy is pure space opera though...
JanCyberC Interesting. We're seeing a lot more cross-genre work these days. Do you think that the old genre labels are too confining, or perhaps the reading public has grown outside of these publishing strictures?
AlSarrantonio The labels are definitely confining but they ain't going away. Guys like myself and Joe Lansdale and others have been trying to blur them, but that's just to keep ourselves moving. Unfortunately, the labels are here for the foreseeable future. In the horror field, I just hope that 999 can garner the label more respect.
JanCyberC How did you develop your style and what stumbling blocks should young authors avoid? From a writer's POV and then from an Editors POV, if you wouldn't mind.
AlSarrantonio Yow! I don't know if you "develop" a style; it develops you, I think. It was years before I realized I had one, and even now I think I have three or four. Lots of Bradbury in my short stories, and others as well. Stumbling blocks? They're all over the place! Young authors should first last and middle just write! The style will take care of itself.
JanCyberC Thanks!
AlSarrantonio Free wisdom!
JanCyberC I'm in the middle of HOUSE HAUNTED right now.
AlSarrantonio Think you'll get out?
JanCyberC I don't know. But I certain hope so. Enjoying it immensely, btw, but I notice that you go from "terror" to downright "grossout." Would you class your horror as dark fantasy? Splatterpunk? Something else?
AlSarrantonio Jan: not splatterpunk! Dark Fantasy, if anything. HH was about as gross as I've ever gotten....
di I hear a lot about horror being dead, short horror esp, then I look at the TerrorZines, the number of them and the following and wonder: "Who's out of step?"
di dark fantasy, splatterpunk, horror, a further splintering of the genre
AlSarrantonio Di: Right! This controversy has been going on for fifteen years or so. In 999 I tried to get great =stories=. No labels, except that they had to scare me. Horror and suspense, no splinters!
JanCyberC Mr. Sarrantonio, do you feel that the splintering of the genre is a healthy sign or no?
AlSarrantonio Just answered it: NO!
JanCyberC LOL...Thanks!
di Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear :-)
starlit how do you characterize each -- or do you?
AlSarrantonio You mean horror and suspense?
starlit all of the "splinters" di mentioned
JanCyberC dark fantasy, splatterpunk, horror
starlit right
AlSarrantonio Ah. I don't characterize them. In the intro to 999 I actually set a definition of what I used in the book: if it scared me, that's it!
JanCyberC In your opinion, must there be a supernatural element in a story to make it horror?...or can the antagonist/evil be a normal human?
AlSarrantonio Another thought from my intro: I state that it can be supernatural or not; one of the scariest places is the human mind...
starlit one's own not the least
JanCyberC Interesting, and I concur.
AlSarrantonio Bingo!
di there seems to be an idea around that separates "real" horror (plausible) from Real horror (not plausible). Care to comment?
AlSarrantonio Name a horror that's not plausible? Seriously: name a horror that isn't plausible...
JanCyberC di, can you name an implausible horror?
starlit Lovecraft's Cthulu
Tech Alien?
di I can't, but I mean like one author who doesn't write dark fantasy, horror, SF, or SF/horror because his plots are plausible, "real", so therefore he writes medical/thrillers.
Tech Wouldn't that depend on our definition of plausible?
AlSarrantonio Hmmm. I'd say both of those are plausible. Heck, ever look at the sky and imagine its fabric ripped aside? The whole idea of imaginative fiction, it seems to me, is to make the implausible plausible. If you don't, you're tale stinks!
Tech LOL
JanCyberC So it's the authors "job" to make the story work, not the story's job to make the author.
AlSarrantonio It's the story's job to make the author MONEY...
JanCyberC LOLOL. Here here.
JanCyberC Is there any type of Horror that you prefer reading for leisure: Ghost stories? Apocalypses? Lycanthropes? Lovecraft?
AlSarrantonio I like anything that's good. Am currently gleefully plowing through the old EC horror and sf comics, which I missed as a youngster. Great stuff!!!
Tech If SF's job is to give us a sense of wonder and maybe warn, what's Horrors job? ROFL then I look up and see the money line.
starlit I'd say it's horro'rs job to illuminate the dark places of the psyche...argh! horror's
AlSarrantonio Tech: SF: sense of wonder; HORROR: sense of ....oh, heck, starlit stole my thought!
starlit great minds think alike
Tech Star is good at that.
starlit stealing?
AlSarrantonio Bravo!
JanCyberC You're working on a new Space Opera Series, and the latest book has been recently released... care to tell us a bit about this series?
AlSarrantonio Yes, it's done! It was supposed to ride the pre-Star Wars wave, but seems to have fallen into a trough! it takes place within our solar system, which has been partially terraformed. Venus is in process; Earth is dying; Mars is a partial success -- it was an excuse to write about my first love -- Mars!
JanCyberC Hmmm...when we talk about Space Opera out here [in chat] we usually assume FTL. Your SF takes place solely in this solar system?
AlSarrantonio Yes, I have sort of a partial FTL drive in the books. It's the only way to keep things moving. FTL is the great lie all you guys let us get away with...!
di Do you see a movement back to stories that thrilled us as young adults, away from the "it must be real?"
AlSarrantonio I'm a big Sense of Wonder fan, di...
JanCyberC If 999 does well...and I'm assuming it will from the quality of the stories I've read so far...do you have plans for a second anthology?
AlSarrantonio I'm about to sign with Viking Penguin for an sf anthology...
di Great!
AlSarrantonio I think so!
JanCyberC Oh excellent. Are you going after the "Big Boys" first in this one as well, and if so, who are the "Big Boys"?
AlSarrantonio It's called REDSHIFT, and will attempt to do in 2001 what Harlan Ellison did 30 years ago with Dangerous Visions. Lots of "big boys" involved...
starlit how did you get into editing?
AlSarrantonio starlit: I used to edit books at Doubleday in the 1970s...
Tech LOL on the FTL I'm still not sure who defines what can be and can't regarding hard SF. You want a shot at it?
AlSarrantonio I should never say never: FTL might happen!!!
AlSarrantonio I see it's 10:00 here in the East but I'd be happy to stick around for a bit; I'll let you all know when I have to go! And thank you all, by the way; it's been a lovely evening...
di Thank you!
JanCyberC Mr. Sarrantonio, not to give too much away, your story,"The Ropy Thing," in the 999 Anthology has some lovecraftian flavor to it.
AlSarrantonio A little I hope!
JanCyberC I take it you're a Lovecraft fan then?
AlSarrantonio Lovecraft among many others. Found his stuff in my teens. Rats in the walls etc. I heartily recommend his essay on Supernatural Horror to anyone wanting enlightenment on definitions...
Megwan Oh yes,999. What the devil does that mean?
JanCyberC Yes, could you explain why you chose that title?
AlSarrantonio 999 is both the year of pub (Sept of 99) and 666 upside down!
JanCyberC Okay, for new writers trying to break into the horror field, Mr. Sarrantonio, what are their options? How should someone get started?
AlSarrantonio By writing! Before you become a published author you become a collector--of rejection slips. The first written one I ever got was from Bob Silverberg; a few years later I started to sell. In between I kept writing!
Megwan I have quite a few of those myself!
AlSarrantonio Me too!
JanCyberC Should a writer concentrate on short stories or novels at this time though? Is there a market for short stories?
AlSarrantonio That's an individual thing. I wrote short stories, and sold short stories, for years before attempting a novel. But that was just me. I know novelists who can't write a short story for beans...
Megwan The most lethal was the one from Roderick Meng, telling me that Mr. Derleth had DIED, but that he probably would have critqued my story, etc.
AlSarrantonio Megwan: What stopped him?
Megwan Yeah. IT was my first submission, some miserable Lovecraft pastiche. I've often wondered if it didn't KILL him, to be honest
Megwan Do you plot your stories completely before writing?
JanCyberC I'm curious too... do you have some kind of ritual or rules to starting a story? that is plotting it out first.
AtkButterfly go ahead, Al, and describe the ritual... I won't tell the other writers that you divulged it ;)
JanCyberC LOL.
Tech ROFL ATK.
AlSarrantonio Good question; the answer is: sometimes. Stories often evolve; usually I let them. I start with a great hook, a first image or line, and go from there. But in the time it takes to write the darn thing, I start to mentally edit and plot. Rarely, they come fully formed to me! "The Ropy Thing" in 999 started with the image of the thing in the earth and its tentacles pushing up through the ground. I didn't realize I'd destroyed the universe in 9 pages till much later....
starlit do you essentially follow your characters and take notes?
AlSarrantonio starlit; you don't follow your characters: they pull you along by the nose!
Tech Is this a true statement? "The only difference between readers and writers is the last has actually sold copy?"
AlSarrantonio Without the latter, there ain't no former...Actually, I got that backwards? W/O the former there ain't no latter...On that note, I'm afraid I've got to go, gang. Thanks again to Jan and all!
JanCyberC Mr. Sarrantonio...thanks so much for joining us tonight.
Tech Thanks to you Mr Sarrantonio!

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