Unfortunately, life happens, and this interview took much longer to arrange than expected. To avoid possible spoilers, I recommend reading the story first.
Without further delay, here is the Master of Maggots...
(Patrick: First, let me express my sincere appreciation to AstraDaemon's Lair for the gracious interest in interviewing me! I am honored!)
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| Patrick James Ryan, author |
Q. Why maggots? Seriously. How does one decide to write such a sick story?
LOL! I know! Pretty nasty! So, there is a story behind the story on this one. I always wanted to write a “coming of age” story like Stephen King’s novella, The Body that translated into the popular film, Stand by Me. The 70’s have always intrigued me. Great movies. Great music. A generation that predated Cell phones, Cable TV, and the oversaturation of technology. 1975 marked the first year of a major summer Block Buster movie and it left an indelible mark on culture and future movie making. Of course, I’m talking about JAWS. So many of my older cousins regaled how they collected baseball cards, engaged in the super cool fad of collecting beer cans, played Little League Baseball, and they still speak with a twinkle in their eyes about first seeing JAWS on the big screen in the theater. I had my time period. All I needed was a story. One evening there was a show on Animal Planet about Myiasis ~ a real condition where flies transmit their larvae into living hosts. In some cases, this happens to humans who have neuropathy in their extremities and in underdeveloped countries. So, I thought how would it fly (pun intended) to write a story about a nucleus of kids circa 1975 and the rich culture of that year, set against the horrible backdrop of a large person getting Myiasis to the point where a gigantic-carnivorous Maggot is unleashing hell, death and destruction…and The Maggots Underneath The Porch was born!
Q. Do you prefer any particular writing style or does it
depend on the subject matter in each story?
I prefer thrillers/horror/suspense. Horror is very eclectic and transcends many genres, including suspense, drama, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, irony and mystery. There is something very instinctive and feral about the emotions of fear and terror that hits strongly and impacts our psyche as human beings in all of the aforementioned genres that all contain elements of “Horror.” Horror is both arousing and revolting simultaneously. Part of us does not want to know, but we can’t help wanting to see if the Boogeyman is in the closet, what caused the creak on the stair step in the wee hours of the morning, and if the heavy breathing coming from the woods is a monster wanting to lash out at the person strutting down the path. Horror conjures the powerful mental conflict of “Fight vs. Flight” like no other genre. It pits good versus evil. While a cliché, the term Truth is stranger than fiction is very true and sometimes horror gets too close to the morbid reality of life. However, having said all that, my current work is MUCH more mainstream and should appeal to a wide audience.
Q. Tell us about your other work.
My first publication was a collection of 13 short stories and 14 short verse poems (Story-Poem-Story-Poem, etc.) titled, Blood Verse. It is a diverse compendium of stories that has been well received by reviewers and readers because of the eclectic nature of all the stories. They are mainly horror/thriller stories, but many contain high suspense, irony, and even a little bit of humor. My second publication has proven to be the most commercially successful, The Night It Got Out. The story started out as another short story and just continued to grow. It was a deliberate attempt to grab readers by the throat with a sheer action thriller, fraught with enough blood and guts to make them want to keep flipping the pages. While I have strong protagonists and antagonists, I intentionally did not develop them to some reader’s satisfaction as I wanted the Monster to drive the story and lead the action. I am proud of it because I think the plot and premise are rather unique. Fans keep asking for a sequel and I am doing one in 2019: The Night They Got Out!
Q. What inspired your love of horror? Books, movies or real
life? How has it influenced your own stories?
Initially, movies like JAWS, Alien, The Exorcist, Halloween and The Thing I found to be mesmerizing and riveting. However, real inspiration set in with the terrific prose of authors like Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, Brian Keene, Ira Levin, James Herbert, Robert Mccammon and many others.
Q. Is Halloween only once a year for you, or all year?
Well, as a supposed “Horror Author” one would think it would be year round for me. However, being very Irish, St. Patrick’s Day dominates the first quarter and quarters three and four typically get consumed by the kid’s sports/activities and then the Christmas Seasons hits! I do absolutely LOVE Halloween though!
Q. What can readers expect from you in 2019?
A second short story collection titled, Out of the Shadows will be released by my publisher, Nicholas Grabowsky at Black Bed Sheet Books in January. I am also working on multiple projects at present. One is a mainstream Detective novel set in Philadelphia that will be engrossing to a wide spectrum of readers. Another is the first in a series of 10 novels about a Warrior who fights demons from Hell (I can’t elaborate or it will let a big cat out of the bag!) On the backburner is a medieval Martial Arts thriller that I think could evolve into a movie. A sequel to The Night It Got Out as mentioned above. Last, but certainly not least, I am writing a biography on my Martial Arts teacher who has had one hell of a life and his story will make for an incredible human interest book!
My apologies to both my viewers and Patrick James Ryan for the two month delay with this interview...expect to see more of this author in the Lair in 2019!
As always,
AstraDaemon
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