Horror author Patrick James Ryan first made an appearance, here at the Lair, back in May with his novella, The Maggots Underneath the Porch. The story, while entertaining, is so very graphic and gross, I gagged at a few scenes. Naturally, I thought, who better to interview for the month of Halloween?
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!)
 |
| 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
