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the web-zine with a sense of (warped)
humor
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| Every now and then we like to bring you, the readers, an interview with someone connected with our chosen genre, or genres. For our first interview we have Mark McLaughlin, a writer of not inconsiderable talent, a talented short story writer with more stories published than we have room to list here and is the author of currently available chapbooks, ZOM BEE MOO VEE & OTHER FREAKY SHOWS (Fairwood Press) and I GAVE AT THE ORIFICE (Eraserhead Press).You can also read one of his short stories in this very issue. |
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1. Tell us about yourself. My full name is Mark Anthony McLaughlin. I have a Roman-coin-profile sort of face, and I'm big-boned and squarely built. I have a dark, reddish goatee and moustache, and steel-grey, buzz-cut-short hair. I look like a young Ming the Merciless (I'm 38 years old). I am half Greek, half Irish. I enjoy strange old movies, coffee, sushi, playing with cats, listening to dancemusic, having drinks with friends, and shopping. I had a horrible childhood the only bright light in my early life was my grandmother on my mother's side. Grandma was a vivacious, sophisticated but earthy Greek lady. I used to pretend her and her last husband (she was married several times) were my real parents. She used to call me "Marcos," which is actually my baptism name. I was baptised Greek Orthodox, but I don't go to church. Do I believe in God? Well, the Earth itself is alive in its own way, right down to its molten metal heart. There's plenty of Godliness in that. And I'm sure we are surrounded by unusual presences at all times, but not in a supernatural way. There are many different spectrums of life. Viruses, crystals, even magnetism-there's some wee spark of legitimate `being' in everything. What else...? I love parties and going to literary conventions. And, I like hanging out with old friends, and meeting new people, too. 2. How long have you been interested in writing? Since I was four or five, I think. I used to write long, wild stories even back then. But when I was in my late teens, I was mad at my parents for the way they treated me, so I burned all significant traces of my childhood: my favorite stories and drawings, photographs, even toys. My life has not been an easy one. It had a rough start, and has been filled with pressure and conflict-I won't bore you with the gritty details. But writing has helped me to get in touch with my inner self, to help me to figure out how to become a happier, more successful person. 3. What was your first sale? And to which magazine? When I was 17 or so, I sold my first story, "As Osiris Wills" to SPACE & TIME Magazine. SPACE & TIME is still around-in fact, a poem of mine will be in a forthcoming issue. A few of my stories were published while I was in my late teens. Then I went to college and after that, entered the field of advertising, and I stopped writing stories until I hit thirty. Then I started again and have been writing and selling stories steadily ever since. My work has appeared in loads of magazines, anthologies, websites-I suppose the number of markets I've sold to is over 300 by now. I should count them all again one of these days. These include GALAXY, TALEBONES, GHOSTS & SCHOLARS, ISIS RISING, NEW ALTARS, ROADWORKS, TRANSVERSIONS, 100 WICKED LITTLE WITCH STORIES, BEST OF THE REST 2, THE BEST OF PALACE CORBIE, THE LAST CONTINENT: NEW TALES OF ZOTHIQUE, LETTING GO OF THE EARTH and THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES (DAW Books). I am the author of the currently available chapbooks, ZOM BEE MOO VEE & OTHER FREAKY SHOWS (Fairwood Press) and I GAVE AT THE ORIFICE (Eraserhead Press). 4. What sort of writer are you-quill and ink, or PC? PC, definitely. I love computers, but not in a nerdy, desperate way. Hopefully it's more of a sexy James-Bond-villain sort of way. Yes, Mr. Bond, soon I shall take over the world's internet computers with my wicked stories, mwwwwaaah-haa-haaa- haaaa-haaaaaaaah! (Evil laugh, in case you were wondering.) 5. Who's better, Buffy or Angel? I don't watch that show, but I know what the characters look like. I suppose Angel, just so people can say, "Wow, I can't believe Ming the Merciless hangs out with vampires! Cool!" Buffy looks too sweet and goofy. I'd rather hang out with someone sinister and charming. 6. What advice would you give to any other aspiring writers? Be your own biggest fan and your own toughest editor. Love your own work, but be objective about it. 7. How do you feel about the move from hard copy books to downloadable internet stories? Is it really the end of the printed word? There will always be a market for bound books-people love them. They love to hold them and collect them. Internet stories might even help some book sales: they can help some authors to become more visible, so that people might decide that they'd like to buy an actual book by that person. My work has appeared on a lot of websites, including Gothic.Net, FeoAmante.com, Masters of Terror, and Simon Clark's Nailed By The Heart website. These high-profile internet appearances have definitely helped my writing career. 8. What author or author's work inspired you to become a writer? My grandmother wasn't a writer, but she was a gifted storyteller. She used to entertain me for hours by telling me stories about her extraordinary adventures back in Crete. I learned how to be a storyteller from her. In fact, I often do readings of my work at literary conventions. I have given readings of my work all over the United States. Every year, the World Horror Convention holds their Annual Gross-Out Story- Reading Contest, and I am the current reigning champion. I won at this year's convention with a reading of my story, "Dr. Jekyll Hydes The Sausage." I do want to mention that not all of my stories are gross. But when the mood strikes me, my work can be very disgusting indeed! But it's funny-disgusting, not sickening-disgusting. 9. Have you heard of Terry Pratchett? He's a British author who writes comic high-fantasy novels, right? I've heard of him, but haven't read him yet. I should buy a few of his books some day, to see what his work is like. 10. If you had to be a character in Star Wars who would you be? One of the drunken alien monsters in the space bar. Yes, another Venusian margarita, please! 11. Have you ever been to London, UK? Yes, twice. Both marvelous visits. Years ago I saw TIME, the rock and roll opera, when it played in London. I saw a lot of other shows, too, but the exuberant excess of TIME was the most memorable. I also went to the World Fantasy Convention when it was held in London. I love those sexy English voices. By comparison, all Americans sound `dead common', as they say on ARE YOU BEING SERVED? I love old British sitcoms-they play them on American public TV. 12. Burger King or MacDonalds? Which is your bag? I'd rather have Chinese or Indian food. I still remember that wonderful dimsum I had in London on my first visit. 13. Describe your writing process. Well, first an interesting thought-an idea for a story-pops into my head. I think about it, rolling it around in my head for a few days. Then I sit down and start typing. Sometimes I finish the first draft in one sitting two or three sittings, if it's an especially long story. Then I set it aside for a few days. I then polish it up, changing a few words here and there. Finally, I submit it to whatever market I think is most appropriate for it. 14. If you had the choice to work full-time writing trashy romance novels, never having time for your own work, would you compromise and do it? Never! I write about what interests me. If I wrote about things that didn't interest me, the work would suffer, and the reader would be able to tell. 15. What does the future hold for you (hopefully)? "Hopefully"? One must speak of the future with absolute certainty, if one expects to achieve one's goals. Doubt is an infection that must be stamped out. Gargadillo Books soon will be releasing my next chapbook, AS GROSS AS IT GETS, which collects some of my more wicked, disgusting-but-funny stories.I mentioned my chapbook ZOM BEE MOO VEE-it contains some of my stories of cinematic dark fantasy. I've actually written many, many more stories in that vein, and someday, I'm sure some publisher will release a larger book of all my freaky movie stories. Another publisher is considering a collection of funny Lovecraftian stories I've written. Also, I've also written a lot of monster stories, and someday some publisher will release a book of those. After that? Eventually my intellect will be downloaded into a gigantic robot named Throk which will lead the world into a new Golden Age. The Golden Age will least for many thousands of years, but eventually I will become bored. At that point, I will return to my soul's true form-a transdimensional crystal spider-and I'll zip off to some fresh new world to see what's cookin' there. I'd like to end this interview with a poem. Thematically, this poem has a few concepts in common with "I'm Getting A Raise," my story for Steelcaves. This poem first appeared in ISIS RISING, a book of goddess poetry published by the Temple of Isis-in Los Angeles! That Isis, she's got people everywhere. Cleopatrick Mark McLaughlin Red hair, freckles, overbite, but still: he's different. Not quite right, but far from wrong. Slanted panther-eyes, lanky, loping gait. Subtle sibilance upon his tongue. Lotus breath and dusty, musky pits. He works at Loco Video (campy tapes, some porn, some foreign crap) but in his mind life's too B.C. for words: stone corridors, misshapen deities, ferocious hieroglyphics carved in flesh. He hisses the name ISIS to the tapes-breathes truth into the works, and death, and cold, relentless time-soon all the shows star grim epiphanies. Each scene reveals a smirking universe that doesn't care. Cycles within cycles swirl with merciless precision. Wind and sand are all that really matter. Those who see these tapes turn mummy in their minds, their thoughts all desert-dry. How sad, how mad. Our priestly, beastly boy refuses sleep. He stares up at the moon and tries to cry. end |
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