1-) Tell us about yourself.

What do you want to know? I'd hate to bore you to death.

My name is James Newman, and I live in the mountains of North Carolina with my beautiful wife, Glenda, and my 18-month old son, James III ("Jamie"). My fiction has been published throughout the small press, in publications such as SHADOWFEAST ONLINE, DREAD, FANGORIA.COM, DELIRIUM, and the U.K. anthology NASTY SNIPS. I am also co-editor of the online horror 'zine DEVIANT MINDS.

Before the end of the year DarkTales Publications plan to release my novella HOLY ROLLERS as a chapbook. HOLY ROLLERS is a story of psychological horror/suspense with just a touch of pitch-black humor (as most of my stuff is tinged with) that asks the question "What If?" What if those pesky Jehovah's Witness-types showed up at your door one morning . . . but then absolutely refused to leave? And worse yet . . . what if they had guns?"

I think horror fans are gonna get a kick out of HOLY ROLLERS. I really got a kick out of writing it, and I'm really proud of what DarkTales have done with it.

HOLY ROLLERS may also become a short film in the near future, based on a screenplay adapted from the novella by yours truly.

Also, I recently sold an option on Bad Road, a feature-length screenplay.

I have my own web-site folks may peruse if they so wish at http://members.tripod.com/~NEWMANATOR/index.html.

That's about it. You can wake up now.

2-) How long have you been interested in writing?

Well, ever since I was a kid I can remember always writing these little 2 or 3 page stories. Of course, they were always filled with monsters and aliens, wide-eyed axe murderers, those sorts of wholesome things. I guess the first time I really got a taste of what it was like to have others read my stuff and get a kick out of it was in fifth grade. I had this whole little book of Twilight Zone-like stories, little short-shorts with surprise endings. My teacher asked if I would read them in front of the class, one story every day after lunch. Everyone got a kick out of them, kept talking about my stories . . . the girls, even, kept complimenting how "scary" they were, so that was a real trip . . . I knew right then this was what I wanted to be when I grew up, no doubt about it.

As far as being seriously interested in making a career out of this writing thing, I've been doing it for about 6 years or so. So far it's rolling along quite nicely, considering the short time I've been doing it "professionally."

3-) When was your first sale? And to which magazine?

A monster tale called "Offspring," to a 'zine called W!dow of the Orch!d. I'll never forget that first acceptance letter. Greatest feeling in the world.

4-) What sort of writer are you? The old fashioned type, slaving away over a parchment, with a pot of ink, a quill and a candle, or the modern man, own office and PC?

Well, I'm definitely a modern man, with the computer and the office, but I have to have that same "ambience" that one might find the other way. I may listen to music to set the "mood," but I otherwise have to have peace and quiet to be able to write. My own office is a little different, however, to most offices . . . horror-movie posters, toys, that sort of thing. Gotta "set the mood," ya know. I call it my "scary room."

People think I'm strange. Hell, they're probably right.

5-) What's better, Buffy or Angel?

Couldn't tell ya. I'm not much of a Buffy fan. I've watched it a couple times, and think Sarah Michelle Gellar is quite a hottie, but I wouldn't call myself a fan. Nothing wrong with good B-movie fun now and then, but those shows are a little too "campy" for my tastes.

6-) What advice would you give to any other aspiring writers?

As cliche as it sounds, never give up. You can't let rejection letters get you down. It'll happen one day if you have talent, and you're wiling to listen to editors' advice to hone that talent into something special. And when it finally comes, it's worth the wait.

Just never give up.

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?

Hell, no. Reading from a computer screen will never ever replace curling up in bed with a good book. I think electronic publishing is great, new mediums for literature or any kind of entertainment is always a fantastic thing, but it'll never replace old-fashioned books.

8-) What author or author's work inspired you to become a writer?

That's an easy one. Stephen King. He's the master still, even though he's branched out a little, grown more "literary" in the past few years. He's still the best damn storyteller there ever was, bar none (in my opinion).

The very first novel -- adult novel, I mean -- that hooked me on literature in this genre was Anne River Siddons' The House Next Door. Loved that book, still do. I've heard it's one of Stephen King's favorites as well, matter of fact. Deservedly so.

9-) If you had to be a character in Star Trek, who would you be?

You got me on this one too. I wouldn't know, never been a fan. I'm a Star Wars man myself, have been since a very young age.

10-) Tell us about your forthcoming indie film script?

Well, it's called Bad Road. I recently sold an option on it, and we're just waiting on the big money-men to pick it up. I finished a rewrite not long ago, that wasn't fun. But it should all be worth it in the end. Bad Road is not really horror, which obviously is my usual genre of choice, but more of a thriller/road-movie. Violent-as-hell but loaded with suspense, or at least that's what I was going for. If/when the movie is released, we'll see if I pulled it off. I think I did.

11-) How is writing a movie script different from a short story?

Obviously in the screenplay format you can only show. You can never tell. Which you shouldn't be doing anyway -- remember the old credo for writers, "show don't tell?"

My point is that in a screenplay you can never tell what a character is thinking, what he's done in the past, etc. You can only show -- through dialogue, action, and description -- what the director can possibly convey up there on the big screen. Whereas in a novel or short story you are able to get inside your characters heads more, create characters with which your reader is able to greater sympathize, than some actor in a movie.

12-) The Blair Witch Project -- crap or class?

Class, hands down. I know a lot of people hated this movie (that's one thing about that film -- you either loved it or hated it, I've met very few people who were "in-between"), but I absolutely loved it. The scariest thing, first time I saw it, than I can remember seeing in quite some time. Ingenius. We need more clever horror movies like this . . . more -- dare I say it -- horror movies that are actually scary.

13-) Describe your writing process.

Just do it. I don't really have one. The mood strikes me, I get some free time, I sit down and rewrite. Then rewrite. Then rewrite again. Then sit the manuscript aside for a week or two and come back to it "fresh," rewrite one last time.

I think all good writers rewrite. Your first draft is never gonna be perfect, no matter who you are. You've got to polish, refine -- and, in my own case, cut the hell out of a bunch of extemperaneous shit . . . then and only then do you have a story which is good enough to be read by anyone other than your spouse or your closest friends.

I used to hate rewriting. Believe it or not I really enjoy it now. Because it's during that editing stage that a story begins to "gel," if you will, to come together and transform into something special. And it's worth all that work, to see your baby grow into a handsome adult.

Okay, that sounded kinda cheesy. But you understand where I was going with it.

I hope.

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?

Probably not. It's just not in me to write stuff like that. I wouldn't know where to begin, so that gig wouldn't last very long anyway. I'm not a "trashy-romantic" sort of guy.

15-) What does the future hold for you (hopefully)?

Well, I would love to buckle down and one day finish a novel, get it published. Can't stay in short stories forever, I guess, if you wanna make a career out of this writing thing. My good friend Donn Gash and I are currently working on a big epic horror novel right now, and it's going pretty well, so who knows . . . keep an eye out for it .

James Newman.

James’ Gone Shooting appeared in Issue 7 of The Steel Caves, thanks to him for taking the time to answer these questions.