Interested in horror from Down Under? We’re still swimming across  Stranger Seas, and today we have really gone the distance – to Brisbane, Australia, in fact.  We’re delighted to be joined by Cameron Trost, horror writer and publisher, and we’ve added some moody sea art by Sebastian Cabrol and another appropriate Reiko Murakami.

Odds and sods of news first. The old greydog himself, known affectionately as John Linwood Grant to the Inland Revenue, now has half a dozen new stories being published this year, including dark Edwardiana, a Sherlock Holmes novella, a contemporary ogre tale and a Lovecraftian horror. More news will appear here if we remember. We should start a blog. Oh, hang on…

And we’re upping our lurcher and longdog content soon (but not at the expense of the weird), hopefully with another UK rescue feature, plus  Lurchers for Beginners 6 (or 7?) and some other stuff.  Speaking of which, the lovely Jenny Kirk, who we met through the lurcher world, sent us this picture of Sheffield, which we just had to share:

Our links have been expanded and updated, including a new one for writer, editor, Hope Hodgson expert and regular contributor here, Sam Gafford. He has a freshly-minted, shiny author’s website which you can find at:  sam gafford, author. Pop along and marvel at Sams’ industriousness, buy his books and so on. That way he may do more contributions for us.

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Now, we did have a Stranger Seas interview here somewhere, under one of the longdogs. Here we go…

Cameron Trost

greydog: Welcome to greydogtales, Cameron. As you know, we’re currently majoring in nautical horror, so your anthology Lighthouses naturally caught our attention while we were trawling. As greydog’s father was a lighthouse keeper, we had to look closer. What inspired this particular idea?

cameron: The theme for the anthology is the chicken, and Black Beacon Books is the egg. When I founded my small press back in 2013, I wanted an original and mysterious name. I played around with a few ideas and liked the imagery of a black beacon perched atop a mountain or braving raging seas. I think it represents the tales I wanted; welcoming lights or urgent warnings in the dark. The idea for an anthology of dark tales about lighthouses and beacons resulted. There aren’t many lighthouse anthologies out there, and none with the dark atmosphere of this one. The potential for gripping and atmospheric tales was too great to ignore, and, as it turns out, the contributors delivered exactly what I wanted.

greydog: What would you say are the attractions of the sea for horror and weird fiction writers?

cameron: The isolation. The danger. The unknown depths full of mystery. What strange creatures lurk below the waves? What secrets are held in the hull of that abandoned ship? Does the sea cave of that desert island hide horrors and delights beyond reckoning? A talented horror or weird fiction writer can make the local supermarket a place of terror, and that can be really disturbing, but the sea more readily lends itself to exciting and intriguing plots, evocative settings, and memorable characters. Your father was a lighthouse keeper, so I think you know what I mean. I bet he was a bit of a character and had some tales to tell.

greydog: Yes, he really was a great story-teller, an eccentric man who loved being out on the rock lighthouses. where the imagination went wild. We were never sure how much to believe! How about you? Are you a landlubber or a high seas drifter?

cameron: I was born and grew up in Brisbane, a river city. It is on Moreton Bay (and there are legends of Portuguese treasure still waiting to be found) but I spent most of my childhood in the city itself. In his younger days, my father was a launch master on the Great Barrier Reef and a salvager in Moreton Bay, but the longest I’ve ever spent on a boat was a ferry trip from Melbourne to Tasmania, which is about ten hours. I love forests, which tend to be lacking on the high seas, but I like hiking along coastal paths and swimming in the surf. So, in answer to your question, I guess I’m a landlubber whose ideal environment would be a forest near the coast with paths leading past a lighthouse on a cliff. Steps are being taken to move the family to such a place.

greydog: Sounds ideal. Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales is the first collection of your short stories. Is there common ground between the stories in there, or do you prefer diversity and different angles?

cameron: They are all tales of suspense and mostly have twists at the end. That’s the kind of story I like to read and it’s what I like to write too. Although every tale is different from the others, they are all suspenseful and disturbing. Many readers have complimented me on my ability to create an unexpected twist, and I think I do that by ensuring that my fiction is original (a quality that most readers don’t appreciate – just look at how annoyingly predictable most popular books and films are) and that I use the subtle art of misdirection effectively. In terms of character, there probably isn’t a lot of diversity (I find myself writing about heterosexual white people) but I like to examine the difference between working-class folk and the filthy rich. As for setting, the reader is taken from Brisbane to the Scottish Highlands, and from the French Pyrenees to the Australian desert. Despite any difference in setting, however, these tales are generally quite similar in that I try to write about people just like you, in towns just like yours, and then I do something to freak you out.

greydog: Now we want to go and check what that noise was. Tell us something about the themes you’re exploring in your forthcoming work. We’ve heard talk of novellas.

cameron: Let Darkness Take Hold, which is in Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales, could either be considered a long short story or a short novella. Apart from that, I’ve completed the umpteenth draft of a novel manuscript, and I’m in the process of writing a series of novellas about a private investigator, of which I’ve finished the first draft of two of the mysteries and am working on the third. Early days yet, but I’m very excited about this investigator and the puzzles he sets out to solve.

greydog: You founded Black Beacon Books in 2013. Earlier this year we talked to Neil Baker, of April Moon Books in Canada, about the trials and tribulations of running a small/micro press (see  once in an april moon). Have you found it a stressful process?

cameron: I haven’t found it stressful, mostly because I’ve been careful with money and realistic with deadlines. I recognise that Black Beacon Books is not (at this stage, at least) a business, but rather a project. What I have found disappointing is the lack of support. My writers work very hard on their stories and I edit their work painstakingly. A huge amount of time and effort goes into producing a publication. Don’t get me wrong, I have received encouragement and support, for which I am eternally grateful, but more is needed.

In particular, it’s really hard to convince people to actually buy books. That’s the biggest challenge. I’m not a marketing expert and I don’t have the means to pay for advertising (which is why I love interviews and reviews – thank you). ‘Trust me, this is a great book. It’s way better than 90% of what’s out there.’ That’s what I want to tell people, but that just doesn’t work. I think the key for Black Beacon Books is to take it slow, focus on quality over quantity, and appreciate every individual sale, review, and compliment. As our reputation grows, so will our readership and support base… right?

greydog: We’ll certainly do our part, and keep our tendrils crossed for you. Neil said similar things about the whole marketing problem for small presses. You’re also heavily involved in the Australian Horror Writers Association. Is there a thriving membership in Australia?

cameron: It is a wonderful association with around two hundred members. Australia is a vast country, but we keep in touch online. We also meet up sometimes. I am the coordinator of the Queensland community and there is a monthly pub session in Brisbane which is hosted by Stacey Larner, an AHWA member. We occasionally have free tickets for horror film opening nights too. We even had a game of lawn bowls together a while back. If anybody is interested in joining the AHWA, they should get in touch with me. One last thing, we are running our horror fiction competition right now and entry is open to everybody: ahwa story competition

greydog: In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep is an anthology of Australian horror from AHWA members. Do you see any differences in Australian horror, as opposed to that from other countries?

cameron: Definitely. In terms of language, we use British English but have our own colloquialisms and sayings, like ‘mad as a cut snake’. This is the first and most obvious difference. Of course, setting is the big difference. We live in an ancient land which is full of strange animals and eerie landscapes. Our days can we sweltering and bright, our nights dark and mysterious. We suffer droughts but also have some of the world’s most impressive thunderstorms and cyclones. There is no doubt about it, the Aussie landscape, and seascape, of course, is ideal for horror tales. The potential for weirdness and spookiness is infinite. There are numerous Australian horror anthologies and magazines out there, from Terror Australis (1993) to In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep. Going even further back in time, we have a rich colonial tradition of gothic and ghost fiction including the legendary Barbara Baynton.

greydog: We know it’s unfair to single people out sometimes, but who do you think we should watch out for in terms of Australian writers who work in this genre?

cameron: We have so much talent here, and there are so many different kinds of horror being written. It is difficult to single any one person out, but I have recently become a fan of Joseph Ashley-Smith. I admit, he was actually born in England, but he is one of ours now. j ashley smith

greydog: A name to check out. Now, we have absolutely no knowledge of Brisbane (most of our Australian friends are in Melbourne). Maybe you could give us a quick word-picture of the place while you’re here?

cameron: Brisbane is the third city of Australia with a population of about two million. It has changed a lot since I was a kid. It has long had a reputation as an overgrown country town, but it is definitely a big city now… almost too big, in my view. The best thing about Brisbane is the subtropical climate and the parks; we have plenty of gorgeous trees inhabited by birds of all different kinds, and the world’s biggest bats. It’s not a cultural capital (like Melbourne) and it’s probably bloody boring if you’re used to a metropolis like London or New York, but it’s a liveable city and close to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world… no, not those ones, I’m keeping the really beautiful ones a secret. There is some great mountain and forest hiking too.

A little history? Brisbane is young. It was founded as a penal colony in 1824, and people now buy souvenirs and eat ice cream in Queen Street, on the very spot where convicts used to be whipped until their backs bled. What about the treatment of the indigenous population? Well, there are at least seven streets in Brisbane called Boundary Street, so I’ll let you ponder the significance of that. But our dark past aside, it’s a beautiful city, and I love to feature it in my stories.

greydog: And what else are you planning for 2016 – more Black Beacon books, more short stories? You mentioned a novel earlier.

cameron: As a full-time English teacher and a father of two young boys, time is a scarce resource, but I’ll try to get some more writing done. At the moment, Black Beacon Books is accepting submissions from local writers for an anthology of dark tales set in Brisbane, and hopefully that will be released in 2017. Later this year, I’ll probably announce a submissions window for another anthology, open to everybody. As for my own writing, I’d like to finish my next short story collection and polish my novel this year. I’d also like to find a publisher for the first novella in my mystery series. The short story is my preferred form, and I feel that it allows me to demonstrate my abilities as a wordsmith and tell a tale more effectively than the novel. I read far more short fiction than novels and admire my favourite writers for their short stories; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, Ruth Rendell, Roald Dahl, Patricia Highsmith, to name a few. That said, it would be great to get the novel out there in 2016 or 2017. I’ve worked hard on it and am proud of it, and I think the popularity of the longer form will lure more readers my way.

greydog: Many thanks for joining us, and good fortune with your projects.

cameron: Thank you for your interest and support.

You can find out more about Cameron and Black Beacon through the following links:

cameron trost
black beacon books

And the great Ginger Nuts of Horror are also talking to Cameron here: cameron trost interview pt 1

That’s us done for the day. Do tune in, dearest listeners, in a couple of days for more weirdity and strangelings…