{"id":6922,"date":"2021-06-20T18:53:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T18:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=6922"},"modified":"2021-06-20T18:53:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T18:53:48","slug":"sam-l-edwards-is-not-a-politician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/sam-l-edwards-is-not-a-politician\/","title":{"rendered":"SAM L EDWARDS IS NOT A POLITICIAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novel writing, tropes and themes, assembling collections and more! Welcome, dear listener, to the first of two extensive interviews in which authors Sam L Edwards<\/strong> and John Linwood Grant<\/strong> question each other. \u201cWhat?\u201d you say. \u201cThat sounds terrific!\u201d And then, after some thought: \u201cOh, you mean nepotistic mumbling between chums about how writers earn squat. Dullsville.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But hey, hang on! Often we at greydogtales<\/em> have little knowledge of our interviewees apart from a recent book release, so cut us some slack when we have someone we know.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"sam<\/a>
wraparound art by yves tourigny<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today we ask Sam L Edwards about his new collection, and about his writing in general…<\/span><\/p>\n

ON DEATH OF AN AUTHOR<\/em><\/h3>\n

greydog: <\/span><\/strong><\/em>Good to have you<\/span> back<\/span>, Sam. This time, for obvious reasons, we want to focus mostly on your forthcoming collection, Death of an Author<\/em>, <\/span>s<\/span>o, let\u2019s get straight down to it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, the collection is split into two quite different <\/span>main <\/span>sections \u2013 Fantasies & True Secrets<\/em>, and Miskatonic & Madness<\/em>. Was this a deliberate choice from the start, or simply how the material fell as you assembled it?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> Well let me start by saying \u201cThanks for having me.\u201d You and I have developed a good friendship, along with an online banter which has become sort of infamous. But you were one of the first writers to really welcome me into the fold, and I\u2019ve never not been grateful for that. A<\/span>l<\/span>so, you know I love your ramblings on <\/span><\/em>greydogtales<\/span>, and have been hounding you for an interview for som<\/span>e time.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The choice to split the collection into two sections was deliberate, and a third section was added after an emergency flight out of Colombia due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after which I wrote the story \u2018The Last Mayflies out of Bogota<\/span>.\u2019<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always liked collections that are effectively<\/span> \u201csamplings\u201d of an author\u2019s work, and I think that the first section is a sampling of sort of classic pulp\/weird fiction monsters and concepts. I consider my story \u2018Bestia\u2019 to be a hack-and-slash adventure tale, albeit focused on mothers and daughters in a dying Texas gulf town. My story \u2018Office Hours and After\u2019 is\u2026really I\u2019d call it a \u201cwizard story\u201d but with a twist at Miskatonic University I really shouldn\u2019t reveal. So the idea to have one section designated for what I\u2019d broadly call \u201cW<\/span>e<\/span><\/em>ird Fantasy\u201d and what I would broadly call \u201cMythos\u201d was always the plan.<\/em>
\n<\/span>
\ngreydog:<\/strong><\/em> How does this one differ from your first collection Whiskey and Other Unusual Ghosts<\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> Again, I like <\/span>the sampling aproach.<\/span> When putting together <\/span><\/span><\/em>Whiskey and Other Unusual Ghosts<\/span><\/span> though, there were some stories that really stuck out and had no business being there at all. My story \u2018The Cthulhu Candidate\u2019 was one of them. And Congressman Marsh went from this one-off meme to a reoccurring character, both in the background\/foreground in several stories. So, I had to have a place for all my \u201cLovecraft\u201d stuff and it couldn\u2019t be in <\/span><\/span><\/em>Whiskey<\/span><\/span>. Then I had stories inspired by Clark Ashton Smith, some Howard stuff\u2026and it just wasn\u2019t fitting with the unifying <\/span>horror <\/span>of <\/span><\/span><\/em>Whiskey<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

These stories\u2026I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d call them \u201chorror.\u201d There are many horrifying stories. I think \u2018Christmas At Castle Dracula\u2019 is rather scary because it probes questions of faith, a critique of nationalism and human history, and <\/span>so on. I think my vignette \u2018Standing There\u2019 is one of the scariest things I\u2019ve ever written, because it is about a truly random, inexplicable ghost encounter.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But overall, the stories are more \u201cfun\u201d than those in <\/em>Whiskey. Even the most grim Congressman Marsh stories have a tongue-in-cheek humor in them, though the tone is not always humorous. The characters are also far more kinetic. My <\/em>Whiskey protagonists would fall to the floor, weep and tear their hair out. Granted, I believe the reaction was warranted. But in <\/em>Death of An Author you have a far more diverse cast. A lot of women characters, though this wasn\u2019t intentional. And they fight back. They\u2019re gunslingers, star athletes, vampires, mages, and so on. Not all of them fight back, but most of them.<\/em><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> We notice that you chose not to include either your Central American orientated \u2018political\u2019 stories (excepting \u2018Last Mayflies\u2019) or your troubled Bartred clan supernatural tales in this collection. Are you saving them for later, or did you feel they would skew the book in a different direction?<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> I guess I should start by clarifying \u201cCentral American\u201d and \u201cpolitical\u201d stories. I have to tell you: I\u2019ve lived in several Latin American countries, studied the region extensively and thusly really come to appreciate dense jungles as a setting. <\/span>O<\/span>ut of all <\/span>of <\/span>my published stories, only one is explicitly set in an actual Latin American country. The rest are wholly fictional settings, purposely unnamed because I do not think it is the place of a white writer from the United States to write about ongoing conflicts in countries they are not citizens in. That\u2019s not saying I\u2019m taking any judgemental position, but I just don\u2019t want to contribute to any perception of Latin America as \u201cbackward\u201d or \u201cviolent.\u201d Frankly, I don\u2019t believe the United States is in a place to talk. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Now the second: \u201cpolitical.\u201d You know, I never get comfortable with that. I take it as a badge of honor, but I believe you and I have talked about this in our chaotic Facebook Messenger conversations. I consider all my stories to be about characters and their dilemmas. But I also believe that horror writers should write about what scares them. I\u2019ve done my research on national collapses, insurgencies, coups, political corruption, democratic backsliding, and more. These themes scare me. So I write about them. And of course, no one exists in a bubble. Politics touches nearly every part of our lives and the idea that a writer wouldn\u2019t eventually be forced to explore their feelings on the issue is a very strange idea to me indeed.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

And then I\u2019ll point out: Congressman Marsh is a politician. His stories are, in fact \u201cpolitical\u201d in that they involve politics. And they also show one doesn\u2019t have to travel far to find their own horrors in institutions, individuals and powers. Joe Bartred\u2026 all I\u2019ll tell you, John, is keep an eye on one of the characters in <\/span><\/em>Death of An Author<\/span>. There is, in fact, a planned Bartred connection. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But the shortest answer? Yes. There is in fact, another collection put together. Like the others, it\u2019s split into two halves. The latter half is a series of stories taking place in a fictional character\/<\/span>location<\/span>, Antioch. This is also the setting of my novel. Without spoiling too much, all I can say is A<\/span>n<\/span>tioch and its stories are supposed to reflect very contemporary themes and anxieties about democratic backsliding, nationalism and its consequences. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

And one day I\u2019d like to write more Bartred stories. I wrote the bulk of them when I was a new writer, so Joe just seems like a different person to me now. Someday soon, hopefully.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong> <\/em>What made you decide on the overall title? Your story \u2018Death of an Author\u2019 itself, though a lovely, moving piece, is probably one of the least typical Edwards story we\u2019ve read.<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> I\u2019ll take that as the least typical Linwood Grant compliment I\u2019ve received. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

T<\/span>h<\/span>e answer is simple: it\u2019s the most important story to me in the collection. I\u2019d had the idea for the story for some time before writing it. It\u2019s a novel enough premise: a dying pulp writer being visited by all of the characters he\u2019s ever written. But then my grandfather went through hospice and died of cancer. Without getting to much into the inner stories of my family, which belong to more people than myself and thus aren\u2019t wholly mine to share, it was a tender time for us. It was sad, yes. But we also tried our best to step up for each other, and we were all much more vulnerable during those days than we had been for some time.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The experience totally changed the emotional core of the story, and gave me an imperative to write it. Being with my grandfather the night he died, not the moment he died but the night, really changed me. A<\/span><\/em>nd it changed the story.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> Very understandable. OK, the Fantasies & True Secrets<\/em> sections is strongly tilted towards re-interpretations of classic mythic and horror concepts. We take it that you like challenging common tropes?<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> Honestly, I would love to just write haunted house stories with all the tropes attached. But to do that, you have to be a very good invoker of tone and feeling. Say what we will about Lovecraft, the man could layer on dread like few others. But I\u2019m not that talented, so I rely on characters, who act as my guard rails to make sure that my stories don\u2019t go too far afield. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I never considered myself one who challenged tropes, to be frank. Writing about vampires, I tend to just think about them as people. Awful people, heroic people, who struggle to live in the sun. I would say more than anything else, I enjoy producing writing that invokes some sort of adrenaline when I\u2019m writing it. Whether that\u2019s terror, disgust or the sort of a feeling of a kid playing with all of their favorite toys at once.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> The source of Miskatonic & Madness<\/em> is more obvious, but what\u2019s your relationship to the whole Lovecraftian Mythos business? Peripheral, close, or haven\u2019t really thought about it? You mentioned his handling of \u2018dread\u2019 just now.<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> Like a lot of us, Lovecraft was my gateway drug. I came to Lovecraft by way of Metallica, which was a band my dad and I bonded over when I was younger. I\u2019d always had a morbid fascination with horror, but Lovecraft was an entirely different level. I admit that at the time I read him I was very young and was really blinded to much of the racism until I encountered that rather unfortunate cat name.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t spend too much thinking about Lovecraft and mythos these days, but that will probably change. I think Lovecraft stays relevant for many reasons. I think Scott R. Jones said in an interview once that as long as racism is at the forefront of society, Lovecraft\u2019s racism will remain a constant topic. I agree with that sentiment, and I really don\u2019t see how we run away from it or accept it. There\u2019s a reason that the young man defending Innsmouth in \u2018The Referendum Over Innsmouth\u2019 is so seamlessly an alt-right provocateur.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the same time, yeah, no one invokes an atmosphere of dread like Lovecraft. And I think the novelty of the Mythos as a shared playground that people can bring their own toys to means it will always be a place writers flock to.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong> <\/em>Which stories here are particularly important to you the writer?<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> Oh wow. Let\u2019s see. Obviously \u2018The Death of An Author.\u2019 I think that \u2018I Keep it In A Little Box\u2019 is a very important one, given that I wrote it for my friend <\/span><\/em>Christopher Ropes<\/span>, who himself has a collection coming soon which you should all invest in. \u2018With All Her Troubles Behind Her,\u2019 might be my favorite child. I love the main character, and I love weird westerns. I had an absolute blast writing that one. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018The Referendum Over Innsmouth\u2019 was written by a very angry writer. There has a lot which happened in the United States over the past five years that really dispels any myths that our institutions are invincible, or that there is something exceptional about them. Charlottesville was the moment which inspired the story. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I also have a soft spot for \u2018She Never Killed Her Spiders.\u2019 I don\u2019t know why. I just do. It has a lot of banter and I like writing banter. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Then there is \u2018The Last Mayflies Out of Bogota,\u2019 which was really my COVID trauma story. We all have COVID trauma stories, but my sudden departure from Colombia still makes me sweat to this day. All this time later.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

ON WRITING STUFF<\/h3>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> Now, let\u2019s go wide a bit. We know that over the first few years of your literary life, you\u2019ve encountered both the pleasures and the frustrations of small and independent presses. What would you advise new and emerging writers, on the basis of what you\u2019ve experienced?<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> I guess I\u2019ll give the advice I would have wanted about a year ago: <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Expect this writing thing to come in waves. The first wave is your creativity. I\u2019m a runner, or someone who is trying to get back into running, so I like the concept of \u201cthe wall,\u201d this thing you hit that seems insurmountable and exhausting. You may hit a writing \u201cwall.\u201d And that\u2019s not writer\u2019s block, that\u2019s different and I\u2019ve never really had it. I mean that moment where you just don\u2019t want to write. At all. The idea of opening a Word document may make you depressed, physically ill. That\u2019s normal. Don\u2019t write those days. Talk to other writers, read. Step away. It\u2019s okay if you do. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Another wave is a popularity wave. For a moment there, John, it seemed like I could sell all of my stories in a matter of days. But that stopped, particularly as a lot of my reliable markets started to close. And I, at the time, took that to be a reflection of the quality of my work. What else am I supposed to think after all, if my work is no longer good enough to sale? Well, now people are biting again. Sure, it\u2019s not at the pace it was when I started out, but honestly that\u2019s okay. I look back on young Edwards and that guy\u2026he could hustle. Elder Edwards does not have that sort of energy. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s okay to not write and to not sell stories. This is weird advice for writers, who write and sell stories. But remember you\u2019re also a person, not a machine.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> Given how much we\u2019ve talked over the years, we might as well ask: your writing career mainly blossomed in the same five or six years as did that of failed plumber John Linwood Grant, and you were in regular contact. He also wrote the introduction to your new book. Clearly, he was both a protective auntie and a proud uncle, telling you to stay on your skateboard and to pay no attention to Mrs Pralowski and her annoying cat. Her trash-can was hardly dented. Do you see any areas in which your work or approach coincides with his?<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> I\u2019d like to think so. It would mean a lot to me. You and I both write character-centric stories. We both like occult detectives. We have strong opinions about dogs. Truly, I couldn\u2019t think of a more apt comparison.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> We also remember that we were also going to ask you something about Russians, but maybe that was because we\u2019d finished our home-made Turkish Delight vodka. The coffee bean vodka didn\u2019t work \u2013 it was horribly bitter. Maybe it was to do with your love of Russian literature. We\u2019ll let you take over on this one.<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> <Russian cricket noises> <\/span><\/em>I just finished some short stories by <\/em>Nikolai Leskov. I recommend ‘The Spook’ and ‘A Robbery’. Leskov is Russia\u2019s answer to Saki and O. Henry, the missing link between the humorous fantasy of Gogol and the heart-breaking realism of Tolstoy.<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> There we are – a two-line guide to Russian literature. That’ll do, unless we ever remember the point we had. So, we know that you\u2019ve now completed your first novel \u2013 so lots of time dictating flowing paragraphs to your secretary, in between sipping mint juleps. Or was it slightly harder than that?<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> Remember when I talked about \u201cthe wall?\u201d I hit \u201cthe wall\u201d about 9,000 words into my novel. Which is far earlier than other writers I\u2019ve talked to who have made the decision to write a novel.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It was difficult, because I had a very big idea and had never told big stories before. There were muscles that I had never used. I\u2019d liken writing a short story to building something you can hold in your hand. You can carefully mold it, hold it. A novel is more like building something you have to live in.<\/em><\/p>\n

So my first secret to novel writing is finding a very interested publisher who entices you with allusions to money. I talked about my \u201cwall\u201d with the venerable Ross E. Lockhart, who told me to send him what I had. Mr. Lockhart read it, and told me that if the manuscript were complete he would be making me an offer.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

That lit a fire under me. I then took every weekend in the summer of 2020 to work on the novel. I mean, full day shifts writing the thing and reading Russian Literature (Vasily Grossman\u2019s Stalingrad <\/span>and <\/span>Life and Fate<\/span><\/em>, two of the best novels ever written). I quickly learned that my outline was not going to work. There are characters in the final story who were not in my outlines, unplanned events, abandoned conceits. I very quickly got over my wall and moved the novel forward by asking \u201cwhat would I want to read next?\u201d As a consequence, there\u2019s not much in the way of filler or padding in the story now.<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> Finally, is there one single tale in Death of an Author<\/em> which you would recommend as \u2018quintessential Edwards\u2019? And when is the book due out?<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> A younger Edwards would have a recommendation, but after the damn cat story from <\/span><\/em>Whiskey<\/span> became the most consistently popular story I don\u2019t think even I know what a \u2018quintessential Edwards\u2019 story is. If any stories have cats in them, that\u2019s the one. The book is due out on 25th<\/sup> June.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

greydog:<\/strong><\/em> Sam L Edwards, thanks for joining us, and all the best for the new collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

sam:<\/strong> Thank you, Joh<\/span>n<\/span>, and good luck with Biscuit. He seems like a handful.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<Biscuit the Appalling, puppy of this parish, eats remaining notes><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Death of an Author, by Sam L Edwards, is currently on pre-order from the publisher:<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n
https:\/\/journalstone.com\/bookstore\/the-death-of-an-author\/<\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n
\n
\n

In a day or two, Sam L Edwards interviews old greydog. So be there, or be… well, someone who isn’t there…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Novel writing, tropes and themes, assembling collections and more! Welcome, dear listener, to the first of two extensive interviews in which authors Sam L Edwards and John Linwood Grant question each other. \u201cWhat?\u201d you say. \u201cThat sounds terrific!\u201d And then, after some thought: \u201cOh, you mean nepotistic mumbling between chums about how writers earn squat. … Continue reading SAM L EDWARDS IS NOT A POLITICIAN<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSAM L EDWARDS IS NOT A POLITICIAN - 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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n