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Famous Novels that Became Horror Movies

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Best Horror Books Best Of Horror Books Scary Movies and Series

List of HorrorBooks that Became Famous Horror Movies

How Many Horror Movies Started As Books?

Many horror movies begin as novels or short stories of some kind. Some of them are more popular than others. There are horror movies which are nearly word-for-word scripted by the books. There are also movies that are only loosely based upon a true story. Whether it was loosely inspired, or a full-on contribution, novels which become horror movies have done pretty well in terms of creating a cult following and earning box office dollars. Most of the time, the books are even worth reading on their own!

Popular Books that Became Horror Movies

These are the most popular novels that became horror movies. Because it is impossible to rank these movies in terms of actual popularity, they are listed alphabetically.

1408 – Inspired by Stephen King

1408 is a very creative haunted house story. It stars John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson. Cusack plays a depressed, alcohol horror novelist reviewing haunted hotels. 1408 is a special room in New York’s Dolphin Hotel. The writer stays in the hotel room despite the many warnings from Jackson’s character, the hotel manager. The write, and the audience, battles the psychological thriller throughout the night until the room permanently consumes the protagonist.

30 Days of Night – Inspired by Steve Niles

30 Days of Night is one of the best vampire movies ever made. The vampires have an “understood backstory,” which explains them in an almost gypsie-like fashion. They travel to feed, visiting towns which experience authentic darkness for a month or longer. Although they have the typical vampire power to convert a human into a blood sucker, they typically prefer to violently kill their victims and

American Psycho – Inspired by Bret Easton Ellis

Christian Bale is an incredible actor who fully immerses himself into a role. American Psycho is a display of talent that exceeds the expectation of even a Bale performance! This movie became an instant cult classic, but still spawns from one of the most elegantly composed orchestras ever to grace paper.

The Amityville Horror – Inspired by Jay Anson

The Amityville Horror is a well-respected haunted house horror classic. The film focuses on the weakness of unsuspecting residence to fall to spiritual possession. The patriarch of the family is always possessed and forced to adhere to the murderous ways of the spirit who controls the house. The spirit encourages the possessed to kill their entire family.

Cabal – Inspired by Clive Barker

This movie was written about nightmarish city-dwelling monsters, a psychiatrist-serial killer, and overall horror despair.

Candyman – Inspired by Clive Barker

Candyman (1992) is about a knife-wielding (hook handed) killer who can be summoned by repeating his name five times in front of a mirror. It is a demonic possession-thriller that is the fear of any human being who has ever heard an urban legend involving a mirror. Clive Barker is responsible for this masterpiece.

Candyman horror movie monster looking in a mirror

Carrie – Inspired by Stephen King

Carrie (1976) and the remake (2013) are really popular horror classics. They were given a humble entrance to the horror scene by an early Stephen King. Carrie has always done very well, drawing so much positive feedback and a significant cult following.

Children of the Corn – Inspired by Stephen King

Out of all of the books Stephen King has written which have inspired movies, Children of the Corn (1984) is one of the most disturbing stories. The town which engulfs the protagonists is a small town, but only children live there. Though, they are all followers of a super sinister preacher. The couple realizes they are the feature on the children’s sacrificial menu and they run for their lives.

Christine – Inspired by Stephen King

Christine is a scary movie about a car that takes on a life of its own. Unfortunately this vehicle has the personality of a murderer. It was a really popular movie in 1983 and has remained relevant even today. Christine got its start in another Stephen King book.

Cujo – Inspired by Stephen King

The 1981 terror known as Cujo showcases a horrifying experience of being hunted by a rabid St. Bernard. While many people would not find a dog particularly scary nor horror-worthy, Stephen King painted an excellent storyline for the insane canine killer.

The Dead Zone – Inspired by Stephen King

Christopher Walken plays a patient who awakens from a coma to find many years have eluded him. He also finds himself some new psychic abilities to play with.

The Devil’s Advocate – Inspired by Andrew Neiderman

The Devil’s Advocate is often considered one of the most perverse horror flicks to hit the big screen, even including some suggestive incest. Ultimately, it still built a very powerful cult following and performed very well at the box office. Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino pulled in the bacon and provided viewers a great rendition of Neiderman’s novel.

Dracula – Inspired by Bram Stoker

Dracula (1992) is one of the most infamous, instant classics to ever grace the horror genre. This is one of the better historical-period horror movies.

Dreamcatcher – Inspired by Stephen King

Dreamcatcher (2001) is about an alien invasion and was written in cursive while King recovered from a car accident. It was also his 36th novel.

The Exorcist – Inspired by William Peter Blatty

The Exorcist (1973) may be one of the older movies on this list, however, it was scary then and it is still scary today! Blatty did an excellent job with cementing terror through time.

Firestarter – Inspired by Stephen King

Firestarter (1984) is about a couple whom submitted themselves to medical testing and give birth to a daughter with a special ability. The little girl (played by Drew Barrymore) can start fires with her mind.

Frankenstein – Inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein (1931) is one of the most classic horror movies of all time. It is also the oldest movie on this list.

Hannibal – Inspired by Thomas Harris

Hannibal (2001) is the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs. The story tracks Dr. Hannibal Lecter after he escaped custody in Europe. Julianne Moore joins Anthony Hopkins to put author Thomas Harris’ sequel to life on the big screen.

The Haunting of Hill House – Inspired by Shirley Jackson

The Haunting of Hill House is actually a novel which inspired multiple horror movies. The two most notable movies which based their storyline most closely to the book include The Haunting (1999) and House on Haunted Hill (1999). Jackson was truly a wicked good writer and a creative soul!

Hellraiser – Inspired by Clive Barker

Hellraiser (1987) was created after the Clive Barker novel The Hellbound Heart. It’s a creepy film about a man who opens a portal to hell. The demons released are insanely disturbing. So is the reincarnation of a dead man who requires fresh blood to reconstruct his being.

I Know What You Did Last Summer – Inspired by Lois Duncan

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) rustled together an all-star cast including: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Freddie Prinze Jr.). The partying high school graduates accidentally hit a pedestrian with their car, creating a wild train of paranoia and suspense worthy of the horror industry. The original story is credited to Lois Duncan.

Interview With the Vampire – Inspired by Anne Rice

Interview With the Vampire (1994) is a period horror set in the 18th century. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt put on an amazing show, all of which is being recorded by biographer Christian Slater.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers – Inspired by Jack Finney

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is another one of the older horror movies. Still, very thrilling and about a nearly unstoppable alien invasion.

IT – Inspired by Stephen King

The original IT from 1990 is technically a TV mini-series. It is an extreme psychological terror flick. However, the movie adaptation of 2017 takes Pennywise and evil to an entirely new level. The gore, blood, and killings are truly horrifying. The cinematic value is extremely well-done and the mental depravity is unruly.

Jaws – Inspired by Peter Benchley

Jaws (1975) was directed by Steven Spielberg and brought to life one of the most intimidating beasts of the sea: a mammoth-sized shark that haunts unsuspecting water-dwelling beach-goers and boat-riders. Before Jaws became an instant cult franchise classic, the original material came from the clever mind of Peter Benchley.

The Midnight Meat Train – Inspired by Clive Barker

The Midnight Meat Train (2008) is an interesting horror movie about photographer down on his luck who follows an organization onto one of the most bloodiest subway rides ever seen.

Misery – Inspired by Stephen King

Misery (1990) is another Stephen King inspired film to make the list. This movie highlights realistic horror. A nurse rescues a writer after a serious car accident and is revealed to be an obsessive lunatic.

The Mist – Inspired by Stephen King

The Mist (2007) is about a destructive storm that forces a family into town for supplies. Terror in the form of a mist surrounds the family when they enter a grocery store and they are forced to hole up. The true terror, however, was yet to come from the fog!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Inspired by Seth Grahame-Smith

Grahame-Smith made this movie into a much more cinematic thriller than many of the other movies in the general genre. Still, the 2016 action-thriller still makes the list due to its obvious horror-oriented theme.

Psycho – Inspired by Robert Bloch

Psycho (1960) is one of the coolest ideas for a horror movie of its time. This is because it focuses on normal, everyday life and embraces a lot of realism. Norman Bates and his mother are in charge of a hotel which they use to terrorize and murder guests.

The Ring – Inspired by Koji Suzuki

The Ring (2002) left many moviegoers in shock and too scarred to ever watch another video cassette again. The movie crafts the idea that a simple videotape could invoke an evil that kills the viewer within 7 days. For a very long time, many people pranked one another, imitating the eerie phone call a viewer would get directly after watching the film. Thank you, Koji Suzuki, for this scary masterpiece!

Rosemary’s Baby – Inspired by Ira Levin

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) is another older flick that made the list. Levin does a wonderful job of painting the most horrifying picture about a mother who decides her baby is from another world.

The Shining – Inspired by Stephen King

The Shining (1980) is one of Jack Nicholson’s finest performances. He was extremely immersive in his acting. The story of psychic premonition and suspense is carefully crafted. Jack’s character is a writer who’s writing dries up and forces him into mania.

The Silence of the Lambs – Inspired by Thomas Harris

No one can deny The Silence of the Lambs (1991) was not one of Anthony Hopkin’s most realistic and disturbing performances. The movie follows a psychiatrist who hunts people and eats them. Yes, eats them. Thomas Harris is the writer who originally found this idea appealing, although, the cult following suggests he is not alone!

Something Wicked This Way Comes – Inspired by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is one of the most underrated authors of all time, however, his horror staples made a dent in the genre that will last forever. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) is about a terrifying carnival owner who preys on people having fun.

A Stir of Echoes – Inspired by Richard Mattheson

A Stir of Echoes (1999) is an incredible mystery-horror flick which follows a blue-collar worker (played by Kevin Bacon) throughout his newly found psychic lifestyle.

Last Words About Horror Novels

Many other books have also evolved into really great horror flicks as well. In fact, it is very rare for a film to draw no inspiration from any written content. Obviously, Stephen King has taken the largest chunk of the pie in terms of “novel to horror movie” genre, however, many other great authors have surfaced too. After all, fear is evolving, and it is only a matter of time before the next horror movie genius is born upon the pages!

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Following the Literary Works of Dennis Etchison

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Featured Horror Books

For authors like Dennis Etchison, who had prolific writing careers and a popular reputation within the genre of horror, it’s hard to believe that there was ever a time when they weren’t completely brilliant. With a unique voice and the ability to paint a realistically terrifying image of the scenes that play through their head, an author can snatch the very breath from the lips of their readers. So what it is about a specific author that makes them so special? Why are people like Dennis Etchison voices within horror and what did they leave behind as a creative legacy? The answer may seem to be nothing more than simple common sense, but I know I learned something new or at least found something inspirational about the way he grew up and lived his life.

Short Stories

The fictional short story works of the late Dennis Etchison have graced the public since 1961 and can be found in a wide variety of publications–including, but definitely not limited to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mystery Monthly, Escapade, Fantastic Stories, Fantasy Tales, and Weirdbook. Apart from his work in magazines, he was also featured in anthologies like Orbit, New Writings in SF, od Sterling’s Other Worlds, Prize Stories from Seventeen, The Pseudo-People, and The Future is Now. This is far from an exhaustive list, since his stories can also be found in many of the major horror and dark fantasy anthology publications that include Frights, Horrors, Fears, Nightmares, Dark Forces, Terrors, New Terrors, Shadows, Whispers, Night Chills, Death, World Fantasy Awards, The Dodd, Mead Gallery of Horror, Mad Scientists, Year’s Best Horror Stories, Midnight and many others.

The Dark Country (1982)

In 1982, Etchison published his short story collection, entitled The Dark Country, which subsequently received both the World Fantasy Award for its title story–interestingly enough he tied with Stephen King for this award. For this collection he also won the British Fantasy Award for the Best Collection of that year, an award for which he had been previously nominated for his Late Night Shift (1981) collection. That would be the first time that one writer would receive both of those major awards for a single work. Possibly the most interesting part about the story of his first award-winning collection of short stories is how it very nearly got published over a decade earlier in 1971–but on the eve of the release of the publication, the company went bankrupt and Etchison had to wait for his first collection to reach his audience and be received to critical acclaim. He since published several more collections, some of which won Best Short Story, such as The Olympic Runner (1986) and The Dog Park (1994).

Novels

Aside from his brief time dabbling in the adult, erotic scene, Etchison’s first official novel was intended to be The Shudder, was meant to be published in 1980, the editor was very demanding when it came to changes to the manuscript that Etchison believed were highly unreasonable. Although a portion of the novel was published in A Fantasy Reader–the book of the Seventh World Fantasy Convention–in 1981, the novel as a whole sadly remains unpublished. That’s something that we as readers would nearly die to read!

Movie Novelizations and The Jack Martin Books

Between the 70s and the 90s, Etchison fell into the business of writing movie novelizations–not the best of gigs, given his awards received with his past publications–a form of writing considered to be a thankless form of writing. Arguably the only form that garners less appreciation is ghostwriting. Both forms offer poor pay, unrealistic deadlines, and a certain apathy that consumers approach the style of literature with.

Despite the early obstacles that he faced, Etchison became a renowned author of short stories, novels, and a highly regarded anthologist in his own right. Even Dennis Etchison had to eat though and the decision to churn out novelizations of an already established plotline became an easily defended one. Surprisingly, or perhaps not due to their popularity on-screen, these movie novelizations are now amongst his most popular works as an author. Die-hard fans of the HALLOWEEN franchise tend to hold those particular novelizations by Dennis Etchison, under the pseudonym of Jack Martin, in great esteem.

The Fog by Dennis Etchison (1980)

THE FOG (1980)

One of the only books that Etchison wrote under his own name, versus his pseudonym Jack Martin, was THE FOG (1980). This particular novelization is considered the best of all of them–not just of his movie novelizations, but out of all of his novels period. This may be due in part to the fact that while Etchison’s best work was in short story format, that this particular novelization had a creative voice and flow that went unmatched with the rest of his novel-length work.

Halloween II by Jack Martin (1981)

The HALLOWEEN Franchise

Etchison wasn’t the author for the novelization of the first HALLOWEEN movie, instead, he followed Curtis Richard’s 1979 publication of HALLOWEEN with the sequel, HALLOWEEN II (1981). The novelization by Curtis Richard was rather impressive, which gave Etchison a fairly high standard of literature to match, even if he was operating under his Jack Martin pseudonym. Considering even just the content of the movie itself, with a storyline that just couldn’t be compared to the original movie, HALLOWEEN II and its subsequent novelization felt as though it were lacking. The quality that he had made himself known for, through his short story collections and THE FOG (1980), was simply not there.

There is something to be said for a good plot and storyline, but no one would ever say it about the HALLOWEEN sequel, because there wasn’t a comprehensive plot to be found. Truthfully, there is little of Etchison’s presence in the book at all, aside from chapter headings and brief moments where he let his writing personality shine through. This book, as well as the following HALLOWEEN III, pushed Etchison out of his comfort zone. As a more cerebral and non-violent horror writer, the fact that he had to write gory and bloody horror forced him to write material that would never have been seen in an original novel. Despite all of the pitfalls of these two particular novelizations, they managed to somehow be bestsellers amongst fans of the genre.

VIDEODROME by Jack Martin (1983)

VIDEODROME (1983)

The final movie novelization that Etchison wrote under his Jack Martin pseudonym, was VIDEODROME (1983) a movie originally by David Cronenberg. After THE FOG (1980), VIDEODROME is considered one of his stronger novels, since the genre of horror that it falls under is more in line with the author’s writing style. Etchison’s strengths always came from the ability to create a palpable tension, the apprehension within a character and their motivations, as well as the atmosphere in which the entire story operates under. Unlike the slasher genre that HALLOWEEN belongs to, VIDEODROME capitalized on the fear of mental, emotional, and physical torture that suited Etchison’s talents just fine.

Editorial Work

Etchison not only excelled with his talent for writing–as shown by the many awards he won in that field–but he was also a talented editor, having received two World Fantasy Awards for Best Anthology. One of the awards was for MetaHorror (1993) and the second was for The Museum of Horrors (2002). Other anthologies that he edited include the critically acclaimed Cutting Edge (1986), Gathering The Bones (2003) as well as the three volume series Masters of Darkness.

Have you read any of the novels or short story collections that were authored by Dennis Etchison? Let us know what you thought about them in the comments!

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From Traumatized to Terror Creator, the Life of Robert Bloch

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Featured Horror Books Horror Mystery and Lore
Robert Bloch (1979)
Robert Bloch (1979)

His Youth and Education

Robert Albert Bloch was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 5 in 1917, to two German Jews, Raphael Bloch and Stella Loeb who, despite their Jewish heritage, had the family attend a Methodist Church. When Bloch was only eight years of age, he attended a screening of Lon Chaney Sr.’s The Phantom of the Opera (1925) on his own, where he was traumatized by his first horror scene—where Chaney removes his mask to reveal the Phantom’s horrific face. According to Bloch, “it scared the hell out of [him] and [he] ran all the way home to enjoy the first of about two years of recurrent nightmares.” Like many fans of horror who see their first horror flick too young, this trauma and subsequent nighttime hauntings sparked his interest in horror. He became an avid reader at eight, reading books well above his own level of schooling, as well as experimenting with pencil sketches and watercolor art. While he very much had a love for artwork, but he was diagnosed with myopia in his youth and it deterred him from pursuing it professionally.

At the age of twelve, Robert’s father lost his job at the bank and the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he grew up throughout the Great Depression. During his youth, he delighted in the Golden Age of horror films that played in the picture houses, and the magazine Weird Tales, which he scrimped and saved for each month from his allowance so as to purchase a copy of this pulp magazine. Bloch’s favorite childhood short story was one of Lovecraft’s first-person narratives about an artist whose disturbing creations lead to his disappearance, entitled “Pickman’s Model,” and he would also end up doing flattering imitations of his mentor’s style later on. When Bloch was just seventeen years old he wrote to his highly regarded idol, H.P. Lovecraft, to proclaim his admiration for the writer’s short stories. It is said that he greatly preferred Lovecraft’s particular flavor of genre—cosmic or as it’s often regarded, Lovecraftian horror—over what he was being taught in his own high school English classes.

To the unending joy of Bloch, Lovecraft wrote him back and sent him copies of earlier stories he had written and asked Robert if he himself had written any weird fiction. This is when he would be admitted into The Lovecraft Circle as well as when he began writing some of his first (of many) short stories that would be published in Weird Tales. He would be the youngest member of The Lovecraft Circle, which were a group of writers who followed H.P. Lovecraft and published their short fiction in Weird Tales—a pulp horror magazine that circulated during the Great Depression.

Career

With the early influence of Lovecraft and his cosmic horror, Bloch’s earliest short stories took place in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos fictional universe. Not too long later, Bloch would begin to associate with the Milwaukee Fictioneers, a group of writer’s dedicated to pulp fiction where he began to deviate and develop his own style, instead of relying upon the Lovecraft influence. When Lovecraft died in 1937, Robert was deeply affected by the loss of his mentor, but used it as a reason to keep writing.

Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.”

Robert Bloch

Novels

Bloch’s first novel to be published was The Scarf (1947) and was very reminiscent of the style he had developed when he was involved with the Lovecraft circle, but also marked the beginning the development of a style he would explore later that would be considered pulp fiction. Like most other horror writers, Bloch had a certain kind of story that inspired him—for some writers it’s urban legends, supernatural monsters, or wicked folklore; but Robert’s inspiration didn’t come from folklore so much as it did true-crime serial killers from all throughout history. Jack the Ripper, Marquis de Sade, and Lizzie Borden were amongst those whom Robert created stories based on their legacies, which included short stories such as “A Toy for Juliette” and “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax….”

When Ed Gein was arrested in his home in Plainsfield, Wisconsin for the murders of two women in 1957, authorities discovered that Gein had been stealing corpses from fresh graves of local women and then using their flesh to create furniture, silverware, and clothing. Bloch only lived about thirty-five miles away from where Gein had lived, so after the discovery of this serial so close to home, he became obsessed. The idea of his next door neighbor being a monster, but going undetected even in such a small town is what he considered his largest inspiration for Norman Bates, the anti-hero of Psycho (1959). The story of Ed Gein was sensational at the time, but what really translated Bloch’s Psycho into an instant classic both in text and Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation for the big screen, was due to the psychological not-so-undertones of the story.

While Bloch had enjoyed some critical and commercial success before he produced Psycho, it wasn’t until the novel was published that his life changed forever. With Psycho and its instant success, he was approached by a Hollywood production company with an offer to purchase the rights to the film. He made a whopping $9,500 which through inflation would equate to $84,472 and some change.

The world of horror would be forever changed by Norman Bates, the sensitive mama’s boy, whose domineering mother corrupted him—which brought an interesting air to the 1960s as the field of psychoanalysis and the research of the Oedipus Complex which coincided with a crisis in contemporary American masculinity which followed the women’s movement of liberation. When Norman psychologically becomes his mother at the end of the novel it was representative of Freudian horror in the utmost of extreme cases. Psycho wasn’t Bloch’s only success and he continued on with his creative writing, winning awards and accolades for his talent.

Death

Bloch was seventy-seven when he passed away on September 23, 1994—he had long battled with cancer and it finally took him at his home in Los Angeles. Before he passed, however, he wrote what was considered an unauthorized autobiography, which was titled Once Around the Bloch (1993) and while he didn’t speak of his illness, it was clear that it was written with the realization that he was not long for this world.

Index of Sources

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Interview with “Wendigogo” Author Kris Silva

Categories
Featured Horror Books Indie Horror Creation Indie horror writers
Wendigogo book cover by author KA Silva

PBH -Tell me a bit about yourself and what got you into horror writing?

Author Kris Silva wearing antlers

KS – The earliest memories I have of loving spooky things were from trick-or-treating as a tiny child, and then an old Time-Life Library book about ghosts and the paranormal which I read at about 6 or 7, which really sparked my fascination. My dad bought me Stephen King books in the 80s when I was way too young, but I devoured them anyway and sought out more. I read Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and Lovecraft (the unholy trinity) as a teen, and then branched out into pop stuff like Anne Rice. Horror has always been my go-to for fun reading, and I enjoy most subgenres of horror films as well. I have been a fiction editor since 2013, working on romance, science fiction, and urban fantasy for Graythorn Publishing, and freelancing as well. Wendigogo is my first published novel, and the first in a planned series of at least four books with these characters. 

PBH – You’ve covered a wide range of characters in the book, what inspired you to bring them all together? 

KS – I knew I wanted to feature Ojibwe and other local Wisconsin folklore heavily. When I read about the lake monsters, the mishibizhu or mishipeshu, having one of them as a character seemed like a perfect devil’s advocate to pit against my bookseller protagonist Morty. Honestly Marie the mishibizhu wrote herself into the book! Also, with as much creature lore as there is in the Northwoods, having a cryptid hunter nosing around just made sense, and so Garwood Quell came to life. Morty’s best friend Kim and girlfriend Darcy are what anchor him to his humanity as things become progressively worse for him. Some of their interactions are comic; Morty and Marie in particular fell into such a wonderful bickering over the pros and cons of eating people. Kim and Morty have an easy, boisterous bromance going on. But then we have Quell desperately trying to hunt down the monster, because he feels it’s his duty to do so; and an ancient shaman who’s become bored and sees a wendigo as the perfect opportunity to inject a little chaos into the world for his own amusement. Morty has far more to deal with than he can handle sanely, just in interacting with the rest of the cast.

PBH – Wendigo! We love wendigos here at Puzzle Box Horror, what is it about the wendigo that made you bring that creature into the story? 

 KS -I ran across the concept of the wendigo while researching Wisconsin weird stuff in 2014, prior to moving here that same year, but my ideas fizzled out. It wasn’t until 2019 that the wendigo resurfaced in my head, right about the time I became utterly fed up with the current political climate. It hit me that what I needed was a wendigo to prey upon all the greedy people happily selling out their fellow humans for a fat paycheck. The wendigo has always been a symbol of greed and gluttony, eating their neighbors even when there was abundant game. I wanted to twist that a bit, to make my wendigo ravenously hungry like the monsters of lore, but to have him turn that hunger upon selfish people. The fact that descriptions of the wendigo vary widely and wildly even in original Native American sources gave me some leeway in fashioning him, as well. They’ve been described as anything from skeletal, lipless corpses to giants with hearts of ice. One legend says they can look like anything in the forest! They’re native to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada, and there’s even a Windigo Fest at Manitowoc, WI every October; I attended last year and was further inspired by the range of wendigook wandering the streets!

PBH It’s hard to write a novel, what kept you going and what advice would you give authors trying to finish a project?  

KS – This book was a perfect stew in my brain: fascinating research into Ojibwe lore, my love of winter storms, my own rage at unfettered capitalism, and finding the right physical model for Morty. Once I knew how he looked and sounded, and knew I wanted him to eat the guilty, everything flowed easily from there. I wrote a complete draft over the course of nine months. I thought, dreamt, ate and breathed these characters, particularly Morty, so that every time I sat down to write another chapter, the dialogue practically wrote itself. I’ve always been more focused on characters than mapping out intricate plots and I feel like that helped. If you’re trying to write a novel, know your characters. Know exactly how they’d react in any given situation, what they would say to each other, why they would support or oppose each other. Love your characters! They should feel like old friends you know intimately. Even the antagonists. Explore their voices and points of view, make extensive notes about them each. Then drop them in the middle of whatever craziness you’ve planned and write down what they do. Keep writing it. Write out of order if you’re inspired by a scene farther ahead but don’t know how you get there yet; it’ll flesh itself out if you understand your characters well. Also, be prepared to rewrite. A lot. Especially after your editor is through shredding it! I’m in the midst of writing book 2 now (tentatively titled Love Song of the Murder Deer) and diving deeper into the relationships between the main characters as Morty struggles to control the ancient manitou inside him.

Author Kris Silva in a Wendingo costume

PBH – You must be a horror fan, can you give us some movie and book recommendations? 

KS – Though Wendigogo’s plot is nothing like these films, Cabin in the Woods and Tucker and Dale vs Evil very much inspired the comic horror tone. Really anything that mixes comedy and horror is a must-see for me, even deliberately awful films like Velocipastor! I rewatch Cabin at least once a year; it’s my favorite movie, just brilliantly written, acted, and directed. And the last-act splatterfest manages to be both gory and hilarious! I love ghost stories and creature features, but well-done comic horror is my favorite subgenre. For books, I enjoy Rick Gualtieri’s “Tome of Bill” series, about a nerdy vampire struggling with truly evil vamps, Bigfeet, witches and more. The whole series is irreverent and geeky. For more serious fare, I devour Stephen Blackmore’s Eric Carter series about a modern-day necromancer in L.A., dealing with ancient Aztec gods and ghosts. His books are blood-soaked, moody candy. For scary films, The Ritual has a bit of a wendigo vibe to it despite being set in Europe. And I’m looking forward to seeing Antlers. Also, not strictly film, but the Netflix series “The Haunting of Hill House” is utterly masterful and genuinely frightening, well-paced, and with so much packed into each episode. Not to mention it has lots of in-jokes for Shirley Jackson fans.

PBH – Where can we find and follow you for updates on the book? 

KS – The Reluctant Wendigo series has its own Facebook page; updates, contests and such are all announced there. I am frequently on Twitter as @gravewriter71 (warning: lots of politics and random silliness as well as wendigo stuff and book news). The book is available through amazon (ebook and print) and ebook through Barnes & Noble (for both sites: https://books2read.com/u/mv5BzX ). My publisher Graythorn is also offering signed copies: https://graythorn-publishing.square.site/product/wendigogo-by-k-a-silva/14?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false

PBH – Anything else you want to tell us?

KS – Thank you very much! I really like your site and will frequent it. Lots to explore, and the tone is both smart and friendly. Glad I happened across it. —- PBH – awe thanks we have fun here.

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Interview with Award Winning Author and Teacher Richard Thomas

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Featured Indie Horror Indie Horror Creation Indie horror writers Lifestyle

Richard Thomas is an award-winning author of seven books: three novels—Disintegration and Breaker (Penguin Random House Alibi), as well as Transubstantiate (Otherworld Publications); three short story collections—Staring into the Abyss (Kraken Press), Herniated Roots (Snubnose Press), and Tribulations (Cemetery Dance); and one novella in The Soul Standard (Dzanc Books). With over 150 stories published, his credits include The Best Horror of the Year (Volume Eleven), Cemetery Dance (twice), Behold!: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders (Bram Stoker winner), PANK, storySouth, Gargoyle, Weird Fiction Review, Midwestern Gothic, Shallow Creek, The Seven Deadliest, Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Qualia Nous, Chiral Mad (numbers 2-4), PRISMS, Pantheon, and Shivers VI (with Stephen King and Peter Straub). He has won contests at ChiZine and One Buck Horror, has received five Pushcart Prize nominations, and has been long-listed for Best Horror of the Year six times. He was also the editor of four anthologies: The New Black and Exigencies (Dark House Press), The Lineup: 20 Provocative Women Writers (Black Lawrence Press) and Burnt Tongues (Medallion Press) with Chuck Palahniuk. He has been nominated for the Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller awards. In his spare time he is a columnist at Lit Reactor. He was the Editor-in-Chief at Dark House Press and Gamut Magazine. His agent is Paula Munier at Talcott Notch. For more information visit www.whatdoesnotkillme.com.

Christmas Horror Book Cover

PB: We talk to a fair amount of new writers – What tips would you give yourself if you could go back to when you started based on what you know now?
RT: Great question. I think one of the most important things to understand is your voice. So—what kind of stories are you trying to tell, what are your strengths (and weaknesses), and what excites you when you write? It’s the first assignment I give my students in my Short Story Mechanics class. You need to understand the genre (or genres) you write in, your influences, and contemporaries that are doing similar things. You learn by reading those authors, by finding “your people” and their audiences, as well as publications. It’s all connected. I started out writing more neo-noir and thrillers but then shifted into fantasy, science fiction, and horror. I still do both. The main difference between the new-weird speculative work I do and neo-noir is often realism vs. supernatural. As far as those weaknesses I just mentioned, study those voices that do it well—whether that’s setting, plot, character, or dialogue. Read, read, read. Read books and stories, read the “best of the year” anthologies, and then fill your head with images via film and tv, such as the amazing work at A24 Films these days. Take a few classes if you need to. I took quite a few, with authors I loved and respected (such as Jack Ketchum and Stephen Graham Jones) and THEN got my MFA. It all helps.

 PB: A lot of aspiring horror creators think about making the leap from day job to becoming a writer. In fact, I also transitioned from the corporate world and great salaries to chasing my passion for storytelling in multiple formats with puzzle box – Tell me a bit about the transition you went through as I imagine it was a difficult decision to make moving from a known career into the unknown world of writing and teaching fiction? Any advice there for others in this position?
RT: It’s very difficult. I spent 25 years in advertising as an art director and graphic designer, and woke up one day and realized I was very unhappy. If you want to make the shift, understand it takes years to do it right. You first have to find your voice (see my previous answer) and hone your craft. That alone may take 1-5 years. Write, practice, and publish. I encourage authors to write short stories until they figure out who they are, and what they are going to write. Once you start getting work published, push to get your stories into the BEST markets. Until you can start doing that, getting pro pay, and setting up a network and presence, I wouldn’t quit your day job. Once you get to that level, make sure you have a social media platform, and presence—that will all help to build your name, reputation, brand, etc. At that point, you probably want to write a book and find a small press or agent. I’ve published 150 stories, three novels, three collections, ran a press, and a magazine and I still teach and edit. I’d say my income is all related—all a part of the industry—but my actual stories and novels probably only account for half of my income. So be prepared to teach, to write a column, to edit, to do more. Very few can make six figures as an author. But man, it’s the most fulfilling work I do. And my teaching helps others, and I learn a lot in the process as well. I was reading those “best of the year” anthologies anyway, and it helps me too, but now I really pay attention. It’s all connected. 

PB: One of your classes is writing a novel in 365 days, how many students have completed that and have any been published?
RT: We’ve only been doing this two years now, so the total number of students is 24. Two are done and actively shopping—Joseph Sale and Erik Bergstrom—and their novels are amazing. I expect them to get published. There are quite a few from the first year that are putting the final touches on their work, making a last pass, etc. This year’s class—all eight students are really doing well, and I expect them to finish on time, and start submitting next year. Hard to say how many out of the 24 will make it will publish, but I’d say at least half. Quite a few of my students who have gone from Short Story Mechanics to Contemporary Dark Fiction to my Advanced Creative Writing Workshop have published, gotten into pro markets, have gotten nominations, have won awards, have written novels, and landed agents. Really proud of them all.

burnt tongues book cover

PB: As a published writer, teacher, and entrepreneur do you feel that indie writers stand a chance in being successful vs finding a publisher? 
RT: Depends on what you want to do, but yes, it can work both ways. I find that quite a LOT of the best work is being done at smaller, indie presses. The big five (or whatever it is now) will certainly get you more money, into brick and mortar stores, and have teams of people to help you. Working with the editors at Alibi (a Penguin Random House imprint) was a TON of work, so many rounds of revisions, but I knew that Disintegration and Breaker were TIGHT when they came out. I felt so supported. When Breaker got a Thriller Award nomination I was floored. So yes, I’d actually encourage authors to connect with indie presses first, and then write that first book and publish short stories. It’s a great community, so many supportive people, and when you finally DO break out, you’ll have a lot of fans excited to pick up your work. It’s so rewarding.

PB: Finally, we’d love to hear a writer quick tip for creating suspense from you?
RT: Suspense it tricky. When I talk about it in terms of what a HORROR story is, this is what I say. There is the terror and then the horror. Think of it as the suspense, the hints, the clues, the anticipation—that’s the terror, the emotion you create before we see it. The horror is the actualization, the fulfillment of it, the dropping of the veil, the unfurling of the creature, the physical manifestation and consequences. I talk about it a lot in my column, which you can read here: https://litreactor.com/columns/storyville-using-terror-and-horror-to-tell-powerful-stories

 CD is a magazine, and the exact issue is not online yet no. They are BIG, circulation of 10,000. PRISMS is just starting to get a cover and all so they aren’t online yet either sadly. I did have a co-written story in Best Horror of the Year, Volume 11, which is out now. Had a few things in books last year as well—a novelette, “Ring of Fire” in The Seven Deadliest anthology, and a story, “The Caged Bird Sings in a Darkness of Its Own Creation” in the Shallow Creek anthology. You can find links to those all here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B0036EYNDC

PB: What can you tell me about the upcoming arctic horror novel? (one of my favorite settings!)
RT: I was just on Twitter saying it was The Thing if written by Jeff VanderMeer, set in New Crobuzon (Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville). It’s about a sin-eater, and the way that he protects his portal, set in a place much like Barrow, Alaska where it goes dark for 60-90 days. I’m still trying to figure it all out, but I want to approach it from a place and time that is outside of our current narrative, so it’s not 2020 Alaska, but based on a similar location, culture, and weather, of course. A friend of mine lives in the arctic and is giving me some great nuggets, just working on finding the right angle, so it can be original. I’m looking at several books for inspiration—Annihilation, Come Closer, All the Beautiful Sinners, and many short stories set in this climate.

PB: What inspired you to go artic with the next novel?
RT: I live in Chicago, so I’m familiar with the cold. Obviously not on the same level, but I felt I could tap into that sensation and reality. I wanted isolation, and was fascinated by the Barrow, Alaska darkness. What might flourish in the dark? What happens before and after the dark? And the idea of a sin-eater and a group of people holding the world together through their actions and sacrifices appealed to me.

PB: What/who are some of your major influences?
RT: I grew up on Stephen King, then the beats in college, later getting into more indie work. My MFA was a big influence, literary dark horses, and then the new-weird movement. And then all of my contemporaries, the authors I’ve published. So while I love King, and Clive Barker, and Jack Ketchum, I also love the literary voices of Toni Morrison, Denis Johnson, Mary Gaitskill, Cormac McCarthy, and Haruki Murakami. The most recent authors that are a heavy influence of my work would probably be Stephen Graham Jones, Brian Hodge, Livia Llewellyn, Alyssa Wong, Brian Evenson, AC Wise, Usman Malik, Steve Toase, Kelly Robson, Kristi DeMeester, Damien Angelica Walters, and so many others. For films, I’ve really enjoyed what they’re doing at A24 Films, my top five being Hereditary, The Witch, Under the Skin, Ex Machina, and Enemy. 

PB: Anything else related to life or writing you care to share? 
RT: For the authors out there, figure out what you have, what authority, what experience, that nobody else has going for them. Maybe it’s where you grew up, your culture, your mythology, your job, or what you’ve seen. Weave that into the genres you love, and then swing for the fences—take chances, surprise your audience, be innovative while delivering what your promise, in a way that’s satisfying. There’s only one of YOU, so tell your stories with heart, and passion, and intensity. 

You can find Richard on twitter and at his personal site https://whatdoesnotkillme.com/

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