A Horror World Conversation with Steve Vernon
By Steven E. Wedel

Steve Vernon is Nova Scotia’s hardest working horror writer. While that may not seem incredibly impressive consider the lack of competition he has for the title, any newcomer would have a hard time mounting a significant challenge. Steve’s been publishing his work since 1986 and has quietly built a solid reputation as a strong, reliable voice in the small press world.

HW: Steve, what made you want to write?

SV: You know I believe you have seen the answer to that question yourself. What made me want to write, initially, was my painful shyness. As you might remember from our encounter at WHC 2004 in New York City, I’m not a party kind of guy. I clam up in crowds and have never really learned the fine art of schmoozing. All of that stems from the fact that I did not learn how to speak until I hit the age of thirty. I kept to myself most of my life, kept my own counsel, kept my mouth shut.

As a child I often played by myself in the woods of Northern Ontario. I made up stories, even then, creating elaborate fantasy worlds for myself. Later, in school, I learned that I had a gift for writing stories. My stories always brought me good marks and got the teachers off of my back. This home-grown survival mechanism soon became a bit of a drive in me and I received my first rejection letter from Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in my early teens.

Bluntly put, it was easier to write than it was to speak.

It still is, but I’m working on that.

HW: What brought you to the dark side of literature?

SV: I’ve always dug the dark side. I was a sucker for monster stories right off the bat. Eerie and Creepy, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein, my grandmother’s telling of “The Golden Arm”, all-night horror movie festivals on CBC television – all of these kept the spirit of horror burning brightly. Later on I would rush to the theater to catch the latest Vincent Price movie, (man, Dr. Phibes, kowabunga), and I let’s not get into Godzilla. I was warped from birth and I see no reason to straighten out any time too soon.

HW: Your first story, “The Bridge,” was published in 1986. Tell us what you remember about that story, the writing, the submission and the feeling of your first publication.

SV: That was a bit of Mad Max and a bit of Easy Rider all mixed in together. I wrote it with the motorcycle market squarely in mind. If I recollect I was paid $150.00 for that story, and for that alone made it memorable. I couldn’t believe that I made that kind of money just by writing. It was a heady beginning. Mind you, this was right at the edge of the big fiction pulp market – by then Cavalier was winding down its fiction; Easy Rider got out of fiction, Hawgs and Outlaw Biker got out of fiction…I just lucked into the market before the damn thing died.

HW: It appears you worked in short stories for a long time before moving into longer works. Are you more comfortable on the shorter stage?

SV: These days I’m a lot more comfortable with the novella, and I’m learning to adapt myself to novel-length manuscripts. I’m a bit like a sprinter who is learning to run marathons. The longer I write the long stuff, the harder the short stuff seems to get.

Initially, I wrote the short stuff because I figured I could sell it pretty quickly. However, that strategy didn’t necessarily pay off. I have only found my true writing voice in these last few years as I attempt longer manuscripts. It’s been a bit of a voyage of self-discovery.

HW: You made a nice splash with your very good – and odd – novella Long Horn, Big Shaggy. How did that book come about?

SV: That one came out of a love of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Jonah Hex and the old Weird West comic book series. It even came a little from that pair of monster movies – Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Monster and Billy the Kid Meets Dracula. I’ve always loved horror movies – especially the cheesy ones with the rubber-suited monsters – and I’ve always loved a good western. Putting them together and then stretching the two tropes just as far as I could manage to was just plain fun. I really had a good time writing this one.

It is out of print right now, voluntarily so. I just felt that it was time to put that baby on ice. I hope some day to revisit in a re-release and a rewrite to add a little more meat to the bones. I’d love to see a whole collection of my Texas tales. I have written a shitload of them. I’m not certain just why I live in Nova Scotia and write about Texas but sometimes I do. However, I seem to be swinging in the opposite direction these days – writing a lot more about the Maritimes and Canada in general.

HW: Were you happy with the reception the book received? I seem to recall a special promotion you did for that one, too. Talk to us about how you ensured the book would be a success.

SV: As most folks might remember I offered the prize of a handmade zombified buffalo to two randomly drawn readers who had purchased a copy of my book. That did seem to jump start things nicely.

Nevertheless, that book took an awful long time to get off its butt in the market place. It seems like a lot of my genre small-press work moves that way. A few folks buy it, talk about it, and then a few more folks buy it and talk about it. Maybe I wait too long between publications, but it feels as if I need to re-invent my literary reputation with every work that comes out. I’m not one of the big boys yet, not even close and folks are getting a lot pickier about where they spend their dwindling book dollars. I’m hoping that one day up the road a Steve Vernon release will become an automatic sell-out.

HW: Tell us about Captain Nothing. Where did he come from, and will we see him again?

SV: Captain Nothing has a bad history of shady dealings. He sprang from my love of crime-fighting tough guy superheros such as Batman and the Spirit. I’ve always dug those super heroes who don’t really have their own super power. All that Captain Nothing has going for him is a bad attitude. You’ve just got to respect a dude like that or at the very least fear him.

But as I said, Captain Nothing has hung with some shady characters. He was originally created in a story for a crappy anthology for a crappy POD company that burned a lot of writers before going belly up. Then I was asked to come up with a novelette length work for Nocturne and I thought of Captain Nothing. I had two other stories written with him in a starring role and put all three together into the collection Nothing To Lose. Unfortunately, Nocturne gave up the ghost shortly after Nothing To Lose was released. So very few copies were actually sold. Which is a real shame given the absolute kick-ass artwork that Alex McVey put together for the collection.

However, Burning Effigy of Toronto has asked to release a reprint of Nothing To Lose in chapbook format. I’m really excited to see these stories get a fresh chance. I think a lot more people need to read them and see what I can do with a super hero. It’s definitely a lot different than anything you might find at the comic book stand.

On a side note I should mention that Captain Nothing will be appearing in another story in Skullvines Press’s upcoming collection Tabloid Terrors #2 in which Captain Nothing goes toe to toe with a Kelpie – a horse shaped sea monster with a nasty carnivorous habit of trapping careless beachcombers and galloping them out into the water to drown.

Both of these releases should be out sometime this spring.

HW: The Last Stand of the Great Texas Packrat is new. What’s the book about?

SV: This is a lovely little chapbook that was released by White Noise Press a year or so ago. The story is an ode to those bedeviled fellows who are compelled to collect books. Being a long-time book junkie I am always restacking and restocking my wall to wall bookshelves and when Keith Minnion of White Noise asked me to come up with something this story came immediately to mind. The chapbook is now out-of-print although a few copies might still be floating around at the Horror Mall and similar venues. I have to tip my cap to Keith at White Noise. He puts out some high class chapbooks.

HW: Plague Monkey Spam has to be one of the best book titles I’ve heard in a long time. Tell us about this Bad Moon Books release.

SV: Oh I am really looking forward to this one. It’s a tale of where the stories come from, with a weird little plague monkey, a tale-telling spider-god, a shopping cart – ride on lawn mower caravan and a salute to the Banana Splits Club. One of the weirdest and wildest pieces of fiction I’ve written yet. I have no idea where I came up with some of the imagery.

I am very excited to be working with Roy and Brian over at Bad Moon Books. Talk about your quality publishing – these guys don’t fart around. Alan Clark did an amazing job with the cover for this one. I have worked with Alan twice now and its just amazing how he seems to be able to reach into a writer’s mind and yank out an image and stretch it into something abso-freaking mind-blowing.

HW: Two of your books, Hard Roads and Haunted Harbors, focus on Nova Scotia. First tell us a bit about those two books.

SV: I am very pleased with how Hard Roads has turned out, although its UK publisher Gray Friar has been having a hard time moving the book over here in North America. Hard Roads is a collection of two Canadian based horror novellas. The first novella, “Trolling Lures” is the story of a troll hunt through the hell-grounds of rural Nova Scotia; while the second novella, “ Hammurabi Road” takes the reader along the tracks of backwoods Northern Ontario. Both of these novellas are rather symbolic for me in that they represent my coming of age as a writer. I have finally decided to get in touch with my Canadian roots and to start writing about the country that I was born and raised in. Northern Ontario – where I was born and raised and Nova Scotia where I figured out how to be a man. I intend to write a lot more about my homeland from here on out.

Haunted Harbours: Ghost Stories from Old Nova Scotia is a real treat for me. I had been telling some of these ghost stories for a lot of years. Back in 2004 our local writing festival, Word On The Street, decided to have a pitch-the-publisher event and I pitched a collection of ghost stories which was picked up by a local regional publisher, Nimbus. The book came out in 2006 and has sold over 4000 copies since then. The Nova Scotia School Board purchased 560 copies for distribution. There are now 2 copies of my book in every grade 11 classroom in Nova Scotia.

I am looking forward to the April release of my follow-up, Wicked Woods: Ghost Stories from Old New Brunswick and have already signed a contract for a third collection due out in the spring of 2009. I am also working with a local picture book artist on a children’s picture book. As I’ve said, I am getting in touch with my Canuck roots.

HW: Now, tell us how important Nova Scotia is to your writing. How would your writing be different if you lived somewhere else?

SV: I draw an awful lot from this province. It isn’t as quiet as it used to be – Halifax has suffered from one of the highest crime rates in Canada for the last few years (higher even than Toronto) – but I really enjoy living here.

I’ve always harbored a fantasy that I would someday retire in New Mexico but that seems more and more like a dream. Still, Canadian winters get awfully old awfully fast. I am tired of shoveling snow and sprinkling sidewalk salt.

HW: You’ve had a lot of jobs other than writer. You’ve been an artist’s model, roustabout, factory hand, house painter and … fiddlehead picker, among others. So, what is a fiddlehead picker? Do you bring experience from these jobs into your writing?

SV: A fiddlehead is a small fern that only grows in certain parts of the country in certain times of the year. They’re a real treat and I really enjoy eating them with a bit of melted butter and some salt.

I figure my work experience has given me a real keen ear for how a working man thinks and talks. It’s given me a notion on just what a large-sized country I live in and what a diversity of population is around me. And, as a bonus, it taught me that I would do just about any goddamn thing imaginable to turn a buck – and in hindsight I’d rather be writing.

HW: What does your family think about your fascination with ghosts, cannibals and all that other good stuff?

SV: My wife loves it. My mom thinks I’m the bee’s knees. My daughter thinks I’m weird. My stepson thinks I’m cool but strict. My brother thinks I’m quaint and folksy. And my cat just loves me.

HW: You’ve made a concerted effort lately to upgrade your publications, looking for better markets that are going to pay more. Tell us about that decision. Is it okay for new authors to settle for free for-the-love markets?

SV: Free for-the-love bullshit. If a market can’t pay you anything, don’t waste your time.

When I made my decision, shortly after the release of Long Horn, Big Shaggy it was a long old year and a half before I made a real sale. The stuff came bouncing back with alarming regularity. I worked just as hard as I could trying to improve my writing techniques, trying to learn from all of that rejection and I’m hear to tell you that I’m a better writer for it. You can run the Boy Scout obstacle course or you can go try out for the Navy Seals. You tell me which one is going to give you a better work out in the long run?

HW: You make your living now as a professional palm and Tarot reader. How did you come to that profession?

SV: As I said I will do anything imaginable to turn a dollar. This just turned into something that I seem to be good at. I never pretend that I’m the Amazing Kreskin and I never pretend that it’s magic. I just listen and tell the people what I see and what I figure and folks seem to be helped by the experience – by and large. I don’t necessarily believe in the paranormal. In fact, when people ask me if I am psychic I always tell them – “No, I am Canadian.”, however I don’t necessarily not believe in the paranormal either. There’s a lot of shit that goes on in this world that’s just bound to keep us guessing. I try and keep an open mind, not believe my own PR, and stay honest.

HW: Now, living in Oklahoma, I know that palm and Tarot readers here have a tough time just staying in business because of pressure from … well, those who believe they have everyone’s best interest in mind. Do you really get enough business in Nova Scotia to make a living?

SV: Less of a living these days because the tourism is way down – thanks to the decreasing American dollar and the increasing military action going on all over the world. I am hoping in the next year or so to be able to step down as a full-time reader and become more of a full-time writer.

HW: What will we be seeing from you in the near future?

SV: Well, for starters keep an eye out for the aforementioned Plague Monkey Spam and the re-release of Nothing To Lose. I’ve also got a novella coming out from Magus entitled Leftovers. I have put together a novella collection of four Weird West novellas by myself, Brian Keene, Tim Lebbon and Tim Curran entitled Four Rode Out. That’ll be making its way through the Cemetery Dance Publishing mechanism in the next year or so, give or take. I’m also eagerly looking forward to my very first full-length novel, Gypsy Blood, coming out this summer from Five Star.

In addition I am bursting chock-full of projects that I can’t begin to talk about. There’s a publisher we all know and love who is looking at a couple of novel manuscripts of mine. There’s also a Toronto publisher who is interested in my work and is awaiting a YA manuscript that I’m working on that’ll go mainstream. I am hoping that 2008-2009 are going to be my years of breaking through. I’ve been farting around this business way too long. It’s high time I got serious.

HW: What are your long-term goals?

SV: Like I said, I want to make a living at this writing racket. They tell me that’s hard to do but I’ve never believed much in what “they” say in the first place. I figure the only fellow I’m bucking against is myself and if I can light a large enough bonfire beneath my 49 year old buttocks then a wind-sprint of momentum is bound to take place.

HW: What should I have asked but forgot to ask?

SV: You might have asked me why I haven’t released a collection of my fiction. And if any publishers with advance money and a solid distribution network are reading this interview drop me an e-mail and ask me that very same question. I’ll be glad to entertain any and all propositions. I’ve been sitting out here for a while, getting hungrier. It’s time to go hunt me a big fucking old bear.

HW: Thanks so much for your time, Steve, and best of luck in the future.

SV: My pleasure Mr. Wedel. I enjoyed the hell out of that werewolf collection of yours, Call To The Hunt, and I’m thinking that you’ll want to light your own bonfire any day now. Get well soon and get back to your writing.