Interviews
by Mark Sieber

A FEW QUESTIONS WITH TOM PICCIRILLI

Tom Piccirilli is one of the most popular writers that the horror genre has ever seen. Equally embraced by the critics as well as the fans, he has always taken chances with his publications and refused to be pigeonholed into any single genre.

I had the great fortune to read and advance copy of Tom's most recent mass-market novel, November Mourns, which I think is probably the best thing he has ever done. It's a lush story of incarceration, mystery, and moonshine, and reads to me like a bizarre combination of Joe Lansdale and T.M. Wright. Tom took a break from his busy schedule to answer a few of my questions.

HW: Tom, you are extremely popular in the small press and I am a bit surprised that November Mourns wasn't done as a limited. Any reason for this?

TP: Mostly due to timing. Bantam is moving up my novels from one a year to one every 9-10 months or so, which cuts down on the time that a small press would be able to put the book together and have the chance for exclusive marketing. So it just wasn't in the cards. But maybe a few years from now we'll see a hardback signed limited from one independent press or another.

HW: November Mourns is a novel of spirits, in more ways than one, and I can't think of a generic name to hang on it. How would you describe it, if you had to?

TP: Like most of my recent works, it falls into the noir/crime gene with added fantastical and supernatural touches. Since it's about an ex-con returning to his small mountain moonshine-running town to investigate the mysterious death of his sister, there's plenty of room to weave in horrific elements and weird freakish characters among the plot line.

HW: You seem right at home in your writing in rural, or even desolate areas of the United States. Growing up, were you a city or country boy?

TP: Born and bred New York suburbia. But it's fun to romanticize about other areas of the country and filter that through my own sensibilities. I'd never call my southern gothic-type fiction to be authentic in any manner, but when you're writing about macabre situations, bizarre circumstances, and deranged characters, you really don't have to be too realistic.

HW: You write noir, horror, western, poetry…is there any genre you think you'd never work in? Romance, perhaps?

TP: I really don't discount anything. In one way or another, I've touched on nearly every genre and form. If it's challenging to put my stamp on it, then all the more fun for me to give it a whirl. I haven't written a romance yet, but hey, if Dick Laymon can give it a try, then anybody can.

HW: Some of us remember the small press magazine you edited, Epitaph, with great fondness. You recently did an anthology of the best from that periodical, and last year your poetry anthology, The Devil's Wine, was published to acclaim from Cemetery Dance Publications. Do you plan to domore editing in the future?

TP: There's another anthology I've edited entitled MIDNIGHT PREMIERE, which deals with horror that has a movie-oriented theme of some type. It includes stories by Mick Garris, Jack Ketchum, Tom Montelone, Linnea Quigley, Patrick Lussier, John Shirley, T.M. Wright, Gary Braunbeck, Gerard Houarner, and a host of other talented folks. So long as I can keep finding projects I feel strongly about, I hope to continue putting anthologies together every so often.

HW: Your titles are some of the most evocative I've ever seen. Some jup up and grab your collar, like Fuckin' Lie Down Already, or A Choir of Ill Children. Others are wistful and suggestive, as in November Mourns or Sorrow's Crown. At what point in the creation process do you usually come up with a title?

The title is the first hurdle between the reader and the subject matter, so it's very important to me to come up with one that somehow captures the spirit of the material. I usually come up with a title very shortly after I start work on the project. The title helps me to find the mood that I'm after in the piece, and until it's in place the work has no real focus or cohesive structure for me.

HW: Tom, currently, Thrust is available from Bloodletting Press and Headstone City is forthcoming from Bantam. What other projects can your fans look forward to?

TP: There's a few more on the horizon. A new collection called FUTILE EFFORTS that collects about 100k words of work from the past few years. I already mentioned MIDNIGHT PREMIERE, and there's a new novel entitled THE REPENTANCE OF KILLJOY, which I'm currently finishing up.

HW: Thanks a lot, Tom!

Readers are urged to mark their calenders for May 31th. That's when the Bantam/Spectra edition of November Mourns will hit the stands. Also, please visit Tom's very cool home on the web or drop him a note at his message board.