Interviews
by Mark Sieber

A FEW WORDS WITH WALT HICKS

Walt Hicks, of Hellbound Books, is doing something rather unique among small press horror genre. Instead of publishing pricey deluxe hardbacks and oversize trade paperbacks, he is publishing gorgeous editions in the same size as the typical mass-market paperback. Only with Hellbound's products, the books are much sturdier and the paper is a lot nicer. Also, Walt is giving a lot of breaks to newer and lesser-known writers.

HW: Walt, I love the books that you have been producing. Was the decision to make them digest sized instead of larger trade paperbacks made for aesthetic or financial reasons?

WH: Thanks, Mark! The investors I work with are like me - they don't care for the trade paperback size. We like the throwback paperbacks you can stick in your back pocket, throw in the Jeep, take to the beach, etc. Ill Met by Moonlight, the only limited edition we plan on doing (at this time) will be a trade size, signed, numbered, etc.

HW: You're giving a lot of new writers' nice breaks, but you are also doing books with genre legend William F. Nolan. How did your relationship with him come about?

WH: One of the writers I was working with expressed an interest in doing a novelization of an old Dan Curtis TV-movie, The Norliss Tapes, a pilot for a proposed series with Roy Thinnes as a writer trying to debunk the supernatural. I knew that the screenplay for Norliss had been written by William F. Nolan, so I dashed off an email to webmaster of the Nolan website, who in turn, printed out my email and sent it to Mr. Nolan. To my surprise, Bill Nolan wrote me, indicating that the rights to Norliss were still retained by Dan Curtis, and it wasn't likely that I'd be able to procure them from him, but he gave me his address anyway. He added something to the effect of "why not publish new Nolan, instead of old?" I said, are you kidding! I sent him a sample of what HellBound publishes and he signed up. He's a huge supporter of the small press, and in our case, the micro press.

HW: Do you serve as editor as well as publisher to your writers?

WH: Yes. I spent several years as a proofreader for technical and procedural manuals, writing and updating a number of them myself. I worked in the newspaper business on a small scale for a few years as well. We also employ several freelance proofers and editors as well. HellBound's editorial policy is to allow the author to stay as true to his or her work as possible.

HW: When you choose a novel or story for publication, do you try to anticipate the market, or simply use what you like as a reader?

WH: Mostly we look at stories. There has to be a certain amount of marketability, but hopefully, if the story, characters, and writing are strong enough, people will come after it. We have intentionally tried to publish a variety of projects - raw horror from Randy Chandler, Western/Historical Horror from Tim Curran, a more light, tongue-in-cheek book from T. M. Gray, a dramatic screenplay by William F. Nolan. Cold Flesh (zombie antho) was optioned from Editor Paul Fry over a year and a half ago, but I think our timing is pretty good, there.

HW: How much luck have you had in getting the books into the chain stores?

WH: Our original intention was to start out slow and grow in measured steps. We are working on our distribution currently, but we're not in the chain stores yet, although Barnes & Noble seems quite positive toward the idea.

HW: The Deathgrip series started with a collection by you and now has evolved into theme anthologies. Do you plan to continue the series this way

WH: DeathGrip was originally a specfic website I ran a few years ago. The first book we published (more as a 'test mule' than an official release) culled some of my stuff (re-edited and proofed) from the web site. Although way-too-much fun, anthologies are very, very time consuming and expensive to produce. HellBound will concentrate on mostly novels in the future, although the DeathGrip series will continue, most likely as a single author collection, or in the case of DeathGrip 5, a set of four novellas from four different authors.

HW: Are there any "dream writers" you'd love to work with at Hellbound?

WH: William F. Nolan is one of the most talented, nicest guys around, so that was a dream come true. I'd have to say Matheson, Masterton, off the top, but there are dozens of extremely talented writers who are established and coming up. I really enjoy working with new writers as well.

HW: Thanks Walt and good luck in all your future ventures!