A Horror World Conversation with Roy C. Booth
By Steven E. Wedel

Have you heard of Roy C. Booth? He is a published novelist, short story writer, poet, comedian, journalist, essayist, game designer, scriptwriter/doctor (film/radio/TV), and internationally award winning playwright. He’s had 48 plays published, with over 640 known productions worldwide in 25 different countries. He lives up in Bemidji, Minn.

I have to admit I didn’t know Roy, either, until I met him on Facebook recently. Now I’m quite intrigued and want to know more about this prolific and talented person.

Horror World: Roy, thanks for taking the time to talk with Horror World.

Roy C. Booth: You’re welcome, great to be “here.”

HW: You are a man of many mediums and I want to pick over your brain on all of them. Most of your work seems to have a dark edge, though, so let’s start there. What lured you to the dark side of life?

RCB: Ever since I was a small child I’ve had a fascination with monsters, ghosts, scary stories, folklore, mythology, and the like.  I was known as “the monster kid” in school and when other kids had copies of Ranger Rick or The Black Stallion in their school desks, I had well worn copies of Famous Monsters in Filmland and Tomb of Dracula in mine. When I was very little I recall having quite a few night terrors, so I think that all contributed to my early dark fantastic bent as well. The blending of horror and writing came about when I was six/seven when we were given the class assignment to draw and make our own little “book” – the other kids did four to eight pagers on puppies and picnics, while I did a 20 pager about my running around in a haunted house with a silver baseball bat wailing the tar out of zombies, werewolves, and vampires. My teacher was horrified (and called my parents), but some of my classmates really got a kick out of it, which got me to thinking, “Hmmm…”

HW: What does your family think of your work? Are they horror fans, or do they worry about leaving you alone?

RCB: My wife, Cynthia, reads a lot of horror, but, no, no one else in my family, alas, has ever shared my love for monsters and the dark fantastic. However, my sons are beginning to show some literary interest in that direction as they get older, so there’s still hope yet.

HW: One of your projects that will be very much of interest to our readers is the play adaptation of Brian Keene’s novel TERMINAL. How did you get to know Keene?

RCB: Brian and I first met at the Bloomington Sheraton (MN) at Convergence in 2007 – he was the con’s Guest of Honor, and I was merely a Guest.  We ended up doing a few panels together, found out we had a lot of common interests, and just hit it off, professionally and as friends (see below).

HW: Was it your idea to adapt TERMINAL for the stage? Why the stage instead of the screen?

RCB:  First of all, Paul Campion had already secured the film rights before Brian and I had met, so that ruled out a screenplay treatment from the start. As for the rest of the question, and to further answer the preceding one, here are Brian’s own words on the matter excerpted (and abridged) from the Introduction to TERMINAL: THE PLAY:

And nobody was more surprised than me when, in a hotel bar in Minnesota, surrounded by drunken people dressed in fantasy and science fiction costumes, internationally award winning playwright Roy C. Booth said to me, “You should adapt Terminal for the stage.”

In truth, I’d been thinking about it. A few weeks before this conversation, a fan on my now defunct message board had suggested the same thing. Problem was I didn’t know the first thing about playwriting. I told Roy this. Then we shared some drinks and watched a gang of Xena clones beat up assorted vampires and Jedi Knights.

A few weeks later, Roy and I hooked up over email. He asked me if he could take a stab at adapting Terminal into a play and I told him that was a great idea, but only if I could help, even though I didn’t know shit about playwriting. He said, “You can write, can’t you?” And I said, “It depends on which book reviewer you ask.” And he said, “If you can write a book, you can write a play.”

So we did, and this was the result. Roy did all of the hard work. I got us beers and made coffee.

HW: What were some of the challenges of adapting this book to the stage?

RCB: Quite a few, as it is with converting one kind of media into another and making it really work, but in this case it was trying to keep everything in “real time,” the action confined to one set, keep the action going when there were “talking heads” moments, and, of course, leaving Brian’s original vision of the story intact as much as possible.

We debuted the play as readers’ theatre last March here at the Chief Theatre in Bemidji, and from that production alone we came up with some other changes and tweaks that we will be incorporating later on for a more commercial, AND producible, version of the script, which will hopefully get picked up by a major play publisher in the months to come.

HW: You’ve written some other horror-themed works for the stage. Is there a market for that? Is it something other authors should consider?

RCB: The market for that sort of thing is presently schizoid at best, and I would not recommend doing it unless you’re not only a true horror fan with a great penchant for storytelling, but you really, really know your theatre craft as well. I have seen many a disastrous attempt where the story itself was okay, but the execution of it onstage was just that, an execution.

HW: How many plays have you written? How many have been produced?

RCB: I’ve written around 75 plays and I believe 65 or so have already been produced in some form or another, and the other ten or so should be taken care of in that regard by year’s end. My main problem over the years has been trying to find a venue to put on my plays properly with all the bells and whistles, but luckily other theatre groups around the world are now contacting me directly about producing my newer work, so that has taken a bit of the angst out of that – in order for a play to be published, it very often has to be produced first in front of a live audience with adequate proof of its being done so (news articles, programs, reviews, et al). Needless to say, especially in Bemidji, live original speculative theatre is often a hard sell, commercially and artistically, on many fronts. It’s also very time consuming, so to have someone else cheerfully take some of that on is a great help.

And I have another ten or so plays in progress and/or on the proverbial drawing board.

HW: You’ve also worked in fiction and poetry. How do you determine which form a new piece of work will take?

RCB: Audience and subject matter, and finding which method best accommodates both is the short answer. Beyond that it’s often a question of personal tastes and how many bills I have to pay.

Btw, I started writing more poetry as a way to tighten up my dialogue skills (you may be able to pad a bit in a novel, but not for the stage), and I often spend ten minutes or so on poems before tackling my other work just to get my brain set on being concise and precise.  Now that I’ve been doing that, I am finding more time to express myself that way through horror, and, I must admit, I’m finding the process to be quite enjoyable in a hit-and-run sort of way.

HW: Is there one form in which you feel more comfortable? If so, why?

RCB: I’ve gone back to writing novels (and using my real name) and I’m back to cranking out the odd short story or two, but I generally am more comfortable, and prolific, with scriptwriting, especially when it comes down to playwrighting (yes, please note my use of the more archaic spelling – when I write plays I also have to be the set designer, the lights and sound designer, the fight choreographer, and a slew of other considerations because I am creating a work that has to be performed in a three dimensional setting, thus I craft it out as if I were a shipwright or cartwright, but I digress…)

My being more comfortable in that regard comes from my love of the written word and for the theatre – I often refer to the stage as my mistress: she’s fickle, demanding, and will gladly kick you in the teeth if you’re not careful, but when she’s good, oh, gracious, she is soooo good…

It’s a double-edged sword, really. On one hand you go, "Wow. All of these people -- the actors, the tech crew, et al -- put all of this hard work, time, and energy into this, and now an audience has taken the time and their hard earned money to see it. Wow."

Very humbling.

And then there’s the other side of it: "Yeah, ***I*** wrote/adapted/collaborated on this. You’re all here because of ME. Heh." 

Pure ego.

Luckily most of us in this business just bounce between the two, but mainly stay grounded in the center of it all.  But there are moments…

And I really do get a kick out of it, especially with the sheer immediacy of performance.

HW: What is your educational background?

RCB: My high school diploma is from Pillager High School (1983), my AA degree is from Central Lakes College (Brainerd, MN, 1986), my BA in English/Speech-Theatre (1989) and my MA in English (1998) are both form Bemidji State University. I have a few other odd certifications for stage combat/choreography and the like.

However, to the horror of certain academics, I consider myself mostly self-taught when it comes to scriptwriting, leaning heavily on my hands on theatre and filmmaking experiences.

HW: Tell us about your most recently published or produced work. Where can we get a copy or see it performed?

RCB: You can still get TERMINAL: THE PLAY (Bloodletting Press) from the Horror Mall and a few other outlets, and below is a highlighted list of what’s new:

THEATRE OF THE MACABRE is a three one-act collection of mine published by Skullvines Press based on past horror/thriller/suspense short stories of mine, and includes a – ooo! – critical review from Dr. David Beard from the University of Minnesota, Duluth by way of the Introduction.

PAIRING ENERGY, with. longtime theatre/film pal Mitch Berntson, is a horror/suspense one-act from Original Works that will not only appeal to the romantic science geek, but also explores that dark fine line between fantasy and reality when it comes to failed relationships and feelings of self-destruction.

 THE UNMASKING OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Heuer) is a recently made more relative one-act comedy that features the world’s greatest known detective, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, matching wits with literature’s first master detective, Edgar Allan Poe’s Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. Hilarity ensues with poor Dr. John Watson caught in the middle of it all.

As for produced, I often post upcoming shows (that I know of) on my accounts with Facebook, MySpace, wherever, and I always make it a point to keep folks up to date on the shows I’m personally working on or any of my con/signing/whatever appearances, because I often read/present work then, too.  And I absolutely love going to and seeing my shows where I have absolutely nothing to do with the actual production itself other than being the playwright.

HW: You’ve alluded to having several more projects pending. Is there anything you can tell us about what’s coming from you soon?

RCB: Oboy.  (Smiles, cracks neck, continues.)  I have a slew of projects in the works or coming soon in print, and then there is a whole bunch of stuff I can’t even talk about due to contractual considerations (drives my wife nuts), so I will just list off some of the highlights:

I have some anthologized dark poetry in the upcoming THE TERROR OF MISKATONIC FALLS from Shroud Publishing and in THESE APPARITIONS: HAUNTED RELECTIONS OF EZRA POUND from Bandersnatch Books (I’ll also be having a hybrid stage monologue/dark poetry book coming out in 2011 from Bandersnatch).

RODRIGO GETS THE POSTMODERN BLUES an award-winning killer kaiju one-act comedy (think Godzilla performing Shakespeare, for starters), plus a bunch of other plays from Heuer, including, possibly, a zombie-themed play.

PRIVATEER: THE MAIDEN VOYAGE (tentative title), a dark fantasy novel contracted (along with four other books) in Shane Moore’s Abyss Walker Universe, full details TBA.

I’ve also recently completed another fantasy novel collaboration, a horror novella collaboration, two more Sherlock Holmes plays (even a Steampunk version!), and will soon start work on some more screenplays, stage plays, a three book fantasy collaboration that’s already gotten a wink and a nod from a major publisher, and, again, a whole bunch of other work I currently cannot comment upon.

HW: Do you still have the need for a day job? If so, what is it? Does it help you with your writing?

RCB: Technically my day job is running my store here in Bemidji, Roy’s Comics & Games, and it helps tremendously with my writing with just the sheer fact that when it is slow, or when my wife is around, I have quite a bit of time to write, read, research, or just talk writing with some of my local peers. And the networking opportunities aren’t too shabby, either.

HW: What advice would you give to an author wanting to break in?

RCB: Read, research, work on your craft (which is a lifelong process, btw), and, this one’s really important, “Know Thy Audience,” not only as to who they are, but always keep in mind who is best suited to help you reach them. And that bit about writing a million words or so?  It’s true, even if your first hundred or so are about running around in haunted houses with a silver baseball bat – if it all eventually gets to where you want to go, it’s ALL good.

 If you haven’t already noticed by now, I do a lot of collaborating, which is my way of paying forward, because my first published play, BEANIE AND THE BAMBOOZLING BOOK MACHINE, waaay back in 1989, came about from someone else (Bob May) taking me under wing and giving me the chance to write a play, so if you can find a like minded mentor out there that is willing to do the same, go for it.

HW: Is there any other book published by another author you’d like to have a chance at adapting?

RCB: Oooo, yes, yes indeed, but a lot of that I just keep to myself and hope a little hope. (I am always open to possibilities on that front, of course.)

HW: Okay, what have I neglected to ask? Anything you want to add, work you want to pimp, or relatives to thank?

RCB:  I would also like to take the time now to note that my biggest dream in writing is still to someday write comic books and/or graphic novels, so if anyone out there in the world of comics is looking for someone new to break into the business…

I’d also like to pimp TWO WIVES AND A DEAD GUY, from Samuel French, another award-winning comedy that I co-wrote with my wife, Cynthia, that was recently performed in Ireland, France, India, and Australia -- hilarious stuff that takes place in a funeral home, no less.

Special thanks to all of those who have supported me in any way, shape, or form over the years, and, especially, I’d like to thank everyone who has read (and bought) my work and has attended performances of my plays.

If anything I’ve mentioned above interests anyone in the least, I can be contacted at roycbooth@hotmail.com. Please, keep the death threats to a minimum.

HW: Roy, thank you again for your time. We appreciate it and wish you much success.

RCB: Thanks, much appreciated, Horror World

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