Author Mark Taylor



Today my dear friend, Mark Taylor joins me! So Mark, tell us what you have coming up.

Hey, Mr. Eldon. Thanks for having me.

Oh my, have I got stuff in the pipeline. I’m waiting for ‘The Human Condition’ to be released by Wicked East Press at the moment – that one’s all signed and sealed, and I’m just waiting for it to hit print.

And aside from that (ignoring the shorts I’ve got out) I’ve just completed my first novel, ‘Shutter Speed’, a chiller set in modern day. The sting in the tail (tale?) is that the antagonist suffers from a split personality disorder, meaning that the reader is never sure who is who. But I guess that stops it from ever being adapted into a film. I chronicled the writing of it on my blog, warts and all. It was a hell of a journey, but I got there… with a little help from my friends. I’m just waiting to see if someone likes it enough to publish it now.

My main, current project (and yes, I have to phrase it like that, because I can’t go to the kitchen without a pile of projects trying to tackle me to the ground vying for attention) is something that has been bandied around since the beginning, for me at least. Some time ago I wrote a novella collection with author Charles Day. It slipped back and forth, and now we have decided to merge the novellas together and create a novel. It’s certainly not easy, but working with and adapting the material, I think ‘Redemption’ might certainly be my darkest work yet.

What is it about horror that you enjoy writing?

I like cutting shit up and then setting it on fire. I always have done. But I was brought up proper and I’m not allowed to do that anymore, at least not in polite society. Okay, so I’m joking, but fundamentally it is the truth. Whether I write horror, read it, or watch movies, I’m getting some perverse pleasure out of inflicting/inflicted pain. So yeah, that.

Being the puppet master rocks, especially when you get to cut the strings…

 

What are your inspirations?

That old chestnut. Well, I could spout a list of authors and the like, but to be honest, these days that wouldn’t be the best answer. Sure, I wouldn’t be me without my long drawn out history of Clive Barker, Nightmare on Elm Street, and HR Geiger, but they’re no longer my inspiration. They might have been my inspiration to write at first, but now, no.

These days my inspiration comes from people around me. Writers mostly. I see people I know doing exciting things and it makes me want to do exciting things. The groups I am a member of, my friends having brainstorms about writing, publishing, techniques… writing is no longer a shadowed existence, a lonely individual scribing in silence… these days we party together…

From your blog posts, I have seen you evolve in your writing, becoming a force to be reckoned with. Want to share about that?

Writing horror allows me explore my feelings, and try to put them on paper. I think, in the beginning, I was reticent to do that. I think I was afraid to put down on paper what I felt. Like most new writers, I think, we’re under this misapprehension that fiction is made up. It’s actually not. Sure, the stories are, but the feelings couldn’t be more real. So I’ve changed. Especially recently.

These days, I feel freer in myself. I’m more open. And I’m not afraid.

That’s why my writing is becoming more fluid, visceral, but darker, and more fun. I have found that now my writing is free from the restraints that I once placed upon it, I’m enjoying it more.

And the blog? Yeah, I scream at that a couple of times a week. It helps keep me sane.

Do you have anything else coming up?

I’m working on a five novelette serialization about the Devil’s right hand man. Each part is an enclosed story, but with a major arcing story. It’s horror-comedy, and something new for me to write. I’ve always played the straight arrow, and steered my work away from all forms of comedy and romance/erotica. I felt it was time to depart from the old, and dip my toes in the new. Whether it all works or not remains to be seen, but I’m having all sorts of fun with it.

I’ve a pending collaboration with another author, and we’ve begun plotting. (I’m really looking forward to this one, actually)

Oh, and did I mention my next solo novel? Yeah, I’m rolling up about a third of the way through on that one too. It’s untitled, but a little more fun than Shutter Speed and Redemption, and it has a new twist on an old subject.

And ‘Human Behavior: The Human Condition II’, a collection of short stories to match its predecessor… And ‘Short Cuts to the Psyche’ something of a collection of flash fiction that I don’t know what to do with, yet…

… have I run out of time yet?


Thank you, Mark for being here!



BIO:

Mark Taylor is an author from the United Kingdom specializing in Horror, working mostly in the field of the short story, but works constantly towards novelization.

Starting as a writer in his thirties he has had dozens of short stories published in print, from publishing houses large and small. His collection of short stories in the anthology, 'The Human Condition', will be in print soon from Wicked East Press.

He has just completed his first novel.