I first met John Paul Allen--J.P.--on-line, the way so many small press horror writers meet each other. After reading a plethora of third rate horror fiction while trying to sort my way through the minefield of novels out there, I braved and survived Gifted Trust, J.P.'s ambitious, time hopping horror yarn about a demonic force that drives its hosts to unspeakable acts of murder. It was the first novel I'd read that really pushed the boundaries of what is considered "acceptable"; that embraced, unapologetically, taboo themes; and that actually made me dread what was to come. Raw stuff.

I met J.P. in person last year. He posted on-line, "I'm driving from Texas to World Horror Con in Toronto, and am looking for people to have coffee with." Jeff Strand, Lynne Hansen and I caught up with him at Niagara Falls. At last, a face to face conversation with a friend I'd known for years only in the cyber worlds of Shocklines and the HWA message board. Unfortunately, J.P. had consumed so many cups of coffee, and had done so much talking across the country, that he arrived stricken with laryngitis. He spent much of WHC scribbling notes to communicate with people. My favorite one was, "Say hello to the Italian hooker..."

Every Super Writer has an Origin Story. What's yours?

I've read a few and sometimes feel as if I missed out on the experience many have who knew they were meant to write. I didn't. The thought of becoming a writer hadn't entered my mind until starting Gifted Trust about seven years ago. Still, looking back I can see how the path led me to it. I think I had the perfect pre-writer life, because I was multi-stimuli induced. I was the youngest of five boys to middle class working parents in Michigan and my brothers were expected to keep eye on me and we were to keep busy. We played baseball, hockey, cowboys and Indians (back when kids played with guns). We went to the movies on Saturday afternoons, when you could watch four or five B horror flicks for a quarter. We read comics - lots of comics. The guy across the street was a distributor and liked us so he gave us tons. Back then it was mostly DC and I read them all. Music was important too. My brothers listened to early rock and Motown. My mom played a lot of big band, Nat King Cole, Tennessee Ernie Ford that sort of stuff.

In the fourth grade we moved from the suburbs of Detroit to the Coldwater area where the local radio station only played Pat Boone and gave farm reports. I became a Boy Scout when I was eleven and stayed active for seven years - Eagle Scout at 14 and worked at a scout camp for three years. In high school I wrestled a year (lost every match, including to a blind guy and a boy with one arm) then turned my attention to plays and musicals, because that's where the girls were. At seventeen I graduated and joined the navy - served 14 years total, but not straight. I kept getting out, going to college, running out of money and going back in. I traveled to over 30 countries, was married and divorced a couple of times, raised kids, worked a bunch of jobs (funeral home assistant, file clerk, substitute teacher, hotel van driver, parking garage attendant to name a few). Not once during this did it dawn on me to write. What it did was give me life experiences, which set me up for what I was eventually to become. When I moved to Houston in '97 the plan was to finish my education and teach, but things happened I didn't expect. I took a class, wrote a short story and caused a stir. That was when I knew I wanted to be a writer.

GIFTED TRUST was one of the first small press horror novels I read after deciding to become a novelist myself. What inspired this particular work, which I found damned disturbing.

Gifted Trust took 20 years to write and began while I was a student/single dad at Central Michigan University. My son (age 4) was sleeping on the couch one night while I watched a made-for-tv movie about Adam Walsh, son of AMERICA'S MOST WANTED host John Walsh. For those who don't know, Adam was taken from a mall in Florida and murdered. The next day I had to turn in a poem for a class and when the movie ended I looked at Jonathan and tried to think what would go on in the mind of a person who would commit such a crime. I typed:

The best time for me
is just before the screaming stops
and their voices hit that pitch.
Twisted little limbs
bending back and forth
back and forth
and all the blood
and the blue lips
and the begging for me to stop.
I love little children
so very very much.

I got an A and forgot about it until after I moved to Texas. I was working at an alternative school as an assistant wellness coach and we were expected to take classes during the school year. I took a creative writing course. The first three weeks I wrote about the navy, growing up in Michigan, simple stuff and decided I wanted to do something different. I tried all week to write something and couldn't so I went to the school a couple hours early and sat in front of a blank computer screen for over an hour trying to come up with anything. With about 90 minutes before class I took a break and went down to the student lounge where some people were watching AMERICA'S MOST WANTED. I quickly returned to the computer lab and wrote a five-page short story I titled Gifted Trust. It caused a bit of a stir in the class so when I got home I woke my wife up and read it to her. She said, "If I didn't know you, I'd suggest therapy." I knew I had something.

Some of us have been waiting years for the promised continuation. What's the deal?

On one hand, life got in the way - and death. I completed the three drafts of the sequel just over two years ago and was till touching it up when my wife died unexpectedly. I fell apart, stayed drunk for most of 2006 and never looked at it. As you know, things got better. I moved out of the home I shared with her, got my shit together and began writing again - Monkey Love, House Guest and Marquee . Of course that still doesn't explain the sequel status. Well, I probably should get it out and finish it. I don't like being the only one who knows what happens to all my characters.

I think you and I joined the HWA around the same time, and we both had night jobs, and you used to e-mail me. As I recall, you deliberately sought non-brain taxing jobs so you'd have more time to write. So why the hell were you e-mailing me? Do you have trouble forcing yourself to sit down at that keyboard to do what needs to be done?

I call them "non-thinking jobs" stuff I didn't have to worry about when I was off the clock, like driving guests to and from the airport to a hotel. As for doing what needs to be done - the sun and stars have to be just right. I blame my lack of organization on my diagnosed ADD and can't work unless things are right. That means lots of coffee and no phone calls. Anything (like email) can pull me away from work and often does.

The world needs more hippie horror authors.

"Give me a head with hair" LOL If I can find it, I'm going to send you a pic - before and after. Everyone else can go to my Myspace and check out my photos. I haven't cut it in over two years, just because I haven't felt like it. Also I like the reactions.

Despite being fairly "vocal" on message boards, you're notoriously shy. It was a big deal for you to come to WHC in Toronto last year, and you drove across the United States to do it. And then something funny happened. Several funny things...

The shy part I'm working on. I do better on the net. When I attended my first WHC in Chicago my wife made me promise that I'd speak to 20 people and I did. The next year at KC I was expected to talk to 25. Toronto was suppose to be a "Coming out" of sort. After reentering life I decided I'd force myself to be as outgoing as I possibly could, but that didn't happen because . . . I lost my voice before I got there. It was hell. I spent three days writing notes and couldn't talk until about two days after leaving Canada.

The other problem was learning that I'm a wanted felon. Crossing into Canada I was pulled into a room and questioned. They said they couldn't tell me what I did, but threatened to send me back until I begged them to let me go to the convention. They figured I'd have to face the music on the way back so they agreed. On the way back to the states I was again escorted from my car and questioned. They also couldn't tell me what I did, but after contacting the police in Charleston, South Carolina they decided to let me go. I later found out that I was wanted for not showing up in court for an expired car registration. I didn't know about this, because a couple years earlier I gave my son a car (he was a student in SC) and he never changed the registration on it. The matter still hasn't been corrected so every time I get pulled over I have to deal with this.

You've undergone some dramatic changes in life the last few years. In the end, have these things helped or hindered you as a writer? And did your writing help you cope with your reality?

We're going back to my wife's death here - the most difficult thing I ever went through and as I mentioned I didn't handle it well at the time, but it's like the saying, "What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger". Once I got back to writing, my experience did help - all experience do. Matter of fact, losing Pam helped me finish Marquee. I wrote it about two years before she died and when she read it she said she hated the ending. When I started writing again I pulled it out and changed the ending. I added a couple characters and made it sort of a message to her letting her know that everything was OK again. As for writing helping me cope - in the aftermath yes. I didn't realize, until I started again, how much it was a part of me.

I found your novella MONKEY LOVE to be very sly, and yet deeply personal.

Monkey Love began as a joke. Whenever I had a couple drinks down me and someone asked what I was working on I'd say, "A story about a woman who thinks her husband reincarnated as a gorilla". When finally asked to write it I found myself dealing with an intelligent woman willing to accept a totally realistic situation in order to hold onto a lost love.

Isn't Monkey Love part of a set of novellas? Where can someone get a copy?


Yeah, it is. Dave Dinsmore (Biting Dog Press/Publications) met with me in Austin about 20 months ago to discuss the project. He wanted to three writers to write non-related novellas and market them together. The other two novellas are Midlisters by Kealan Patrick Burke and Disposal by Jeff Strand. As for where to get copies of any of them, the novellas are limited edition - only 400 copies of each and they're available from various dealers (Bad Moon, Bloodletting, Jeff'n'Joys, Shocklines and Zeising Books). All are listed on the links section of my website. Listed as well is the Biting Dog link. They're offering the three novella set for 25 percent off.

Anyone attending the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City will have a chance to pick them up from me at one of the signings and they'll be sold by Bloodletting and Bad Moon also. All books are signed by the respective author and Keith Minnion, the illustrator.

Who do you write for - yourself, the publisher or the reader?

I used to laugh when I heard/read a writer state that he/she didn't write for the reader, but I understand that now. Sure, I want people to read my stuff, but the assumption is that someone will. Readers are important - hell, so are publishers, but I write without the thought of making anyone happy. If the story is good enough, the market will be there.

You've touched on some pretty controversial areas with Gifted Trust and Monkey Love. Do you worry about crossing lines? Is anything off limits?

I sat on a panel at the WHC in Kansas City a couple years ago that discussed taboos in horror and my answer to both questions was no. It still is. I try to give the reader more than the obvious, in my stories. Gifted Trust is more than women and children being violated. It's a story about issues and how we deal with them. Monkey Love isn't about beastiality, but the irrational limits one might put on emotions. I've been fortunate, because my readers seem to catch on to what I'm trying to do with my stories. Every now and then someone isn't happy, but usually they get it.

You make a point not to use the word "fan" when describing your readers - why?

I hate the word and rarely use it. I have friends and I have readers. Sometimes, but not always, they are both. I think a word like fan puts the writer on a level above the reader, which is ridiculous. If anything, my readers should be placed above me. There is no writer more important than the reader, because we are the ones who need them - not the other way around. They would get by just fine without Stephen King or Dean Koontz or Jack Ketchum or Ed Lee or any of us. I do my best to make them know how much I appreciate them by answering my messages and when possible spending time with them.

So when do you spend time with your readers?

When I can, which isn't all that often these days. When I do book signings I invite people to have coffee after I'm done. On the drive to Toronto last year I stopped and had coffee/dinner/whatever with about eight people on my route. This was how I met Lisa, btw. At the end of the month I'll be at the WHC in Salt Lake City and I've announced on my Myspace site and message board that I'm available to meet up with anyone interested. You mentioned earlier about my being shy in public, which is still true, but I'm working on it and meeting my readers helps a lot.

What's next for you?

I've got Marquee, a limited chap book, coming out this summer from Insidious Publications. I was glad it got picked up so quickly, because it's probably the most personal story I've written.

Are you concentrating on shorter fiction right now, or does it just appear that way?

It's a case of what is necessary at the time. I'd rather spend time producing novels, but I'm in the follow-up mode now. With Monkey Love out there it was important to follow quickly with something - Marquee. If I can get something sold for the fall it would feed this, but at the same time I need to complete a novel. At my level, the short story has other meanings than it would if King, Gaiman, Ketchum or any of the big boys put one out. They are household names. I am not and have to be concerned with getting it out there on a regular basis.

What's a typical writing day like for you?

I usually write in the morning. I'm awake between 6:30 and 7am - make coffee and move my laptop to the kitchen. I open the blinds so Tom (my dog) can sit in his chair and look out the window and while waiting for my first cup I check my email, Myspace messages and my message board. On a good day I'll write about four hours, until noon. Then I package any books I have to send off and take them to the apartment complex office for the pick-up. Between 1 and 3 I'll do whatever needs to be done - shopping, housework, that sort of thing. From 3 to 5 I read. If the weather is nice I'll take Tom outside and read while he does whatever he does. Between five and seven I get cleaned up and check messages again and I go over to Lisa's for the evening. The only night I don't go over to her place is Thursday, because I'm a Lost freak (she's not) so that's our night apart.


Where can people find you on-line?

I have a website. People who visit it can go to my message board and bond with me. Also I spend a lot of time at MySpace and I can be reached via email at AbsoluteAllen@yahoo.com

Is the world half full, or half empty?

Most certainly half full.

Any final words?

Yeah, anyone who buys a copy of Monkey Love at the WHC 2008 (from me) and mentions this interview gets $2.00 knocked off the price.