Okay, let's get serious.

When people think of Jeff Strand, they usually think of his comic horror, like his hilarious novel THE SINISTER MR. CORPSE, or his hilarious take on "The Three Little Pigs," included his short story collection GLEEFULLY MACABRE TALES, which was recently nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, or his memorable performances at the World Horror Con Gross Out Contests (I particularly enjoyed the one he did the year organizers tried--and failed--to ban the contest). Or maybe you just know him from his self deprecating blog, or for the interviews he's done right here on Fear Zone. This his fourth time around our track, making him our most frequent interview subject (okay, one of those interviews was a reprint, but even if you discount that Strand holds the FZ record).

What makes this two-time Bram Stoker Award nomianted author worthy of so much cyber ink in our space? For one thing, this hard working and prolific writer is the author of PRESSURE, one of the best thrillers published in years. For another, that very same book will be available in bookstores nationwide as a Leisure paperback next week. This is Strand's first crack at a mass audience after spending years developing a loyal small press readership with his Andrew Mayhem series and collaborations like THE HAUNTED FOREST TOUR, which he co-wrote with James A. Moore. Strand juggles short stories, novellas, and novels, emulating the nose-to-the-grindstone craftsmanship of the great pulp writers of the 1930s and 1940s. And PRESSURE is as dark, violent and shocking as any thriller out there.

At the same time, he hasn't forgotten his roots: his comic horror novel BENJAMIN'S PARASITE is also now available, from Horror Mall, and for the second year in a row, he'll bring the funny as Master of Ceremonies for the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Awards, which will be held in Burbank on Saturday, June 14th.


Your horror novel PRESSURE--which can also be marketed safely as a psychological thriller with an unhealthy heaping of gore--was originally published as a hardcover by Earthling Publications, but in two weeks it will be reprinted as a mass market Leisure paperback. You're going to be exposed to a new readership largely unfamiliar with the small press that you've been toiling in for the past decade. Do you see this as the culmination of what you've been working toward, or a stepping stone?


I'd call it a great big leap. I'm definitely not sitting back and thinking "Ooooh, yeah, I've finally made it," but there's no question that the affordable cover price and wide distribution are going to bring my work to a much larger audience than ever before. But my goals as a writer go way beyond just having my first mass market release (or second, or third, or sixty-seventh), and I don't think there'll ever be a culmination of what I've been working toward...although that first #1 New York Times bestseller will be nice.


How different was your participation in the design and marketing aspects with Leisure compared to some of the small presses you've dealt with?


The design aspect was right in the middle--I've had some books where I got to provide feedback each step of the way, and others where the publisher just said "Here's your final cover! Enjoy!" With PRESSURE, I sent Leisure about five different ideas, and they ended up combining two of them into a cover that was much better than what I'd visualized. (I've been lucky--most of my book covers are better than what I visualized, which more than makes up for the ones that suck.) PRESSURE was the first time I didn't write my own back cover copy, but they took bits from what I'd written for the hardcover edition.

My involvement in the marketing process so far is about the same as with most of my small press experiences, except that it's all on a much wider scale. For some things, I'm working with Leisure directly (I got to meet with Erin Galloway, their head of marketing, at a convention a couple of weeks ago) and for others I'm just doing my own promo, because that's what I'm used to and having a publicist doesn't let me off the hook.


PRESSURE depicts the cat and mouse relationship between its two main characters through four different periods in their lives. Was this always your plan when you conceived the novel?


Yes. The amount of pre-planning I do varies from book to book, and though PRESSURE wasn't outlined in advance, I knew where each of the four parts began and ended. I did shorten the time that elapsed between the third and fourth parts, but there was no part of the writing process where I just thought "Hmmm, I think I'll skip ahead a few years." It's a lean, tight novel, but I think the timeframe of the story gives it a nice sense of scope.


The novel's first section finds the characters as boys at prep school, sort of a cross between A SEPARATE PEACE and LORD OF THE FLIES. Did you have any of these literary books, so often taught in junior high and high school, in mind? Were you reacting at all to the popularity of YA horror?


There was no conscious effort to do anything "literary" (I hated pretty much all of the books I was forced to read in high school school, although I retroactively recognize their quality) and the only real connection with YA fiction is the age of the characters in the first part of the book. If anything, it was more of an attempt to do the "adult narrator writing about his youth" technique of something like McCammon's BOY'S LIFE. The later sections of PRESSURE are all about adult fears.


When do you need to have another finished novel ready for Leisure?


August 31st! If I miss the deadline, I'm blaming FearZone. We can hang by our toenails together. Anyway, the next Leisur e book is called DWELLER, and it's another "serious" novel, hopefully with lots of emotional impact. It's scheduled for March 2010. There are some thematic similarities to PRESSURE in that it's about being friends with a monster, although this time it's a literal monster.


PRESSURE has been optioned for a movie. I know it's early yet, but where do things stand with that at the moment?


Identity Films has a screenwriter attached to the project who's written some big movies, but since they haven't made any official announcements yet I won't either. I don't know anything about the creative approach they're planning to take, whether they're planning to remain loyal to the book or are exploring its potential as a lighthearted puppet musical. Their office is only a few miles from the hotel where the Bram Stoker Awards are being held, so we're gonna do lunch in June and hopefully I'll be able to drag some information out of 'em.


Will you continue to write comic horror for the small presses?


Absolutely, though of course I'd love to write comic horror for the large presses, too! Next up is a novella called KUTTER, which I can't blab too many details about yet, but it's a very dark comedy that's quite a bit different from my other work. And I'm still p lanning to finish up the long-promised fourth Andrew Mayhem novel, LOST HOMICIDAL MANIAC (ANSWERS TO "SHIRLEY"), which I'm convinced will be the best of the series if I ever get it done. And there'll probably be a lot more stuff.


BENJAMIN'S PARASITE is a hilarious romp perfectly suited to fans of THE SINISTER MR. CORPSE. There are some superficial similarities to Frank Henenlotter's film BRAIN DAMAGE, and the relationship is that of a boy and his monster. What were some of the challenges you faced in keeping your story fresh?


My original idea was just that I wanted to do a comedic take on the "body horror" genre, but once I decided to do a parasite novel I was very conscious of not ripping off BRAIN DAMAGE, which is one of my all-time favorites. Many times while writing I would think "Boy, it sure would be fun if the parasite had a charming personality!" but I avoided that angle completely--the parasite in the book is played straight. But really, unless the parasite suddenly began to sing "Aylmer's Song," there was never going to be much of a connection between the two.


When you're writing a big comic set piece--of which there are several in BENJAMIN'S PARASITE--do you find yourself reining yourself in? How over the top do you allow yourself to go?


It depends on the book. Now, I never tone down stuff just because it's too outrageous--it's all about "Is this believable?" It doesn't have to be realistic, just believable. As long as it makes sense within the context of the story and the characters, I don't have any limits to how far over over the top I'll go. Something like BENJAMIN'S PARASITE has pretty generous standards for suspension of disbelief, but I did cut some stuff from the finale that was too far out of the realm of credibility. Not in an "Oh, that's too outrageous!" way but in a "I think his entire intestinal tract would be ripped out of his mouth if that happened" way. KUTTER was an interesting writing challenge because I took a fairly silly premise and treated it with total bleak realism, so I found myself reigning myself in for most of the book!


For the second year in a row, you're MC-ing the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Awards banquet, this time held in Burbank on Saturday, June 13th. You've also emceed the Eppies. How do you prepare for this gig?


Aside from a couple of ad-libs, the jokes are all written beforehand. What usually happens is that I show up at the convention with a full opening monologue and funny introductions for all of the presenters, but then at least 25% of it gets cut or revised between the start of the conven tion and the actual banquet, and I try to add new material based on what's happened at the convention so far. I usually wuss out and get rid of a couple of edgier jokes right before the show. I'll poke fun at the awards themselves, but there's never anything that might be disrespectful to the finalists.


It must be awfully nerve wracking to think about facing that audience all night when your anthology GLEEFULLY MACABRE TALES, was nom It must be awfully nerve wracking to think about facing that audience all night when your anthology GLEEFULLY MACABRE TALES, was nominated for Superior Achievement in a collection...


Nope, not at all. Being MC trumps any nervousness over being a finalist. I'll probably be anxious for the thirty seconds that the presenter is reading the names, but beyond that I'll be too busy freaking out over my host duties to even think about it. As a returning MC, I'm expected to do a good job, whereas nobody will care if I flub an acceptance speech. Is it cynical that I've got a joke planned out for if I lose but not for if I win?

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Visit Jeff Strand's website, and look for an excerpt from PRESSURE on Fear Zone next week. Here's his book tour schedule: