Author Interview with Todd Zack

Q: If you could have a fantasy pet, what would you have and why?
A: I’ve always conceptualized frogs and amphibians as avatars of the unconscious (or, the dream world) because they exist in two entirely different mediums, land and water. They are, by nature, a surreal creature. I’m often moved by surrealist literature and movies and art. So, I’d probably have a large, well-dressed frog as my pet, or power animal.

Q: What type of music best describes your writing?
A: Punk rock and violins.

Q: Tell us about your writing office/space and why it’s special to you.
A: I write in my bedroom with the window shade drawn, rather than open. I need to write lying down in bed because my back bothers me when sitting for long spells. There’s otherwise nothing special or mandatory about my writing space. I could just as easily write in an anonymous South Dakota motel room.

Q: What is your favorite piece of visual art that has inspired a story or two?
A: ‘Christine’s Word’ by Andrew Wyeth has always had an eerie charm. I think some of the best visual art of the 20^th Century and forward is found is to be found in genre films; Noir, horror, westerns. B-movies are a treasure trove of spectacular visual art. Moody sets and bizarre lighting.

Q: If you didn’t write full-time what would your day job be? Is writing a hobby for you?
A: Writing for me is a hobby and a job- one of several jobs.

Q: What is your writing schedule and how many words do you write in a sitting?
A: I begin something- a story or a novel- when I feel like it, which is to say when it feels ready. When I’m revising something that’s already been drafted, I stick to a schedule, usually two to three hours of uninterrupted writing a day.

Q: How do you celebrate publishing a new story?
A: Smile and give myself a pat on the back.

Q: How do you balance your outside life with your writing life?
A: Carefully.

Q: Write your eulogy in three sentences.
A: You came to a graveyard alone? Bad idea. Turn around.

Q: What project are you most proud of completing?
A: The last book, ‘Madeline’s Cane’, which will be released soon by Unveiling Nightmares, took me close to five years to compose. It’s very much the book I wanted it to be and intended it to be and a writer can’t ask for much more than that.

Q: Do you have any projects you would like to tell your readers about?
A: For fans of psychological thrillers, dark romance and crime, check out my novel, ‘Madeline’s Cane’. For fans of pure, action-packed horror with a Lovecraftian motif (or the films ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘The Wicker Man’ and ‘The Hitcher’), check out my novella, ‘Night of the Star Demon’, also by Unveiling Nightmares. 

Q: Who is your favorite character from any of your stories and why? If you had to choose a popular author to continue writing this character in another book, who would you choose and why?
A: Boss Man Frank from ‘Madeline’s Cane’, and Miss Thing from ‘Night of the Star Demon’. Both are secondary characters in their respective books and bring great energy and comedic relief to the otherwise intense and harrowing proceedings. Another writer to carry them forward? Marisha Pessl (author of ‘Night Film’) might do a good job of it because she has a history of handling dark, quirky, enigmatic characters of a similar age quite well. And Bret Easton Ellis as well, for the same reason.

Q: Where can your readers find you on social media?
A: https://twitter.com/iamthatami  

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18176243.Todd_Zack.

Bio: Todd Zack is a social worker, writer, and musician living in southwest Florida. His journalism and fiction pieces have appeared in Thrasher Magazine, Red Fez, Crimson Streets and numerous genre anthologies. His first novel, ‘Madeline’s Cane’ and novella, ‘Night of the Star Demon’ will soon be released by Unveiling Nightmares. He is a lifelong skateboarder, compulsive traveler, trivia nerd, coffee fiend, and co-founder of the alternative rock bands, Tape Recorder 3 and Pank Dux. Look for him on Goodreads and Twitter.

Book Review: Sam and Milo aka S&M: A Splatterpunk Comedy by Chisto Healy

Have you ever wondered what it would be like getting abducted by the world’s funniest and most sadistic serial killer? Well, Marty doesn’t have to wonder. Plot spoiler—Marty dies at the end or lives. Haha. But before Marty dies or lives, there are so many delicious and gory scenes and the most hilarious soliloquies from our chatty and beloved killer/narrator Sam. In fact, Sam is a whizz with words, I think he’d make a good sponsor for Toast Masters, if he could stop himself from inventing new ways to put holes in people to violate them, which is Sam’s favorite hobby. Not something you would mention on a speed date, in my opinion. I don’t think you’d get too many dates. Actually, I don’t think Sam has a lot of dates at all, but maybe, that’s because he was married to the most heinous (in his opinion) woman of them all and now has some very solitary hobbies in the middle of nowhere, involving Marty … until he dies, as I mentioned. Already.

After poor Marty loses his eyeball, is thrown down a cliff, pissed on, breaks his leg, manages to claw his way to the top of the cliff and starts slowly crawling his way to freedom in the vast forest, only to be fed a literal shit salad, Sam is already on a long, masochistic and romantic date with Milo, the man in the purple pants with the salmon shirt and the cocky attitude who will soon be … well, let’s just not spoil that part of the plot for you. Let’s just say it’s very original and very painful. But who REALLY wears purple and salmon together? Sam and I both want to know about this.

Chisto Healy writes the most sidesplitting, filthy, disgusting grossout scenes that should make me want to vomit and starve myself for at least a month in penance for enjoying the book so much, but nope, I can’t do it. I guess I must be a real sicko too because I almost peed my pants more than once howling aloud reading this story in one sitting, which didn’t exactly make my napping cat a happy camper, but hey, what does he know? He licks his own butt and that is way nicer than anything that happens to anyone in this book. Sadly, when it came to offing the woman he married, I wanted it to be more twisted and demented than the rest of the book and I’m not sure if that makes me a f*cked up monster or just a two-time champion of our judicial divorce court system in America. Needless to say, I will never gaze at a safety pin, a metal straw to reduce my eco footprint, or a PVC pipe and a bucket in the same way EVER. Kudos to Healy for a depraved hellish amusement park ride. Tickets for two next time? I have a date I want to bring along. I’ll show up with roses. *grins*

Chisto Healy has written so much, I’m surprised he still has any fingers left. I went on his Amazon page and his bio says he tries to “write one chapter or one story a day.” I think he’s succeeded. He’s in too many anthologies and has too many collections and novels to name all of them here, but a bunch caught my eye. I need to read Attack of the Killer Crabs, Oh F*ck, A T-Rex, Watch out! It’s in the Trees! (The Green Rain Series), The Dying (book 1 of The Shadow Work Trilogy), and The Death Digger, written by Healy and his son Boe Healy. Pick up a book or two and a couple snacks. Maybe, don’t pick up the snacks, if you have a weak stomach. Just pick up a bucket and 7-Up®, but don’t go down the aisle with the PVC or buy a metal straw because you think you’re helping to save Mother Earth. Just trust me on this one, okay?