The Small Press, the Horror, and the Women Within Them

by Mike Purfield

I started this interview with Kelly Laymon right after the Christmas of 2002 and it is finally seeing the light of day. Not that I'm mad about it; work loads and schedules are a bitch, on both parties. In fact, I'm proud of this piece and so glad that I could capture the voice that she took so much time in expressing. So, let's not dick around with an intro. I give you Kelly Laymon:

What is Jobs in Hell?

Jobs in Hell is a weekly e-mail newsletter and market report. We run author and publisher news, markets, market updates, interviews with genre professionals, and humorous and informative articles on writing and the genre.

You are not the original editor, why take something like this up?

Nope. I'm not. Brian Keene started Jobs in Hell a few years back. He gave it up due to time constraints and not really needing the weekly grind on top of his fiction. That's something I'm guessing I won't suffer from. I don't really write fiction, so when I'm working on JiH I'm not thinking, "Damn. I could be polishing that short story right now."

I do enjoy it each week. I put Jobs in Hell together from stuff I'm sent or stumble upon during the course of each week. I don't monkey with the staff really. They do their own thing each week and I'm as surprised, amused, and informed as the subscribers when I read what they've come up with. The only time I come close to telling one to tackle a certain topic is when a con report needs designation.

Each week, it's fun. Tha''s the important thing. Even though there are a couple people who send in periodic nastygrams and juggling deadlines can be tense, at the end of sending each issue, it's been fun. And then it starts all over again.

What is "Excitable Boys"?

Excitable Boys is an anthology I edited for Night Shade Press. It started as a result of Ryan Harding's 2000 entry in the World Horror Convention Gross-Out Contest. I decided that I really wanted that story to be published and, damn it, I was gonna do it. From there, I grabbed up a couple other favorite contest entries and originals by two-time Gross-Out Contest champions Ed Lee and Mark McLaughlin.

Why not "Excitable Girls"?

Well, the title of the anthology is a homage to the Warren Zevon song Excitable Boy. The anthology is full of nasty little tales of gore and crime, as is Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy. The song follows the growth of a sick little fella who starts out harmless enough, rubbing pot roasts over his chest and biting an usherette's leg, and ends up raping and killing little Susie, then being released and going to her grave and making a cage with her bones.

I needed a title. I'm a big Zevon fan. And it just seemed to fit in so many thematic ways. And the two characters from Harding's story in the anthology almost feel like the embodiment of Excitable Boy's spirit.

Should a writer dictate the kind of horror fiction that is released or should that be left to the editor or publisher?

Well, the two sorta work hand in hand. The marketplace in action. Both parties dictate what ends up on the shelf, but final veto power rests with the editors/publishers. Authors should write the kind of story they'd like to read, and hopefully that will be a story the public would like to read too. But, if it isn't the kind of story an editor or publisher wants to read and it gets rejected, then it won''t make it to the public.

What are something that an editor considers, but they shouldn't?

There are lots of factors that come into play. And you've gotta deal with them as best you can.

You need to worry about the quality of what you're publishing, but you''ve also got to take into account what will sell copies.

I may find a well-written novel about pink bunnies who slaughter muskrats with machetes and machine guns endlessly entertaining, but will it sell? Actually, that might. heheh

Say you have a crappy story from a big name author. You know that person will sell books, but you know they were just totally phoning that story in. Do you reject it because it sucks and not have that author in your stable, or do you bite the bullet, accept it for the sake of sales, and try not to worry about what kind of hit your credibility as an editor has taken?

Or, on the other side of the coin, do you take on a nobody who is a great writer and hope that word of mouth will end up making the project a success?

How is the state of horror today?

We're doing really well. And I think Leisure deserves a big chuck of the credit. While the backlash seemed to still be in full swing and many people were still turning up their nose at horror, Leisure brought on Don D''Auria and came out with guns ablazin''.

Now mass-market houses are relaunching or building back up their horror lines. I'm just hoping that everyone's more cautious this time and we don't see the kind of bandwagon and glut of crap that hurt horror during the 80's.

In the small press, there is a lot of rave about these guys (Brian Keene, Harry Shannon, Ed Lee), do you find it funny that there are no women authors being raved about?

Not really. I'm not saying this is true, but if there aren't any female authors worth raving about, then they shouldn't be raved about just because they're women. If something has quality, people will read it. I would hope that folks aren't picking up a book just because it was written by a woman. Female authors shouldn't be singled our or given extra recognition for being female. That kind of behavior does more harm than good and lessens any accomplishment. It detracts from the respect due and separates them. It starts to attach a "special rules" kind of mentality.

I certainly don't read authors just because they're women. I also don't NOT read authors just because they're women either. I read what interests me, sounds good, and is good. And, I'll admit, the only female author on my shelf is Lucy Taylor. And Lucy Taylor should be and is recognized for being a good writer, not a good female writer. She doesn't need special rules or to be set apart from the boys in order to earn the respect she deserves.

And, to go back to Excitable Boys, there's one woman in the anthology. Rain Graves. She's in there for no other reason than I thought that was a nasty and cool little story. If she was in there because she's a woman or I wanted to fill some kind of quota, that would take something away from her being in there. It would say less about her as a writer and more about her gender. That's not right.

Does the small press seem like the mainstream press?

They're two different creatures.

The small press is sort of a community within a community. They do more to support new authors and take more chances. They're often more accessible. While there are exceptions, most of the editors and publishers you'll find hanging out at conventions are the small press folks. And you don't see any New York houses with dealer's tables at the World Horror Convention.

The actual product put out by a small press is often nicer than a mass-market hardback. They make a more impressive book. The artwork is generally nicer. Would I rather have the Scribner edition of From a Buick 8 or the Cemetery Dance edition? The CD edition, no doubt.

On the other hand, to be a celebrity in the small press is to sell out a few hundred copies. These books are being bought by collectors and die-hards within this community inside a community. And they're generally not making it into the chains. You're definitely not going to see them in your friendly neighborhood Rite-Aid.

With the mass-market press, you're getting serious distribution. Your book will end up in Border's and Barnes & Noble. Airports and drug stores if you're lucky. And you're also dealing with the possibility of selling thousands of copies.

It's a pretty big difference. Like college baseball versus the majors.

You recently moved back to LA from the East coast, how is the fiction/author scene different from the two coasts, then again the lifestyles must be different as well?

I loved everything about the east coast except the winter weather, but the entire situation didn't come together in a way I'd hoped. At the end of the day, my reasons for actually staying were hard to find. I had to take everything into account and ask if it was worth it at this point in my life.

Obviously, here in L.A. we have the local legends like Bradbury and Matheson. Plus the whole California Sorcery crowd.

This may be total bias speaking, but I really feel that Los Angeles has more of a community to offer for a horror writer. And I think Dark Delicacies bookstore has a lot to do with that. It's like the Cheers bar of the L. A. horror scene. It's a place for all of us to go where we know we're okay. Even if you take away the signing events and authors and fans who turn up at those, just a normal day at Dark Delicacies is unusual. I was over there on a Tuesday a couple weeks ago and as I walked out, Skipp walked in. It's not uncommon to go in there at an "off" time and run into Skipp, Schow, Somtow, or Peter Atkins. And it's a group that's been around for many years and is still around. I see the same folks (authors AND fans) there on a regular basis that I've known since I was about ten.

What are your plans now, any new projects coming up?

More Jobs in Hell, of course.

The tribute anthology by Cemetery Dance, In Laymon's Terms, will be coming out in the next year. I edited the non-fiction section.

I just wrote a little one-page story for an illustration that will appear in the next charity project by Dark Delicacies Bookstore.

Other than that, I don't really do much.

Any last words or thoughts?

I WOULD like to say that I felt kinda funny answering serious questions about being an editor. I mean, yeah, I AM an editor, but I''m not a real editor. The stuff I've worked on is pretty small scale. When it comes to editors, you've got your Carsons, Lettermans, and Kimmells. Then you''ve got me. I'm Michael Essany.

Thanks so much for your time.

Thanks for having me! It was fun!

(NOTE: You can purchase a subscription of Jobs in Hell at www.shocklines.com)

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Critical Raves for Mike Purfield's "Dirty Boots." "If you're looking for a good read, something you've never experienced before, then this is the book for you." Paul Kane of Terror Tales. Rated 3 out of 4 by Unhinged Magazine. -Click the cover to find out more-

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