Know a Nominee, Part 18: Jason V. Brock
Welcome back to “Know a Nominee,” the interview series that puts you squarely between the ears of this year’s Bram Stoker Award nominees. Today’s update features Jason V. Brock, nominated in the categories of Superior Achievement in an Anthology for A Darke Fantastique and Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction for Disorders of Magnitude.
DM: Please describe the genesis for the idea that eventually became the work(s) for which you’ve been nominated. What attracted you most to the project? If nominated in multiple categories, please touch briefly on each.
JVB: With respect to A Darke Phantastique, my anthology on the ballot, I had been through the process of editing two other anthos (The Bleeding Edge, and The Devil’s Coattails, both with William F. Nolan), and was very pleased with them, but wanted to go into new territory. To that end, I had become preoccupied with a mode of writing known as Magical Realism. The Twilight Zone, Kafka, Gabriel García Márquez, even Ray Bradbury at times are examples of this form. I thought “why not cross this with horror, and see what happens…”; what happened was a new way of experiencing the horror story, I feel.
As for Disorders of Magnitude, my nonfiction book, I had written a huge amount of stuff on the topics within—Rod Serling, Forrest J Ackerman, The Southern California Writing School, and so on for various publications—and saw that there was a way to wrap it all together if I added an introduction and some things to fill in the gaps in the chronology. There is more I’d like to say with the book, and already have notes on how to flesh it out further for the next iteration.
DM: What was the most challenging part of bringing the concept(s) to fruition? The most rewarding aspect of the process?
JVB: Disorders was tough just due to the scope of it. I started in 1815, and went all the way to the present-day, covering not only literature, but also personalities, concepts, cinema, music, art, and comic books. It was not easy to condense all of that into a reasonably tight narrative (which my publisher was adamant that I do). I think I pulled it off, but it was tough. The most rewarding aspect has been folks coming up to me and say that they learned a huge amount from the book, and think that it should be a text book in a college course, but is still very engrossing to read.
With the other book, Darke, by far the most gratifying thing has been that people seem to relate with every tale in the book. Even if not every story is a classic for every person, they still say it’s easily one of the best anthologies they’ve ever read. And many people have said it has more than a few of tomorrow’s all-time classic stories. The most daunting thing about that book was the sheer size of it: Coming in at over 720 pages, it’s certainly a tome, and I’d like to think a weighty one not just physically, but in content and storytelling as well.
DM: What do you think good horror/dark literature should achieve? How do you feel the work(s) for which you’ve been nominated work fits into (or help give shape to) that ideal?
JVB: Very interesting questions! I believe that the ultimate goal of any artistic endeavor should be reaching people emotionally, while also educating and entertaining them, be it written, cinematic (I’m a filmmaker, too), musical, what have you. I definitely feel that these two books, which are so different—one I wrote, and is nonfiction/scholarship; the other I edited together over three years, and is a fictional work—address my core concerns in very different ways. I reject the notion that horror or genre efforts should largely be simply entertainments. Content is king, and subtext is everything. I think I was able to nail that in both of these, and can only hope others see that, too.
DM: I’m curious about your writing and/or editing process. Is there a certain setting or set of circumstances that help to move things along? If you find yourself getting stuck, where and why?
JVB: My writing process is simple, and I have no issues banging out the wordage. I really don’t ever have writer’s block, thankfully. I must have music on, always. I like to have multiple projects happening at the same time so that I can switch between them if I begin to bog down. I also like to be productive and keep myself challenged.
I am a chronic reviser. I do follow the axiom that “all writing is rewriting.” I feel strongly that “editors” are really not editors these days, sadly: They’re compilers. The well-regarded editors in all fields are quite hands-on, as am I. Far too many people think they are editors, but are just saying “yes/no” and not helping their writers out. Writers need editors, just as the reverse is true.
DM: As you probably know, many of our readers are writers and/or editors. What is the most valuable piece of advice you can share?
JVB: Stay true to yourself, but learn the craft of writing deeply. I call it “literary without the trappings.” All writing is genre, but it’s the way we parse it and reshape it that allows us to communicate as artists. Keep at it, and strive to continually improve. Don’t believe all the good you hear, and try to learn from the criticisms you may encounter. No one is anointed: We are all the same, and no one is special. In that way, it’s all about working hard.
Additionally, in my estimation, doing this isn’t about money, fame, or chasing awards, though it’s great to have all of those things: It’s about the work, and having a lasting impact on society. Leaving something behind for others, that’s the best thing to strive for, I feel.
DM: If you’re attending WHC this year, what are you most looking forward to at this year’s event? If not attending, what do you think is the significance of recognitions like the Bram Stoker Awards?
JVB: The Stokers and the WHC are great events just to relax and be surrounded by like minds. To see old friends and make new ones. To connect. We will be attending—referring to my wife, Sunni K Brock, as well bringing the WHC Grand Master, William F. Nolan with us—and we’re excited to see some panels and interact with everyone. It’s always a fantastic time!
The main importance of the awards, for me, are the chance they afford to raise awareness of what people are doing, and to bring us all together in the field. The WHC and the HWA, particularly, have made tremendous strides in doing that, and we should all be grateful for that aspect. I know that we all are over here.
DM: What scares you most? Why? How (if at all) does that figure into your work or the projects you’re attracted to?
JVB: Hmmm… I think the idea of something that would harm my family. Or something that I have no chance of controlling—a serious illness, that type of thing. I think this notion, subconsciously, filters into most of my fiction. I think the things we carry with us most and don’t want to think about unless we must always inform and haunt our best stuff. It’s part of our drive: To cathartically tame the anxiety of the mundane disasters and atrocities of being human.
8. What are you reading for pleasure lately? Can you point us to new authors or works we ought to know about?
I am rarely reading for pleasure these days! I’m writing too much: deadlines, books, stories, novels, my agent!
When I do, it’s usually nonfiction. Or news, I’m a news junkie. When I do read for pleasure, though, I find it’s about trying to blend that in with reading for my digest, NameL3ss, and I can say that there are many excellent new writers out there. My wife, Sunni, is one. So are Erinn Kemper, Nickolas Furr, Samuel Marzioli, and so many others. Much of the material in Darke, for example, was from brand new, or fairly unknown, authors. We have to slog through the detritus, but the quality is there. I do wish people would realize that it isn’t all about names that pop up in a “year’s best” this-and-that. That, in a way, is limiting. We have to keep looking for ourselves, not solely rely on editors and so on to tell us what we like. Right now, I’m engaged in a reading challenge that my friend Joe R. Lansdale hit me with, and I have to say I’m liking it, as well as learning from it.
About Jason V. Brock
Jason V. Brock, a double Bram Stoker Award Finalist, has been widely published in magazines, online, comics, and anthologies such as Butcher Knives & Body Counts, Weird Fiction Review, S. T. Joshi’s Black Wings series, Like Water for Quarks, Fangoria, and many others. He is currently completing several novels, and is the editor-in-chief of a website and digest called [NameL3ss]. Brock served as coeditor/contributor to the award-winning Cycatrix Press anthologies The Bleeding Edge and The Devil’s Coattails with William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run). His books include A Darke Phantastique, Disorders of Magnitude, and Simulacrum and Other Possible Realities. His films include the documentaries Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man, the Rondo Award-winning The AckerMonster Chronicles!, and Image, Reflection, Shadow: Artists of the Fantastic. A health nut and gadget freak, he lives in the Vancouver, WA area, and loves his wife Sunni, their family of herptiles, running their technology consulting business, and practicing vegan/vegetarianism. Visit their website at http://www.JaSunni.com .
