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Sunday, October 25, 2015

31 Days of Horror: Day 25-- Gods of Lovecraft David Liss Interview

Welcome to The Gods of Lovecraft blog-a-thon within a blog-a-thon.  From the first post:
Over 9 of the next 10 days I will be featuring 10 of the 12 authors in this collection. Each has answered a series of questions from me about their God, why they picked it, what their favorite scary books are, and more.  It’s very similar to the posts I have been running by authors all month, just with a Lovercraftian spin. Expect each day’s post to bring you a handful of new authors and titles to add to your arsenal of books you can suggest to patrons. 
Next up, David Liss [Yes that David Liss. The one who you librarians know as a historical thriller writer; well he also writes horror.]

Please remember you can also enter for a chance to win one of two copies of The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft by emailing me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com by 10/29 at 11:59pm.

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Who are you?
David Liss, writer of historical fiction by day, writer of horror, comics, dark fantasy, and  science fiction by night.
 
Who is your favorite horror author [besides Lovecraft]?
Joe McKinney

Why do you like to write horror?
I grew up reading a lot of horror.  It was probably 50% of what I tore through in middle  and high school.  As an adult, and as a professional writer, I think a lot about what I liked about it at the time and what I liked about it now.  For me, all good fiction is character  driven fiction, and horror is a great vehicle for putting characters to the test and \ exposing them to the most extreme and unsolvable of situations. Horror is like  mainstream fiction on steroids.  
 
Which “God” did you focus on in the Anthology? What features of this god do  you find most interesting?
I opted for Shub-Niggorath, the black goat of the woods with a thousand young, for two
reasons.  First, because how can you say no to a sobriquet like that?  Secondly,  because she is referenced in several Lovecraft stories, but only obliquely.  We actually  know virtually nothing about Shub-Niggorath, so I thought that writing about her would  give me a lot of wiggle room.  I could make her just about anything I wanted.
 
Please share some of the authors you are reading and enjoying now.
I'm a huge fan of style and character driven writers who have a strong command of craft but who also don't shy away from genre conventions.  Some of my favorites are David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami, and Michel Faber.
 
What other works do you have out now?
I currently have nine novels out, most recently Randoms, a self-referential science fiction novel for middle grade readers.  I also have multiple comic book trade paperback  collections out.
 
What are you working on currently?
I'm currently working on the sequel to Randoms as well as my next book for adults, a  work of historical fantasy.

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