Interview with Tom Over - I believe in monstrous cruelty but also heart-breaking tenderness

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Which one was the first piece you wrote?

I haven’t been writing seriously for very long. I got the first page of The Wetness down in early 2018, and then abandoned it with no idea how to continue. Later that year I wrote and submitted a story to my very first open call – a little-known pizza anthology that few in the horror lit world probably heard about.

Along with one or two others (give or take) my story got rejected, but it did go on to win The Bold Mom’s October Terror Short Story Award. That gave me a huge confidence boost, so I began submitting stories then all over the place. The Wetness I eventually returned to once the majority of the collection was in the bag.

Check out his story THE VEGETARIANS, winner of TBM October Terror Award 2018! (Click on the image below)

Can you describe your book in a couple of lines?

The book is my debut collection of short stories from NihilismRevised, a most excellent indie publisher based out of Utah. The stories are a mix of uncomfortable weird fiction, pulpy creature features and full-bore extreme body horror. Something for the whole family, if indeed your family was dreamed up by Tobe Hooper and hails from deepest backwoods Texas.

[bctt tweet=”In his debut collection, Tom Over pushes the boundaries of genre storytelling into startling new realms. From transgressive weird fiction to 80s-inspired splatterpunk, from surreal dreamscapes to body horror nightmares. #horror” username=”theboldmom”]

What is the book you always keep close, and why?

My books are directly behind me when I write, so all are close at hand. But if I were to grab one for inspiration, any by Gary J. Shipley would do. His prose is just immaculate to me, sentences that could cut glass. I write dark stuff, but Shipley’s fiction plumbs depths I can scarcely wrap my head around. It scares me because I can’t fully understand it.

Do you have an inspiration source?

Though I write primarily horror fiction I’m not really a huge horror reader, the number of straight horror novels I’ve read could probably be counted on two hands. My true inspiration has always come from film. The mid-career works of Carpenter, Cronenberg and Verhoeven have probably influenced my taste and artistic outlook more than any literary figures.

Panos Cosmatos said his inspiration for Mandy came from seeing the lurid VHS covers of 80s horror movies as a kid, and not being allowed to watch them but imagining what those films were about. For me it was the same, seeing all those crazy video covers sent my child’s mind into orbit.

An early reviewer said one of my stories was like Alien meets Street Trash. I like that—a mangling of high and low art to create something exciting and new and completely fucked up.

What are your current projects?

Well, I haven’t much on at the moment. This collection, being my debut, took it out of me a bit! Right now I’m just taking a breather, thinking of ideas, recharging the batteries. Not sure if the next thing I start will be another collection, or maybe a novella. My short stories tend to go quite long if I let them, so I might see if I can come up with something that will go the distance.

Which kind of music do you listen to?

I used to be a huge music nerd, but these days it’s mostly podcasts I listen to. My taste is pretty broad though I would say; everything from 70s funk to 80s pop and rock to 90s electronica and underground stuff. I was a bit of a raver back in the day so old school UK techno and drum n bass will forever be a part of my musical DNA. When it comes to writing though, I know a lot of authors like to listen to ambient or drone while they work, but that isn’t really for me. I need silence to be able to write anything halfway good.

What kind of reader is your book for?

First and foremost they’d have to like the dark stuff. I guess my writing reflects my reading taste, in that I’m more interested in horror that “goes there”. If a reader is open-minded to a healthy dose of insane, then I think they’d get on with my stories just fine.

Unlike with a lot of traditional weird fiction though, I tend not to deal so much in quieter, more ambiguous themes. That isn’t to say there’s no mystery, I love puzzle-box narratives, but I also enjoy playing with extremes.

I want readers to feel like they’ve been mauled from one side of the room to the other, but to then emerge on the other side grinning from ear to ear through bloodied teeth, desperate for more.

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How would you describe your style?

Twisted. Inventive. Lots of fun. Though I like to read and write transgressive fiction, I always want my work to be entertaining—to be emotionally devastating one minute and comically absurd the next.

My brand of horror can be bleak and nihilistic, but never depressing. You’ll not catch me churning out, say, a straight up torture story. Yawn. It’s been done, and they’re boring as hell to read. Let’s move on.

Again, not to bash weird fiction, but I want my stories to have killer endings. I’m a big believer in set-ups and pay-offs, in monstrous cruelty but also heart-breaking tenderness. I believe in wicked twists, what the fuck moments and endings that punch you square in the face.

[bctt tweet=”I’m a big believer in set-ups and pay-offs, in monstrous cruelty but also heart-breaking tenderness. I believe in wicked twists, what the fuck moments and endings that punch you square in the face. #horror” username=”theboldmom”]

What’s your writing process?

I know a lot of authors say you should write every day. But that’s not for me, I’m far too unfocused. Besides, my procrastination is just off the charts. If I have a deadline to meet, you just know I’ll be balling up socks or dusting the book shelves right up until three days before.

But I guess a lot of people are the same. That said, I am pretty disciplined at knuckling down when it’s required. Typically I’ll write after work or at weekends if I can find the motivation. People who get up at 5 in the morning and fit a couple of hours in before work, they’re the true heroes, or lunatics, take your pick. But I commend them, because I couldn’t do it.

How would you define your evolution as a writer?

Well, considering I’ve only been writing seriously for a couple of years, I’d say my evolution has barely even started. I’m probably just aping my influences half the time without even knowing it. Happens to all writers in the beginning though, you’ve just got to accept it as part of the course. They say it can take up to 10 years to find your voice, so just watch this space I guess. Hopefully I’ll be around long enough to see me blossom into somebody worth reading!

What would be your advice to new authors?

I’ve never had any academic training. Never attended a creative writing class or workshop (and it probably shows!) but I’ve always been a big reader. By reading widely and studying what authors do you can learn a lot about the craft.

While I was editing the collection I was consuming a lot of Brian Evenson. In many ways his work taught me how to write. If my prose is in any way accomplished, then it is indebted to the works A Collapse of Horses and Windeye, which are both masterclasses in the art of short fiction.

Which one is the mistake you would avoid now, looking back in time?

Being so new to all of this I suppose I’m lucky in that I haven’t been around long enough to have dropped any monumental clangers. I’m happy with my output thus far, so can’t really complain. I guess if there was one thing I could change it would be to have started much sooner.

I know it’s kind of accepted for writers to start out later in life, and that the younger you are the less you really have to say, but waiting until you’re 40 to have a crack at the thing you love is pretty lame in anyone’s book. And no amount of puns can ever make that right.

What’s your favourite quote?

I’m never any good at remembering quotes, but I do like the one I chose to open my collection. I lifted it from a podcast in which Richard Lang, a writer and philosopher known for a concept called the Headless Way, was describing a method of discerning the world.

He said: “Close your eyes. What you see isn’t nothing, but we’ll call it darkness. Now, how big is that darkness?” When I heard that it stopped me dead in my tracks. It wasn’t something I’d ever really considered; that the thing you perceive when your eyes are closed isn’t necessarily just the back of your eyelids, but could also be thought of as an internal realm, one that might stretch off to infinity in every direction.

I thought this notion of limitless dark space could be attributed to themes within horror fiction, and so the quote was born.

Do you have a favourite artist?

That’s easy – Nick Cave. The man, to me, is a godlike genius. There’s just nobody like him, and probably never will be again. I’ve been obsessed by both him and his work for decades now and his output only grows ever richer. Plus, his musicianship is only really the tip of the dark foreboding iceberg.

I remember first reading his debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, and was completely floored by it. Likewise, seeing him appear in the 1988 film he wrote, Ghosts of the Civil Dead, was an utterly terrifying and mesmerising experience.

To this day his screenplays and soundtrack work remain unmatched. The revisionist westerns The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James are modern masterpieces due in no small part to his involvement with them.

Where can your readers find you?

I’m rubbish when it comes to the whole author platform stuff. I know I should probably get on Twitter and Instagram and open myself up to a wider audience, but for now it’s just Facebook and Goodreads. If you search me on those two you’ll probably find what you’re after.

What is the best time of the day for you to write?

Again, pretty much when there are no more procrastination-fuelled tasks left to do. I’ve always liked the romantic idea of pulling a Bruce Robinson and writing through the night with copious amounts of fags and booze.

But I’m just not that cool, so it’s typically whenever I’m able to grab a few spare hours and force myself to sit down at the laptop. I guess I mostly get stuff done during the evenings, but it all really depends on them pesky deadlines.