Ask the Author: William P. Simmons
Answered Questions (6)
William P. Simmons
Novels, novellas, and short stories from Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, J. S. Le Fanu, Robert W. Chambers, Theo Gift, Vernon Lee, H. P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Mary Braddon, Francis Stewart, Harper Williams.
William P. Simmons
Grow a thick skin. I didn't during the first phase of my career and burned a lot of bridges, pissed several important people off, and gave myself two heart attacks. Believe in yourself (no one else will). Dare to be yourself with your own vision...and be prepared to be attacked, hated, demonized, and/or ignored. Write because you love it (even when you hate it) and because you NEED it. Do it because it feeds the dark and helps keep it at bay...if for just awhile...
William P. Simmons
Feed my muse (as Ray Bradbury put it) with books, stories, music, and films. Yell and act like a fool. Kick things. Hate my life for awhile and feel sorry for myself. Deal with bouts of depression and anxiety. Eat more, smoke more, drink more coffee. Hope I don't give myself a third heart attack. Then, finally, accept that I have no choice but to write my way out of it. And when it comes again...repeat the above.
William P. Simmons
I left the field around 13 years ago. I've only just recently returned. For better or worse, the darkness is talking to me again. Persistent. Seductive. Threatening. Therefore, I have several projects I'm completing. I just released the PENNY DREAD!FUL e-book series and am preparing to release the SHILLING SHOCK!ERS series -- both reinterpretations of the traditional Penny Bloods of Victorian England by classic and obscure authors of supernatural horror and weird fiction. I'm also preparing special editions of THE TERROR, Arthur Machen, THE THING IN THE WOODS, Harper Williams, THE BECKONING FAIR ONE, Oliver Onions, A PHANTOM LOVER, Vernon Lee, and THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD, H. P. Lovecraft. Lastly, I am finishing two anthologies, SEASON OF THE DEAD and MONSTER CARNIVAL. Sometimes I sleep.
William P. Simmons
Inspirations to write are as varied as the daily tiny and huge events that form a life. Sometimes, anger, anguish, deep sadness, and yearning move you to the paper. Sometimes it's a sudden flash of an image, a feeling, a concept. Often it isn't inspiration at all but MAKING yourself imagine, produce, and rewrite...rewrite...rewrite. A memory, a fear or regret or guilt visiting you like an unwelcome family member. Sometimes I'm watching a film or reading and an idea is delivered from someone else's vision and translated through mine. And once in awhile there IS no choice. The darkness compels you. The darkness without and the darkness within. I've learned I had better follow those instincts, those warnings to create or in some manner my life suffers for it. What inspires me to write...? Who assumes there is a choice?!
William P. Simmons
Every year the siren song of Autumn wind reminds me of the yearning, haunting whispers of the dead. Last year, I was listening to that special wind and briefly saw movement in the corner of my living room. Movement without anything to cause it. Nothing was there but an idea had struck -- "it's the dead trying to tell me a story..." So the upcoming anthology SEASON OF THE DEAD: SUPERNATURAL HORROR FOR HALLOWEEN was born, collecting classic and rare supernatural fiction from the 19th and 20th centuries by both famed and unjustly ignored authors. The book features an Introduction examining the history, folklore, and literature of All Hallows. I found a new way to share with readers "stories the dead know."
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