Horror Q&A: Jonathon Mast (Something Wicked This Way Rides)
“Reddit asked the question, what's the creepiest thing you've ever seen…"
The short story collection Something Wicked This Way Rides from Dark Owl Publishing is an anthology featuring some two-dozen authors exploring the Old West with a twisted view, showcasing the 1800s through stories featuring the wicked, supernatural, demonic and just plain weird.
Contributor Jonathon Mast has always reveled in stories. From Thundercats to Star Trek to Prydain, he ate up any stories he could lay his eyes on. On the bus to school, other kids begged him to tell stories every day. Today, Jon serves as a pastor of a Kentucky church. He’s also writing… pretty much constantly. He uncovers stories, discovering them one syllable at a time. And reading books to his kids.
In this interview, Jon talks about his stories "A Drink With the Devil" and "Not Quite a Deer," and how one of his stories answers the question of the creepiest thing he’s ever seen.
More interviews in this series:
Q1 What’s your favorite thing about mashing up horror with the Old West?
Many western tropes focus on the lone hero. You've got that lone gunman or the man alone on the trail.
That means you're starting out with someone relatively isolated, simply by nature of the genre. Throw in horror with someone already isolated, and you can amp up the tension a lot faster. He doesn't have anyone else to turn to for help!
Q2 Did you approach your stories as westerns with elements of horror—or vice versa?
“Not Quite a Deer” was based on a reddit I read that asked the question, "What's the creepiest thing you've ever seen?" So I suppose that started with horror!
My other story, "A Drink with the Devil" came to be wholesale, so I don't know I can really answer that! It's just a weird western!
Q3 What inspired these stories of yours?
I’m creeped out by saguaro cactus. I don't know exactly why, but there's something about their shape, their silhouette, out in the desert, these prickly monoliths, and I just get this crawling sensation up my back.
And I wondered if there were fairy circles made of saguaro. And if there were, what would such a fairy circle do? That thought evolved into "A Drink with the Devil," as an entire town was replaced by one of these saguaro fairy circles.
"Not Quite a Deer" was inspired by a reddit post that talked about encountering an animal that, well, wasn't quite a deer. And that phrase stuck with me!
Q4 How does your story in this anthology compare/contrast with your usual fiction?
Right now, I write all sorts of speculative fiction. I've got a weird western on Vella (look up "Dinos of the Old West"). I've published a few horror short stories. I love fantasy and science fiction.
Basically, give me a good story with elements that take me out of this world, and I'll usually eat it up. Which I guess is a long way of saying, "Yes, it compares!"
Q5 What do you want to tell Monster Complex readers about your latest or upcoming work?
Dark Owl Publishing is releasing my next novel Dragons of the Ashfall, a steampunk YA novel that involves, well, dragons and telling stories. It comes out December 1!
I've also got a story in the anthology Humans are the Problem from Weird Little Worlds called "The Fingernail Man" that asks what would happen if the boogeyman won. So if you like "A Drink with the Devil," you should check out that anthology!
FIND THE AUTHOR ONLINE
ABOUT THE BOOK
Something Wicked This Way Rides
(Dark Owl Publishing)
An anthology of weird westerns and genre fiction in the Wild West
Click here for the Goodreads page!
This book is appropriate for teenagers.
The anthology Something Wicked This Way Rides explores the Old West with a skewed view, showcasing the weird western genre through stories that explore the peculiar and fantastic, the wicked that was and could have been. Experience spiritual nightmares, mythical monsters, cosmic outlaws, discerning gods, and science run amok. Even the North Pole Security Division isn't immune to the supernatural strangeness that stalks the late 1800s. In the tradition of pulp and western stories of a bygone era, these are thirty tales to intrigue, amaze, and perhaps downright spook readers out of their boots.
Includes stories from:
Marilyn "Mattie" Brahen
Kenneth Bykerk
Dwain Campbell
Gregg Chamberlain
Vonnie Winslow Crist
Stuart Croskell
Lawrence Dagstine
J.B. Dane
John A. Frochio
Steve Gladwin
L.L. Hill
Adrian Ludens
Stefan Markos
Jonathon Mast
Gregory L. Norris
Q Parker
Peter Prellwitz
Alistair Rey
Darrell Schweitzer
Bradley H. Sinor
Matias Travieso-Diaz
Charles Wilkinson
Martin Zeigler
MORE HORROR AUTHORS
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