Horror Q&A: John B. Rosenman (Something Wicked This Way Rides)
“I had to get the western part right.”
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.
John B. Rosenman contributes two stories, "The Tears of Scorpions" and "State of the Art". John is a former Chairman of the Board of the Horror Writers Association and the previous editor of The Rhetorician and Horror Magazine. Altogether, he has published 300 stories in places such as Weird Tales, Whitley Strieber's Aliens, Fangoria, Galaxy, The Age of Wonders, and the Hot Blood anthology series.
In this interview, the author shares how he challenged himself with one of the oldest western tropes…
More interviews in this series:
Q1 What’s your favorite thing about mashing up horror with the Old West?
I’ve always liked westerns, and mixing my two stories with horror provided a new challenge and opportunity. For “State of the Art,” I thought immediately of blending a traditional western with advanced virtual reality and science which made it possible to observe events in the past.
Just think: wouldn’t it be terrible if people in the future could watch us without our knowing? Think of what mischief they could cause.
For my other story, “The Tears of Scorpions,” perhaps my favorite challenge was to play with one of the oldest western themes or cliches: namely, A Stranger Rides into Town. But the stranger in this story brings full-scale horror that you’ll never find in even an avant-garde western.
Q2 Did you approach your stories as westerns with elements of horror—or vice versa?
I think for both stories it was slightly more as a western with elements of horror. You see, I had to get the western part right.
For example, in “The Tears of Scorpions,” I had to be accurate in describing horse riding, something I haven’t done in a long, long time. Also, I had to be accurate in describing the 19th century New Mexico town and locale. If I got one thing wrong, readers would call me on it, whereas I was free to describe my monster and her deeds any way I wanted.
With “State of the Art,” I could fudge the advanced science that made it possible to snoop into the past. Who would call me wrong?
In contrast, the western town, saloon, and bartender had to be historically accurate. For both stories, doing research was critical.
Q3 What inspired these particular stories of yours?
With “State of the Art,” I thought at once of technology that enabled future scientists to observe a western town of the past and interfere with its daily life. The title suggests that the state of the art is the major point of the story, for the technology is highly advanced and belongs to the future.
As for “The Tears of Scorpions,” I also loved the title from the beginning and saw scorpions as being pretty scary. The title inspired me to pair scorpions with a scorpion visitor to the town who only seemed to be human. It was fun to describe her and to depict the awful mayhem she would cause.
Q4 How do your stories in this anthology compare/contrast with your usual fiction?
I write in several different genres, but my primary ones are speculative fiction, science fiction, and horror (I once was Chair of the Horror Writers Association.)
“State of the Art” extrapolates from technological surveillance of the present into the future, when even the past isn’t safe from prying eyes. So this story is in keeping with many of my scifi / speculative stories, the major difference being that it involves the Old West.
“The Tears of Scorpions” is right at home with many of my horror / dark fantasy stories. Monsters—I love them in all forms, especially if they are of the female variety and are timeless or immortal. This creature would fit into any time period, including the present.
Q5 What do you want to tell Monster Complex readers about your latest or upcoming work?
Dreamfarer is available for preorder and will be published in Kindle and paperback on August 17. (Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yCSPT1 )
If you could have the most wonderful dreams for the rest of your life, would you ever want to wake up? This is the central question of a novel in which 70 percent of humanity are serviced by dream machines after reaching the age of 32. It is ninety years after World War III, and the major nations have exported their hostilities to space, which they seek to conquer at each other’s expense.
What happens to Sam Adams, a “Dreamfarer” when he wakes up after seven years in a dream machine to find that he has become a Waker, one of the three percent of humanity who can never return to paradise? What can he possibly do to fill the emptiness of his existence? Join him in his efforts to overcome his despair and pursue a new destiny, one that he himself has chosen.
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
John B. Rosenman
Alistair Rey
Darrell Schweitzer
Bradley H. Sinor
Matias Travieso-Diaz
Charles Wilkinson
Martin Zeigler
MORE HORROR AUTHORS
Horror Author Q&A: John S. McFarland (The Dark Walk Forward)
Horror Author Q&A: Laura J Campbell (No Lesser Angels, No Greater Devils)