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Your new book In Noctis Sol - in a few words, what is it
about?
In Noctus Sol is a story of a haunted house, only the children living
in the house and their mentally challenged uncle realize there is
something unsettling going on. The family living in the house is
struggling financially. An unexpected history unravels. I don't want to
give away too much of the story. What were your inspiration when dreaming up In
Noctis Sol? When I started writing the story the focus
was childhood fears and what frightened me as a child. The foundation of
In Noctus Sol is very much based on my childhood, at least one part of my
childhood. It grows well beyond my childhood experiences. With your book tackling the paranormal -
your personal thoughts on the subject? I grew up with
strong ties to traditional Native American culture. In that way spirits
are considered a normal, respected, and accepted part of life. I've also
had what could be called supernatural or at the very least experiences
that are difficult to explain. It was believed by my family that my
grandmother's house was haunted when I was growing up. What can you tell
us about your novel's approach to horror
It started with
the whole idea of childhood fears, but I didn't want it to be typical
childhood fears. I thought about what scared the hell out of me when I was
a kid. My approach to horror in this novel is confrontation with the
unknown and being powerless in the face of things which your rational mind
knows should not exist. Is horror a
genre at all dear to you, and why (not)? And where do you see the
challenges and advantages of writing genre novels in general? Horror
is most definitely a genre that is dear to me. I've been watching horror
movies since I was a kid. Probably saw horror movies I was too young to
see when I watched them. As far writers go H. P. Lovecraft and Clive
Barker have been the most influential of the horror genre to me. Oh,
Richard Matheson was an astounding horror writer too.
For me the biggest challenge in writing genre novels is you get labelled
as an author of that genre. In general people seem to think you can only
write one genre. I would hate to get stuck writing in only one genre. I
love writing supernatural horror stories, but I also enjoy writing dark
fantasy, superheroes, poetry, esoteric works, and dadaism. I would like to
write historical fiction some day and at least one work of philosophy.
Other than that the biggest challenges are first putting the pen to paper,
finding the time to write, maintaining discipline, revisions, and
proofreading. Ha. Writing is harder than people think.
Do
talk about the writing process for a bit, and are you a writer who puts
much research into his fiction projects? Writing is a
therapeutic exercise for me, I would probably go mad if I didn't write.
Some of my work is fueled by intense emotion and some by what I consider
fantastic ideas. Each story is an experiment. I don't want to ever write
the same story twice. I do put a bit of research into some of the work,
mostly historical facts. I enjoy hiding things in my writing for the
readers to pick up on. Much of what I write is based on things I know
about because I read somewhere that William S. Burroughs suggested writers
write about what they know about. What can you
tell us about audience and critical reception of In Noctis Sol so
far? My audience seems to be diverse because of having
written in several genres. Fans of supernatural horror, superheroes,
fantasy, and the occult make up the majority of my audience. I enjoy
talking with fans of my books and feel honored they've taken the time to
read them. There is a loyalty between myself and my audience, at least the
audience I've come into contact with. So far the reception for In Noctus
Sol has been positive. I haven't had a negative review. It sucks when
critics say negative things about your works. A work of art is like your
child. Who wants there child insulted? Any future projects you'd like to share? In
Noctus Sol is a part of a series of supernatural horror stories called the
Night Horse Paradigm. The other two books in this series that are
available are Night Horses and Woke By Thunder. The next book in the
series is titled Cthulhu Domine, but it hasn't been released yet.
I also have a books series called Star Crossed Chronicles which I would
call an especially epic dark fantasy featuring superheroes. The first in
the series is called Adagio Fine. The second book, which hasn't been
released yet, is called In Nomine. What
got you into writing in the first place, and did you receive any formal
education on the subject? To be perfectly honest the poetry
of Jim Morrison is what first inspired me to write. I found writing to be
an outlet to get out my emotions and angst. It's been the need to escape.
It's been great authors who've created me as an author. I've always
enjoyed mythology too. Some works that come to mind I remember reading
when I was about 15 years old at the same time I was discovering Jim
Morrison and writing are Auldous Huxley's works and William Blake's works.
Coleridge, Rimbaud, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley fascinated
me, and I read a hell of a lot of comic books.
No formal education in writing other than a creative writing class in
college. I think the first step in becoming a writer is reading a lot of
books. Read everything you can get your hands on. Test everything out. Over the years, you have
written both fiction and non-fiction - so how do the two compare, and what
do you prefer, actually? It's easier for me to write
non-fiction because I'm just telling it like it is. This is what happened.
I believe I've lived an eccentric life to state it mildly. Exactly how
much to reveal has always been a concern. When I first started writing the
non-fiction was my main concern and focus. I hope to always grow as a
writer and now I'm in a place where I have many fiction stories I want to
create. There is a grand scheme to it all in my mind. Once the fiction
works feel satisfied I will one day write some philosophy, historical,
theological something I predict. But who knows. Plans always change no
matter what kind of map you lay out. Do talk about some of your past
books for a bit? The book that currently sells the most
copies is Confessions of a Black Magician published by the Original
Falcon. The non-fiction books are like putting my blood on the paper. I
wrote 2 poetry books called Something Sacred and Blood Blue
Love, very
much blood on paper. And what I call the Saint Natas Cycle which includes
Confessions of a Black Magician, Diary of an Antichrist, Angel of the
Street, Thrill Seeker and the Loss of Wisdom, and The Illuminist and Fifty
Gates of Night. The Saint Natas Cycle focuses on non-fiction, esoteric
subject matter. A few words about your company Night
Horse Publishing House? It was started as a vehicle to
publish my own works because it gives me absolute creative freedom. It's a
labor of love, more lucrative than being published by some one else. I
like fearless independent publishers, they bring us new things, push the
envelope. Now that Night Horse Publishing House is firmly established I am
looking for other authors to publish. The name of the company comes from
the book Night Horses. Basically a play on words. Night horses is another
way of saying Nightmares. How would you describe
yourself as a writer? Obsessed. Emotional. Driven.
Exploring. Searching. Growing. Books and writers who inspire you? Inspirational
writers for me have been Aleister Crowley, Jack Kerouac, Philip K. Dick,
Carl Jung, Charles Bukowski, Robert Heinlein, and Jack Kirby. Of course
I've already mentioned H. P. Lovecraft, Clive Barker, and William S.
Burroughs. And
this is a filmsite first and foremost, your favourite movies, and films
you really deplore? I know your site is more about horror
movies, so I can tell you some horror movie that fascinated me growing up
were Let's Scare Jessica to Death, The Gate, Kubrick's The
Shining, The
Prince of Darkness, Lord of Illusions, Nightbreed,
Lifeforce, and the
original Evil Dead. Oh, I love Rob Zombie's movies and the
Friday the 13th
franchise. When I was a kid I watched a horror movie called Humongous that
scared the crap out of me, I recently ordered the DVD off the internet and
it wasn't at all scary. I think it would be cool to see a reboot of that
film though. Dario Argento's Demons. The original
Night of the Demons. I
like a lot of old B horror films too. Oh, I love John Carpenter and old
Hammer films!
I prefer supernatural horror over slasher horror.
Some non-horror genre movies I like are David Lynch's Dune, The Velvet
Goldmine, Eyes Wide Shut. Fight Club was pretty good. Romper
Stomper. Sid
and Nancy. Drive. Bronson. Akira.
At Close Range. I'm a Star Wars fanboy.
I'm sure there are a ton more.
I don't like cookie cutter Hollywood movies. It's very rare for me not to
sit through an entire movie even if it's bad. One that comes to mind is
Feardotcom because I couldn't sit through that. Cloud Atlas was pretty
awful. I don't care for the Twilight movies or the
Hunger Games at all.
Divergent is lame.
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Your/your book's website, Facebook,
whatever else? The links to all my books can be found here:
www.nathanneuharth.com
For Night Horse Publishing House news and comments:
www.facebook.com/nighthorsepublishinghouse
And my occasional random thoughts:
www.nathanneuharth.blogspot.com
Anything else you are dying to mention
and I have merely forgotten to ask? I'd like to mention P.
Emerson Williams. He did the cover art. He's become Night Horse Publishing
House's primary illustrator. His work is wonderful. He's done some other
book covers and several album covers for bands. Thanks for the
interview!
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