The Authors Speak have kicked off their Monster Week Edition with an interview with Stephen Mark Rainey. Rainey is the author of the novels Dark Shadows: Dreams of the Dark (with Elizabeth Massie, HarperCollins, 1999), Balak (Wildside Books, 2000), The Lebo Coven (Thomson Gale/Five Star Books, 2004), The Nightmare Frontier (Sarob Press, 2006, and in e-book format by Crossroads Press, 2010), Blue Devil Island (Thomson Gale/Five Star Books, 2007), and more.

When asked about the current state of horror, Rainey says, “For better or for worse, I can’t bring myself to read much contemporary horror fiction these days. I can scarcely think of an example that hasn’t disappointed me in recent years, so many of my bouts with literary horror are either revisiting old titles that I’m particularly fond of or hunting down something by the older masters I might not yet have read. The last new horror book I read was about yet another frakking psychokinetic kid. It was well-written enough, but premise-wise, it offered less than nothing new, nary a single surprise, and utterly forgettable characters. Before that, I yawned my way through a popular zombie novel. In some ways, it was a little more compelling, but — much to my surprise — quite poorly written. I read enough crap in Deathrealm’s slush pile, so I get very annoyed when something I’ve paid money for is no better than the slush.”

It’s an interesting interview and well worth your time if you’ve got the time to spare. You can catch it here: Stephen Mark Rainey

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