Discussed:
- How Ronald Malfi paces a mystery into the horror story, using his award-winning novel, Floating Staircase
- Ron’s method for writing a story organically.
- Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart
by Noel Carrol recommended by Kevin on the sense of discovery as an essential element in Horror.
- Readers having difficulty with Peter Straub, and why he’s one of Ron’s favorite genre writers. “His prose is poetry. Everything he says is fantastic. I can’t even remember the plot, but it’s a beautifully written story.”
- Ron discusses whether you can reveal too much too early and how to pace the discovery of the mystery.
- How Ron solves his problem when a story stops working.
- What Ron has meant to Kevin’s writing career.
- Why Ron chooses small press publishers for his work.
- Ronald Malfi’s book, Shamrock Alley, which was based on the true story of his father’s dangerous life.
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AISFP COFFIN HOP GIVEAWAY Details:
The Coffin Hop is an annual blog tour amoung indie horror authors and artists with over eighty sites offering fun content and giveaways. This year, they’re releasing an anthology by many of these authors, called Coffin Hop: Death by Drive-In
Running tally of books to choose from:
Total Coffin Hop Posts so far:
Book Review: ANNO DRACULA: JOHNNY ALUCARD by Kim Newman
SF Book Releases This Week: Oct. 29, 2013
AISFP 236 – Ronald Malfi and Kevin Lucia, Part One
Book Review: APOCALYPTIC MONTESSA AND NUCLEAR LULU
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Kevin Lucia, Guest Co-host
Kevin Lucia is a Submissions Reader for Cemetery Dance Magazine and his podcast “Horror 101” is featured monthly on Tales to Terrify. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies.
He’s currently finishing his Creative Writing Masters Degree at Binghamton University, he teaches high school English and lives in Castle Creek, New York with his wife and children.
He is the author of Hiram Grange& The Chosen One, Book Four of The Hiram Grange Chronicles. His first short story collection, Things Slip Through is forthcoming in November. He’s currently working on his first novel.
Timothy C. Ward
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Podcast: Download (Duration: 38:44 — 35.5MB)
Cool! Tweeting you now! ^__^
I think I really need to read Floating Staircase. I confess I hadn’t heard of Ronald Malfi until now. The books sounds amazing. I felt reassured, too, about his approach to writing – somewhat intuitive, which is how I mainly write. Sometimes writing advice can be scary, if it doesn’t suit your creative personality. Outlines scare me rigid. Thanks, Ronald, for a fabulous and fascinating interview.
I think you’ll really like it too. And I agree, sometimes it is scary to hear someone write in a way that doesn’t suit your method and then think you have to do it that way. It is also scary though to hear advice like his (and my Glen Cook interview) where they trust their subconscious to work it out in the end. It’s almost like being a magician without concrete rules.