Interview Joseph Armstead

by

Roberta Olsen Major

1) You refer to THE SCREAMING SEASON as a cross-genre horror novel. Which genres does it cross, and what elements from each genre will the reader find in it?

Thanks for asking, Roberta! THE SCREAMING SEASON is a strange novel, a mix of horror and science fiction with some elements of philosophy and some other elements drawn from classical mythology. There's a healthy dose of the investigative procedures we've all come to expect, courtesy of television programs like “The X-Files” and “CSI”, and there is the fantasy-adventure element with the action. But for all that, it is still mostly a story about human beings making their way in this mysterious universe.

2) Many stories seem to start from a single seed in the author's mind. From what seeds did this tale sprout?

Well, this is kind of hard to pin down, but I was in a bookstore and saw a book on Angels, I fanned through it only half-interested, and I just kind of saw the “fairy dusting” of these immensely powerful and passionate celestial beings as kind of a cop-out. Such beings wouldn't be overgrown fairies, not if they were to survive in this tumultuous universe. Then, watching TV, I saw Christopher Walken in this small movie called “The Prophecy”, an Eighties film, I think, and it sparked the idea further. Something bizarre started taking shape in my mind. So over a couple of days the idea grew in my head: “What if an angel went mad?” A week later, I read in the newspaper about a disaster at an industrial plant in Mexico and I knew where my story would begin...

3) Are any of your main characters based on real people?

That's a good question... Yes and No. They are composites of some people I've met through the years, but no one in particular. I like my characters to be real enough to stand on their own two feet, but not so real that anyone I know would be offended or embarrassed.

4) What character aspects do you share with your main characters?

Ugh, a personal question... How dare you try and drag me out from the shadows! I'd have to say insatiable curiosity and a strong sense of right and wrong. Injustices at all levels of life bother me.

5) What are your five favorite books, and why?

Wow. A toughie. Uh, waitaminnit... okay, here they are, in NO particular order:

THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW, by Clive Barker--because he showed there was so much more to horror than gratuitous grossness and silly Halloween scares. This was a really imaginative and deeply philosophical horror-mystery, with some religious overtones.

STRANGERS, by Dean Koontz--because he built a great mystery around a group of really fractured personalities and made me care about what happened to those folks.

FRENCH KISS, by Eric Lustbader--because he was able to successfully mix real political history with over-the-top fictional events and make it seamless and believable and erotic.

THE GEMINI CONTENDERS, by the late Robert Ludlum--Ludlum was the KING of the espionage/political thriller in the 1980s and for good reason. He was like Hitchcock in that he could make the commonplace exciting and his characters were often mixed up folks who were in over their heads in a conspiracy they never knew existed.

SWAN SONG, by Robert R. McCammon--Epic doomsday fantasy with an uplifting, affirming message that doesn't ring phony or saccharine-sweet. A long book, but well worth the time it takes to read through it, sampling the horrors following a worldwide catastrophe through the eyes of the tired, scared and brave folks who are amongst the few survivors. The story stays with you for a long time afterwards...

6) How long have you been writing? Can we read any of your other work elsewhere?

I've been writing seriously, with an eye towards a professional goal, for about four years now, but I've actually been writing in one form or another since I was 16 or 17 years old.

7) How long did it take you to write THE SCREAMING SEASON? Did it go through a lot of revision, or did it spring forth pretty fully formed ?

I actually wrote it as a short story, about 10,000 words, many years ago and for some odd reason carried it around with me wherever I moved. It was a vastly different tale then, a lot less complex. I always kind of knew inside that someday I'd get back to it. Once I'd started re-drafting it, it took off and I finished in inside of seven months.

(8) When booksellers sell new authors, there seems to be a lot of comparison to established writers. If you were a bookseller (And aren't we all?!) who would you say you are “like” as a writer, especially where THE SCREAMING SEASON is concerned?

I have been favorably compared by a few readers who've seen my other work to popular British author BRIAN LUMLEY a lot, actually pretty high praise for me, don't know how Mr. Lumley feels about it, though... As for myself, I think I see a lot of John Farris, Clive Barker, and Eric Lustbader in my style.

9) Some books can be gobbled in one sitting, others need to be eaten in small bites and digested slowly. Which kind of story is THE SCREAMING SEASON?

Now THAT'S an interesting question! I would have to say that I think THE SCREAMING SEASON is a multiple course meal.

10) Are you working on anything else?

Why? What have you heard? Whatever they said, it's not true... I was never involved! I was out of town and it was too dark for them to have seen anything! Seriously, short answer, “Yes!” Two projects, in fact. Both full-length novels. One a suspense thriller with a complex, and frightening, twist and the other a dark fantasy vampire thriller.

Thanks for the interview, Joseph. I look forward to reading your book!

Thank YOU, Roberta! This was fun ... well, okay, it was better than getting hit in the head with a claw-hammer. Jooookinnnng! And best of luck with your own work! I look forward to seeing more of it!