Geek of the Week: Wayne Simmons, part II

By Sarah Elliott

When we left off on from the first half  of the interview with horror fiction writer Wayne Simmons, he explained how he got his start in the zombified world. Today, we talk a little more about his latest and current projects, and the genres of zombie and apocalyptic fiction.

Zombie and apocalyptic fiction is everywhere, which isn’t surprising with the world the way it is. Are there any authors you think are doing interesting things with the genre?
I’ll always refer to David Moody and his stuff. I think he is the crème de la crème in apocalyptic horror writing because he’s a fan himself, and has been reading that stuff and watching those films all his life. There are a few other people around and one or two of them are good. I tend to enjoy Brian Keene; I haven’t read Max Brooks but I hear he’s very good. Zombie-wise, Joe McKinney I hear is quite good; although I haven’t read any of his stuff, he’s on my radar. Oddly, I can’t remember the last zombie book I read. When you’re writing zombie stuff you tend not to read it — well, I tend not to read it. Because you’re immersed in it, for your leisure, you turn to something different.

You’ve written shock-apocs, and you’re working on pulp fantasy and steampunk sci-fi. Are there any other genres you’d like to try your hand at?
I would like to try steampunk. My current manuscript has a little bit of steampunk in it, but it’s mostly got cyberpunk and tech noir and things like that in a dystopian future. I’d like to try a straight steampunk. I’d like to try a vampire book as well, and just do my own spin on them. It’s just getting the time to do it all. I’m always getting ideas and I just jot them down and put them in a queue. At the minute I’m kind of tied in doing sequels to Drop Dead Gorgeous and FLU, so they have to be a priority because I’ve got deadlines. Yes, I’ve loads of stuff I want to try.

Did you write Drop Dead Gorgeous and FLU with the intention of doing sequels or did it just turn out that way?
Yeah. I did absolutely. I think most publishers seem to warm to the idea of a franchise which they can see grow and develop. So I pretty much had the intention of setting those up as franchises. Drop Dead Gorgeous, I possibly might finish or put a pause on it with the next book. FLU could run and run and I intend to keep it running for at least a three book story arc, possibly further afield than that.

You’re a big horror movie fan. What have been some of your favourites recently  that stood out?
Absolutely. Let The Right One In is an absolutely wonderful film, based on the John Lindqvist book. Hierro, a Spanish film, kind of like a horror-thriller. It’s absolutely terrific. It’s by the same team that did The Orphanage, another Spanish film which is absolutely triumphant. Hierro is probably the best film I watched in the last year. I seem to move to some of the independent films. I’ve watched a few of those recently but I can’t remember them. But those are probably my two favourites of last year, Let The Right One In and Hierro.

What is the one thing you’ve read or seen that just terrified you?
The one movie that terrified me was Dark Water, the Japanese version. It’s based on a short story by Koji Suzuki. Without even a single drop of blood or gore, it spooked the hell out of me. I really like that sort of psychological horror that preys on your mind more than prolonged gore horror. Those are the things that’ll affect me more.

It’s the end of the world, the zombies are here… Do you have your plan?
No. [laughs] I’m just gonna try and get somewhere to hole up and hide. No plan. Oops!

You can only bring five books with you on your world ending journey. What five do you take?
I would take Carrie by Stephen King, Let The Right One In by John Lindqvist, Autumn by David Moody, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and I would take a fighting fantasy book, probably City of Thieves, because it can be reused over and over again.

Wayne’s books are available online through Amazon and Book Depository.