Glen Hirshberg's Blog - Posts Tagged "interview"
Influences
From Sci-Fi Signal June 2 interview with Kristin Centorcelli
GH: I never set out to write “horror” or any other genre. I just love telling stories. But I do think there’s something about ghost stories and horror—the atmosphere, the essentially eerie and beautiful imagery, the primal and universal fears that encode so much human behavior and interaction, the way those fears trigger and heighten other primal and universal emotions—that seems to bring out some of the best writing I have in me. All those things, predictably enough, are also what I love about reading dark fiction. Although, honestly, I love reading any good fiction. Actually, any good anything.
KC: You’ve undoubtedly influenced more than a few authors with your work, but who has influenced you in your work?
GH: I still feel as though I’m being influenced by something new and marvelous every single minute. But at the core? Robert Louis Stevenson for the charm of his voice and the generosity of his spirit (and the pirates, and those foggy, monstrous streets); Kipling, for the sheer virtuosity and range of his storytelling; Shirley Jackson, for the sustained sense of menace and devastating psychological acuity; Ramsey Campbell, for the variety and majesty of his spellcasting; Val Lewton movies for their skewed realities, alluring shadows, surprising sweetness; Mark Rothko paintings for that impossible, untraceable light; Richard Skelton’s music, and K. Leimer’s, for their restless stillness (if that makes any sense at all), their wells of winking melancholy. P.G. Wodehouse, for the sheer pleasure of his wordplay.
Read the full interview here--->.
GH: I never set out to write “horror” or any other genre. I just love telling stories. But I do think there’s something about ghost stories and horror—the atmosphere, the essentially eerie and beautiful imagery, the primal and universal fears that encode so much human behavior and interaction, the way those fears trigger and heighten other primal and universal emotions—that seems to bring out some of the best writing I have in me. All those things, predictably enough, are also what I love about reading dark fiction. Although, honestly, I love reading any good fiction. Actually, any good anything.
KC: You’ve undoubtedly influenced more than a few authors with your work, but who has influenced you in your work?
GH: I still feel as though I’m being influenced by something new and marvelous every single minute. But at the core? Robert Louis Stevenson for the charm of his voice and the generosity of his spirit (and the pirates, and those foggy, monstrous streets); Kipling, for the sheer virtuosity and range of his storytelling; Shirley Jackson, for the sustained sense of menace and devastating psychological acuity; Ramsey Campbell, for the variety and majesty of his spellcasting; Val Lewton movies for their skewed realities, alluring shadows, surprising sweetness; Mark Rothko paintings for that impossible, untraceable light; Richard Skelton’s music, and K. Leimer’s, for their restless stillness (if that makes any sense at all), their wells of winking melancholy. P.G. Wodehouse, for the sheer pleasure of his wordplay.
Read the full interview here--->.
Interview by Brian Lillie
Brian Lillie, who played a CRUCIAL role in helping me set up my Ann Arbor gig on July 21st, has conducted an interview with me. Asked me some smart, good questions, too (so thanks yet again, Brian). I've posted the whole interview below:
Acclaimed horror author Glen Hirshberg coming to Ann Arbor’s Literati Bookstore July 21st, 7:00 pm
July 10, 2014 at 10:02am
Glen Hirshberg , celebrated author of ‘spectral fiction’, is coming to Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor on July 21st to read from his acclaimed novel Motherless Child , recently published by Tor Books.
The Los Angeles Times Review of Books wrote about Motherless Child : “Always one of his generation’s finest stylists, its most able students of character, [Hirshberg] has written one of the best books of the year”. Its many other accolades include starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist, as well as praise from such genre stalwarts as Locus, Black Static, Cemetery Dance, and Fangoria.
Glen was kind enough to answer a few questions about growing up in Detroit, the genesis of Motherless Child , the importance of music in his life, and the infamous Rolling Dark Revue…
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your connection to Detroit?
GH: I grew up in suburban Detroit; my family left for the west coast just before my 14th birthday. Not only have I always considered myself a Detroiter--and been grateful that I spent my key formative years there instead of in California--but I think the city continues to color everything I write.
Detroit's tragedies and its resilience, its magnificent, messy mix of cultures and peoples and classes, its industrial-colored skies and its lakes, its subcultures springing up, constantly amid the ruins...it's not just my kind of place. It's still me.
Q: Your new novel Motherless Child is a vampire tale that is as much an ode to motherhood and friendship as it is a scary-as-hell horror novel. What were the threads that led you to write this book?
GH: To be honest, I never thought I'd write a vampire story. In fact, I was determined not to. But those two women at the heart of the novel, Natalie and Sophie, waltzed into my head one day and started chattering. And given that my father was part of the team that DESIGNED the original GTO, I think I was pretty much fated to try a proper road novel, sooner or later (although, honestly, ALL of my novels have been road novels of one sort or another).
Those things, plus my experiences living in the South, plus a nagging sense that people have been getting too comfortable with monsters, losing track of the fact that they ARE monsters... I think those all blended together over time, and one day, Motherless Child just started spilling out.
Q: Motherless Child is chockfull of music, both in the actual story and in the characters’ lives. What can you say about the importance of music in your own life and writing?
GH: I've been a passionate music junkie all my life. My first professional writing gig was as a critic in Seattle, right as that whole scene broke. My dad had a hit single in 1957. I still have a band.
But until Motherless Child , music hadn't played so central a role in my fiction. Pretty early, though, I realized how important music would be both to Natalie (the heroine) and the Whistler (arguably the most monstrous of the book's monsters). After that, I just started having fun. From the "Da Doo Ron Ron" riff in the novel's first lines ("She met him on a Monday. Her heart stood still. At the time, she thought his did, too. Of course, she turned out to be right about that") on down. I sang this book as much as wrote it.
Q: You are known for your live readings, including the infamous Rolling Dark Revue. What can people expect at your Literati reading?
GH: I wish I could bring the whole Rolling Dark experience to Ann Arbor. The RDR was originally dreamed up by the great Dennis Etchison, screenwriter/novelist Peter Atkins, and me over endless Big Boys and conversation at the Bob's in Burbank. We were lamenting how NOT fun most readings tend to be. So, after too many discussions about what we could do to make them better...we set out to make them better.
Dennis retired pretty early on, but Pete and I have developed the thing into an annual event that tours the west coast every fall, and has also done some international dates. Essentially, we drape a framing play (usually featuring a scenario that ends with Pete and I dying, every single year) around three ghost story readings. Our 10th Anniversary show is coming up.
My Literati reading will probably be more of a straight-up reading (the horror bluegrass band we were shooting for couldn't make it). I can only promise that I've at least honed my skills over years of performing. I'll bring what I've got. Maybe I'll even sing.
LITERATI BOOKSTORE is located at 124 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. For more information: 734-585-5567, info@literatibookstore.com
Click to read and share this interview on facebook-->
Jerry Hirshberg's book.
The New York Times on my dad, Jerry Hirshberg,
Acclaimed horror author Glen Hirshberg coming to Ann Arbor’s Literati Bookstore July 21st, 7:00 pm
July 10, 2014 at 10:02am
Glen Hirshberg , celebrated author of ‘spectral fiction’, is coming to Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor on July 21st to read from his acclaimed novel Motherless Child , recently published by Tor Books.
The Los Angeles Times Review of Books wrote about Motherless Child : “Always one of his generation’s finest stylists, its most able students of character, [Hirshberg] has written one of the best books of the year”. Its many other accolades include starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist, as well as praise from such genre stalwarts as Locus, Black Static, Cemetery Dance, and Fangoria.
Glen was kind enough to answer a few questions about growing up in Detroit, the genesis of Motherless Child , the importance of music in his life, and the infamous Rolling Dark Revue…
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your connection to Detroit?
GH: I grew up in suburban Detroit; my family left for the west coast just before my 14th birthday. Not only have I always considered myself a Detroiter--and been grateful that I spent my key formative years there instead of in California--but I think the city continues to color everything I write.
Detroit's tragedies and its resilience, its magnificent, messy mix of cultures and peoples and classes, its industrial-colored skies and its lakes, its subcultures springing up, constantly amid the ruins...it's not just my kind of place. It's still me.
Q: Your new novel Motherless Child is a vampire tale that is as much an ode to motherhood and friendship as it is a scary-as-hell horror novel. What were the threads that led you to write this book?
GH: To be honest, I never thought I'd write a vampire story. In fact, I was determined not to. But those two women at the heart of the novel, Natalie and Sophie, waltzed into my head one day and started chattering. And given that my father was part of the team that DESIGNED the original GTO, I think I was pretty much fated to try a proper road novel, sooner or later (although, honestly, ALL of my novels have been road novels of one sort or another).
Those things, plus my experiences living in the South, plus a nagging sense that people have been getting too comfortable with monsters, losing track of the fact that they ARE monsters... I think those all blended together over time, and one day, Motherless Child just started spilling out.
Q: Motherless Child is chockfull of music, both in the actual story and in the characters’ lives. What can you say about the importance of music in your own life and writing?
GH: I've been a passionate music junkie all my life. My first professional writing gig was as a critic in Seattle, right as that whole scene broke. My dad had a hit single in 1957. I still have a band.
But until Motherless Child , music hadn't played so central a role in my fiction. Pretty early, though, I realized how important music would be both to Natalie (the heroine) and the Whistler (arguably the most monstrous of the book's monsters). After that, I just started having fun. From the "Da Doo Ron Ron" riff in the novel's first lines ("She met him on a Monday. Her heart stood still. At the time, she thought his did, too. Of course, she turned out to be right about that") on down. I sang this book as much as wrote it.
Q: You are known for your live readings, including the infamous Rolling Dark Revue. What can people expect at your Literati reading?
GH: I wish I could bring the whole Rolling Dark experience to Ann Arbor. The RDR was originally dreamed up by the great Dennis Etchison, screenwriter/novelist Peter Atkins, and me over endless Big Boys and conversation at the Bob's in Burbank. We were lamenting how NOT fun most readings tend to be. So, after too many discussions about what we could do to make them better...we set out to make them better.
Dennis retired pretty early on, but Pete and I have developed the thing into an annual event that tours the west coast every fall, and has also done some international dates. Essentially, we drape a framing play (usually featuring a scenario that ends with Pete and I dying, every single year) around three ghost story readings. Our 10th Anniversary show is coming up.
My Literati reading will probably be more of a straight-up reading (the horror bluegrass band we were shooting for couldn't make it). I can only promise that I've at least honed my skills over years of performing. I'll bring what I've got. Maybe I'll even sing.
LITERATI BOOKSTORE is located at 124 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. For more information: 734-585-5567, info@literatibookstore.com
Click to read and share this interview on facebook-->
Jerry Hirshberg's book.
The New York Times on my dad, Jerry Hirshberg,
Gingernuts interview
The first of two thorough interviews (on food, board games, soundtracks, favorite horror, Robert Louis Stevenson, my parents, teaching writing, education, process, advice) I've done recently has just gone live:
Gingernuts: We’ll start with some of the easy getting to know you questions. What’s your favourite food?
Glen: Don’t I even get a time of day? Nationality? Anything to narrow this down? Proper chocolate cake rates pretty highly. Proper, as in no goop, the right frosting (buttercream yes, whip cream, God no), very little else. Michigan cherries. Fragrant (but not runny) cheese. Tuscan bread soup. Grilled-onion bagels from the Back Door Bakery, which just burned down, but which is coming back. They swear to me they’re coming back.
Gingernuts: German board games? Why German board games? I don’t think I have ever played one?
Glen: They don’t necessarily have to be German, but I think the Germans started it. There has been a little revolution in board games over the past 25 years or so. The most famous examples would probably be things like Settlers of Cataan or Ticket to Ride (which isn’t German). But the field has seen an explosion of real creativity in terms both of subjects for game play and also game mechanics. With the right friends or family and a long evening, these games are the perfect catalysts for the kind of playful, competitive, laughing, cooperative, fully engaged socializing I like best when I like to socialize. Which, I will admit, is only sometimes…
Read more here >>
Gingernuts: We’ll start with some of the easy getting to know you questions. What’s your favourite food?
Glen: Don’t I even get a time of day? Nationality? Anything to narrow this down? Proper chocolate cake rates pretty highly. Proper, as in no goop, the right frosting (buttercream yes, whip cream, God no), very little else. Michigan cherries. Fragrant (but not runny) cheese. Tuscan bread soup. Grilled-onion bagels from the Back Door Bakery, which just burned down, but which is coming back. They swear to me they’re coming back.
Gingernuts: German board games? Why German board games? I don’t think I have ever played one?
Glen: They don’t necessarily have to be German, but I think the Germans started it. There has been a little revolution in board games over the past 25 years or so. The most famous examples would probably be things like Settlers of Cataan or Ticket to Ride (which isn’t German). But the field has seen an explosion of real creativity in terms both of subjects for game play and also game mechanics. With the right friends or family and a long evening, these games are the perfect catalysts for the kind of playful, competitive, laughing, cooperative, fully engaged socializing I like best when I like to socialize. Which, I will admit, is only sometimes…
Read more here >>
Haunted Nights Live Interview
In case you missed it and are interested, here's where you can find a complete podcast of the delightful hour I got to spend chatting Motherless Child, the writing process, the nature of horror, and, erm, furries, with Tamara Thorne and Alistair Cross on their fabulous HAUNTED NIGHTS LIVE show on the Authors on Air network. Comments and responses and reactions welcome.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorso...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorso...
Parenting: the rewards
What my son did with his summer (thanks in no small part to his aunt, Susan Liss). Also what he's still doing with an amazing amount of his time, now (he was up until we-don't-want-to-know-when a couple nights back writing a letter to the editor he hopes to place in the L.A. TIMES or somewhere comparable shortly). Training for the kind of work he wants to do for the rest of his life.
Like Bernie. Only with more smiling. And even more shirt rumples.
Kind of proud of him...
Like Bernie. Only with more smiling. And even more shirt rumples.
Kind of proud of him...
